What is the future of libraries? An Edinburgh Reads event, Tuesday 9th June 2015

Posted on May 11, 2015 by Hazel Hall

The opening ceremony for Edinburgh Central Library took place 125 years ago on 9th June 1890. On that day the Library’s benefactor Andrew Carnegie sent a telegram in which he stated his hopes for the service that he had funded: “We trust that this Library is to grow in usefulness year after year, and prove one of the most potent agencies for the good of the people for all time to come”.

As part of Edinburgh City Libraries’ 125th anniversary celebrations Edinburgh Reads is hosting a panel session on Tuesday 9th June at 19:00 at which the future of libraries will be the main topic of discussion. I have accepted an invitation to join the panel. The other panel members are:

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Six papers at Information, Interactions and Impact i3 2015, and a preview of iDocQ 2015

Posted on May 11, 2015 by Hazel Hall

The programme for Information, interactions and impact: i3 2015 has just been published. This international conference, held on a biennial basis in Aberdeen, brings together an international community of academic and practitioner researchers to explore the quality and effectiveness of the interactions between people and information, and how such interactions can bring about change. This year it takes place at the Aberdeen Business School, Robert Gordon University from Tuesday June 23rd to Friday June 26th. I’m delighted that six paper proposals that I co-authored for submission to the conference have been accepted, and they can now be seen in the programme.

Five of the six papers draw on projects currently undertaken by colleagues and research students within the Centre for Social Informatics: Christine Irving; Lynn Killick; John Mowbray; Frances Ryan; and Louise Rasmussen. These are:

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The idea of the University in the 21st century: participation at a pop-up forum

Posted on May 6, 2015 by Hazel Hall

I have a large number of speaking commitments coming up in the approaching ‘conference season’. I currently have my name against 14 presentations in June (and in the course of typing up this post I received another invitation!) Thankfully a number of these commitments are co-authored conference papers where another person is delivering the work, so I am not going to spend an entire month permanently on public display discussing my research.

Amongst the list of events in which I am participating is a pop-up forum organised by colleagues at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH) at the University of Edinburgh on the evening of Tuesday 16th June 2015. Here we will be considering the purpose of universities and a university education. The event has just opened for registration on EventBrite. Admission is open to all and free of charge.

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More men wanted – to complete the Workforce Mapping Project survey

Posted on April 27, 2015 by Hazel Hall

The Workforce Mapping Project survey is found at http://bit.ly/workforcemap

The Workforce Mapping Project survey closes at the end of the month on Thursday 30th April. The Edinburgh Napier project team is keen to encourage those who work within the UK in roles associated with libraries, archives, records, information, and knowledge management, and who have not already done so, to make their contributions to the study.

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Appointment as Chair of the Research Councils UK Digital Economy Theme Programme Advisory Board

Posted on April 27, 2015 by Hazel Hall

I have recently been appointed Chair of the Research Councils UK Digital Economy (DE) Theme Programme Advisory Board (PAB). I take over the role from Brian Collins, Professor of Engineering Policy and Director of the International Centre for Infrastructure Futures at University College London.

My appointment builds on previous work that I have conducted for the DE Theme. This includes: serving on the 12-person panel that conducted the 2012 impact review of the DE Theme investment; involvement in an additional stream of DE research undertaken under the banner of “digital personhood” (I helped identify the scope of the investment and served as a mentor at the sandpit meeting where project ideas were germinated); and reviewing grant proposals and other panel work. I was first appointed a member of the PAB in 2014.

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Edinburgh Napier University granted Athena SWAN bronze award

Posted on April 24, 2015 by Hazel Hall

Alongside my research and teaching activities at Edinburgh Napier University, I am the University’s Academic Champion for Athena SWAN. This week I was pleased to hear that much of the work that I have led in this role since 2013/14 has been recognised externally.

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Doctoral degree programme evaluation at the University of Borås

Posted on April 22, 2015 by Hazel Hall

Union flags fly to mark the visit of British professors to the University of Borås

Union flags fly to mark the visit of British Professors Hazel Hall and David Allen to the University of Borås

Last June I blogged about a trip to University of Borås in Sweden to serve as the opponent at a doctoral defence. This week I made a return visit to the University. On this occasion I was an external member of a panel charged with auditing the University’s doctoral education programme in Library and Information Science.

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Librarian: second most desirable job in Britain?

Posted on April 2, 2015 by Hazel Hall

Given that I am currently leading a research project to map the UK workforce in library, archives, records, information and knowledge management sectors, I was interested to come across some results of a recent YouGov survey yesterday. These claim that the job of librarian is the ‘second most desirable’ in Britain. Is this really the case, and (if so) why?

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Applications invited for 25 PhD studentships at Edinburgh Napier University, start date 1 October 2015

Posted on March 30, 2015 by Hazel Hall

Edinburgh Napier University is currently inviting applications for 25 fully-funded PhD studentships across a range of research areas. Included in these areas are six topics of relevance to the research interests of the Centre for Social Informatics. These are:

e-Government
Information policy
Information seeking behaviour and use
Knowledge management
Online communities
Open data and open government

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Prizes, papers, and a new publication on success factors in information systems development projects

Posted on March 23, 2015 by Hazel Hall

John Mowbray’s winning poster

We currently have eight research students undertaking doctoral studies in the Centre for Social Informatics (CSI) working on a variety of projects. While the goal of our students is to complete their theses within the degree registration period, it’s also important that they share news of their work as it progresses. A number of our current students have recently been busy taking advantage of opportunities to disseminate their research. New work on success factors in information systems projects co-authored by a PhD graduate has also been accepted for publication.

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