Moving files, saving energy – Cardiff’s Planet Filestore

Among the issues faced by UK universities and colleges, the carbon emissions from their ICT loom large. One cause of the growth in these emissions is demand for computing and in particular the ever-growing demand for data storage and data centres.

One way of tackling this demand has been explored by a JISC-funded project at Cardiff University.

 The team at Cardiff’s Information Services Directorate have been studying ways of storing computer files that can reduce the amount of energy used by computers for storage by over 80%.

Dubbed Planet Filestore, the project has developed an approach to storing data on disks with different energy consumption depending on the frequency with which the data is accessed. Data which is not used very often is moved to a disk which uses less power, thus saving electricity and money while still allowing users near instant access.

When put into full production at Cardiff University, it is anticipated that this will save the university 87600KW.h (or approximately 51 tonnes of CO2) per year which, at current prices, would cost around £10,000 per annum. These savings are likely to increase significantly with escalating storage requirements and energy costs. Environmental savings are also likely to be made in terms of space occupied, procurement, shipping, disposal and hazardous waste reduction.

Rob Bristow, JISC Programme Manager, said: “The approach piloted by Cardiff Information Services has the potential to make a real difference to the carbon footprint of universities if it is adopted across the sector. The more than £100 million that electricity for ICT costs the sector every year is likely to rise in the future and initiatives like this can make a real difference”.

The project has intentionally used techniques and technologies that will easily transfer to a wide range of corporate systems across the world, including those in education, research, public bodies and commercial companies.

Project leader Paul Rock said: “The greatest benefit will be felt if many more organisations were to use this kind of approach to minimise the energy footprint of their filestore. This would mean that the electricity and carbon savings arising from this project would scale dramatically”.

To help make this approach more widely available, JISC is funding Cardiff University Information Services to develop a web-based tool that universities and colleges can use to model the benefits of different scenarios of file storage in terms of environmental and economic savings.

Download the report and recommendations here:

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/greeningict.aspx

Cardiff University Information Services Planet Filestore project and other sustainability initiatives

Turning the Pages

New technology designed to allow users to virtually ‘turn’ the pages of digitised books has been unveiled in Cardiff by the University’s Vice-Chancellor.

Dr David Grant and Professor Elizabeth Treasure, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, visited Information Services’ Special Collections and Archives (SCOLAR) section where the new 40” digital 3D touch-screen and Turning the Pages software is based.

The new software will give users the opportunity to view some of Wales’ oldest books and manuscripts, which form part of the collection of 14,000 rare items transferred to the University earlier in the year.

Users will be able to turn pages in real-life 3D mode, zoom in, magnify images, and admire some of the magnificently illustrated books and manuscripts in the University’s collections.

SCOLAR’s purchase of the touch-screen and software, as part of a grant from the Wolfson Trust, makes Cardiff the first institution in Wales to use such technology to display digital rare books.

Head of SCOLAR, Peter Keelan, said: “Cardiff University is the first institution in Wales to use Turning the Pages, and with the support of the Assembly Government and Cymal, we will now be making available portable versions of Turning the Pages to tour Wales – another first for SCOLAR.”

http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/articles/turning-the-pages.html

Cardiff University’s Trevithick Library wins award for design

Library Design Awards show future of provision

The £32m David Wilson Library at Leicester University has won the prestigious SCONUL Library Design Award.  Cardiff University has taken the honours in the ‘smaller buildings’ category. 

The Award, presented by the Society of College National and University Libraries (SCONUL), rewards the best new or refurbished higher education libraries in national and university institutions. 

Ann Rossiter, Executive Director at SCONUL, said:
 
“There is a very real chance that students will be required to pay significantly more for higher education in the near future. Student demands therefore regarding quality of services are only going to increase.
 
“This Award shows the importance of providing these students with high quality design and comfort combined with state-of-the-art technologies. This quality of building and finish is going to become increasingly common.
 
“Libraries form an important part of a university’s offer and can be the difference between high and low levels of student satisfaction. Leicester’s building and student facilities have helped to significantly improve student satisfaction and offer a blueprint for how university’s can take advantage of the opportunities presented to them by their libraries.”

Sheila Cannell, chair of the judging panel said,

“Leicester’s Library is a benchmark and deserving winner, offering a beacon for quality design and scholarship in UK universities. The new space provides students with an exceptional learning environment. Importantly, it also recognises the changing demands of students.
 
“We have a robust judging process for the Design Award and the panel has travelled to the four corners of the UK and Ireland to examine the candidates. We have been extremely impressed by the overall quality of library design throughout.”

The ‘Smaller Buildings’ category won by Cardiff University is presented to developments of less than 2000 sq m.

The full list of Awards and winners includes:

Winner for Large Library Award:  Leicester University for the David Wilson Library

Winner for Small Library Award:  Cardiff University for Trevithick Library

Highly commended (3 libraries, all in Large Library Award category):  University College Cork for Postgraduate Research Library, University of Greenwich for Universities at Medway Drill Hall Library, University of Sheffield for Information Commons.

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

Cardiff University home for new information literacy project

Information Services at Cardiff University has become the home for a new project to establish a national Welsh framework for information literacy.

