Yesterday, in the Queen's Speech at the Opening of Parliament, the UK Government outlined plans for the Data Protection Bill. The Bill is intended to bring data protection law into the digital age, to give people more control over their own data, and to implement the GDPR. See page 46 of this Queen's Speech briefing … Continue reading The Queen’s Speech
Gosh! It’s a Data Protection Revolution
Manage modern archives in the UK? Watch out! The GDPR is coming to shake up your data and you and your organisation need to be ready. On 25 May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation will come into force across the European Union, including the UK, where it will replace the Data Protection Act of 1998. … Continue reading Gosh! It’s a Data Protection Revolution
“I suspected it was special as soon as I saw it …”: Reading’s Caxton leaf
News of a wonderful find at the University of Reading Special Collections. While cataloguing a collection of fragments, Special Collections librarian Erika Delbecque spotted something exciting ... a leaf from the Sarum Ordinal printed by William Caxton in 1476 or 1477 - the only copy of this part of the book known to survive! The … Continue reading “I suspected it was special as soon as I saw it …”: Reading’s Caxton leaf
Better buy BLIW
How will librarians of the future learn from librarianship in our time? That's assuming they exist in some form (hope so!) and are interested. And what resources are available to help new librarians now get an overview of the whole profession? BLIW is the very thing these researchers need. Yes, Librarian of the future, we … Continue reading Better buy BLIW
Ouch
You might notice that the links from the revised edition of the Handbook do not yet appear on this site. Sorry about that! I will be adding them as soon as possible. The reason for the delay is that I fractured my shoulder early in January, in a cycling accident. Fortunately, unlike this chap, I was … Continue reading Ouch
Taste the Handbook!
Get a free taste of the Special Collections Handbook in its latest form. Facet Publishing have made Chapter 2 on Emergency Planning available via open access so everyone can see what the book has to offer. Keeping collections safe from fire, flood, and the other "enemies of books" has been the essential task of librarians … Continue reading Taste the Handbook!
Happy New Year, shiny new book
If you made New Year resolutions relating to professional development, career moves and the like, you might find this of particular interest. The second edition of the Special Collections Handbook is published! It's available now from Facet Publishing. I'm delighted with the new look and content, and hope readers old and new will find the … Continue reading Happy New Year, shiny new book
Beware the Trilemma!
Meet the Trilemma I was thinking about the oft-cited software designer's "trilemma": fast, cheap, good. The trilemma for the designer's customer is that it is only possible for a project to be: fast and cheap - can't be good good and cheap - can't be fast good and fast - can't be cheap The qualities contradict each other: … Continue reading Beware the Trilemma!
Fika and futures
Over the past five years, it's been a delight to see the Handbook reaching audiences way beyond the UK. For instance, last year I was invited to speak at a seminar in Stockholm sharing perspectives on rare books librarianship with a group of (mostly) Swedish librarians. The paper I gave has just been published, along … Continue reading Fika and futures
Lovely in Lilac: sneak preview of handbook II
A sneak preview of the Second Edition of the Handbook! Full details are now on Facet's web site. Why the pomegranates? No idea, must ask. It's pretty though, and I love the colour. I'm hard at work on the text every day now, aiming to have the finished manuscript with Facet on 15 July. It's … Continue reading Lovely in Lilac: sneak preview of handbook II
The Special Collections Handbook 