News from the British Library

Citation

(2002), "News from the British Library", Program: electronic library and information systems, Vol. 36 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/prog.2002.28036cab.001

News from the British Library

(Most items in this section have been contributed by suppliers. Publication does not imply endorsement by Emerald, Aslib or the Editorial Board, of any claims made.)

News from the British Library

Digitising Singapore's history

Historical documents about Singapore are to be digitised and made available on the Web for the first time in a trial project by the British Library and the National Library Board of Singapore (NLB). The material, dating back to 1758, is in the Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections of the British Library and includes maps, photographs, newspapers, drawings, pamphlets and official documents.

The project will digitise 38 items, comprising over 1,000 images, allowing global access via the Internet to a treasure chest of primary information about Singapore's history. Touching upon areas such as politics, trade, early tourist information and literature, the material to be digitised reflects Singapore's multilingual, multiethnic and cosmopolitan society. The images, jointly selected by the British Library and the NLB, will be available on the NLB's Web site in 2003 and will include:

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  A superb panorama of Singapore harbour c.1870.

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  An 1881 edition of Jawi Peranakan, the first Malay newspaper.

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  Cherita Fasal Towchang, an early political leaflet by Dr Lim Boon Keng calling for the abolition of the Chinese "pigtail" hairstyle.

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  Malayan Bulletin of Political Intelligence, this is the first edition of a monthly intelligence report that was produced from 1922-1930; these files have only just been released into the public domain.

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  An 1849 deluxe edition of Hikayat Abdullah by Abdul bin Abdul Kadir Munsyi, one of the most important Malay literary works.

An integral part of the programme will also be the transfer of knowledge and skills between the two institutions. A member of staff from the NLB will be seconded to the British Library in London to learn the skills of editing digitised images, enabling these techniques to be utilised in the NLB's digitisation projects.

The British Library will benefit from the NLB's pioneering plans to marry digital facsimile images of texts, both manuscript and printed, with modern transcriptions. This enables keyword searches which will link the relevant pages in the original item (which may be written in Chinese characters, Malayan Jawi script, or in English in an eighteenth or nineteenth century manuscript hand decipherable by specialists) with easily accessible Romanised transcriptions.

This project reflects the aims of the British Library and the NLB of continuing collaboration with other institutions, and of utilising the Internet to make material widely available and easily accessible.

Lynne Brindley, Chief Executive of the British Library, said "The British Library has worked closely with the National Library Board of Singapore in the past, and this trial project is a new and welcome development. We have a wealth of wonderful material in the Library's Asia, Africa and Pacific Collections, and this is a great opportunity to make some of it accessible to a global audience."

Dr Christopher Chia, Chief Executive of the National Library Board of Singapore, said "The materials to be digitised contain significant information about Singapore's history including its establishment and rise as an entrepôt in the region. The project augments the collections of both libraries and extends their availability to a worldwide audience. The collaboration also enables the NLB to successfully test its digitisation know-how, and the public can now gain insights into hitherto rarely known historical materials of Singapore and the region easily and affordably."

The National Library Board of Singapore (NLB) was established on 1 September 1995 with the mission to continuously expand the learning capacity of the nation. NLB oversees the management of the National Library, two regional libraries, 18 community libraries, 46 community children's libraries, as well as libraries belonging to government agencies, schools and private institutions. Its digital library, eLibraryHub, provides patrons access to information, resources and services any time, anywhere. Through its innovative use of technology and its collaboration with strategic partners, the NLB ensures that library users have access to a rich array of information services and resources that are convenient, accessible, affordable and useful. More information on NLB can be found at www.nlb.gov.sg

The British Library is committed to digitisation to make its collection items more accessible and has a number of completed and ongoing digitisation projects. Projects completed include the digitisation of a number of the Library's treasures such as the Diamond Sutra, the Lindisfarne Gospels, the Sforza Hours and a notebook by Leonardo da Vinci. These use the Library's unique "Turning the Pages" technology, which allows the viewer to "turn" the pages of electronic facsimiles. CD-ROMs are also available of the Lindisfarne Gospels and Beowulf. Other projects in progress include the digitisation of the Evanion Collection of nineteenth century ephemera, and the Fine Bindings Project to digitise fine and historic western European printed book bindings. It is hoped that in the future this will be expanded to include book bindings of other countries.

A trial project with Israeli Company Olive Software to digitise editions of four British newspapers from the nineteenth and early twentieth century from four key years has been completed. The Project's database at www.uk.olivesoftware.com/archive/skins/bl/navigator.asp enables users to do keyword searches, and to view and zoom in on the image of each page. The Library is also a partner in the International Dunhuang Project to digitise 40,000 ancient documents from Chinese Central Asia, which are scattered across a number of institutions around the world. So far 15,000 images are available via the Library's Web site.

