The Wellcome Library

The Wellcome Collection was established by Henry Wellcome, an eccentric medical enthusiast who is probably best described as a “funny sort of chap”. Those of us who had previously had the pleasure of wandering through his collections – where one can find torture chairs, a series of amputation knives, and forceps sitting alongside Florence Nightingale’s moccasins – were excited and intrigued about what could possibly follow.

After leaving the busy Euston Road and negotiating a bag check we were eager to see what awaited us. We were met by Elizabeth Graham of the Wellcome Collection library and after a brief history of the building and the Trust we were taken up to the start of the tour. The Wellcome Collection Library is a library that specialises in medical history and society. While open to the public its collection is reasonably specialised and frequent use is made by researchers and university students. It has a wide ranging collection, which broadly encompasses what we were told was the medical humanities.

Situated in the main site of the Wellcome Trust and recently renovated the layout is a contrast between timely vaulted reading rooms and wooden stacks with the open spaces and glass that often characterise modern library developments. It was a nice visual juxtaposition that highlighted some of the issues facing libraries in the changing information environment.

Throughout our visits so far a number of issues seem to keep cropping up and they were present here as well. We were told, for example, how the library is trying to encourage the public to enter the library as a widening of public engagement. Elizabeth enlightened us on the issues of space and digital resources, where libraries are facing constraints on storage space that are leading to an increase in digital subscriptions as well as user demand. Finally we were told how many library initiatives are often led by user interaction. The Wellcome Library also has some other issues of its own, such as accommodating three classification systems.

I think I speak for the group when I say that special mention must also be made of un-put-downable-cups and the scanners that have replaced the photocopiers. They capture digital images of the pages while allowing users to browse the book, which looks like a space age future in contrast to the mechanical dinosaurs that inhabit most other libraries, coughing out paper copies when not choking on errant sheets stuck somewhere within the machinery. Or perhaps that’s just me.

Anyway, after the tour we were taken past the special collections room to a presentation on the web site. The blog is the main feature of the homepage and rather than being an after-thought provides good information on the features of the Wellcome Collection. We were told how staff are encouraged to develop ideas for the blog and that it functions as a good way for librarians to communicate their findings. The presentation finished with a mention of the digitalisation projects and how they are integrated on the catalogue, especially when the catalogue includes non-textual material, as well as experiments in web 2.0 features like the ability for users to tag within the catalogue.

The tour was an interesting insight into the latest developments in libraries as well as an exciting and innovative place to work. We left clutching free pens and pencils and before stepping back into the noisy modern world on Euston Road, a couple of us returned to the public collection of Henry Wellcome, who was definitely a funny sort of chap.

Matthew Seddon City University Library

Web 2.0

The term Web 2.0 seems to confuse people to the point of being counter productive, so I thought I’d try to get some kind of definition out of the way to begin with. For most people who use the internet regularly for business and leisure, Web 2.0 is something that comes naturally, and I personally find it quite difficult to express, other than by giving examples.

So, as I understand it, Web 1.0 is a term associated with providers simply posting pages on the web and users then accessing those pages. Web 2.0 seems to be the next logical step from there, where users have the ability to add, edit and indeed argue with the providers. A good example of this is Wikipedia, which I’m sure we’ve all used. This eliminates static content, making it much more dynamic and shareable, and allows for better communication between the user and the provider. A Wikipedia link might help here…

By the by, feel free to comment and let me know if you think I’ve got something wrong – in the true spirit of Web 2.0!

Colin Homiski explained this in a far more succinct and clear manner when we went to hear him speak in the Institute of Historical Studies. Colin is the Music, Art and Romance Languages & Literatures Librarian for Senate House Library. The bulk of his talk involved discussing the different ways that this kind of application is used on the web today, and how this can be useful in (mainly academic) libraries.

Rather than write a blow by blow account of Colin’s presentation*, I’ll try to touch on a few of the key ideas and web sites briefly.

The potential of using Web 2.0 based applications in libraries seems huge. One aspect of Web 2.0 that Colin discussed in some depth was social bookmarking and tagging.

Perhaps the first idea which would spring to mind would be inviting members to tag the library catalogue. One of the advantages of this approach is that the role of (often) stuffy and thus limited vocabulary can be reduced, allowing members to tag with words that they would be more inclined to associate with a particular resource. Further, this allows students or academics to tag a number of resources onto a reading list for a course, essay question, seminar, etc. This would be a huge timesaver for both academics and students, allowing the professor to tag the resources (paper-free), and the students to locate them with the click of a button.

One library that has tried out tagging using Encore is the Wellcome Library. An example: a book about Gray’s Anatomy is tagged with ‘wellcome collection further reading dissection’, which, when selected, will then take users to the rest of that reading list.

