**Apologies for cross-posting**
The British Library Research and Innovation Centre has recently
awarded four new grants for research. Full details are available from
the Centre's WWW pages at: http://www.bl.uk/services/ric/
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Managing digitisation in visual resource collections
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This project aims to map progress from analogue to digital images in
visual resource collections and to explore similarities and
differences in commercial and non-commercial undertakings. It will
begin by taking as its starting point the findings of the National
Survey of Slide Collections (British Library Research Paper 67) and
investigate changes in the collections covered. Comparable
developments in commercial collections will then be explored.
Collection profiles for identified types will be developed together
with a draft model for change management. The final report will
present an overview of digital methods in collections and include
sections on the current administrative state of collections, skills
issues and a snapshot report of the level of technology currently
available in collections.
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A mass observation of the contemporary public library
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This project will generate a significant and extensive 'open access'
public commentary on public library activity and status, the purpose
of which is to show where the institution stands in the public eye.
Evidence collected will point to why public libraries are used, what
they do well, what they do badly and, above all, what they mean to
users and non-users alike. The data-gathering stage of the research
will be conducted by the Mass Observation Archive, University of
Sussex, an organisation with a long tradition in, and a strong
reputation for, conducting sophisticated unobtrusive research into
everyday social practices and attitudes. Written observations will be
obtained from approximately 500 covert volunteers. In respect of
objectivity, evidence collected will be more valuable than that
obtained from most other user studies of either the interview/survey
or observation type, where researcher influence tends to sully data
and limit its validity. Evidence will be largely unprompted, arising
from a large number of unprioritised issues and topics presented
objectively to volunteers to stimulate commentary. The archive
assembled will be made available at the Mass Observation archive, free
of charge, to researchers other than the project's proposers. It is
anticipated that results of analysis, including those produced by the
project team, will benefit public library policy-makers and
strategists looking to deepen their understanding of the social
context in which public libraries operate. As a by-product, the
archive will be useful to future researchers: in the long term to
historians of the public library movement; in the short term to
analysts of the institution seeking to contextualise their work with
reference to a temporal benchmark of public attitude and use.
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The legal deposit of local publications: a case-study of
Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland
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This project will provide the British Library with valuable
information from which it can develop policies and strategies to
improve its coverage of local publications in the distributed National
Published Archive and the British National Bibliography. The research
will also be of considerable benefit to libraries, archives and other
information providers throughout the UK, by providing them with models
for assessing and improving the legal deposit of local publications,
giving them an understanding of likely resource implications and by
raising awareness of legal deposit issues among local publishers (who
in turn will benefit from wider coverage of their publications). The
success of any distributed National Published Archive will depend in a
co-operative approach, between information providers at sub-regional
and regional levels, and between these providers and the British
Library and other legal deposit libraries. The proposed research will
therefore provide guidelines which will address this need, and
facilitate the development of sub-regional, regional and national
co-operatives policies and strategies to improve short term,
-medium-and long - term access to locally-published information for
users of information and library services. By meeting objectives such
as these, the research, will help library authorities throughout the
UK to respond positively to Audit Commission and DCMS concerns that
they should develop their planning processes, particularly with regard
to resource allocation, collection management and access policies.
The research will be based on a case study of the legal deposit of
local publications in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, an area
particularly suitable for the research. As a result of the Local
Government Review (LGR) process the former Shire county of
Leicestershire became two unitary authorities (the City of Leicester
and Rutland District), and a "continuing" county with second tier
districts. There exists an active and successful LIP, an area-wide
Health Information Strategy, a Telematics Strategy in an advanced
stage of development, a high level of local Teletext services
provision and an active voluntary section. The results of the
research will thus be widely-applicable, providing a
demonstrator-model for local information providers and policy-makers
seeking to improve access to local publications in the UK.
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Friends of Libraries
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This short study will pull together recent work at a time when the
Government's proposals for modernising local government, including the
introduction of the 'Best value' regime and the changes in the
relationship between libraries and the communities they serve, are
creating renewed interest in Friends of Libraries. It will take into
account issues raised at the CPI seminar on Friends in June 1998 and
the work done by Sheffield Libraries and Information Services and
Worcestershire County Council
The objectives are:
* to establish a listing of present Groups in the UK
* to review their constitutions, programmes, finance and membership
and their contribution to libraries in terms of advocacy, activities
and financial support
* to review the experience and potential of Friends in raising funds
for the libraries and their services and look at it in comparison with
Friends groups in other cultural services
* to compare fund raising
* to develop guidelines based on best practice
* to investigate the potential benefits of a national organisation of
Friends
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