Web site for citizens of the future

The British Library, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the Public Record Office (PRO) are collaborating in "21st Century Citizen", an online resource for Citizenship at Key Stages 3 and 4 (11-16 year olds) which becomes a statutory part of the curriculum from September 2002. "21st Century Citizen" will be launched at BETT (The Education Technology Show) at Olympia, London in January 2003. The project has received substantial financial support from HM Treasury's Invest to Save Budget (ISB). The contract to design "21st Century Citizen" has been awarded to Worth Media, an interactive media agency specialising in education and health. The Web resource will include text, images, manuscripts, mapping, statistics and sound recordings from the world class collections of the three partners. The style of the support materials and activities will encourage an enquiry-based approach to learning and introduce students to evidence to support debate about controversial contemporary issues.

"21st Century Citizen" exploits the breadth of assets available from the three partner organisations, offering teachers and students opportunities to use original source material to support teaching and learning in Citizenship.

Source material for one of the enquiries includes reports of children in prison from the Newgate Calendar in the 1820s and held at the British Library. These reports can be compared with the latest statistics on juvenile crime from ONS, data from the 2001 census and census data in the nineteenth century from the PRO. Source material will be supported by contextual information, narrative, online activities, research ideas and teaching notes and will be of interest to students and teachers in all parts of the UK.

Beverley Parker, "21st Century Citizen" Project Manager, said "We intend to provide teachers and students with a substantial collection of primary source material. This will enable students to engage in informed debate of challenging issues to deepen their understanding and to engage in active citizenship in the twenty-first century. It will support teachers as they start to teach this new subject. We are looking forward to working with Worth Media to build this exciting resource."

Mike Ralphs, Projects Director, Worth Media, added "The '21st Century Citizen' Project is a great opportunity to develop a Web site that provides a benchmark for the online delivery of exciting educational resources. Worth Media will be working with students and teachers, as well as with the British Library's project team and partners to provide a fantastic Citizenship Web site that really supports teachers in the classroom and students in their learning."

Strategic alliance emphasises British Library's central role in support of higher education

A strategic alliance, linking the British Library (BL) and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), has been announced. The BL/HEFCE agreement signals a new commitment to providing the best possible information for the academic and research communities and lifelong learning.

The link between HEFCE (the body responsible for distributing public funds to universities and colleges in England and a key player in developing higher education policy) and the British Library (the nation's leading research library) emphasises the commitment of both organisations to ensure the quality and cost-effectiveness of UK information provision.

Key areas for future collaboration include:

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  research, scholarship and heritage;

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  developing relationships with business to enhance the UK's international competitiveness;

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  widening participation in education, for example, by developing e-learning resources, contributing to the e-university and working with the public library network.

BL and HEFCE will also work together on new technologies and best management practice.

Commenting on the agreement, Lynne Brindley, Chief Executive of the British Library, said "The Prime Minister has already described the Library as a 'beacon of excellence' and this is well recognised within the UK research sector. Academic research already accounts for some 50 per cent of British Library usage, whilst our document delivery services save the HE sector many millions each year. This alliance demonstrates the need for the British Library and HEFCE to work together to deliver major benefits to higher education – by developing the national collection; enhancing our catalogues to improve access and by modernising our services."

Sir Howard Newby, Chief Executive of HEFCE, said "The world class research carried out in UK higher education is dependent on resources provided by the British Library. This agreement cements and celebrates the relationship between the Library and HE. It prepares the ground for further joint activity to ensure that UK researchers have the resources they need, and to hold our lead in exploiting the full potential of new digital information sources."

Baroness Blackstone, Minister of State for the Arts, concludes: "The British Library plays an important role in safeguarding the nation's cultural heritage, supporting Science, the Arts and Humanities and making its collection widely accessible. We recognise the vital importance of the Library to higher education and welcome the contribution this alliance will make to fostering learning, supporting research and contributing to the success of British industry."

The overall purpose of the alliance is to ensure that best possible information support is provided for the UK higher education system – particularly for research, scholarship and heritage, for learning and widening participation, and for business, innovation and the community. The statement of strategic alliance will be used as the framework for future collaboration between the British Library and HEFCE. It will also be used as the context within which specific joint actions, projects or programmes will be negotiated and agreed.

