“Research is concerned with discovery”, Christopher Pressler tells us in his introduction to Scala Publishing’s splendid new book on the University of London’s Senate House Library, “Libraries are the essential mode of travel.” The centrality of collections of documents in an organized space is the intellectual theme to what might (wrongly) be dismissed as a… Continue reading Senate House Library and the context of documents
Category: London
Knowledge, documents and a London location
As documents, and the whole information and communication environment, become increasingly digital, it is natural to assume that physical location becomes of less importance. Two newly published books remind us that this idea should be examined with a critical eye. Rosemary Ashton’s Victorian Bloomsbury, a splendidly scholarly and well-produced intellectual and cultural history of that… Continue reading Knowledge, documents and a London location
London (and Aslib) old and new
While leading a course for Aslib last week at the Etc. venues training centre near the Tower of London last week, I was struck by the view out of the window; which, I'm glad to say, the participants were polite enough not to stare at. In the foreground, Robert Smirke's Royal Mint building of 1809,… Continue reading London (and Aslib) old and new
Delete Docklands, insert Victoria
I imagine that anyone thinking of visiting London this year will be thinking of the Olympics, the Diamond Jubilee and so on, and that the Online Conference will be rather low down the list of must-sees. But for anyone who did have it as a priority, I have inadvertently misled you in a previous post.… Continue reading Delete Docklands, insert Victoria
A Farewell to Kensington
So, the 2011 International Online Information Meeting will be the last to be held in the Kensington area of London. Next December, the show moves east to the ExCel conference centre in Docklands. I have to say I feel rather melancholic at the news. True, the exhibition had looked a bit lost for the past… Continue reading A Farewell to Kensington
Remembering Ludvik Finkelstein
Rather belated, this posting marks the death in August this year of Ludwik Finkelstein, formerly Dean of Engineering at City University London. Finkelstein was born in Lvov in Poland (now Lviv in the Ukraine) in 1929, and seemed destined for a career in his family's iron and steel business. Like so many from that part… Continue reading Remembering Ludvik Finkelstein
CoLIS 2010 (and 2013)
The 7th CoLIS (Conceptions of Library and Information Science) conference was held at University College London between 21st and 24th June. As Programme Chair, I am bound to be biased, but, after leaving a decent period for reflection, it seems to me that it was a great sucess. Participants have been kind enough to use… Continue reading CoLIS 2010 (and 2013)
Brian Vickery (and the uneasy information scientists)
At the start of the 2010, we heard the sad news of the death of Brian Vickery in October last year. He was one of the leading lights of British information science over many years. This post is an expanded version of a short appreciation which I wrote as an editorial for Journal of Documentation.… Continue reading Brian Vickery (and the uneasy information scientists)
Eating in the Library
We have become used to the idea that libraries of all kinds are adding on coffee shops and the like, and no longer necessarily barring food and drink being brought in. This increasing linkage between food and libraries seems to be taken a stage further in London, where a number of former libraries are being… Continue reading Eating in the Library
Slowing London Down
The Slow Movement comes to London next week. 'Slow Down London', running from 24th April to 4th May, will provide a variety of events to 'help us challenge the cult of speed and appreciate the world around us'. My doctoral student, Liz Poirier, who is doing her PhD on a theory of 'slow information', will… Continue reading Slowing London Down
The Occasional Informationist 