Interview with Edith Speller

Today we’re chatting to Edith Speller, from Trinity College of Music, London…

Edith, can you tell us a little bit about your job at the Trinity College of Music (TCM)?

My official job title at TCM’s Jerwood Library is Librarian (Systems and User Education) – as we’re a relatively small library we do a lot of multi-tasking! My main responsibilities lie in nannying our library management system (SirsiDynix Unicorn), writing and co-ordinating research skills training for students and staff, and marketing the library on and offline. It’s a pretty good mixture of tasks and has given me the opportunity to mess around with web 2.0 stuff.

What’s new and cool at your library?

We’ve got a fairly established Facebook page which is over a year old now and creeping towards the 100-fan mark.

We’ve also started using delicious.com for our list of recommended web resources – the tags allow for multiple categorisation and we’ve linked to each faculty’s tag on our website.

Can you remember where and when you first used a web browser?

Aberdeen Uni in May 1998 when I was on work experience with my brother-in-law who worked for the computing department. A time when Netscape ruled, Altavista was the best search engine and I spent too long indulging my teenage interest in astrology!

Do you think libraries and librarians should adopt a cautious approach to new technologies, or should they be rolling up their sleeves and embracing it fully?

Unsurprisingly my view’s somewhere between those extremes! I feel the library profession suffered the typical fate of early adopters – we innovated when computers and network connections were bleeding edge but tied ourselves into technologies (I’m thinking Dialog, ye olde catalogues, dare I say MARC?) which soon became outmoded by later developments. So, I think we need to experiment, innovate and not fear the occasional failure, while trying to avoid putting all our eggs in one basket.

I think the term “mash-up” originated with remixing & blending music
– have there been any classical music mash-ups yet?

AFAIK classical music tends to go for quotation rather than mashing-up though who knows what my colleagues in the composition faculty are up to However TCM recently did a combined music/dance event with its sister college Laban, which felt like a mash-up of the colleges’ work – my husband and I took some unofficial photos.

Are you currently using any mash-ups at your library?

Not really – the closest I’ve got is using a Yahoo Pipe to filter an RSS feed for our Facebook page. I’m currently focusing on making our OPAC more interesting and user-friendly – perhaps mash-ups will have a part to play!

Have you got a favourite mash-up?

“Mash it up Harry” by Ian Dury and the Blockheads – sorry, not actually a mash-up but it’s what I usually think of when someone says “mash-up”!

More seriously, last.fm and Spotify are two of the most interesting things in the Web 2.0 music world, so I like this little mash-up which looks at your last.fm profile and lists new additions to Spotify that you’ll like. On the classical side, I’ve just seen this experimental Dipity mashup based on BRAHMS data (a French contemporary composer database) which lets you see a map and timeline of composers with links to their profiles on the database – just a taste of things to come apparently!

Got a favourite beverage?

Kriek (Belgian cherry beer) or a decent cider go down a treat. And of course I’ll never turn down a cup of tea

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Edith blogs at Multi-faceted and is @wiilassie on Twitter.

Interview with Debbie, Adam and Mike

What a bargain! Three for the price of one!

Today’s blog chat is with all three delegates from Leeds Met(ropolitan University) — Debbie Morris, Adam Watson and Michael Taylor…

Hi, could you tell us a little bit about your respective jobs at Leeds Met?

Debbie: I manage the Library system (SirsiDynix Unicorn, soon to be Symphony); deal with any RFID issues and developments (D-Tech system); check out new systems developments the Library could/should implement and then cajole others into helping me implement them.

Adam: I manage the Portal system for the University.

Mike: I’m the web developer for “Skills for Learning” (our Library’s study skills area) and also the developer of the Open Search interface for our Institutional Repository.

What’s new and cool at your library?

Debbie: We’ve been trying to gain some lost ground with Web 2.0, so we’ve recently started to Tweet, developed a Facebook App, started to build a Library in Second Life on the Leeds Met island, added Librarything to our OPAC, and started to think about Talis Aspire.

Can you remember where and when you first used a web browser?

Debbie: Probably at home in the mid 1990’s — I had a techie boyfriend at the time who liked to have all the latest gadgets.

Adam: Keighley College 1995.

