Across the decades, many writers within the Library and Information Science (LIS) sector have sought to define and discuss issues surrounding data, information and knowledge, often drawing on other disciplines. What is lacking, however is any kind of consensus as different ideas and opinions are merely presented and argued. This dissertation seeks…[Read more]

Women who stay informed throughout their pregnancy have the opportunity to have the best health outcomes for themselves and their baby. In the UK women use a variety of information systems, and rely heavily on the resources provided by the NHS. With a myriad of sources available to pregnant women, it is important to see how well their chosen…[Read more]

Poster presentation.

This dissertation consists of an in-depth literature review, and the results of original research. The aim was to explore the impacts of automation of human work, with a particular focus on recent advances in robotics and AI and how these may affect library services and library work in future. Key issues explored in the literature review include:…[Read more]

This project investigated the potential impact that Internet use is having on behavioural and cognitive abilities, in particular the effects that it may be having on; user memory and recall; concentration levels; perceptions of what it means to be ‘online’ and whether there has become a blurring of the boundaries between the ‘virtual’ and the ‘re…[Read more]

This paper discusses the use of and attitudes towards electronic resources by a select group of medieval scholars. A survey was sent to ninety-two medievalists selected from eight institutions of higher education with graduate offerings in medieval studies. The medievalists represent many different departments including English, History, Foreign…[Read more]

Publication of a recently discovered, wooden wax tablet (tabula cerata) from Augustobona Tricassium (Troyes, F). The writing tablet was part of a vadimonium deed, which was issued to an inhabitant with the Celtic name Nerta in the second half of the 1. century AD. The document sheds light on the question of the diffusion and usage of Roman civil…[Read more]

Over the past 20 years, many libraries have devoted significant resources to digitizing their special collections. Relatively few resources have been devoted to designing effective and easy-to-use online delivery platforms for these collections. Through an online questionnaire and a series of semi-structured interviews with University of Oxford…[Read more]

The Natural History Museum is one of the world’s leading research institutions for biological diversity research with collections comprising some 8 million specimens representing a vast wealth of data. It also holds one of the foremost collections of biodiversity-related literature in its Library and Archives, with over one million items c…[Read more]

A position paper for the IMLS-funded National Forum, ‘Always Already Computational – Collections as Data’ (https://collectionsasdata.github.io/)

This research investigates the relative effectiveness of different modes of regulation of access to personal data on social networking services in the UK. A review of the literature demonstrated that there was a gap in research comparing different regulatory modes applied to online social networking services (SNSs). A model of regulation was…[Read more]

Given widespread labor market precarity, contemporary workers—especially those in the media and creative industries—are increasingly called upon to brand themselves. Academics, we contend, are experiencing a parallel pressure to engage in self-promotional practices, particularly as universities become progressively more market-driven. Aca…[Read more]

Why do we encourage students to read widely, think critically, and conduct their own research? We are preparing them for lives in a world filled with ambiguity and complexity, where we don’t actually know the answers to what’s on the test. The surprising outcome of the recent election has prompted us to examine our assumptions about how kno…[Read more]

The late nineteenth century was a crucial moment in Japan, driven by new conceptions of authorship and literary narratives. An influential world of collecting and compilation gave birth to those changes, but its workings are still poorly understood. By showing how compilers assembled the 1894 Kōtei Saikaku zenshū (The Edited Complete Works of Sa…[Read more]

Open Access war anfangs der 2000er Jahre von Umbruchstimmung, Euphorie und Idealismus getragen. Die Erwartungen waren klar umrissen: Wissenschaftlern war an rascher Verbreitung wissenschaftlicher Texte gelegen, Bibliothekaren an einer Abhilfe für stark steigende Journalpreise, den Wissenschaftseinrichtungen an effizienter und freier Verbreitung…[Read more]

This short and speculative paper considers some philosophical approaches to understanding, particularly those related to Luciano Floridi’s Philosophy of Information, and based on the general idea that understanding is a special kind of knowledge. It is a slightly extended and updated version of the paper presented at CoLIS9.

Purpose The aim of this paper is to examine how and if information-seeking behaviour changes when individuals transform a hobby into a business. Design/methodology/approach Four hobbyists who now pursued their activities in a professional context were interviewed via semi-structured interviews. The interviewers were transcribed and analysed to…[Read more]

This is an historical research project that investigates predictions of future information technology made by Paul Otlet, H.G. Wells and Vannevar Bush, specifically those described in the Mundaneum, World Brain and Memex respectively. It is carried out by means of an extended review of the relevant Library and Information Science literature and…[Read more]

The MADDLAIN project aims to analyse the behaviour and the needs of different audiences with regard to digital access to the collections offered by the CegeSoma, the Royal Library of Belgium and the State Archives of Belgium. In the scope of this project, I presented some of the results of the qualitative survey conducted with professional…[Read more]

Monstrous omens appear four times in Herodotus: a concubine of the king of Sardis gives birth to a lion (1.84), a donkey is born with male and female genitalia (7.57), a horse gives birth to a hare (7.57) and fish come back to life whilst being cooked (9.120). These omens are the only occasions when monsters appear in close proximity to Greece;…[Read more]