Category Archives: Libraries and librarians

Customer relations

Posted on November 8, 2012 by Frank

Journal publishers are more interested in librarians than they ever used to be. The move to e-journals and big deals has changed the balance between individual and institutional  subscriptions, making libraries more important to publishers than, say, fifteen years ago. … Continue reading →

Posted in Journal publishing, Libraries and librarians | Leave a comment

Library Camp UK 2012

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Frank

The creative energy unleashed by an unconference is a wonderful thing. I attended LibCamp2012 recently and was surprised that a disparate bunch of people can self-assemble such a varied and interesting programme, all in one day. I went to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Libraries and librarians | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

A snapshot of our collection – history

Posted on July 31, 2012 by Frank

Earlier this month I hosted a meeting of CHILL. It is a group of independent health libraries which meets three times a year in the premises of one or other of the members. The meetings are an opportunity to share … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Libraries and librarians | 2 Comments

Collecting, connecting, communicating

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Frank

Librarians collect stuff. To collect is one of the most important verbs in the librarian’s instruction manual. Probably the next most important is to categorise. There is a connection between these two. We do not collect randomly but with a … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogology, Libraries and librarians, Uncategorized, Writing | 4 Comments

Library Day in the Life – weekly round up

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Frank

Last year I took part in Library Day in the Life (#libday7). For one week I wrote a daily post on Google+ about what I had done during the day, and an end-of-week round-up. I enjoyed the experience and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Libraries and librarians | Tagged | 2 Comments

The Royal Society Library

Posted on October 11, 2011 by Frank

Librarians love to snoop round other libraries, looking for new ideas and taking inspiration from different institutions and their collections. I must confess that sometimes I find such visits a bit tedious but I really enjoyed my latest visit. Last … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Libraries and librarians | 4 Comments

A week in the Library

Posted on August 3, 2011 by Frank

From time to time people ask me what I do all day. Sometimes it’s school students spending a week with us on work experience who do the asking, sometimes it’s my boss at my annual appraisal, sometimes it’s just random … Continue reading →

Posted in Libraries and librarians | Tagged | 1 Comment

Out, out damned print!

Posted on December 10, 2010 by Frank

We all like to grumble about Safety Departments. They are a wonderful source of red tape – always fussing over unsound practices and health and safety rules.  I think safety officers tend to have a slightly obsessive nature. This is … Continue reading →

Posted in Future of Libraries, Libraries and librarians | Tagged | 8 Comments

Youth, energy and inspiration

Posted on November 20, 2010 by Frank

Last week was quite busy and tiring – there were too many things going on at once at work, combined with (or causing?) a tendency for me to wake up at 4am and not get back to sleep. The most … Continue reading →

Posted in Libraries and librarians, Mentoring | 2 Comments

Librarians and what we do – conference musings

Posted on July 21, 2010 by Frank

I have just returned from the Health Libraries Group (HLG) Conference held at the Lowry Centre in Manchester Salford. I don’t often go to this biennial event, though I am a member of the Health Libraries Group. I am not … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Libraries and librarians | 5 Comments