Mike: Probably at Leeds Met maybe 1995/6 — I wasn’t an employee back then (being 11 has it’s limitations), though my father was.

Do you think libraries and librarians should adopt a cautious approach to new technologies, or should they be rolling up their sleeves and embracing it fully?

Debbie: I’d go for the second option, the challenge is persuading colleagues who adopt the first option.

Adam: A combination of both.

Mike: Definitely a bit of both. As a developer I’d rather avoid being thrown onto every bandwagon that comes along but it’s also exciting to investigate new technologies to expand upon what we already have.

I know you’re currently investigating Facebook. What’s your take on the argument that we should be staying out of student’s social spaces?

Debbie: I’d like to think we are just providing them with a useful app, we’re not asking them to be our “friend”, but we are getting useful, tailored Library information to them in a way they might find helpful and familiar.

Adam: I think that this a very valid and philosophical question and that some people may find it intrusive. The obvious contra-argument to this is that the application is of course a value added optional service to allow students to aggregate content to their chosen point of access. Further to this we will not use their data in any way to target advertising etc to them. We will also not use features that allow publishing to the wall or status updates, and all private data is held on Leeds Met secure servers and not in Facebook. Other users will not be able to see details of another user’s library account.

Mike: As long as these things remain a choice for the student then I see no problem.

Are you currently using any mash-ups?

Debbie: In the past year we’ve added Librarything to the OPAC and developed the Facebook app, but there’s lots of enthusiasm to build on this. The Second Life library & services will be an interesting experiment. I’m not sure SL is very popular with many of our students (the exception being Art students).

Have you got a favourite mash-up?

Debbie: I like the stuff Bill Bailey does with music, if that counts? The jazz version of the national anthem was a particular favourite, or the William Tell Overture mashed with cockney rhyming slang! (see Bill Bailey and Cockney Music)

Adam: My Facebook status is updated by my Twitter account.

Got a favourite beverage?

Debbie: No, I like a wide variety of beverages.

Adam: Green tea.

Mike: Just a good cup of tea.

Interview with Zoë Johnson

As some of you will know already, there’s been a few of us involved in “Mash Oop North!”, so today it’s the turn of my colleague Zoë…

Zoë, can you tell us a little bit about your job at the University of Huddersfield?

Subject librarian (predominantly English and Drama, but I dabble in all things Education too). I have the word e-learning (in brackets) in my job title, which permits me to explore and develop more ideas/ tools and technologies to enhance library information literacy/skills in the first instance. I admit to being a learner myself in the area of mashups and hoping “Mash Oop North” will give me some inspiration, ideas and confidence to explore further.

What’s new and cool at your library?

See anything Dave Pattern does! (Dave: thanks, the cheque’s in the post!) Plus we’ve got a Twitter account and have ventured into the world of online inductions which includes Flickr feeds and podcasts.

Can you remember where and when you first used a web browser?

Probably first/second year at university (1994/5) at this dear place of Huddersfield – remember being underwhelmed by the slowness – think it was a newspaper site… the oldest example I can find is here: http://web.archive.org/…www.guardian.co.uk

Do you think libraries and librarians should adopt a cautious approach to new technologies, or should they be rolling up their sleeves and embracing it fully?

Embrace indeed but we can be a cautious lot, so need some coaxing. The whole web 2.0 thing (continuous beta) should be coursing through our veins now, but we still like some order and some structure in the chaos. I think sometimes we’re more aware of the customers on the frontline too, where too much change and “new stuff” can overwhelm the user. We may find a lot of this stuff intuitive, but our students are from all ages, backgrounds and cultures do not, so we must consider all types and skills of users.

Have you got a favourite mash-up?

As someone who collected quotes and bits of poetry in a cardboard folder for many years (often without citing the author – shockhorror), I’m enjoying en.twash.org/random/ – which collects top tweets, people can vote for them… rather pointless but creatively stimulating and often chuckleworthy.

Got a favourite beverage?

Currently milk (due to impending nativity in the autumn) but when drinking, Theakston’s Old Peculier for me

Interview with Fiona Bradley

Today, I’m pleased to point the questioning spotlight at Fiona Bradley

Fiona, you’ve just moved to the UK from Australia. Could you tell us a little bit about your new job and your previous one?

