CILIP Umbrella Conference 2011 – link to my presentation…

On Tuesday I attended the annual CILIP Umbrella conference for the first time. I had been invited by LIRG to present the findings of my literature review on methodologies for measuring the value of public libraries. Here’s a link to my presentation and a link to the final paper; and a selection of links to interesting library valuation studies that I’ve published on Voices for the Library.

I had a great time at the conference.  Lots of networking opportunities, lively debates and friendly faces.  Hoping to return next year 🙂

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Librarians and blogging…

© Blogging Librarian on Flickr

A few months ago Peter Chapman, editor of Refer approached me and Jo Alcock (after fellow blogger Jennie Law recommended us) to co-author an article on librarians and blogging for the Autumn edition of Refer: The Journal of the Information Services Group. Our article is now available online if you want to check it out.

Not only was this a really interesting article to research, but it was also a completely new experience for me in terms of collaboration.  Although I’ve never met Jo I’ve known her for a few years now via social media websites like Facebook and Twitter.  We made full advantage of a range of web 2.0 tools, such as wikis, blogs, microblogs and social bookmarking  to write our article and it was an absolute pleasure to work with Jo on this project. 🙂  Jo has also blogged about the process of co-authoing an article with somebody you’ve never met before!

Hope you enjoy the article! 🙂

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Public libraries & social media…

A few months ago I blogged about my experiences of trying to access social media websites at The Mitchell Library in Glasgow.    After that, I was invited to write an article on a similar topic, for Information Scotland.  The article appeared in the April 2009 issue but has just been published online.  You can access it here.

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CILIP celebrates the best in children’s books

The shortlist for the 2008 Carnegie Medal for outstanding children’s writing and the Kate Greenaway Medal for exceptionally illustrated children’s books has just been announced.  

The Carnegie Medal is one of the few awards that I actually look forward to.  Each year the shortlist and eventual winners are always of such a high quality that their work rivals the recipients of many of the more high profile book awards.  Well, for me anyway!  Especially those books that have successfully ‘crossed over’ into the adult market; Just in Case (Meg Rosoff), Millions (Frank Cottrell Boyce), Junk (Melvyn Burgess) and A Gathering Light (Jennifer Donnelly).

I look forward to ‘discovering’ fresh new voices from this year’s shortlist!  The judging panel, as always, will have a very tough job in declaring an overall winner!

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Director of Malawi National Library Service wins prestigious CILIP award

CILIP have just announced Mr. Gray Nyali as the recipient of the 2008 International Library and Information Group (ILIG) Award.  This award honours librarians “making a difference in Libraries and Information Services outside of the U.K.”

As Director of Malawi ‘s National Library Service, Mr. Nyali has worked extensively with Book Aid International and various other partners to deliver a public library service that enables the people of Malawi to enjoy democratised access to information, books, education, news, social spaces… 

Having read a bit about Mr. Nyali’s work I can see why CILIP chose to honour him.  His work demonstrates the true social value of the public library service and the potential impact that the service can have on the lives of individuals and the community. 

Congratulations Mr. Gray Nyali, you’re an inspiration to librarians worldwide!

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