Author Archives: Frank Norman

About Frank Norman

I am a retired librarian. I spent 40 years working in biomedical research libraries.

A great big store

Posted on 18 April 2011 by Frank Norman

Libraries are not all about storage these days, but for some libraries storage is still a key issue. The BLDSC is a case in point. If you have ever asked your library to get you something that they didn´t have … Continue reading →

Posted in BLDSC, Document delivery, Matrix, Nerd alert, storage, Yorkshire | Comments Off on A great big store

More on Wikipedia

Posted on 7 April 2011 by Frank Norman

Just a quick follow-up to my recent post about Wikipedia. Wikipedia has been in the news recently, with the BBC highlighting Cancer Research UK’s Wikipedia activity and the Guardian editorialising on the survey that the Wikimedia Foundation is running. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Communicating Science | Comments Off on More on Wikipedia

A couple of historical exhibitions

Posted on 31 March 2011 by Frank Norman

Further to my recent musings about Walter Morley Fletcher, I was interested to see a couple of exhibitions advertised, both in London. The Royal Society have mounted an exhibition Frederick Gowland Hopkins and the Chemistry of Life, to mark the … Continue reading →

Posted in History | Comments Off on A couple of historical exhibitions

Moving towards movement, by Jove

Posted on 23 March 2011 by Frank Norman

Sometimes you look round and realise that the world has changed. It has been changing little by little so gradually that you didn’t notice but then you realise “Aha! The much predicted and talked-about convergence of TV and computing has … Continue reading →

Posted in Journal publishing, video | Comments Off on Moving towards movement, by Jove

Wikipedia is quite engaging

Posted on 22 March 2011 by Frank Norman

Wikipedia and its role in science keeps cropping up on my radar recently. Matt Jukes pointed out last week, in a talk to a group of Science Communications people, that a decent article in Wikipedia about a science topic would … Continue reading →

Posted in Communicating Science, Scientific literature | Comments Off on Wikipedia is quite engaging

Walter Morley Fletcher

Posted on 21 March 2011 by Frank Norman

The lecture hall in my Institute dates back to the 1930s. It has a simple design with excellent acoustics, typical of its era. It is called the Fletcher Memorial Hall, which begs the question – who he? Just outside the … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Research Councils | Comments Off on Walter Morley Fletcher

Peer review inquiry – written evidence

Posted on 21 March 2011 by Frank Norman

I wrote a couple of months back about the background to the Science & Technology Select Committee’s inquiry into peer review. The Select Committee has published all the written evidence submitted to its inquiry. The publication of written evidence provides … Continue reading →

Posted in Journal publishing, peer review | Comments Off on Peer review inquiry – written evidence

Copy – right or wrong?

Posted on 9 March 2011 by Frank Norman

Copying is entwined with technology, and ideas about copyright have changed as technology changes. In the days of stone tablets I don’t think many people worried about copyright. The invention of pen and ink (see this lovely brief history of … Continue reading →

Posted in Copyright and IP | Comments Off on Copy – right or wrong?

Is this the killer application for researchers?

Posted on 9 March 2011 by Frank Norman

Colwiz stands for ‘collective wisdom’ (terrible name!). It advertises itself as ‘research management, collaboration and productivity in one place for free’ and has just been launched by a group of scientists at Oxford University. They say it will help you … Continue reading →

Posted in Research tools | Comments Off on Is this the killer application for researchers?

Monaco film festival award

Posted on 28 February 2011 by Frank Norman

I was surprised to see some familiar faces on the front cover of my local freesheet newspaper recently. This paper, The Archer, is not a typical freesheet, but a community-produced monthly newspaper which has a good deal of local content, … Continue reading →

Posted in art, Film | Comments Off on Monaco film festival award