Another media library going

How sad is this story found via LISNews from the New York Observer? The ABC (US) is closing it's library and getting rid of all of it's journals and print collection, oh and library staff. Don't worry they are "developing, with an outside research consultant, a state of the art research system tailored to our particular needs". As one comment says - Wikipedia saved as a favourite maybe? The president of ABC News calls the planned replacement for the library a more cyber-focused "Digital Research Facility".

Interesting to follow this one and see how the journalists cope with the new service and whether any of the library staff do 'stay on'. I am presuming journalists would have fairly good research skills and a handle on new technologies, but then again you think lawyers would also.....

Am loving the new Firm Spy blog (especially the accompanying pics)!! I think the law and accounting firms are using the threat of recession to get rid of staff they couldn't be bothered retraining or performance managing out. A few less support staff and associates isn't going to mean the difference between the survival or death of these large firms. Maybe the resulting stress on increasingly demotivated employees and bad press will make a difference though?

Reinvented books

More fun and creativity with books. I am so glad that people are finding ways to reuse and reinvent the old books that us librarians are forced to throw out because we need the space and the machine tells us no-one has borrowed them in 2 years.

I bought one of their journals at a market on the weekend for my father, an old Chaucer title. They incorporate some of the pages of text, title pages and book plates into the blank sheets of journal paper. Some even have library card sleeves in the front!! They also make bookmarks out of the left over spines. I loved the retro styled ones, including old children's books and games.

They are based in Sydney but sell online too. I really could have bought several of these, if Mum wasn't with me .....



Bornagain Books

Finding journals online

My last legal research refresher session was titled 'how to find journals and journal articles online'. This is not an easy task these days and in the end I wound up summarising by encouraging attendees to try a few searches and if they don't locate the journal within 5 mins, to contact the library. The issues that we face during this transition from print to online journal access is that we subscribe to journals via multiple publisher platforms and the library catalogue, as well as offering links to articles via abstracting services such as Informit and Proquest. Access to titles changes regularly as publishers offer more content online and we add titles to our various subscriptions. Patrons want one service which offers search facilities across all journals we have access to, an A-Z list of titles, sortable by subject and full text searchable. I know there are some publishers offering this but the changeable nature of journals and content ownership means that even these are unlikely to offer the perfect solution.

One of the biggest problems with training patrons in the use of subscription databases, library catalogues and other systems is that they don't use them often enough to practice and remember what they learn. We try to focus more on ad-hoc skilling by helping a client search for something as they need it (the just in time v just in case debate again). Doing it this way may mean that clients miss out on updating their research skills and learning about new functionality and search tips via training.

It is a Catch 22 situation. Due to advances in technology and the uptake of social media in libraries, we can now offer automated, targeted alerts, using RSS feeds and mashups. By integrating these tools and federated, googleesque searching my organisation has developed an online library presence to deliver many of the traditional library services. However those same advances and technologies, used by the library and by externals such as publishers mean that without the right skills and with increasing time constraints, clients are still reliant on librarians to run searches, conduct research and to filter information and provide alerting services.

I think we are still a long way from becoming redundant.

On a lighter note - more pretty library/book art from here via Librarian in Black

Book handbag

This handbag appeals to me on so many different levels. From here.

1. It is made from a book
2. It is recycling existing materials
3. It is beautiful (I love the lining fabric)
4. It is unusual and quirky



I occassionally come across pictures of furniture made out of books and artworks or other handmade items made from books, pages or book bindings and covers. I love this concept and although I don't own any, I would love to. I fear it might open myself up to more ridicule from my friends (I am currently learning how to crochet granny squares, think craft is the new cool and own two cats, if that isn't enough). I also love the art and designs used for book covers these days and find myself attracted to books in shops by their design or artwork (and wine bottles by their label designs).

eGovernment Award

Excellence in e-Government Award finalists announced

It's pretty exciting that these innovations are happening in government.... Here are the 10 finalists:

CDATA Online (Australian Bureau of Statistics)

Pre-filling of Income Tax Returns (Australian Tax Office)

Tax Office eLibrary (Australian Tax Office) - Intranet application only

Child Support Estimator (Child Support Agency)

Parliamentary Document Management System (Department of Employment, Education and Workplace Relations) - Intranet application only

Visa Wizard and the Citizenship Wizard (Department of Immigration and Citizenship)

eVisitor (Department of Immigration and Citizenship)

AusPat (IP Australia)

Northern Queensland Wildfire Mitigation Project (Tablelands Regional Council)

youthcentral (Victorian Department of Planning and Community Development)

I have only come into contact with a few of these, but they are great examples of how to streamline processes using new technologies.

Reading, work and stuff

I have been reading about meditation recently, I have always loved the idea of being able to sit with an empty or focused mind. One of the books I am halfway through is called The Quiet (Paul Wilson). As usual with self help books, I read until it gets to the bit where you actually have to DO something, then I put it down and go back to reading fiction. This includes my copy of Getting Things Done! In this case the fiction is The red Queen by Margaret Drabble, picked up from the local second hand book seller for $5. I will endeavour to actually follow through with the meditation at some point.

I finished the last of my skilling sessions for the month today and will start planning April's next week

Case Research

I have been doing sessions on researching case law in Australia for our legal team this week.

These are the topics I am covering:

Finding cases by citation
Finding cases relating to a specific section of legislation
Finding cases by phrase, party or search terms
Case citators vs full text
Unreported, reported and authorised cases
International caselaw

I am demonstrating different searches using internal, subscription based and public access legal databases such as LexisNexisAU (CaseBase), LegalOnline (Firstpoint), Westlaw, TimeBase (Legislation with Case Link), AustLII and LawLink for Court sites.

This sesion has been popular and I have received good feedback which is nice. I don't think clients realise how great it is to get positive feedback (or any at all in fact, positive or otherwise)!! I have been using NetMeeting software and teleconference facilities to offer these classes to those in our offices around Australia, it is working well.