MA Information Studies lecturers, Audrey Marshall and Dr Martin De Saulles, have just had books published on aspects of information management. Audrey’s “Collection Management in the Digital Age” is an edited collection of chapters on the challenges facing libraries by digital technologies while Martin’s “Information 2.0: new models of information production, distribution and consumption” looks at the revolution in the media and publishing industries brought about by the internet and rise of social media. Principal lecturer, Martin says: “The internet and rise of low-cost mobile computing devices is really starting to impact on a range of industries and our books explore how organisations are adapting to these changes. Information technology investments have traditionally been focused on the technology aspects while there is now a growing awareness that the information which flows through and across these technologies and networks is what is driving economic and social change.” MA Information Studies course leader, Audrey, adds: “At the core of my book is a desire to confront the changes we are experiencing and to question the rational strategic approaches to developing and managing collections which have been at the heart of librarianship for years.”
May 29, 2012
New Books by MA Information Studies Lecturers
Posted by Martin De Saulles under Announcements, ResearchLeave a Comment
March 6, 2012
Come to our Open Evening
Posted by Martin De Saulles under Announcements, Courses, Open daysComments Off
If you want to find out more about our MA Information Studies and the opportunities it offers for graduates in the library and information world then come to our open evening on the 22 March in room W623 in the Watts Building on our Moulsecoomb campus. We will be there from 4pm to 7pm to answer questions and discuss the course with you.
We look forward to meeting you.
More details and an online booking form for the open evening are here.
February 28, 2012
As part of their MA course, our students do a placement in a host organisation. This is partly to give them relevant work experience but is mainly to give them a setting within which they can carry out a piece of research. This forms the basis of their dissertation. It also gives the host organisation a useful piece of work – typically something they don’t have the time or resources to do themselves.
Recent projects have included:
- an RFID scoping project for Brighton and Susssex University Hospitals NHS Trust
- the use of social media in campaigning, for UKOLN
- an evaluation of marketing to teens in East Sussex public libraries
- user training needs at Middle Temple Law Library
- the role of Knowledge Support Librarians in the NHS in Hampshire
- the use of visual imagery to promote Rare Books and Special Collections
- geo-tagging as a retrieval aid at Screen Archive South East
This is a small sample of what recent students have done, but you can see the range for yourselves. One local host commented on one placement that the “work is having an immediate and direct impact on our service and has made the initial stages of our project considerably easier to complete”.
This is the time of year that we start matching students up with host organisations. The placements themselves take place over the summer (for full-time students) and from October through to February (for part-time students). This year’s cohort have already expressed an interest in projects around information literacy, search engine optimisation, social media policy and investigations into services for people with dyslexia. If you’d be interested in hosting a placement or would like to know more please contact:
Audrey Marshall
a.m.marshall@brighton.ac.uk.
February 10, 2012
- Ceris Howard, Debbie Perera and James Currington
Erin Gow and Ngozi Odili
February 10, 2012
We’ve been working with East Sussex Library and Information Services to develop a skills programme for staff working in public libraries in the South East of England. The aim of the programme is to develop the knowledge and skills base in local public library services in the South East of England.
The first session was in January and we were really pleased with how it went and with the feedback we got from participants. The session was on the theme of Public Libraries in Society and set the context for the programme.
PL skills course
The photo shows David Horner in action at the whiteboard, along with Rhona Drever, Assistant Head of Service in East Sussex and some of the participants.
The sessions are being led by members of the teaching staff from the Information Management Subject Group and are taking place at the University of Brighton’s Moulsecoomb Campus. Practitioners from participating authorities and other guests are also being invited to contribute.
The course runs until December 2012 and consists of 10 modules, covering the following subjects:
• Public Libraries in Society
• Community Development
• Children and Young People’s Services
• Reader Development
• Local Studies and Family History
• Web 2.0
• Search Structure and Strategies
• Research Methods and Project Proposal
• Leadership and Communication
• Reflective Writing and CPD
As students are attending from across the South East region a major aspect of the learning is the opportunity to share experiences and best practice. Each participant’s learning and development is also being enhanced with support from their employer, allowing them to put their learning into practice within the service.
I’ll be writing up more of it as it progresses.
January 26, 2012
Over the last year or so I’ve been busy co-editing a book on collection development with Maggie Fieldhouse from UCL. Our book has now been published and we’re very pleased with it. It’s a Facet publication: Collection Development in the Digital Age.
The book is aimed at students but is also useful to practitioners. Those of you working in collection development and management will be only too aware of the changes taking place in the market, the technologies and user expectations. The book addresses those challenges and explores how collection development, as both a concept and a practical activity, is evolving to meet them. The book draws together the perspectives of academics and practitioners at the forefront of modern collection development.
Check it out here: CD Book and get your library to order a few copies!
October 10, 2011
Two of the students who are just completing MAIS have had an article published in Impact, the journal of CILIP’s Career Development Group. Joseph Norwood and Ka-Ming Pang have given a couple of presentations on the theme of professional activism among their cohort at university. Read their article about it:
September 26, 2011
One of the highlights of the summer for me was attending ISHIMR 2011 in Zurich. The acronym stands for International Symposium on Health Information Management Research and the conference covers a wide range of topics, from the quite technical to the very practical via the frankly esoteric. What I enjoyed particularly was the opportunity to meet people from lots of different coutries. The Middle East was well represented, as was Eastern Europe and there is some fascinating work going on. Also refreshing was meeting several bright young people, some having just graduated with nursing degrees and others studying PhDs. My own contribution was a paper which looked at aspects of the Net.Weight project, the study I was involved in a couple of years ago with colleagues from Brighton University and the Brighton and Sussex Medical School. In the paper, we explored some of the results using the concept of involvement and a 3-stage model devised by Alice Wilson and Richard Casey, who at that time were doing work with the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement. Their model has proved to be a useful way to think about our results and to highlight gaps in health information provision. I hope to be able to develop the thinking further but in the meantime the paper is in the Conference Proceedings. The photo shows me in earnest conversation at the conference dinner with a Swedish participant (we were probably discussing Wallander!). 
July 28, 2011
MAIS graduates 2011
- This is Julie Gabriel, Sally Norwood and Lindsay White, all now MA graduates. This was taken shortly before the ceremony began, when they were nervouslyawaiting proceedings! Congratulations to them as well as to those students who weren’t able to attend to the graduation ceremony. Keep in touch!
Henrik Jones winners 2011
- The second photo shows Marion Huckle, from CILIP, together with the winners of the CILIP Henrik Jones prize. CILIP awards this prize in honour of Henrik Jones, who was the first librarian of the Library Association and who also had connections with Brighton Library School. The prize is awarded to MA students who have done exceptionally well in information retrieval work. This year it was shared amongst the three students in the photo: Ka-Ming Pang, Josh Jenkin and Julia Worley. Well done all three.
May 30, 2011
Keeping it in the family
Posted by Audrey Marshall under CILIP, Meetings/Events | Tags: CILIP, Event |Comments Off
I officially took over as Chair of the CILIP SE Branch at the AGM on Thursday 26th May. I took over from my colleague Juliet Eve, so we’re keeping things in the University of Brighton family. The next year is going to be one of change, with CILIP’s review of Branches and Groups currently under way – but we’re up for the challenge. The speaker at the AGM was Phil Bradley, CILIP vice-President, but speaking to us more as future-watcher. He sees the future as one of opportunity for information professionals – if we’re prepared to grasp it and adopt the role of thought leaders. See more of Phil at http://www.netvibes.com/philbradley#General. 
