Creativity in Education -Sir Ken Robinson

Creativity is the new sought-after attribute of graduates. Noel Meyers sent through the link to this interesting (and funny) conference talk on how our education system messes up our natural creativity. Well worth viewing.

Open Access publishing

BiomedCentral has launched a YouTube presence with clips of scientists discussing their research . There is a good clip on open access publishing and its benefits. Many of the arguments for OAP are the same as those we are using to promote Eprints.

Shift happens

Shift Happens is a new movement aimed at getting policymakers /legislators/educationist etc to rethink how education is approached, based on current statistical population and technology trends. This pretty impressive 8minute presentation is worth watching and will get you thinking about the importance of generic skills and our efforts at embedding etc.

Sharing, Privacy and Trust in our networked world

OCLC have just published a report on social networks and their potential for libraries. People from Germany, France, Canada, Japan, the UK and the US were interviewed to study practices of social networking and privacy issues from both the client and librarian's point of view. The report is very long at 280 (!) pages and I've only just started flicking (or scrolling) through it so I can't really comment on its contents yet.

For anyone who is interested it can be found at:

http://www.oclc.org/reports/sharing/

Library Arcade Games

The Carnegie Mellon University Libraries in Pittsburgh have produces two Library arcade games. Go to:

http://www.library.cmu.edu/Libraries/etc/index.html

See how fast you can reshelve book using LoC or how you can answer a multitude of reference questions as well as keep the people waiting happy.

article on scopus/RQF

http://www.campustechnology.com/articles/50416/

Iraq Librarian's Diary

The British Library hosts the diary of Dr Saad Eskander who is the Director of the Iraq National Library and Archive (INLA). Over a 9 month period to the end of July 2007 Dr Eskander describes what it is like to run a library during wartime. For anyone who may be interested in reading the diary it can be found at:

http://www.bl.uk/iraqdiary.html

Thanks

Katrina

Measuring Impact and Quality.

An article that might be useful:

Title: Measuring Impact and Quality.

Authors: Tenopir, Carol

Source: Library Journal; 01/09/2007, Vol. 132 Issue 14, p30-30, 1p, 1c

Document Type: Article

Full Text Word Count: 667

ISSN: 0363-0277

Accession Number: 26520777

Database: Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre

Another one - the way of the future?

Journey into use of free software, open formats, open access, and open licensing in academia

Interesting article on students' ICT expectations

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/news/stories/2007/09/expectations.aspx

Online textbooks

This (short) article in Chronicle of Higher Education warns students don't like using e-textbooks exclusively, but more as a supplement to print. It's pretty interesting, and a good argument to keep supporting print as well as online.

Clinical Library Blog

Ian and I have established a blog for the Clinical Library. It can be viewed at:

http://utasclinlib.blogspot.com/

We would appreciate your feedback before we commence our campaign to market it to our client groups.

Thanks

Katrina

ABS blog for Librarians

Check out the great new ABS Blog for Librarians. It should be useful for any librarian wrestling with keeping up-to-date with statistics.

One of the first things I found there was this stunning video of a lecture by Hans Rosling which seems to show (all at once):

1. How to give a great lecture
2. The power of statistics
3. Why statistics need not be boring
4. How to cure all the worlds problems!

Warning: its 20minutes long...but worth it!

Faculty team effectiveness

Hi All
On 18 May 2007, I responded in Knowledge base to a post by Roger on self-managed teams.
I have had no response to my views particulary on their relevance for Faculty liaison team service delivery .
I would very much appreciate any responses that takes issue with my views as they may have implications for the model of best practice.
Regards
Ian Barton (31/08/2007)

In-House Librarian, Arts Hobart

The Arts In-House Librarian visits in Hobart had to cease for a while because we lost our room in the Arts building!


After a lot of deliberation, they found us another room and Roger or Kate will be going over to the School of Government Resource Room on Level 5 of Arts each Monday from 12-2pm. This time we are going to advertise a little more widely by putting up posters in strategic locations. Perhaps we will see some undergrads this way as well as PGs and staff.

