In through the outfield

18 November 2008

A ‘friendly’ catalogue for the British Library

Soon after joining the the British Library nearly three years ago I had my first encounter with our Integrated Catalogue, and I have to say it was not a happy experience. Having used and developed simple and easy to use databases and catalogues in the past, I found our system complicated, confusing and definitely not a thing of beauty.

Once the sheer scale of the database (over 14 million records) was explained to me, and how much of an improvement it was over the numerous separate catalogues that pre-dated it, my criticisms were somewhat muted.

However, I still struggled every time I needed to search it. But the good news is that from this week I now have the option of using the beta version of our new Primo based ‘Search our Catalogue’ service from ExLibris.

The role model for this new interface is Amazon and other similar simple to use search services such as Flickr and eBay. After just a few sample searches I have to say that I am very impressed. The design is much cleaner and clearer than the Integrated Catalogue, and provides display options and mechanisms for filtering the results.

Even more revolutionary for the library is the ability to tag books and even write reviews once you are logged in.

6 November 2008

Taking Liberties exhibition brings our history to life

I was fortunate to have a sneak preview of our new exhibition Taking Liberties on the 900-year struggle for Britain’s freedoms and rights.

I’m not really much of a history buff but was stunned by the sight of the original Death warrant of King Charles the First from 1649, kindly loaned by the UK Parliamentary Archives. I had assumed that documents of this age and significance had long since been lost or destroyed. As you can see from the larger image, it is actually in pretty good condition with the seals and signatures of the 59 individuals clearly visible.

Less visually impressive but with a more powerful human connection is the purse belonging to Emily Wilson, who made the ultimate sacrifice in the cause of women’s suffrage in the UK. However, the fact that the purse contained a return rail ticket, and also a ticket to a Suffragette dance later that day, suggests that suicide was not her intention.

29 October 2008

Web 2.0 Made Easy

I greatly enjoyed our Web 2.0 Made Easy event this evening. We had a full house with over 60 enthusiastic visitors, all wanting to learn more about this important topic for small businesses.

The presenter Jude Habib from Sound Delivery said she wanted the event to be informal, and that was certainly what she got, with a stream of questions varying from ‘what is a blog’ to ‘how do you get sponsorship for your podcast’.

There were so many questions that Jude barely made it through her excellent slides before closing time at the Library. There was some pretty intensive networking going on as the audience was on their way out of the building.

There was a great deal of demand to run another event covering the topic, and a lot of interest in the all day event An Introduction to Social Media for Business on 14 November.

I thought this slide was an excellent way of reviewing wether you (or your organisation) are ready to engage with social media technologies.

It is important to be aware of the democratic nature of Web 2.0, including the ability of your customers to post negative comments.

28 October 2008

Children run riot at the British Library

Today was definitely children’s day at the British Library with literally hundreds coming in (with their parents) to the Big Picture Party. The day was to celebrate the value of the picture book in encouraging family learning, reading, creativity and enjoyment.

I am sure having well-loved children’s illustrator Quentin Blake in attendance was a big factor. He gave a talk on the importance of illustration and picture books. He also referred to his plans to create the UK’s first centre dedicated to illustration, the House of Illustration, due to open in late 2011.

I was on an all day course getting to know the Business & IP Centre partners, but managed to pop out for a few minutes at lunchtime to see the throngs of happy children.

Not all of the adults were so happy, and apparently there were quite a few complaints from our more traditional (and elderly) visitors who think the ‘silence is golden rule’ should be applied to all parts of the British Library. I suspect they would also be fans of the 15th Century proverb ‘children should be seen but not heard’.

25 October 2008

An encounter with an urban fox outside the British Library

Not the actual fox I saw - I couldn't get my cameraphone out quickly enough — Not the actual fox I saw that night

After my recent blogs about the variety of wildlife in my home location, varying from deer in my garden to the Beast of Balcombe, you can imagine my surprise by my latest encounter in the heart of London.

I was rushing to catch my train at around 8.45pm after a late meeting with a Business & IP Clinic client. I had just left the staff exit of the British Library and was heading north along a busy Middlesex Street towards St Pancras station. Suddenly I was face to face with a large wild animal. After a second or two I realised it was a fox, and although it initially appeared to be as surprised as me (we were less than 10 feet apart), it soon recovered its composure. I last saw it slipping down into our disabled entrance and then swiftly out of sight.

I had a brief conversation with a fellow commuter behind me who had also seen the fox, but had to rush on for fear fo missing my train.

I shall certainly keep my eyes peeled for more wildlife sightings in future when I am venturing out after dark in London.

19 October 2008

The Secret of Success: How to be a Start-Up Star

I am grateful to my colleague Julie Boadilla for this report.

