In November 1917, the President of the Library Association, Sir John MacAlister, wrote to the Provost of UCL ‘to enquire whether it would be possible to institute at University College a School of Librarianship…to be established in co-operation with the Library Association’. The London School of Economics had offered a course in librarianship in co-operation with the Library Association (LA) between 1902 and 1915, but that had lapsed during the War. The arrangement had been that the LA paid the fees of the lecturers whom they also recommended, while the LSE provided teaching space and other expenses, however, initial healthy numbers dwindled to 3 or 6 students by 1915. After some further discussions, a proposal was sent to the Professorial Board, which set up a Committee to confer with the Library Association. The Committee reported positively on the proposal on 22 March 2018, having reassured itself that the LSE did not propose to resume its earlier course. The Director of the LSE concluded that ‘the number of new recruits to librarianship…was so small as to preclude any hope of making an institution of the kind successful’.

Recommendations went to the College Committee, ‘that it is desirable to institute a School for Librarianship at University College, provided that the necessary Endowment Fund is forthcoming’. The Library Association had been in communication with the Carnegie Trustees seeking an annual grant to support the School which was ‘receiving their sympathetic consideration’. A Joint Sub-Committee between UCL and the LA was invited to prepare a scheme for submission to the UCL Committee. The ambition was to have ‘something founded upon the lines that will enable it to develop into a University School of librarianship comparable with the great Schools of Librarianship in the United States’.

The proposal was to establish a staff comprising a Director, a Secretary, and Teaching Staff in four core areas of study, ie Bibliography, Classification, Cataloguing, Library History, Organisation and Routine. Special courses would also be provided in Literary History, Palaeography and the Study of Archives, and Indexing. The LA proposed to transfer its extensive library of ‘Technical Library Literature’ to UCL. The Carnegie Trust agreed to fund the School for five years initially at the rate of £1500 per annum. The scheme was approved by the University of London Senate and the plan was to start teaching in October 1919.

In June 1919, UCL College Committee approved a statement of the duties and terms of appointment of the Director of the School of Librarianship and agreed to appoint Dr E A Baker, Secretary to the Education Committee of the LA and on the Joint Committee. A row then erupted between the University Senate and the LA, after the LA Council passed a resolution disapproving of Baker’s appointment and insisting that the Directorship be advertised. It seems that some members of the LA had hoped to start a school at a northern university and were seeking to derail the UCL proposal. However, after reconsideration and lawyers’ letters, the University and UCL prevailed and Dr Baker’s appointment was confirmed in August 1919. Sir Frederick Kenyon was invited to deliver the address at the opening of the School of Librarianship in October 1919.

In its first decade, 387 full time and 289 part time students completed courses, some sponsored by local education authorities such as London County Council which sponsored 50 places for London librarians. The School expanded to occupy most of the Henry Morley Building at UCL. The Carnegie Trust renewed its grant for a second five year period. In 1930, UCL started to fund raise for a capital investment of £50,000 to secure the School’s future.

Elizabeth Shepherd

Sources:

UCL Special Collections, Records Office UCLCA/CC: UCL Minutes of College Committee, 17/10/1917 to 2/07/1918, Meeting 5/03/1918; Meeting 30/04/1918; Meeting 3/06/1919.

University of London Library: University Correspondence Central File, 1918-1919 CF 1/19/208, including letters from Carnegie Trust.

University of London Library: UL 3/7, miscellaneous papers on the School of Librarianship, 1901-1930.

Congratulations to Simons Cloudesley and Justine Humphreys, students on the MA in LIS programme, whose work with the Refugee Echo Library this summer has been recognised in the CILIP Information Professional Magazine. Simon and Justine’s travel was funded by the Dean’s Strategic Fund at UCL. To learn more about their work in Greece, please follow the link to the article:

Article:  https://www.ucl.ac.uk/information-studies/sites/information-studies/files/infopro_oct18_pp40-43.pdf

Cover:  https://www.ucl.ac.uk/information-studies/sites/information-studies/files/infopro_cover_oct18.pdf

The 2015 UK General Election was most notable for producing a result – a Conservative majority – that few had predicted. Perhaps the second most discussed aspect has been the difference between the amount of votes gained by smaller parties, and the number of seats that they won. Between them Ukip and the Green Party won about 5million votes, but just 2 seats.

It’s possible to use published voting results to redraw the country as if proportional respresention was in play, with each party being awarded a number of seats based on the proportion of the overall vote that they gained.

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New flow data sets from the 2011 Census of Population are being made available by the Office for National Statistics for the first time today via the FlowData website and other sources. FlowData is part of the Census Support, a value-added part of the UK Data Service; the flowdata team are Oliver Duke-Williams and Vassilis Routsis, of the Department of Information Studies at UCL.

Flow data – also known as interaction data or origin-destination data – are a specialised form of data about flows of people between two locations. These include migration flows between an origin and a destination, and journey-to-work flows between a residence and a workplace.

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The Role of the Records Manager in an Open Government Environment in the UK

Think of the potential social justices, innovations and developments in a world where there is greater government transparency, participation, accessibility and accountability. In April 2014 I was given the outstanding opportunity to contribute to research, which will help to lead to such developments. I am an InterPARES Trust researcher at the Department of Information Studies, UCL currently conducting a project, which is part of fundamental ongoing research into Open Data, Open Government and access to information. The central aim of the project is to consider the role of recordkeepers in the context of new obligations on UK government bodies towards open government, open data and enabling greater information access to citizens. We are particularly interested the proactive release of data and information by public sector organizations under the provisions of open government initiatives.The Open Government Data and access to public sector information environment in the UK and Europe in particular, is being transformed and therefore throws up questions about the roles and responsibilities of the professionals who are engaged in delivering services to citizens. Recordkeeping policy on access and the legislative and regulatory frameworks need to be clarified and the role of the recordkeeper within this framework needs to be examined.