RSS

Hi all,
Just a heads up the EBSCO is now RSS-ing all its publications (FT of most interest, obviously). There are some great library journals in this DB, and RSS-ing them means you can get updates easily without having to check the electronic version regularly or trawl through the print copy. Just click on the little orange RSS button and paste the link into bloglines or whatever reader you subscribe to.
Kate

New pages

Hi all,
By now you should be aware that we have exciting new tours and workshops pages, at:
http://www.utas.edu.au/library/assist/tours_workshops.html (and associated links). I thought this would be a good forum to let me know if there are any problems or issues you have with the pages.
Let me know what you think!
Kate G :o)

EndNote with Windows Vista

Endnote 9 has known incompatibilities with Word 2007. The full story is available from the EN support site.
The crucial problem is the non-appearance of the Word toolbar.
The fix for this is to put these two files (zipped here) into the Word Startup folder (as described in help site).
The real problem is that Windows hides many files by default including the directory you need for this.
You can find out how to unhide Vista files and folders at:
http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/1269/vista_show_unhide_file_extensions
This is a crucial step in helping Vista users with Endnote.
Note: I have noted some variations with location and arrangement of icons on the Vista Explorer toolbar, but the functions are all there if you look carefully.

Using the New UTAS Liaison Librarian Blog

Blog guidelines
Post on any topic of interest to other LLs
You can comment on a post using the comment button at the bottom of the post.
Please put logical topic labels into the label field. If something is particularly applicable to your faculty please make a label like this: ARTS or LAW. Labels are the basic index of the entire archive.
RSS
You can track the blog using an RSS reader like Bloglines (which Kate likes) or GoogleReader (which I use). Just click the link at the very bottom of the blog page and it will lead you through the process.
Security
Do not post anything that you are unwilling for someone outside the Library to read: the blog is 'public' in that it can be searched and read by anyone. However, only those enrolled by the moderator can post or make comments.
The moderator can edit or delete posts if you want something changed. What you write can be changed on request if you make an absolute gaffe.
The moderator is currently Roger Carter.

Austlit Subsets

Hi all,
This is me with my Literature hat on.

I just want to highlight the Austlit Subsets if you are unaware of them.
The latest Austlit news has a link to news about the Australian Children's Literature subset.
Those of you with Education responsibilities should be aware of this.
Also on the left toolbar of this page are links to other subsets, which include "Black words" (relevant to Riawunna), "Responses to Asia" (relevant to Asian studies?), "Australian popular theatre' (relevant to VPA/Music?), "SA women" (rel to Gender Studies?) and other regional subsets like Tasmania, WA and Tropical Aust.
Also you should be aware of the major research project being led by Philip Mead in English to add to the Tasmanian Subset. This has been very successful and large numbers of previously hidden works are now listed in Austlit.

Arts Hobart -In-House Librarian

This post is to update you on the "In-House Librarian" initiative I started last year and have just re-started.
About this time last year I had the idea of making myself available for consultation at a regular time in the Arts building here in Hobart. The main aim was to increase our visibility with staff and postgrads in particular and to show we were willing to engage with them on their own 'turf'.
I proposed this at an Arts T&LC meeting and it was quite enthusiastically received, so I went ahead and managed to find a room which was vacant each Friday during semester teaching weeks.
The room I got is in a handy position on Level 5 of Arts, very close to the Faculty executive area. Lots of people go past the room.
I commenced the experiment just before the end of Semester 1 2006 and continued during the teaching weeks until the end of Semester 2 2006. I usually managed to get there most Fridays for 2 hours and alternated between mornings and afternoons.
I always email my intention to visit on the day before, inviting staff and students to drop in and stating the time and place. This email is distributed via liaison librarians to school secretaries and thence to Hobart staff and postgrads.
My opinion and user feedback showed that it was much appreciated. I felt it was useful for me and the clients. In addition, I had a number of visitors that we never or rarely see in the Library.