When some of the trainees visited the Wellcome Collection, Elizabeth Graham, the Education, Training & Resources Team Leader, expressed her initial worries that users would tag with nonsense and inappropriate vocabulary – however, this has yet to catch on; hopefully it never will!
Delicious is an example of a social bookmarking site which allows users to manage their bookmarks both for themselves and for others to see. Using Delicious, libraries could bookmark anything with a URL, which can be more than just static websites! Internally, libraries can use this type of site to allow for better communication and interface between members and staff, but they can also introduce this service to their members as a research tool. This type of site also relies on tagging, and can therefore be extremely useful for quickly finding out how others have explored a certain subject. Colin’s Delicious page is a good example of how librarians can use these resources. Librarians can also publish their tag clouds on their own websites, as Stanford University library has done. This allows users to access tagged e-resources easily and directly from their library website.
Scribd is another resource similar to Delicious; however, rather than managing and tagging bookmarks, Scribd is a way of managing documents. Librarians can use this independently to publish and tag their own documents, or libraries can draw together documents which they feel are useful for their members.

Personally, working in an academic library, I have found it extremely useful to be able to do a full-text search on Google Books. This has allowed me to assess the suitability of a book for a member, as well as to help members find out the exact text from which they copied a quote. The next step from this might be that libraries work with sites such as Google Books in order to incorporate full text searches into their catalogue – perhaps they do, my library certainly doesn’t! In my experience, this would be extremely beneficial to both members and library staff.

University-run digital repositories like SAS-Space are an invaluable resource for academics to publish their theses, articles etc, so that others can access them. This holds obvious advantages for those who publish and those who want to use articles for research. OAIster is a digital harvester which can search across these repositories – which Colin described as an academic Google (and is better in many ways than Google Scholar). Colin pointed out that this also keeps the price of journals down, which is always a good thing!

All of the examples of Web 2.0 in libraries given above explore the ways in which resources can be are collected, searched for, and the ways in which things can be described; which is what Web 2.0 is all about. There is so much more to this than the above, and I couldn’t possibly explore any more aspects (RSS feeds, wikis, blogging and Creative Commons licensing etc.) without far surpassing the 1,000 word mark! Some other these were discussed in Colin’s presentation, *the slides for which can be found on his Scribd page, and I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if you email him with any questions.

Alice Milner
Institute of Classical Studies
Joint Library of the Hellenic and Roman Societies

A Visit to the Westminister Reference Library

Westminster Reference Library appears to be easy to find so we all arrive too early. There is a cold wind blowing from Leicester Square and we decide to wait inside the library. However, Eveleen Rooney welcomes us in straight away and ushers us to the staff kitchen where we sit down on the couches and arm chairs and are served coffee and tea.

Following a sociable introduction, Peter Collins takes us to the front hall of the building and explains about history of library. Isaac Newton and Fanny Burney have lived on this site. The library itself was built in 1928. He then goes on to tell us how, in the present day, the library essentially has two special collections: Arts and Business. And although it is a public reference library, it has 10.000 (art) lending books. The library has 12 members of staff.

We are taken on a tour around part of the building by Eveleen Rooney, starting on the ground floor. This floor is a heavily used space, with books on law and business. This is also where one of the Westminster libraries’ Business Information Points (BIPs) is located. The BIP consists of computers with access to business resource databases, surrounded by shelves with useful book material. The BIP’s aim is to support local enterprise as well as researchers. Eveleen’s job has changed a lot from back room cataloguing to front of house service communicating over the past years, she tells us. Eveleen then takes us to the oldest part of the building: a cold and damp cellar, part of Newton´s house. Moving on to the newer part of the basement, we find the official publications, which are reference only. All books have barcodes and when returned they are marked as used to keep records. The mezzanine is yet another part of the basement, with a very low ceiling. This is where the serials are kept.

On the first floor we are met by Peter again, who shows us the Art & Design collection. The collection comprises 40.000 reference volumes, such as current art magazines. As Peter explains, this part of the library holds materials strong in breadth rather than depth. Another feature of the library is its long opening hours, which is an advantage to the National Art Library. This floor also has an exhibition space. Wooden banisters and book cases, coupled with the calm atmosphere, make this floor an attractive space. 80% of the art and design books are not on open access but can be retrieved in the blink of an eye.

Peter then takes us to the second floor, home of the Art lending library. Like the first floor, this collection is very much geared towards picture research. We walk across the floor and through a door leading to Peter’s work space. His desk is hidden behind shelves with large photography books and in fact buried in art books. We gather around it and learn all about the diverse events that have taken place in the library in the past years. Workshops, talks and tours, book launches and gigs. Theatre space is created by rolling the stacks away, as they are on wheels. Even a knitting group meets regularly amid the bookshelves. Westminster Reference Library is fortunate to have certain celebrities come and use the library. We leave this versatile library with a sense of surprise.

Geri van Essen
Institute of Historical Research Library

Westminster Reference Library

Here is the photo from yesterday's visit..

Applying to Study Library And Information Science… And Beyond: A One-Day Conference

A wide range of speakers provided us with valuable insight into what a career in the LIS field requires, what the dos and don’ts are when applying to Library School, going for an interview, and how libraries and information provision are changing.

