Author Archives: Frank Norman

About Frank Norman

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

An 80th annivirusary

Posted on 8 July 2013 by Frank Norman

For most of us, appearances on TV are still unusual enough to generate some excitement.  Even just a slight chance of a televisual encounter can get the pulse racing. Last December I became briefly excited on hearing that the BBC were … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, History | Comments Off on An 80th annivirusary

MDPI – another OA publisher

Posted on 25 April 2013 by Frank Norman

I recently was alerted to the existence of an Open Access (OA) publisher that I had not heard of before:  MDPI. Their name stands for “Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute” and they are based in Switzerland. They publish more than 70 journals … Continue reading →

Posted in Journal publishing | Comments Off on MDPI – another OA publisher

Last night I dreamt I went to Mendeley again

Posted on 22 April 2013 by Frank Norman

Two weeks ago I was down in Bournemouth at the UKSG conference – a great gathering of library and publishing people.  As usual I took my running kit along and unusually I actually used them instead of just thinking about … Continue reading →

Posted in Bibliographic management, mendeley, Running | Comments Off on Last night I dreamt I went to Mendeley again

Ferreting (2)

Posted on 9 April 2013 by Frank Norman

Following on from my previous post, my last bit of ferreting around last month was in support of the Strictly Science exhibition, organised by colleagues at the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre. This high-profile exhibition is open (free) until 14 April, … Continue reading →

Comments Off on Ferreting (2)

Ferreting (1)

Posted on 9 April 2013 by Frank Norman

After commenting on my last post that I am only called on three or four times a year to ferret out interesting old documents, here I am again with more tales of history. It seems to be a boom year … Continue reading →

Posted in History | Comments Off on Ferreting (1)

High altitude boots

Posted on 6 March 2013 by Frank Norman

I received an email today with the subject line “High altitude boots”. For a moment I thought it was going to be an advert for extreme high-heeled shoes, but it turned out to be a request for a copy of … Continue reading →

Posted in Everest, History, Pugh | Comments Off on High altitude boots

Moves to extend NIH open access mandate

Posted on 15 February 2013 by Frank Norman

We all love to be different – it seems to be a feature of much human activity that we cherish little foibles that set us apart. This is certainly true in the scholarly communications arena, though more recently journals have … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access | Comments Off on Moves to extend NIH open access mandate

Candles and rings

Posted on 2 February 2013 by Frank Norman

Today, 2 February, is Candlemas day, halfway between the shortest day and the spring equinox. It is officially the end of the Christmas season, though I suspect most people would be surprised to learn this. I only know it because … Continue reading →

Comments Off on Candles and rings

Ludwig Guttmann

Posted on 14 November 2012 by Frank Norman

This is mainly a plug for my first foray onto Occam’s Corner, plus a place to list some of the sources of information that I used, and to tell the story of the chase for a missing document. I feel quite … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogology, History | Comments Off on Ludwig Guttmann

Solo Hackday

Posted on 13 November 2012 by Frank Norman

Once upon a time I might have described myself as a techie. My career was founded on my willingness to install hgopher and Trumpet Winsock and fiddle with autoexec.bat and config.sys. This gave people access to the wonders of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Research tools, Scientific literature | Comments Off on Solo Hackday