Out Of This World Science Fiction Exhibition at BL

I was reading Gary Green's blog recently, and his going to the British Library to see the Out of this world exhibition. For those who can go I'd really recommend it. There's books there by Margaret Attwood, Mary Shelley, Phillip K Dick, Alan Moore and Neal Stephenson. The exhition looked at Dystopia novels, utopian novels, time shifting novels and Virtual reality novels amongst others. If that doesn't interest you, Dr.Who's Tardis is there.

The British Library and Google in conjunction to release 250,000 books

A colleague pointed this article The British Library and Google to make 250,000 books available to all out to me. Wonder how long it'll take to complete the digitising for that?

British Library still to release out of date copyright books for Kindle

I was reading with some in A Kindle World blog and the article British Library Books Follow-up: Enhanced Versions on iPad with Option to Buy Printed Copies at Amazon
What happened on the British Library books?. I had heard the British Library was to release these in February.
TUAW has reported though that Ipad has stolen a march on the kindle, by getting these books first. It also seems the Ipad App is only available in the USA. Thats so clever BL!

British Library hosts 2-day Wikimedia Editathon event

Maybe late in the day but the British library is holding a British Library hosts 2-day Wikimedia Editathon this friday and Saturday (14.01.11 to 15.01.11). The site says of the event:-

Wikimedia and British Library join forces to improve content relevant to the Library on Wikipedia

The British Library, home to some of the world’s unique printed and written collections, is hosting a two-day Wikipedia ‘editathon’ on Friday 14 and Saturday 15 January. Co-organised by Wikimedia UK and the Library’s new Digital Research & Curator team, the event is aimed at sharing the expertise of real-world cultural institutions with wiki-knowledge. Details about the event can be found here.

British Library event

(Found via here) The British Library has an event on Tue 26 Oct 2010, 18.30 - 20.00 entitled Growing Knowledge:
Is the physical library a redundant resource for 21st century academics?. Priced at £6 and £4. Unfortunately I am away, but sounds interesting.

Programmable web and British Library Maps Crowdsourced Sounds

Programmable web has a great post entitled British Library Maps Crowdsourced Sounds, this discusses:-

The SoundMap uses Google Maps to plot sound recordings over England and Ireland. When you click on one of the push pins the sound recording will be played in your browser. For those looking to contribute, there is a blog post with ideas on what kinds of sounds to record.

I'm always impresssed by what the British library does.

James Murdoch.....a chip off the old block

As mentioned previously the British Library is to digitise newspapers from the early 1700's and put them online. Seems James Murdoch attacks British Library for digitising newspapers. Lovely, nice to see them taking our history for a profit.

BL to digitalise old newspapers for the Internet

(Found via here). The British Library is to digitise newspapers from the early 1700's and put them online. Brightsolid the British Library online publishing wing is in charge of the project (see here).

British Library to archive defunct UK websites

The British Library is to launch a UK Web Archive. The BL website says of it:-

Dame Lynne Brindley, [said] this project demonstrates the importance and value of the nation's digital memory.
Websites included in the UK Web Archive include:
The Credit Crunch - initiated in July 2008, this collection contains records of high-street victims of the recession - including Woolworths and Zavvi.
Antony Gormley's 'One & Other' Trafalgar Square Fourth Plinth Project - involving 2,400 participants and streamed live by Sky Arts over the web to an audience of millions, this site will no longer exist online from March 2010.
2010 General Election - work has started to preserve the websites of MPs such as Derek Wyatt, who will be retiring at the next election, creating a permanent record of his time as a Member of Parliament.
This important research resource has been developed in partnership with the National Library of Wales, JISC and the Wellcome Library, as well as technology partners such as IBM.

Brindley also discusses it here on the Today show.

Ebooks from the British Library....Free

(Found via here). It seems the British library is going to be offering more than 65,000 19th-century works of fiction are to be made available for free downloads by the public from this spring. More information can be found here.

Dame Lynne Brindley at Senate House

As mentioned yesterday, today I went to the Charles Holden talk with Dame Lynne Brindley. It started off with a brief talk about Senate house friends and the events that the did and what they paid for within the library. The Emma Robinson, former Senate house director formally introduced Dame Lynne Brindley and discussed the British Libraries 'cultural diplomacy'.
Brindley described the British library as 'one of the greatest libraries in the world'. She discussed how the BL supports research and makes around £22 to 25 million from the work it does for business, which is then re-invested in the library. The BL website also receives 75000000 hits per year we were told.

She then proceeded to discuss the shrinking world and 'the response to the challenges of the digital age'. In today's age Brindley discussed how users expect to get there information may vary, but many expect it electronically. She said the BL was 'responding to the challenges of the digital age.'

She briefly touch on whether libraries have a future. Although she felt they did, she did see that with the question being raised, that that shows it is being though about.

She then proceeded to discuss cultural diplomacy and the international engagement strategy, which has 5 aims:-

1. Restoring and sustaining cultures.


2. Virtual reunification's of collections.


3. Capacity building.


4. Professional leadership.


5. Digital development.

She then discussed some of the important work the British library is doing. For example, the International Dunhuang project. This looks at the ancient silk road maps in Asia.

The she discussed the Codex Sinaiticus is one of the most important books in the world. Handwritten well over 1600 years ago, the manuscript contains the Christian Bible in Greek, including the oldest complete copy of the New Testament. This garnered 96000000 hits in its first two days. Other things were discussed such as Web Curator briefly, but it then proceeded to a Q & A. Oh what fun.

Question 1 was 'why is the BL so badly staffed, with rude staff'. Great opening question. Brindley responded that she would look into it and felt that they provided a service fairly well.

Question 2 was whether the BL might get less money from the Government in the economic downturn. She felt that it could be likely in the present economic climate.

Question 3 was the worst and made my blood boil. Some French researcher/academic who'd used the BL for 40 years felt people from Kings Cross and Euston used the BL as a waiting room, charging there phones up off free electricity of the BL. Excuse me, even if they do they paid for the BL via THERE TAXES. At least they were entering the library and using it. It was if mere plebs are not allowed to use it. Sorry dear, but we are not in the nineteenth century anymore. Brindley smiled, and said the library was open to the public (or as the academic would say, 'the great unwashed' in her mind).

Question 4 was whether the BL would join with google to digitalise the collection. She said no, as they had not 'been mindful of copyright....[but] the ambition is amazing.'

There were some more questions, but I must conclude. My conclusion is that Brindley came over as a great speaker and leader of are national heritage, with foresight and ambition (for culture and not personal) and it was really an interesting evening.

The Charles Holden Lecture by Dame Lynne Brindley tomorrow

Senate House is holding the Charles Holden Lecture by Dame Lynne Brindley tomorrow from 6pm.Although I'm off for the day I am going to attend as she will be discussing:-

"The British Library: a library for the world"Outlining the many ways in which the British Library collaborates internationally, including cultural diplomacy projects and the use of new technologies to share texts of international significance with a world-wide audience.

And a wine reception after. Not bad ;)

BL books go digital

Via the bbc it seems that the British Library is All books are public domain and often dating back from the nineteenth century. The British library is working in conjunction with Microsoft on the project by utilising its Microsoft's Live Search Books.
The article says:-

Digitised publications will be accessible in two ways -initially through Microsoft's Live Search Books and then via the Library's website.

The books will be fully text searchable, meaning users will be able to look for keywords within a publication, making research easier and enhancing interaction with the material.

Petition to stop British library cuts

Following on from my earlier entry about the 7% cuts at the British library,I just read about this petition to stop it going through. Please do sign it.