I therefore determined to try again in 2007, but uncertainties with the room availability delayed me. Consequently I have only just started again for 2007 but hope to continue as regularly as possible each Friday. I also hope to get Scott and/or Kate to take a turn occasionally as well if possible (Katrina did one session last year).
I borrow a laptop from Rodney who was fantastic in ensuring that I was fully set up with complete network connectivity. I can therefore do my own work, access the P and N drive etc when no customers are there. I also take my DEC roving phone with me and it works OK in that location.

My first session for 2007 was last Friday afternoon as I was overwhelmed by what happened. I was able to give detailed advice to two postgrads and had a long multi-topic talk with a very senior academic. Instead of my scheduled 2 hours, I was there for closer to 3! My conclusion was that this is a service which puts the clients at ease and encourages them to just drop in and discuss a issues. It certainly seems to offer a liaison opportunity we have not had before.

Others have mentioned the possibility of doing something similar in other locations. I would encourage you to try it, but get faculty support first and a good location and setup with equipment etc.
Roger

New Serials Solutions Article Linker

Hi all,
have just been having a play around with this. Now, I may be a naive, "newbie" Librarian, but I think it looks great. Much less clunky than Crossearch and with so many more options and functions - and it's "prettier"! First impressions say "yay"!
What does everyone else think?
Kate G

an interesting website

Hi All,

I came across the following website: Wordchamp at:

http://www.wordchamp.com

i thought it might be useful for Asian and European languages plus it could be a useful for education too. The site allows users to create their own lessons.

What do people think about about adding to subject guide.

I was thinking of adding a section for useful online resources for Education. Any thoughts?

Research workshops

Dear all,

FYI
I was recently invited to attend the school of Asian Languages and studies research workshops approx. 1 per week. Ok the topic of the workshop arose and i my enthusicate enquiry gained an invitation. At the moment not quite sure how this will work but it may mean that i might field some questions or do a small presentation.

Will keep you posted.

BA Information Literacy Concept Plan

Many of you know that I am enrolled in the Grad Cert in Uni Learning & Teaching. I am currently enrolled in ELT503, the second last unit I have to do (yes!!).
For my latest assignment I chose to develop a Concept Plan for info lit in the BA degree.
I would like to use my assignment as the basis of a plan I can present to Arts T&LC.
Note that this is a concept plan that might later be expanded to cover all Arts Faculty degrees.

Could I ask for comments on my plan which can be found at:
N:\PVC-T&L\Library\Functional Documents\Information Services\_Arts\Teaching_learning\BA InfoLit Project\InfoLit for the BA Concept Plan.doc

I apologize for the academic nature of the plan, but it is substantially the same as the assignment I have just submitted for ELT503.
My aim now is to produce, with your help and suggestions, a simpler, actionable plan that can be presented to Faculty T&LC.
As you give me feedback and suggestions I will develop a new document for ATLC. It would be good if I could present something to their 25th May Meeting.
Thanks
Roger

Notes on using the blog

The blog automatically archives posts by date on the right of your screen so you can trawl back to past posts that way.
To find posts and comments on a topic, just do a keyword search in the box at top left.
Try to keep the same thread together by replying to comments rather than starting a new post each time....this will keep our conversations more coherent if we keep topic thread together.
Note that when you post you can add extra labels for better retrieval later if you wish.
It might be a good idea to add a label when you make a new post on a new topic??

If you intend to start an important conversation on a new topic (which in reality is a bit like a meeting agenda item) email everyone in the team to alert them to start using the blog. That way we will get full team participation on each topic.

Just some suggestions.
Roger

I'm not convinced.....

Hate to dampen everyone's enthusiasm but I am not convinced that bloggs are the way to go. I will be happy to be proved wrong but I don't see how this improves on good ol' email. However it is worth experimenting and if not entirely successful in this format it may be just what the doctor ordered in another context. My impression of bloggs are that they are ok for a one way flow of information but not that good as a discussion/chat tool. What do others think?