I’ll be joining IFLA to work on programming, but not *that* kind of programming! I have just moved back to the Northern Hemisphere after spending 8 months seconded to IFLA last year working on their new website. I was seconded by the University of Technology Sydney, where I had a few different roles, the most recent being as Research and Policy Officer. In that role my main work was as project manager to design a new catalogue interface (using Endeca) which launched in beta earlier this year. I also worked on projects related to the institutional repository. Previously, I was a liaison librarian.

Your blog is semanticlibrary.net — could you say a little about how the semantic web is having an impact on libraries?

There’s a few libraries already who see the potential of linked data and semantic-aware searching for libraries. It’s a very exciting time — there are a lot of possibilities out there to do interesting things with the data we already own, and to share what we have with others. We sometimes forget just how rich catalogue data can be (despite its many shortcomings). At the moment I think we’re still in a phase of experimentation, where we’re all learning what we can do to make our data more relevant and flexible, but in the next year or two I think we’ll start to see the impact of search services that go beyond reusing structured catalogue records as presentation layers do now and providing rich recommendations and enhanced browsing.

Europeana in particular is something to keep an eye on.

Can you remember where and when you first used a web browser?

My father worked for IBM, and I remember him bringing home a ginormous laptop sometime in late 1996. We unfurled the telephone cable and dialed up, it was a text-based browser, maybe Lynx. I think the first site I went to was Yahoo! I had a magazine with a list of interesting URLs and tried them all out. It was very exciting. I didn’t understand how my university campus AARNet worked and so I didn’t use the Internet on campus. At home it seemed easier.

Do you think libraries and librarians should adopt a cautious approach to new technologies, or should they be rolling up their sleeves and embracing it fully?

I think it depends what it is. We need to think seriously about what needs new technologies support, but that shouldn’t stop us from trying out new things. I think instead of taking a technology approach, we need to change our mindset about cloud computing and open source. We need to think more about cloud computing (making backups, providing services efficiently across multiple platforms) and less about open source – we should simply embrace open source and give back and share where we can.

Have you got a favourite mash-up?

Eminem vs The Smiths – Without This Charming Man (YouTube)

Oh, not that kind of mashup! Actually I love that mashups as a term in a way evolved from the music mashups of the early 2000s. I worked in a music library at the time they become popular and there was a sense of fun, discovery and experimentation about it. Some things were genius, others not.

I feel the same way about technology mashups. I like a lot of the map mashups because they can be very good for visualising advocacy. Being able to see at a glance which regions on earth have the fastest Internet connections, or the most restrictions on freedom of speech is powerful.

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Fiona blogs at Semantic Library and is @blisspix on Twitter.

Interview with Paul Stainthorp

Time for another blog chat with a “Mash Oop North!” delegate — today we’ve got Paul Stainthorp from the University of Lincoln…

Paul, can you tell us a little bit about your job at the University of Lincoln?

I’ve had the job title of “e-resources librarian” for about 6 months (informally for a lot longer!): I look after Lincoln’s ever-growing e-journal and e-book collections, digitised extracts, and RefWorks; I’ve been heavily involved in developing our library blogs, Blackboard VLE content, Institutional Repository, and copyright & research training. I used to be a subject librarian, and I still have a small subject responsibility for Food Technology, at our Holbeach campus in the deepest part of the Lincolnshire Fens…

There can’t be many libraries that are housed in a former railway warehouse — what’s the story behind the Great Central Warehouse?

Ahh, you mean “From Goods and Grains to Books and Brains!” The warehouse was built in 1907 by the Great Central Railway, to unload and store grain (the Brayford Pool area of Lincoln has been a transport hub since Roman times). It was used by a builders’ merchant for a long time, before the pigeons finally took over. The University adopted it, and we opened the Library in 2004 – five years ago this September. It’s a lovely building to work in, especially up on the top floor under the original wooden beams, with great views of Lincoln Cathedral. There’s a flickr slideshow of photos of the building in its previous life, including some pictures of the redevelopment.

Can you remember where and when you first used a web browser?

