ProfDev 15/07/05

British Library faces digital avalanche
"An avalanche of digital information is produced in the UK every year, catering to every possible taste and keeping the nation informed, but presenting the British Library with a terabyte sized headache as it attempts to fulfil its mission to preserve the nation’s knowledge in the digital age."
(CILIP Information Services)

Tackling social exclusion
The Network is a network of public libraries, museums, archives, other organisations and individuals committed to tackling social exclusion.
The site has a wealth of information regarding work being done in this area and has a useful newsletter you can download (pdf 199kb).

British Library predicts ‘switch to digital by 2020’
Lynne Brindley, Chief Executive of the British Library, today predicted a switch from print to digital publishing by the year 2020. Lynne was speaking at the launch of the Library’s new three-year strategy.

Google Answers
An insiders view of this new Google feature.
(Freepint)

New challenges for libraries outlined
An initiative is being launched to nudge policymakers away from seeing successful book lending and the encouragement of reading as the prime goals of Britain's public library service.

Everything you always wanted to know by text...
24- hour text answering services have been some of the fastest growing sectors of the mobile phone industry.

Public Appointments: Goodbye to endless meetings
E-mails, laptops and virtual teams are taking the place of costly face-to-face discussions.

Death, poison, treachery - the best bedtime read
Article on Civitas's re-issuing of the classic children's history book 'Our Island Story' and the project to send it to every primary school in the country.
(CILIP Information Services)

Basic needs
New research shows that adults with the worst literacy levels suffer in many areas of their lives. Are Labour's skills targets unintentionally leaving behind those most at risk?
(CILIP Information Services)

Reading is Fundamental
UK teams up with WHSmith Trust to support summer reading.

School reading champions
The National Reading Campaign has launched School Reading Champions, an initiative that draws on the success of previous Reading Champions activity celebrating male reading role models.
(CILIP Information Services)

Measuring Up; Public Libraries do make an impact
Results of the Libraries Impact Project by Laser and PricewaterhouseCoopers can be found here. (pdf 304kb)
(CILIP Information Services)

Reference Book Award
This year's Nielsen BookData Reference Award winners are 'The Design encyclopaedia' (Printed Category) and 'Oxford Dictionary of National Biography' (Electronic Category) and Ian Maxted (Walford Award).

Framework for the Future Digital Citizenship Workshop Series 2005
These were a series of workshops held in different locations, exploring ways of developing the People's Network. Presentations and handouts from these workshops can be downloaded from here.

Gershon
Early indications are that local authorities achieved efficiency gains worth around £700m in 2004/5.

Potter's magic spell turns boys into bookworms
JK Rowling's latest is launched as a new report shows that her books are inspiring children to read again.

Reading - the new 'Cool'?
Carnegie and Greenaway Medal fever hits the nation's schools.

Carnegie and Greenaway results
'Millions', the debut novel from Frank Cottrell Boyce, has won the Carnegie Medal.
Gulliver's Travels illustrated by Chris Riddell was this year's Kate Greenaway winner.