GLAM is an evocative acronym referring to Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums. I had booked an extra couple of days in Canberra after attending a digital humanities 'unconference' (called THAT Camp Canberra), so I GLAMmed it up and visited some of our national cultural resources. I had a ball, but there was a more serious motive behind it all. Aside from generally … [Read more...] about GLAMming it up – Canberra in Two Days!
Storage of Historical Material
Australia’s Historic Newspapers Online
We all know where to go to access Australia's historic newspapers online - the National Library of Australia's Trove website. This site has deservedly received heaps of praise. It has a good search facility, there is no charge for use of the website and it has an effective means of correcting errors in the optical character recognition (OCR) reading of the newspaper text - … [Read more...] about Australia’s Historic Newspapers Online
Serendipitous Reading
Much is said about the importance of serendipity for research in the humanities. People extol the rewards gained from unexpectedly finding a relevant and fruitful book sitting on a bookshelf near the book that they had been initially seeking in the library. This year I am no longer a student so I decided that I would read more broadly than I have in recent years. While I still … [Read more...] about Serendipitous Reading
Libraries: Warehouses for Dead Books?
The University of Sydney's Fisher Library has joined a growing list of libraries to attract the wrath of borrowers at the suggestion that a large number of books are to be removed from the shelves. Recently libraries at the University of Denver and the University of New South Wales also attracted criticism from borrowers. These protests demonstrate that libraries are … [Read more...] about Libraries: Warehouses for Dead Books?
Sydney University Library: Borrowers Protest
Yesterday students at the University of Sydney organised a mass borrowing of books to protest against proposals by the University's Fisher Library to remove 500,000 books from the shelves and retrench 30 staff. Just two months ago concern was expressed at the removal of a large number of books from the library at University of New South Wales. I wrote about this in a previous … [Read more...] about Sydney University Library: Borrowers Protest