The first time I ever went online was in 1997, when I encountered Netscape. This was in the Sir Clive Sinclair computer centre at Anglia Polytechnic University in Cambridge. For quite a while I only used the web to buy records from the excellent Norman Records in Leeds because that was the only web address I knew(!)… then someone explained to me about these things called search engines.

Do you think libraries and librarians should adopt a cautious approach to new technologies, or should they be rolling up their sleeves and embracing it fully?

They should roll up their sleeves and get stuck in – while feigning an expression of aloof disinterest

It can be difficult, because a lot of people look to the University Library for authority, reliability, predictability, completeness, and accuracy, and it can be hard to maintain those things while experimenting with 2.0-type tools. I’ve suggested to colleagues here at Lincoln that we ought to aim ourselves at a point “just after the bleeding edge stops bleeding”. And we should be more open about our work, explain to readers when a service is experimental or makes use of unsupported elements, and accept our responsibility to explain what’s going on when users’ experience changes as a result of things over which we have no control. Above all else, we have to talk to users about our work far more than we’re currently doing.

Are you currently using any mash-ups at Lincoln?

Yahoo! Pipes powers an RSS feed of new e-journal titles, and we’ve mucked around with Google maps to identify clusters of users who might want to make use of distance-learning or reciprocal borrowing schemes (based on anonymised postcode data). But very little has made it into the public sphere: i.e. onto our OPAC.

Have you got a favourite mash-up?

I like book carousels! E.g. www.cambridgelibraries.ca/hot/carousel.cfm

Got a favourite beverage?

A cup of tea. Or a pint of Bateman’s XXXB, and *then* a cup of tea.

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Paul blogs at Blogs·Library·Lincoln, has a web site at paulstainthorp.com, and is @pstainthorp on Twitter.

Interview with Chris Keene

Now for part 4 in a possible series of 70 blog chats with the people who’ll be coming to “Mash Oop North!” This time, it’s the turn of Chris Keene from the University of Sussex

Chris, can you tell us a little bit about your job at the University of Sussex?

Sure. My official job title is ‘Technical Development Manager’, which summed up in three words is ‘e-resources and web’.

In more than three words: I run our SFX and metalib servers, look after the website, help embed technical innovation within the Library, including web2.0 stuff, run the institutional repository and generally promote Open Access to any one who will listen. I’m interested in Search & Discovery and Open Access. I avoid users and books.

What’s new and cool at your library?

We launched Aquabrowser in January (we call it the beta catalogue to avoid confusion with ‘normal’ catalogue). This has gone down well and we’ve received good feedback.

We’ve also recently launch a Twitter account and Facebook page. The twitter account in particular seems to have gone down well. In fact the replies/mentions we’ve had highlights there are people out there who are quite technical who are doing interesting stuff with our resources. I also created a simple iGoogle widget at the same time.

There’s a lot of interest in “Next Generation Catalogues” (NGCs) at the moment — could you tell us a bit more about Aquabrowser?

I wasn’t personally responsible for setting this up (A colleague of mine, Tim Graves, manages the LMS), but have been involved in how we can extend and develop it’s interface, and perhaps integrate it with the Electronic Library.

I think it’s great, and our users seem to agree. There are areas I would like to see improved, such as cool URLs and better integration with things like Endnote or Zotero. Aquabrowser has various add-ons though it can be a bit of challenge finding out what’s available (and what comes at a price!)

I think all next generation catalogues which are separate from the LMS struggle with being a seamless service, as soon as a user clicks on a ‘my account’ or reserve link they are taken to another website (i.e. the old catalogue). Once there, the ‘My Account’ webpages of Library Systems are not designed to then take the user back to the separate catalogue again, it was just not something they have had to cater for.

This whole area is changing rapidly, and I think it will be a different situation in a year or two. As a pathetic plug for my own blog you can see some ramblings here.

Can you remember where and when you first used a web browser?

Yes, in the Library at Northampton School for Boys. Netscape 1 around 1995.

Arriving at University in October 1996, with the worlds slowest internet connection (using something called SLIP), I basically consumed every page I could load. My twitter bio says “mission: read internet (again)”.

Do you think libraries and librarians should adopt a cautious approach to new technologies, or should they be rolling up their sleeves and embracing it fully?

