Author Archives: Frank Norman

About Frank Norman

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

What are libraries for and are they worth it?

Posted on November 4, 2010 by Frank Norman

Back in August Elsevier published a report that looked at what value a University library delivers to its parent institution, particularly in terms of its research.  It looked at eight institutions around the world and found that in six of … Continue reading →

Posted in Collections, Future of Libraries, Journal publishing | 3 Comments

Books, Poetry and Prizes

Posted on October 20, 2010 by Frank Norman

Scientific poetry competitions are catching on.  First there was a genomics poetry competition, organised by the Genomics Forum and the Scottish Poetry Library.  You’ve missed the deadline for entries; winners are due to be announced in November. More recently the … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Writing | 10 Comments

Cooking up the future

Posted on October 16, 2010 by Frank Norman

I have always enjoyed cooking, but my skills are limited. I can identify ingredients that I like and that I think will work well together, particularly favouring unexpected combinations. I can prepare these ingredients appropriately, but then I will put … Continue reading →

Posted in Copyright and IP | Comments Off on Cooking up the future

E-books – unconference session at SOLO10

Posted on September 25, 2010 by Frank Norman

I led a session looking at ebooks for researchers at SOLO10 earlier this month. I gave a brief overview and then opened up the discussion to the floor. About 10 people attended the session – it seems ebooks are not … Continue reading →

Posted in E-books | Tagged | 5 Comments

Impact – a view from 1924

Posted on September 22, 2010 by Frank Norman

I sometimes have to hunt through old Annual Reports of the Medical Research Council to look for snippets of history about people or research and it is often striking how the broad themes addressed are still with us today. Take … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Research Councils, Research management | 4 Comments

My Science Online London 2010 impressions

Posted on September 10, 2010 by Frank Norman

I attended the Science Online London 2010 conference (SOLo10) last week. There is a round-up of post-conference reports elsewhere on Nature Network.  This word cloud by Simon Cockell gives an idea of the key themes.  My personal highlights are below, … Continue reading →

Posted in Bibliographic management, Blogology, Journal publishing, Research data, Social networking | Tagged | 5 Comments

A gossip magazine for scientists?

Posted on September 10, 2010 by Frank Norman

The Irish Times reports that James Watson would like to start a gossip magazine for scientists. He is quoted as saying that “a magazine with true gossip would open up the possibility of real criticism in an overly polite and … Continue reading →

Posted in Journal publishing | 6 Comments

I pad, you pad, (s)he pads – we all pad

Posted on August 25, 2010 by Frank Norman

An iPad tsunami is upon us, judging by the number of articles about how the iPad is becoming the device of choice for reading, or raving about it in one way or another. iPad seems the wrong term judging by … Continue reading →

Posted in E-books | 25 Comments

Digitising genetics

Posted on August 23, 2010 by Frank Norman

The Wellcome Trust will spend £3.9 million on a two-year pilot project – Modern Genetics and its Foundations. Drawing on the Wellcome Library’s rich collections, the project will digitise 1400 books on genetics and heredity published between 1850 and 1990, … Continue reading →

Posted in History | 1 Comment

One for the word lovers

Posted on August 19, 2010 by Frank Norman

Wordnik is a word-lover’s delight. Its aim is: .bq to show you as much information as possible, as fast as we can find it, for every word in English, and to give you a place where you can make your … Continue reading →

Posted in Language | 9 Comments