CPD25

Hey all- I've been talking alot about these CPD25 events I go to, so here is the link for the website- check it out. http://www.cpd25.ac.uk/
CPD25 is related to CILIP, although I don't believe you have to be a member of CILIP to go on the visits. It is an organisation promoting professional developement for academic library staff members within the M25.

I went on a visit to Westminster School Library last December which was fantastic. I'm also booked on to their visit to the British Film Institute's Library on March 11th and to the Tate Library and Archives on April 16th.

I don't receive email about their visits automatically, the Librarian forwards them to me, so my advice would be to contact CPD25's base at the LSE directly to ask what you need to do to get on their mailing list.

I would recommend checking it out!

Katie

Feedback on UCL interview

I had my interview for UCL earlier this week. It was very relaxed. There were two interviewers Vanda Broughton and Lucy Gildersleeves. The first question was about my voluntary work especially at Kew Gardens where I am a volunteer guide and I used to run the guides library. I was then asked why I wanted to be a librarian, my current responsibilities, what I thought I would like to do after university and the options I was thinking of taking. Finally I was asked if I was a member of CILIP. I don't know if the last question arose out of something I had said earlier. There were no question about current trends in library science or anything similar!

I understand that they plan to make a decision re full time places in the middle of February.

Good luck to everyone who hasn't had their interview yet

Interesting Lecture

Alsion Walker (British Library) speaks on 'Re-creating Sir Hans Sloane's Library'

03 February 2009, 17:30 - 19:30
Senate House, NG16

http://www.sas.ac.uk/events/view/5261

Katie Rose has heard Alison Walker speak on the subject of recreating Hans Sloane’s library before and says the lecture is well worth going to...

Warburg Library Visit

Francois gave us a very interesting introduction into the history of this quite special library, its unusual classification system and their digitisation projects. http://warburg.sas.ac.uk/mnemosyne/entrance.htm shows the organisation of the library by subject, which reflects the main interests of the library's founder Aby Warburg. The chart is linked to a list of subjects which then is linked to the catalogue. This certainly is a great additional way of making the library's rich collection accessible.
Their digitisation projects started in 02/03 to increase accessability of rare and early printed books. The main problem they faced was that digitisation is quite time consuming so they have now mostly outsourced the actual action of taking pictures. Also they now work together with artstor, the picture database equivalent to jstor (great to browse: http://www.artstor.org/index.shtml). They have so far 530 books online, accessible through the catalogue. And Francois clearly pointed out: Through digitisation you reach a lot more people.

Commonwealth Studies Visit

Hello all, following Sheena's email of 16/01, here follows a brief account of our visit to the Institute of Commonwealth Studies and its library on the 16th of December 2008.

http://commonwealth.sas.ac.uk/
Their website is really worth a look- it's very impressive. Before we looked at the library, we were given a comprehensive introduction to the Institute, with particular focus on its virtual learning environment, the SAS StudyOnline program https://studyonline.sas.ac.uk/. This is well-organised and packed with information; it must be an invaluable tool for the Institutes' MA students.
As well as its books, journals and government publications, the library also houses the Institutes many important archives. I was very impressed both at the rare and unique collections of the library, and the abilities of the Institute to make the most of its electronic resources.

Welcome and start blogging!

Hello, all- I have managed to conquer my fear of blogging for long enough to follow the links and join- it seems quite good- v. easy. As the 'kind-of-informal-web editor' for the trainee website, I will be looking at the blog a lot and turning your comments into text for the website, which I'll approve with you before it goes online, obviously. Write in about anything, as this is a private blog, just open to those invited. I probably won't be putting everything on the website, but certainly our comments about visits, applying to librarianship courses, our general experiences as library trainees and being in the University of London, will be turned into fodder for our (soon to be) beautiful website- so start blogging- I'll be watching you!

All the best,
Katie