Libraries are becoming virtual, and there are some distinct advantages…
Technology is changing the world, and libraries are picking up on the changes. As a long-time library patron, it has not been uncommon for me to head out to the local branch nearly every weekend. Typically with ~20 books out, including paper ones, CD audiobooks for the c Continue reading
Since I have developed a habit of writing elsewhere, which necessarily takes time and words away from the blog here at Reciprocal Space, I thought I would try to make amends by developing the habit of linking to the pieces that appear in other corners of the internet.
To kick off therefore, permit me to alert you to a short article this week publi Continue reading
The second best thing about flying to the US on business is the views you get on the way.
The best thing about flying on business to the US is, of course, coming home
This was the year, amongst other things, of the #distractinglysexy hashtag, as discussed recently on BBC Radio4 here. This hashtag was itself part of the fallout of #Huntgate, the undeserved fall from grace of a Nobel prize winner on the back of an ill-judged joke in Seoul around which a whole mythology seems to have grown up.
As someone who knew T Continue reading
In the wake of the recent fracas over whether a university should celebrate International Men’s Day or not, I was struck by the following sentence in a book I was reading
‘I learned how much everyone needs to talk about their own past, the forces and experiences that shaped them and how rarely this constant need is satisfied in the competitive, pre Continue reading
When you’re a young scientist, it’s the done thing to poke gentle fun at the lab head for being out of touch. For example, when I was a graduate student, we’d all pretend to be horrified whenever our boss, wearing that rare white coat, approached the bench to actually do an experiment. After all, once you reach a certain point in Continue reading
One of those persistent stereotypes-by-gender is that women are less good at saying no than men. Whether or not you believe that to be true, there is no doubt that many of us – myself included – are less than perfect at saying exactly what we mean. It is too easy to try to soften a rejection to the point that the listener, who may after all have an Continue reading
Full marks and a side order of brownie points for the Royal Society: they have started publishing the citation distributions for all their journals.
This might seem like an unusual and rather technical move to celebrate but it matters. It will help to lift the heavy stone of the journal impact factor that has been squeezing the life out of the body Continue reading
In the summer metrics looked like they had been substantially laid to rest for the Higher Education sector: The Metric Tide report, written at the behest of the (probably the about-to-be-late-lamented) HEFCE took many pages to point out that metrics alone would never be a good way of assessing excellence in our universities. Whether you care to use Continue reading
If you are setting out on your career, how do you acquire leadership skills? If you think you’re a born leader how can you check it out or improve? As part of the commemorations around the 50th anniversary death of Sir Winston Churchill (Churchill2015) various organisations have been considering different aspects of leadership. The Moller Centre at Continue reading
