New Head of Academic Services at Swansea

Congratulations to Lori Havard who is now Head of Academic Services for the Library, responsible for front of house Library services and Subject Librarian teams.

JISC Content: An introduction to digital collections and archives

Over the last decade JISC has licensed and digitised a large number of collections on behalf of the UK academic community.

There is now a new site which has been set up to provide a more user friendly way of navigating the content that JISC funding has helped make available to the HE and FE communities: http://www.jisc-content.ac.uk/

The site is a gateway that provides an brief descriptions of each collection, and offers users different ways to browse through these descriptions, and learn more about what is on offer.

The content currently includes material licensed by JISC Collections and material digitised via the two phases of the Digitisation Programme, the Enriching Digital Resources strand, and the first phase of the JISC – NEH (National Endowment for Humanities) Transatlantic work.

Let Paul Robeson Sing!

Swansea University has launched a new learning resource about Paul Robeson, the world renowned singer, actor and civil rights activist, and his links with Wales at the National Eisteddfod.

The bilingual learning resource has been developed by the South Wales Miners’ Library, Swansea University with the financial support of the Welsh Assembly Government and will be part of the new online People’s Collection Wales.

http://wales.gov.uk/newsroom/cultureandsport/2010/100803robeson/?lang=en

Welsh Voices of the Great War Online

Welsh Voices of the Great War Online is a digital community heritage project established and co-ordinated by the School of History & Archaeology at Cardiff University which will run until February 2011. The project seeks to gather, catalogue and make public an undiscovered treasure trove of World War 1 artefacts and memorabilia which remain in private hands.

http://www.welshvoices.com/

Wales in a website launches at Eisteddfod

Capturing a nation in one website is no easy task, but that is exactly what has been done with People’s Collection Wales / Casgliad y Werin Cymru, a brand new site that uses pioneering technology to tell the story of Wales through the eyes of its people.

http://www.peoplescollectionwales.co.uk/

The People’s Collection Wales is a contemporary, interactive and bilingual online experience dedicated to the history of Wales and its people. It is a rich cultural and social treasure trove that charts the human story of Wales with an archive of reminiscences, photographs, video and audio for future generations.

The site brings the story to life using GPS technology that allows the viewer to travel over the landscape of Wales and travel back and forth in time, while viewing artefacts in 3D. And the free site will build over time as contributions create people’s own personal collections.

http://wales.gov.uk/newsroom/cultureandsport/2010/100802peoplescollection/?lang=en

Historic Welsh ballads online for a new global audience

Historic news once sung on street corners is now being captured online in a virtual resource. 4,000 ballads from 18th and 19th century Wales are launching on a website run by Cardiff University and the National Library of Wales.

The songs document the important issues of their day, such as workers’ rights and crime, as well as local festivals and village gossip.

Funded through a £66,000 grant from JISC, the project has completed a network of digital resources giving access to these precious documents. Academic editor of the Welsh Ballads project, Dr Wyn James of Cardiff University’s school of Welsh, commented: “Ballads were the ‘daily newspapers’ for the poor throughout the 18th and 19th Centuries, and were sold cheaply and widely at markets, fairs, and villages; they communicated news on local matters and overseas events of the day. “We have selected around 15,000 pages of rare Welsh and English language ballads and have now made them available for audiences around the world to study and enjoy.”

Ben Showers, programme manager at JISC, said: “The Welsh Ballads project puts in place the final piece of a national jigsaw of digitised ballads. Adding to the ballad collections of England and Scotland this new archive will help make this a unique and indispensable resource for researchers, students and interested members of the public. “This project is part of JISC’s continued work to enhance collections of significance, and ensure that resources are not left in isolation, but brought together for the benefit of research, teaching and learning for everyone.” Digitisation of the ballads collections was carried out in Cardiff University’s information services directorate and the National Library of Wales.

“With the funding from JISC we are able to put ballads studies in Wales on the world map, comparable with the best of other ballads projects in Britain and America,” said Janet Peters, director of university libraries at Cardiff. “Two rare ballads collections are now available from one website at Cardiff, jointly linked with a full catalogue and scanned pages at the National Library.”

Cardiff University also intends to make a small selection of sung audio recordings of some rare Welsh ballads available later in the year.

Listen to a pilot recording at: http://www.cf.ac.uk/insrv/libraries/scolar/digital/welshballads/wg3526030.html

Access the collection at: http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/insrv/libraries/scolar/digital/welshballads.html

Find out about how JISC is developing online content for teaching, learning and research at: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/digitisation.aspx

SCONUL announces appointment of Ann Rossiter as new Executive Director

The Society of College, National and University Libraries (SCONUL) is delighted to announce the appointment of Ann Rossiter as Executive Director from 13 September. Ann has considerable experience in policy development and public communications. Her most recent role was as a special adviser in government where her work included higher education and intellectual property policy.  Previously she ran the think-tank, the Social Market Foundation, and was a director of the communications consultancy Fishburn Hedges.  She began her career conducting research for the BBC.
 
Ann Rossiter said:
 
“SCONUL has a well-deserved reputation for delivering value for its members, and I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to build on the excellent work done by out-going Secretary, Toby Bainton, and the SCONUL team.
 
“The current policy and fiscal environment presents significant challenges for national and academic libraries. I and the Board are keen to ensure that SCONUL works with, and on behalf of, members to help meet these challenges in a creative way.”
 
Fiona Parsons, Chair of the SCONUL Board said:
 
“We are delighted to welcome Ann to a new role as Executive Director. Ann’s extensive background in public policy and communications will be invaluable in supporting our members and ensuring that their voice is heard on the national stage.”

Launch of the Researcher Development Statement (RDS)

Launched this week, the Researcher Development Statement (RDS) is for policy makers and research organisations that provide personal, professional and career development for researchers in higher education. It sets out the knowledge, behaviours and attributes of effective and highly skilled researchers appropriate for a wide range of careers.

The Researcher Development Statement is derived from the Researcher Development Framework (RDF), a major new approach to researcher development, which aims to enhance our capacity to build the UK workforce, develop world-class researchers and build our research base. Researchers are critical to economic success, addressing major global challenges, and building a leading knowledge economy.

It recognises that information seeking and information literacy are key skills for researchers.

Download the Researcher Development Statement

More from:
http://www.vitae.ac.uk/policy-practice/275981/Launch-of-the-Researcher-Development-Statement-RDS.html

Mentor Training in Wales

Date: 3rd September 2010, 0930 – 16.30

Location: University of Glamorgan, Treforest Campus, Pontypridd

A one day workshop run by PTEG on behalf of CILIP

PTEG Members - £15 (inc VAT) 

Non-PTEG Members - £30 (inc VAT)

(Membership of PTEG as an additional CILIP Group costs £10) Half day for CILIP update only £8.00

The purpose of this course is to provide participants with a background to mentoring, a basic framework for conducting mentoring both long and short term.  The focus of the event is to enable participants to develop effectively as mentors in the context of the CILIP professional development scheme.

Mentor Training is a requisite for becoming a CILIP Mentor and this course is suitable for all CILIP members who have recently registered as CILIP mentors or are thinking of registering. Do come along and find out more about the mentoring scheme. 

By the end of the day participants will:

Understand the function of mentoring in the CILIP CPD process
Have had the opportunity to explore and experience mentoring
Be able to make an assessment of their capability as mentors and identify their development needs in this area

Members who have previously attended a course on mentoring skills may attend the afternoon only (14.00-16.30) to join in the elements relating to the CILIP scheme.

Facilitator: Carol Brooks

To book contact: carol.brooks@derbyshire.gov.uk