Last night at the CILIP Cymru Wales conference in Cardiff, the winners of the inaugural Welsh librarian of the year award were announced.
The academic sector librarian winner was Lori Havard of Swansea University and the public librarian winner was Bethan Hughes from Denbighshire.
Lori was also awarded overall Welsh Librarian of the Year award.
Many congratulations to Lori! Well deserved!
Rebecca Mogg from Cardiff University Libraries attended this year’s UK Serials Group (UKSG) Conference in Bournemouth with financial support from the Kathleen Cooks Bequest Fund. With Rebecca’s help we can all update our knowledge on open access publishing, supporting researchers, the fascinating realities of the world of the digital student, altmetrics [a new one for this blog] and developments in library technology. Rebecca clearly returns to her workplace with a number of innovations to experiment with. Always the sign of an excellent conference!
Read Rebecca’s report at: http://cilipcymruwales.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/uk-serials-group-conference.html
The Forum for Interlending and Information Delivery (FIL) are delighted to confirm that the only UK annual conference specifically for and about the world of inter-library loans, Interlend 2013, will take place on the 27th – 28th June at the The Maldron Hotel, Cardiff. Once again this will be an essential opportunity for inter-lending staff to meet, exchange news and best practice experiences with their colleagues across the public, academic and special library sectors.
Speakers and Theme
The core conference theme for 2013 is “Interlend 101: Back to Basics”, and as always the focus will be on providing practical guidance and advice from enthusiastic and knowledgeable speakers from throughout the profession. There will also be a tour of Cardiff Public Library.
We are delighted this year to have two keynotes to start both days, Prof Charles Oppenhiem and Graham P Cornish, who are both well versed in all things copyright, but will be taking two different approaches.
The Interlend 2013 conference is now available online at http://www.forumforinterlending.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Interlend-2013-Programme.pdf
Booking and Fees
FIL is delighted to be able to hold the cost of Interlend 2012 for FIL members, for another year, with an early bird special of just £199 for the whole conference!
This year we are pleased to offer delegates the opportunity to book their place online. Simply click on the big red ‘book online’ button on the FIL website: www.forumforinterlending.org.uk
We can also confirm that delegates are able to book bed & breakfast with the Maldron Hotel for the evening prior to Interlend 2013 (Wednesday 26th June) and the evening post Interlend 2013 (Friday 28th June) at the agreed rate of £69 single occupancy. Delegates are required to call the Maldron Hotel directly on 02920 668866, ask to speak to Reservations and quote ‘INTERLEND’ to arrange the accommodation.
News and announcements
For more news on the conference keep your eyes on the FIL website, Twitter feed and Facebook page.
Website: http://www.forumforinterlending.org.uk/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FIL_ILL
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/forumforinterlending
AGM and Committee Membership
The second day will see the FIL Annual General Meeting (AGM). The Committee especially welcomes approaches from personal and institutional members wishing to stand for election. For more details on what being a Committee member entails and the opportunities for professional development please contact the Chair or any other current Committee members for more details. Note standing for election does not require attendance at the AGM.
http://www.forumforinterlending.org.uk/who-we-are/list-of-committee-members
For further information on this conference, bookings or general queries contact the Committee at fil.committee@gmail.com
CILIP Cymru Wales is delighted to announce the long-list of 12 nominees for this, the inaugural Welsh Librarian of the Year Award.
The judging panel are diligently working on selecting a shortlist of nominees, and also the overall winner, who will be announced at the CILIP Cymru Wales Annual Conference Dinner, in Cardiff on 16th May. Sirsi-Dynix, the library technology specialists, are kindly sponsoring the Award, enabling a prize of £500 to be awarded to the winner
In the academic and research category, the following library and information professionals, who live and /or work in Wales have been nominated by their colleagues:
Good luck to everyone!
Posted in news, Welsh universities, workforce development
Subscribers in Wales will be pleased to know that ESO will continue to be freely available to all public organisations and individuals for the rest of 2013 using the current access arrangements.
From 2014 we are changing the business model and editorial strategy of ESO so that it will become a free access service to anyone throughout the world. At that point we will stop authentication procedures to gain access to ESO so there will be no need to notify us of IP addresses or request password access.
To discuss some of the thinking behind the changes taking place with ESO and to refresh you on what ESO can offer to seekers of European information within Wales, we are holding a short training session in Cardiff Central Library at 09:30 to 10:30 on Thursday 9 May 2013 in the Central Training Suite.
This session is part of an exciting day for Cardiff Central Library as they will be formally launching a new Europe Direct Information Centre on 9 May 2013 (Europe Day) and you are invited to take part in this event. To reserve your place both at the ESO Seminar and the wider event please email The Information Department at Cardiff Central Library infolibrary@cardiff.gov.uk or ring 029 2078 0963 / 0964. Even if you cannot attend the ESO Seminar at 09:30 Ian Thomson, Executive Editor of ESO will be manning a Cardiff EDC stand in the Central Library all day and can answer any queries you might have.
Ian Thomson, ESO Executive Editor
European Sources Online
Information Services, Cardiff University
Email: eso@cardiff.ac.uk
Web: www.europeansources.info
Head over to the CILIP Cymru Wales blog for a very interesting guest posting on Bücherhalle Hamburg by WHELF member Paul Jeorrett:
http://cilipcymruwales.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/guest-posting-bucherhalle-hamburg.html
Paul has written a photo blog on his recent visit to the Bücherhalle Hamburg whilst on holiday. It is fascinating to visit other library services, never more so than when in another country.
Paul Jeorrett is University Librarian and Head of Student Services at Glyndŵr University. Paul is a WHELF Representative and is the WHELF Observer on the CILIP Cymru Wales Executive Committee.
Posted in learning spaces
Leighton Andrews, Minister for Education and Skills, announced to the Higher Education Leadership Foundation in December last year that he intended to establish a working group to examine the potential for online digital learning and how the Welsh Government can support the higher education sector in this growing field.
From his recent Written Statement:
I am delighted that Andrew Green, [now retired] National Librarian of Wales, has agreed to chair the working group.
Welsh Universities are already engaged in a range of activities designed to maximise the benefits afforded by advances in learning technologies. In seeking to respond to the cultural shift in the expectations of students, universities are eager to engage through the latest online teaching methods. Globally, the advent of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) represents a new internet-based model for volume participation in higher education.
Such ventures are not new – the Open University has been offering open source material for some time. More recently, however, a series of MOOC ventures has been launched by some of the most prestigious global academic institutions such as Stanford, MiT and Harvard. Udacity and Coursera (which includes the University of Edinburgh) are among the pioneers for a new brand of for-profit online higher education providers. In just one year these new ventures have attracted over $100m of private venture capital investment. Whilst the long-term sustainability of such ventures may be open to question, the reach and quality of such disruptive innovations may have profound implications for the delivery of higher education in Wales. At the end of 2012 the Open University announced the launch of Futurelearn, with partners including Cardiff University, to produce a UK-based platform for massive open online courses.
Our aim is to ensure that Wales is well placed to continue to prosper in the face of such developments. The Working Group will be tasked with examining the potential for MOOCs and whether the Welsh higher education sector is sufficiently prepared to meet these challenges. I intend that its remit should go wider, however, to consider also the opportunities and challenges presented by the development of open educational resources more broadly.
The terms of reference for the Working Group will be to advise the Welsh Government on:
The Group will begin its work in March. I have asked Andrew Green to report to me by the end of September this year.
Posted in collaboration, learning & teaching, technology, Welsh universities
Tagged digital, MOOCs, online learning