I think the public sector as a whole has been guilty of trying to find reasons not to do new things. We have to try new things, and sometimes we will fail. And sometimes they will blow up in our face. It’s a question of how we deal with, and learn from, that.

There’s a chap at Huddersfield, I forget his name, who added various in house enhancements to the library catalogue. The world didn’t end. Users didn’t boycott (as far as I’m aware) because of these new fangled features.

Mind, it’s easy for me to say this when I sit in a back office. Though having to listen to grumbling academics who don’t like change is not an excuse to not do things.

Are you currently using any mash-ups at Sussex?

Good question…. No I don’t think so.

Though I did set up a dipity.com account a while back www.dipity.com/sussexlibrary.

Not really a mashup but looks pretty

Have you got a favourite mash-up?

A couple I like:

Live train times Google map mashup. I like the fact the little red dots move along as you watch it (pathetic isn’t it)

The other one I like is this: www.ponies.me.uk/maps/osmap.html.

It’s just some guys website, where he has bought old UK maps and scanned them in and mashed them up with the Google Maps. I think things like this are so useful, it’s a good example of one person spending there spare time and money on something which everyone can make use of. How the web should be!

Got a favourite beverage?

Harveys of Lewes Best & Old Bitters (web site).

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Chris blogs at nostuff.org and is @chriskeene on Twitter.

Interview with Bethan Ruddock

Today it’s the turn of Bethan Ruddock from Mimas, over yonder in sunny Manchester.

Bethan, can you tell us a little bit about your job at Mimas?

I’m Content Development Officer, Library and Archival Services, which is a much more impressive job title than I ever thought I’d have! I work for Copac and the Archives Hub, on quite different projects. For Copac I’m working on the Challenge Fund, which is all about getting new libraries into Copac to expose rare and unique research material; and for the Hub I’m working on a project to define a new model for sustainable data-share. These involve a range of activities which quite astounds me, when I actually stop to think about it! I do a lot of looking at data (MARC and EAD), communicating with contributors and potential contributors, promotions and outreach work, and pretty much anything else that need doing.

What’s new and cool at Mimas?

You mean apart from me? We’re going to be undergoing a big hardware move this year, which is apparently quite exciting if you understand Oracle. Mimas is also having a rebrand, with a new website — the sneak previews I’ve seen look fantastic. It’s an exciting year all round, in fact, as the Archives Hub is also having a rebrand and will be moving to a new version of the Cheshire software; and there are all sorts of interesting things going on with Copac.

Can you remember where and when you first used a web browser?

No. Not a clue. I do remember using email in school, which was the most supremely pointless email application ever. You could only access it from the computer lab, and we only had lessons once a week, so pigeon post would probably have been faster…

Do you think libraries and librarians should adopt a cautious approach to new technologies, or should they be rolling up their sleeves and embracing it fully?

Difficult. On a lot of levels, I’m a strong advocate of the “just do it” approach — with a lot of technologies, if you wait too long, the moment passes. It always reminds me of an Alan Coren story where he talks about not having asked what a futon was when they first appeared, and then being too late to ask, and doomed to eternal ignorance. I think information professional have a duty to be the people asking “What is that? How can we use it?”. However, there is always the problem of committing (scarce) resources to something that isn’t going to be of great benefit in the long-term. I think we need to find the balance between recklessness and over-caution. Some technologies/applications require very little time/effort/expenditure to use: the Copac/Archives Hub twitter accounts are giving us a fantastic return for the amount of effort we put into them. That’s something we just went ahead and did, and we’ve been really pleased with it.

It sounds like “Copac 2.0″ is coming soon — are you at liberty to divulge anything juicy about the plans?

You probably know as much as I do, as one of our celebrity specialists We’re going to be working in 3 main areas: interface revision; database restructuring; and de-duplication. We’re also going to be introducing new features (many of which we recently trialled in our Beta interface), which allow you to personalise aspects of Copac, and add a few nice bits of extra functionality as well. You can read about them (more coherently than I’m currently managing!) at copac.ac.uk/about/coming-soon.html and copac.ac.uk/development-blog

Are you currently using any mash-ups at Mimas?

Probably! I’m sure that many of the services are doing some really exciting things — Landmap in particular springs to mind (landmap.mimas.ac.uk), but I’m ashamed to say that I don’t really know…

Have you got a favourite mash-up?