I thought this event was a very productive session. Having done a bit of networking on the night of the event, I noticed that most of the attendees were undergraduate students. There were four presenters who explained how they set up their businesses and gave tips on how to become successful, they also outlined how they overcame challenges and obstacles they encountered.

The first speaker was Adam Goodyer who’s business Concert Live produces live CD’s of music concerts within 15 minutes of the end of the event, so fans can re-live the concert experience. He decided that rather than rely on patents to protect his invention he would compete by being better than his competitors. Despite no previous music industry experience, the company is going from strength to strength, and last year generated revenue of over £1million. His tip was to always be aware of the little things. He didn’t arrange for local banking facilities in the early days and so ended up in the uncomfortable situation of having to take a bin bag with £65,000 in cash to his local branch.

Tricia Weener is co-founder of Intelligent Marketing, a creative marketing agency that achieved a £2million turnover last year, and represents clients such as Honda, Woolworth’s and Guinness. Tricia and her co-founder won this year’s Women in Business category at the Startup Awards. She recommended not to be afraid of employing people who are better at you.

Rhodri Ferrier of Bulldog Grooming Products left samples of his natural moisturiser for each person in the audience. The company was named “Sainsbury’s Small Branded Supplier of the Year 2007/08”.

We also had Dan Cobley, who is marketing director, UK Ireland and Benelux for Google.

I thought it was interesting and informative in a way that they explained what they did right and wrong. Also they were honest and admitted that they made mistakes along the way.

The 45 minute questions and answer session was equally good and overall I greatly enjoyed the event.
Julie Boadilla

13 October 2008

Business & IP Centre minor media star

We are very proud of Jeremy O’Hare our minor media star in the Business & IP Centre team. His first appearance was last summer on the BBC’s Working Lunch show.

They came in to the Centre to film a ten minute slot on our wonderful and unique free sources of information and interviewed a couple of our ‘success stories’. As well as finding out how they had used our information, the journalists wanted to interview a member of our reference team. Jeremy volunteered and did an excellent job, suppressing his understandable nerves to give a clear but enthusiastic summary of our service.

In fact Jeremy’s appearance was so successful the rest of the team had to deal with several weeks of answering phone enquirers who specifically asked for Jeremy to assist them with their business information needs.

Since then he has played a staring role in our award winning interactive annual report.

Last week we received a call from the Working Lunch show saying they wanted to come in and get three British Library staff to review the latest batch of E-readers. They wanted to know if the ‘professionals’ thought we were ready to usher in the era of digital books. You can watch for yourself to see what their views were.

Once again Jeremy was pressed into action and once again acquitted himself excellently.

Who knows where this media career will lead!

23 September 2008

Manchester’s Commercial Library and Ask About Business service

Today I visited Manchester’s Commercial Library and Ask About Business service with my colleague Nigel Spencer. The weather was spectacular all day which made for wonderful views from the train over Cheshire and the Peak District. But also put a lie to Manchester’s reputation as grey and wet city. Walking along the canal past Victorian industrial palaces and modern glass and steel offices to the impressive circular building (apparently based on the Pantheon in Rome) was a delight.

The meeting was to compare developments in our respective services and to explore how we can support each other in future. They demonstrated their recently launched Ask About Business service, which is particularly impressive.

“Ask About Business is a new partnership between eleven library authorities in Greater Manchester, Blackpool, and Blackburn with Darwen. Led by Manchester Library & Information Service, Ask About Business provides access through libraries to information that supports: Pre-Start and new businesses, Existing business, Jobseekers, Consumers, Inventors, Business students”

What is particularly inspiring was the decision to use their numerous local libraries as the front line for this new service. Customers are then referred to business information specialists on a case by case basis.

It was flattering to hear that some of their initiatives (such as workshops and use of success stories) were inspired by our activities in the Business & IP Centre. Considering the limited budget they have been working to, their achievements are even more extraordinary.

Providing remote free access to the Cobra (Complete Business Reference Adviser) database (one of our most useful sources for business startups) is inspired.

17 September 2008

Maurice Collins and his Weird and Wonderful collection

Maurice Collins, the man behind our very popular Weird and Wonderful small display currently in the Centre, gave a very entertaining talk last night.

We had a full house of over 100 interested visitors, and Maurice entertained the audience with a mixture of slides and items from his collection. Often he would test to see if they could guess what the mysterious object actually did, and was greeted with a wide range of suggestions.

Two of his favourites kept the audience baffled for quite some time. Eventually someone guessed what the applicator for pile ointment was for. But the brothel clock had everyone stumped.

This BBC news story has images of eight more of the gadgets in his collection.