The lead researchers for the project are Doctor Andrew Flinn and Professor Elizabeth Shepherd, who can be contacted with any further questions about the research project on the following email addresses: a.flinn@ucl.ac.uk, e.shepherd@ucl.ac.uk

For the complete version of this blog post, please refer to the following link: http://www.irms.org.uk/irms-blog/entry/open-government-data-research

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the British Library are launching a two-year research project which will explore the future of academic books in the context of open access publishing and continuing digital change.

Dr Samantha Rayner, Director of the Centre for Publishing at the University College London (UCL) will lead the project ‘Communities of Practice: The Academic Book of the Future’. Alongside colleagues Simon Tanner and Professor Marilyn Deegan from King’s College London and Nick Canty from UCL. See full details.

We are proud to announce that Faber and Faber and UCL have awarded the second David Tebbutt scholarship to Helen Hughes, currently in her final year studying English, history and creative writing at the National University of Ireland in Galway. The Scholarship was established in memory of the late David Tebbutt, Finance Director of Faber and Faber from 2002 until his untimely death in September 2011.

The UCL David Tebbutt Scholarship is awarded annually, to fully fund a place on the UCL MA in Publishing programme. The scholarship is funded by the David Tebbutt Trust, which is jointly administered by Faber and Faber and the Tebbutt family. The principal aim of the Trust is to further the education of those wishing to pursue a career in the publishing, writing and information industries, and related fields of activity. As well as funding a full year’s fees, the scholarship also carries a guaranteed work placement with Faber and Faber.

More information on the prize can be found http://www.ucl.ac.uk/publishing/how-to-apply

Please contact Dr Samantha Rayner for more details: s.rayner@ucl.ac.uk

The Labour Party has recently launched a new website which tells you your supposed ‘NHS Baby Number‘ – that is, if all the babies born under the NHS were placed in order, which one you would be, from the very first, born on July 5th 1948, to the very latest.

It is an interesting piece of viral marketing / campaigning, but one which deserves a little more critical attention.

[EDIT 18/05/18: A revised version of this site has appeared in the lead up to the 70th anniversary of the NHS, so I’ve updated the data used for my estimate. Labour have improved their retention policy, in that they ask you first, but have extended the data gathering to potentially record family structure as well. My other criticisms about the reference to the census remain as they were.]

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The sale of rights is crucial to the activities of literary agencies and publishing houses, and can be a major factor in building an author’s career and maintaining author loyalty. For publishers, the sale of rights can also have a major influence on the overall publishing decision and on their profitability.

This new two-day course is aimed at staff handling rights for literary agencies and publishing houses. It will cover the rationale for selling rights as well as the practicalities – checking control of the rights and maintaining an accurate database of submissions and sales, as well as key activities such as researching particular markets, identifying potential licensees and building personal contacts at book fairs and on sales trips.

The course will address a range of different rights categories, from English language deals in the UK and abroad, translation rights, serial rights to newspapers and magazines as well as non-print rights such as radio and audio rights, film and television rights and merchandising. It will cover the rationale for coedition versus licence deals, and offer practical advice on how to achieve the best deal and finalise appropriate licence contracts. The final session will cover electronic publishing and will aim to distinguish between arrangements which are sales channels to market, and those which are true electronic licensing deals.

The course will include two group exercises for delegates. Your tutors have a wide range of experience in different sectors of the book industry.

Full details and the application form can be found at: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/publishing/events/programme

Photo credit: James Curtis

On 15 May we were pleased to welcome CILIP’s accreditation panel to the department to discuss our Postgraduate Diploma and MA Library and Information Studies (PGDip / MA LIS) and Postgraduate Diploma and MSc Information Science (PGDip / MSc IS) courses. Both courses have now been reaccredited for the maximum 5 years, until May 2019. We really enjoyed meeting the panel and taking part in the process, which, for the first time this year, was informed by CILIP’s new Professional Knowledge and Skills Base (PKSB).

Introduced by CILIP in 2013 after widespread consultation with the information profession, the PKSB is a useful professional development tool against which all accredited library school courses are now mapped. At its heart are core ethics and values which underpin generic skills in leadership and advocacy; strategy, planning & management; customer focus, service design & marketing; and IT & communications and professional expertise in organising knowledge & information; knowledge & information management; using & exploiting knowledge & information; research skills; information governance & compliance; records management & archiving; collection management & development; and literacies & learning. These are set within the wider contexts of the library, information & knowledge sector and the organisation and environment.

As education providers, the PKSB provides a structure within which we can prepare our students for their future careers: since 1919, when UCL offered its first library courses, developed with one of CILIP’s predecessors, the Library Association, we have aimed to equip our graduates not only with theory, but with the skills they will further develop throughout their careers, and for UK information professionals the framework for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is now the PKSB.

We are pleased that both our programmes have been reaccredited and happy to have the PKSB to use with our students alongside UCL’s own Personal and Professional Development (PPD) resources. We look forward to continuing to work with the many professionals who share their expertise with us through guest lectures and talks and by hosting work placements for our students, and to welcoming those who can make it to our summer drinks party this evening.

We are always happy to hear from experienced practitioners who would like to form links with the Department. Contact details for both our programmes are available on the CILIP website and, of course, our departmental webpages.

Our next Cilip reaccreditation is scheduled for May 2019.

Anne Welsh, Lecturer in Library and Information Studies and Programme Director for the MA LIS