Umm, maybe the locations map for Copac. I’m not sure if it strictly counts as a mash-up, but it’s the only one I’ve done, so I’m sticking with it.

Got a favourite beverage?

I’m very partial to a nice bottle of red, and I never miss up the opportunity of a good pint. Any bitter or real ale goes down well — Black Sheep’s a particular favourite.

Cheers, Bethan. You’ll be pleased to know Black Sheep’s on tap at The Head of Steam for a post-event pint!

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Bethan blogs at Copac Developments and is @bethanar on Twitter.

Interview with Owen Stephens

For today’s chat, we’ve got the “Godfather of Mashed Library”, Owen Stephens…

Owen, you’ve just started as the TELSTAR Project Manager at the OU. Could you tell us a little bit about the project and also about the other projects you’ve been involved with recently?

The TELSTAR project is a JISC funded project looking at how course bibliographies can be integrated into the Open University’s Virtual Learning Environment, including managing the bibliographic references effectively and linking to electronic versions of material where appropriate. We are partnering with RefWorks (for which the OU has a license) to see how their reference management software might be used in this context. We also hope to explore the capabilities of web-based services like Zotero and CiteULike.

I was also recently Project Director for a project to setup EThOS – a service run by the British Library in collaboration with HE institutions in the UK to give access to electronic copies of PhD theses – digitising them where they aren’t already available. The main problem for the service since it went live has been the huge demand for the material – which although challenging for those involved is also incredibly rewarding – knowing that the material EThOS is making available is so much in demand – and would previously been very difficult for people to access.

You’ve got a great web domain name — meanboyfriend.com — what’s the backstory to that?

My girlfriend (now wife), Damyanti, used to tease me that she would make a list of all the mean things that I did, and post them on a website – called meanboyfriend.com. I bought her the domain name as a joke – and it stuck!

Mashed Library is all your fault! Could you tell us how it all came about?

The original idea came from hearing about the Mashed Museums event via Mike Ellis’ blog (and watching the videos). At that event a number of people had got together to “share ideas” and “have fun”. Inspired by this, and other unconference style events, I mentioned the idea of doing a similar event for libraries on my blog, and got a great response from people who were interested in contributing or coming along – and it just went from there.

With “Mash Oop North” selling out in 24 hours, what’s next for Mashed Library?

I’m pleased to say that planning has already started for the next Mashed Library event – more details will be coming out soon, but it should be happening before the end of the year. After that – who knows? If you are reading this and think hosting an event in 2010 would be fun then get in touch!

Do you think libraries and librarians should adopt a cautious approach to new technologies, or should they be rolling up their sleeves and embracing it fully?

Technology is changing how we go about the business of organising and disseminating information – so I think Librarians have to be right in there getting to grips with it. Not every new technology will be a success, but we need to experiment and innovate to see what works and what doesn’t.

Have you got a favourite mash-up?

My favourite mash-up isn’t a data based one at all – but a mash-up of the classic Muppet’s song Mahna Mahna, with the Japanese Anime “Vampire Hunter D” – to give “Muppet Hunter D” (available at Yahoo! Video)

Got a favourite beverage?

Easy. A pint of Bateman’s XXXB …unless someone else is buying, then it’s Veuve Clicquot all the way!

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Owen blogs at Overdue Ideas and is @ostephens on Twitter.

Interview with Brian Kelly

One of the things we’re keen to try and do is to have a blog chat with everyone who’s coming to “Mash Oop North!”, so it’s with great pleasure that we kick off with Brian Kelly from UKOLN, who’ll be giving one of the opening sessions

Brian, could you tell us a little bit about your role at UKOLN and what UK Web Focus involves?

My job title is ‘UK Web Focus’. This role involves advising UKOLN’s communities (higher and further education together with the cultural heritage sector) on best practices for exploiting the potential of the Web, with a focus on emerging aspects of the Web and innovative applications. At present, as might be expected, this covers use of Web 2.0. But in addition to this I have an interest in Web accessibility and how the limitations of the WAI approach to accessibility can be addressed by adopting a more holistic approach. I also have a strong interest in ways in which we need to adopt a more flexible approach to exploiting open standards in development activities.