The conference was kicked off by Julie Holmes, the Director of Libraries at London Metropolitan University. Her presentation focused on the changing nature of academic libraries. She stressed the importance of fundraising and marketing skills in a time when the political and economic climate is less than favourable towards libraries and academic institutions. It was very encouraging to hear her stress the reasons why professional librarians are, and will always be, indispensable in university libraries. Hearing her take on what the most important skills and attributes are for an aspiring librarian was particularly interesting. Diplomacy and negotiation skills are perhaps not the first skills that come to mind when one thinks of a librarian, but they are becoming increasingly important in a climate in which libraries have to defend their reason for existence.

Holmes’ presentation was primarily concerned with outlining the difficulties and challenges academic libraries are facing, whereas the presentation of the next speaker, Vanda Broughton, Programme Director for the MA in Library Studies at UCL, focused entirely on the conference’s actual topic: applying to study Library and Information Science. I believe that for most of us her presentation was the most useful part of the day. She talked us through all the stages of applying for a place on a course, from writing a letter and a CV to going for an interview and applying for funding. The latter was very useful, as it shed a light on the complex labyrinth of rules and regulations that is the AHRC website. Her advice on tailoring our CV to the application and on what to write in the personal statement have been of great help to me when completing my applications, and I am sure that her advice on what (not) to say at library school interviews will prove to be helpful as well.

The last speaker of the morning, Sarah Ison, Assistant Information Adviser at the University of Brighton, talked about CILIP and their Career Development Group of which she is part. It was interesting to hear more about CILIP groups and the benefits of joining CILIP. The following lunch break gave me the chance to meet several other trainees, all from institutions in and around London. Being the only trainee at Surrey, it was nice to listen to other trainees’ stories of exasperating readers, stubborn members of staff and the endless search of missing books.

The afternoon was dedicated to presentations of and Q and A sessions with recent LIS graduates. Although I have a clear idea of what types of careers I am interested in, it was very interesting to hear more about careers within the LIS field that I did not know about before. Chris Brown, for instance, works as a Research Reserve Coordinator at Imperial College, and Sian Blake coordinates the Customer Services at Kingston. Both stressed the fact that many skills gathered from previous roles and careers will come in useful at a LIS job, and they also talked about what they had learnt from working in the LIS field..

Other recent graduates joined them for the Q and A session. Although this was a good idea, I did not find most of the questions particularly useful, as they mainly focused on the various library courses. The answers to most of these questions can easily be found on the universities’ websites. Perhaps it would have been better if we had been given some time to think over what questions we wanted to ask first. However, overall I would say that this conference was very well-organised, and it provided aspiring librarians with a clear overview of what the current issues in the field are, of what is required of a modern librarian and of what library schools expect of their applicants. Now all we need to do is get into the library school of our choice, gain a qualification and start our careers…


Erika Delbecque
University of Surrey

A Visit to the Institute of Historical Research

On 23rd November 2010, a group of eager trainees met at Senate House, on Russell Square, for a visit to the Institute of Historical Research library (http://www.history.ac.uk/library). We were privileged to be addressed by four excellent speakers who worked at the library, and heard what their extremely varied jobs involved.

First up was Jennifer Higham, the IHR Librarian, who explained the special role the library plays in historical research. The IHR library is part of the School of Advanced Study at the University of London, and mainly collects primary sources. Their catalogue has a high proportion of older books, classified using the library’s unique shelf marking system (details here: www.history.ac.uk/library/collections/collection-details). It is a reference-only library, offering access to postgraduates and staff at universities across the UK, and to external subscribers upon request. Particularly memorable was her analogy of the IHR library as a workshop, containing the tools of the trade for historians.

Bruce Tate presented to us about British History Online (www.british-history.ac.uk), a digital library currently being compiled at the Institute. He offered a fascinating insight into the digitisation, explaining in detail the scanning process, which reaches an astonishing 99.995% accuracy rate. He impressed on us the requirements for digital libraries to be durable, versatile, and flexible and for the resources to be accurate. He explained that the cheaper alternative to scanning books, OCR (Optical Character Recognition), has a far higher margin of error; quality digital resources are essential for useful and usable information.

The Reviews in History e-journal (www.history.ac.uk/reviews/) is also produced at IHR, and Danny Millum spoke to us about this. The publication provides 2000-3000 word reviews of newly published history books and resources that assist historical research. The publication sits well within the IHR’s remit of supporting, but not taking part in research. He explained his role to us: liaising with academics to commission reviews, editing the publication and maintaining it online.

Finally, Simon Baker from the Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH) spoke about his role. BBIH has undergone significant changes in the last eight years, changing format from a physical volume produced annually (since 1975) to a free online service in 2002, and now a subscription service. He spoke about the difficulties he encounters working with the database, including the need for stable URLs and issues of public funding. However, he also explained the many advantages of the digital format such as a standardised indexing, more regular updates (three times per year) and links to online text and external sites. His job includes sifting vast amounts of information from the British Library, publishers and up to 650 journals to manually select data to add to BBIH.

Each one of our expert speakers demonstrated the breadth of work that takes place in and around the library: librarianship, digitisation, databasing and e-publishing. Particularly striking was that even in a library heavy with the aroma of mature books, new technology is still of vital importance. We thoroughly enjoyed a hearty round of tea and party rings, too!

Oliver Henderson-Smith

Cass Business School

City University

Welcome to the 2010/2011 blog!

Visit updates to come...