Funded by the Welsh Assembly Government’s CyMAL: Museums, Archives and Libraries Wales division as part of its Libraries for Life strategy, the project will develop a unified and progressive framework to support information literacy in schools, further and higher education, the workplace and the wider community.

This exciting project aims to raise awareness that information literacy is a key skill in the 21st century, one which will contribute to a whole host of social and academic benefits throughout Wales.

The project will be managed by Information Services’ Cathie Jackson, Senior Consultant in Information Literacy, who has recently been joined by the new Information Literacy Development Officer for Wales, Joy Head.

Joy and Cathie will be working closely with stakeholders throughout the education and libraries sectors in Wales to provide evidence of information literacy best practice via case studies, to highlight current work across all sectors and to map information literacy across the curriculum. Joy comes to the project with an extensive background in IT, project management and secondary school teaching which ideally complements the expertise of librarians in the all-Wales cross-sector steering group.

“The appointment of the new Information Literacy Development Officer for Wales, and decision to base the project here, further underlines Cardiff University’s positive national, and international, reputation for information literacy,” said Janet Peters, Director of Libraries and University Librarian.

“We know how important information literacy is to Cardiff University – information literacy is embedded into the curriculum for 56% of our students – but this project will explore the links between the kinds of information literacy skills needed in primary and secondary education, in further and higher education, and in employment and lifelong learning. Embedding information literacy training throughout education and employment in this way will enable Wales to capitalise on the benefits of information literacy, such as increasing social inclusion, enhancing academic achievement, and allowing all citizens to access key knowledge,” added Janet.   

Read more about information literacy at Cardiff University on our website – www.cardiff.ac.uk/insrv/infolit

For more information on the Welsh framework for information literacy, please contact Project Manager Cathie Jackson (JacksonCM@cardiff.ac.uk) or Joy Head (HeadJA1@cardiff.ac.uk).

Rare and antiquarian books to remain in Wales

A collection of 14,000 rare and antiquarian library books, some dating from the late 15^th century, are being saved for future generations to enjoy. A joint initiative between Cardiff Council, Cardiff University, the Welsh Assembly Government, and the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) has secured the books’ future at Cardiff University.

The collection will be held at Cardiff University’s Arts and Social Studies Library on Colum Drive, within Cardiff University’s Special Collections and Archives (SCOLAR).

Once conservation work has been carried out on the collection, members of the public will be able to access it by asking for a visitor pass from the entrance to the Library. In time they will also be able to view digitised versions of some of the most interesting works on the internet.

The collection is of enormous historical and academic value, including examples of some of the earliest printed books from around 1500, through to special press books produced in the early 20th century.

http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/articles/investment-secures-rare-book-collection.html

A ‘Day in the Life…’ behind the scenes of Libraries!

A new website has been launched which reveals the ‘behind the scenes’ activities of the library during Cardiff University’s 125th anniversary year – the ‘Day in the Life’.
http://www.cf.ac.uk/insrv/aboutus/dayinthelife/index.html

Janet Peters, University Librarian said: “The range and complexity of work today in a large, modern University Library is amazing. The ‘Day in the Life’ series, written by ten of our staff, really captures the blend of  innovative and traditional, digital and documentary, educational and inspirational work which goes on behind the scenes here in Cardiff University.”

She added: “Information Services supports the research and teaching work of  Cardiff University in dozens of different ways. Our ‘Day in the Life’ series shows the range of successful work undertaken in doing this; these people are role models for any students who want to go on and become professional information workers.”

UC&R Wales AGM

UC&R Wales now have a date for the recently postponed AGM:
Monday 20th July at 12.00
Seminar rooms 1 and 2, Trevithick Library, Cardiff University.

CILIP UC&R members are cordially invited and the AGM is free to attend. The UC&R Wales committee has room for 1 or 2 new members so if you are interested in getting involved in planning professional development events in Wales please join us!

Following the AGM there will be a committee meeting which any new committee members are welcome to attend.

If you would like more information about the Group’s activities or if you are unable to attend but there are issues you would like to raise at the AGM please contact:
Carol Edwards at cce@llgc.org.uk or Linda Graves at lgraves@glam.ac.uk

Redesigned Trevithick Library opens

The redesigned Trevithick Library at Cardiff University has been declared officially open by Honorary Fellow Carol Vorderman.

At a special launch event held in the Library on 25 March 2009, speakers included Professor Malcolm Jones, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Estates, and Janet Peters, University Librarian.  Janet is pictured with Carol Vorderman.

Speaking at the event, Carol said: “It is fantastic to see investment in modern facilities which not only look stylish but are also practical and really cater for the needs of students and inspire research and learning.”

As part of Information Services’ Library Review, the Trevithick Library has been completely redesigned to enhance the student experience. It now offers a range of modern environments which meet changing technological and curriculum needs.

Key elements of the new design include a research lounge, open study spaces, group study rooms, wireless networks and a modern ‘computer bar’. To allow students total flexibility, self-service book issue and return units and an external 24 hour book return chute have also been installed.

More information in press release