You’ve been involved with promoting the web since 1993, when there were only a few hundred web servers throughout the world and web traffic only accounted for 1% of all internet use. Back then, did you have any idea of the likely impact the web would have on academia and libraries?

When I helped to set up the Web service at the University of Leeds in January 1993 there were fewer than 50 Web sites registered at CERN. I must admit that I was worried that we had selected the Betamax of networked information services – technically superior to the mainstream alternative (Gopher) but in danger of being sidelined. As I was confident of the superiority of the Web (and had, by chance, met Robert Cailliau, co-developer of the Web with Sir Tim Berners-Lee) I spend time in 1993 and 1994 promoting the Web. And by the time of the UCISA User Services Conference held around Easter time in 1994 I knew that the Web had won – my two sessions on HTML authoring were over-subscribed and people were asking if they could sneak in

However I will admit that I had initially envisaged the Web as the provider of a Campus Wide Information System (CWIS) and for institutional marketing materials, in particular the prospectus. However innovators such as Andrew Booth and Jon Maber, who were colleagues at the University of Leeds, soon demonstrated how the Web could be used as a teaching resource, through the development of the Bodington VLE service (see bodington.org/history.php).

This work, together with research developments in Computing Science and the School of Chemistry, made me appreciate the importance of the Web to higher education and in February 2005 I co-facilitated a two-day event on “WWW – A Strategic Tool for UK Higher Education“.

The aspect of the Web which did take me by surprise was the commercialisation – not only did I not expect to see online shopping malls being set up, I was also surprised by the new business models and the way in which such commercial services (back then, for example, the Alta Vista search engine) would have such an impact in working practices within our institutions. I guess my Old Labour instincts failed to see the benefits which such developments could bring to the educational sector.

Do you think libraries and librarians should adopt a cautious approach to new technologies, or should they be rolling up their sleeves and embracing it fully?

Two year’s ago Mike Ellis and myself gave a talk entitled “Web 2.0: How to Stop Thinking and Start Doing“. We argued that there was a need to actively embrace the Web. Earlier this year I wrote a paper entitled “Time To Stop Doing and Start Thinking: A Framework For Exploiting Web 2.0 Service” in which I describe a risks and opportunities framework which can be used to help ensure that the initial experimentation can be made more sustainable.

Could you tell us a little bit about your session at “Mash Oop North”?

I have to admit that I am not a developer (my software development background started with Algol, Fortran and COBOL and finished with BASIC!). However I wish to encourage the exploitation of the potential of the Web 2.0 infrastructure, including technological approaches such as RSS and REST and the global infrastructure provided by companies such as Google, Amazon and Yahoo. I’ll be looking at ways in which the ‘Enthusiastic Amateurs’ who will be attending “Mash Oop North” can help to embed the approaches we’ll encounter at the workshop within the institution.

Have you got a favourite mash-up?

I’m hoping to find a new favourite at “Mash Oop North”!

Got a favourite beverage?

I always go for the real ale – and as I’m from Liverpool and have studied and working in Yorkshire I enjoy a number of northern beers. A pint or two of Timothy Taylor’s Landlord would go down a treat!

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Brian blogs at UK Web Focus and is @briankelly on Twitter.

Congratulations!

Very early on in the planning for the event, and probably after a couple of beers, we thought it’d be cool to be able to sponsor some LIS students to attend “Mash Oop North”.

With barely any twisting of arms, both CILIP Yorkshire & Humberside and Copac/Mimas generously offered to handle the sponsorship, and we’re eternally grateful to everyone at both organisations

So, it’s with great pleasure that we’re able to announce that the following LIS students will be coming to Mashed Library UK 2009…

• Amy Hadfield – MSc Information & Library Studies, University of Aberystwyth
• Brenda Turnbull – MSc Information & Library Management, Liverpool John Moores University
• Eleanor O’Brien – MA Library & Information Studies, University College London
• Katie Fraser – MA Librarianship, University of Sheffield
• Katie Holberry – MA Librarianship, University of Sheffield
• Laura Woods – MSc Library & Information Studies, City University, London
• Martin Philip – MA Librarianship, University of Sheffield