Overall, the alliance aims to:

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  promote specific collaborations and undertake special projects in support of the BL and HEFCE's common purposes;

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  ensure that strategies are mutually informed by the relevant developments in both bodies and within their respective networks;

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  develop mutually beneficial information exchange and sharing of expertise.

To achieve their aims the British Library and HEFCE will:

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  ensure an annual work plan is agreed and resourced;

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  arrange for quarterly monitoring by a joint senior group;

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  set up special meetings on specific topics as agreed;

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  agree working groups and one-to-one links;

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  carry out a formal annual review of the alliance at CEO level.

The British Library is involved in a number of projects to improve links with the HE sector, including:

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  Joint sponsorship of the Research Support Libraries Group (RSLG) – a strategic advisory group on research support libraries, chaired by Sir Brian Follett. Set up by the four UK higher education funding bodies, in collaboration with the British Library and the national libraries of Wales and Scotland, the group will advise on the development of a national strategy to ensure that UK researchers in all disciplines have access to world class information resources.

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  The Digital Preservation Coalition – a new group formed in July 2001 to ensure that the archiving of "born digital" items is kept on the policy agenda. The group is a consortium of 19 major UK organisations including the Library and JISC. Further information about its work can be found at www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/preservation

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  Provision of the zetoc current awareness service for all academics and researchers in higher education. zetoc is a fully searchable database of 17.5 million citations of journal and conference papers derived from the world's 20,000 most important research journals with an integrated current awareness service, alerting users to new information in specialised subject areas of their choice. The result of close collaboration between the British Library, MIMAS (Manchester Information and Associated Services) and JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee), zetoc was first made available to the UK academic community in Autumn 2000.

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  HEFCE/BL sponsorship of a BL/Higher Education task force. A high level joint task force was set up in September 1999 to ensure more effective and efficient overall provision in the context of a distributed national collection of research resources. Three studies were agreed initially, with a fourth commissioned in 2001. A summary of the outcomes and conclusions of each of the studies and the task force's overall conclusions and recommendations to the Research Support Libraries Group is available at: minos.bl.uk/concord/pdf_files/blhe-overview.pdf

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  Concordat with the Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB). The British Library signed a Concordat with the AHRB in November 2001 to help the two organisations identify shared strategic priorities. Areas of common concern include the collection and development of research resources and how they may be made more accessible. The agreement runs initially for three years (from December 2001) but with the intention of subsequent review and renewal.

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  Concordats with individual Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The Library has a number of formal bilateral agreements for co-operation with individual HEIs. These include agreements with the University of Sheffield and SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London) and an agreement with Royal Holloway, University of London, signed on 14 May 2002.

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  International Dunhuang Project. The International Dunhuang Project (IDP) was established in 1993 following a meeting of conservators from all over the world to promote the study and preservation of manuscripts and printed documents from Dunhuang and other Central Asian sites through international co-operation. The secretariat, at the British Library in the Oriental and India Office Collections, works with HEFCE to develop and promote the project. HEFCE funds the post of Network and Digitisation Manager to explore and develop collaboration between IDP and other organisations in the UK and abroad, including the National Library of China. More information on IDP is available at: idp.bl.uk/

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  The e-university is the working title of a collaborative project by the UK higher education funding bodies to establish a new way of providing HE programmes through Web-based learning. The project is designed to give UK higher education the capacity to compete globally with the major virtual and corporate universities being developed in the USA and elsewhere. For further information see the Web site at: www.ukeuniversitiesworldwide.com/

New Web resource puts schoolchildren on the map

Mapping History, a new Web resource from the British Library at www.education.bl.uk is an exploration of maps through time. It allows access to a number of online versions of maps in the Library's unique collection, and the associated investigations and activities invite pupils to look more closely at what the maps show and what they represent.

Mapping History presents a wealth of historical maps, each tied to a particular area of the National Curriculum for history. Students can embark on online activities, zoom into maps to take a closer look or browse a variety of global perspectives from history, using the Time Line feature. This allows users to travel through time and see the development of the world through maps from Ptolemy's World Map of 1492 to a map of the Gold Coast (Ghana), 1924. High quality digital images allow the user to zoom in on details of the maps not always visible to the naked eye, such as a non-existent hill in the shape of an elephant drawn possibly by bored cartographers among the contours of the map of 1924.

Mapping History also contains various student topics: for example, Europe before 1914, the Tudors, Britain 1750-1900, the Victorians and the Second World War. These provide a number of exercises for students.

Tim Saward of the Library's Education Service said: "We're delighted to provide this opportunity for schools all over the country to access maps from the British Library archive, previously only available to small numbers. More and more of these formerly obscure resources will be made accessible through the Library's school site over the next few years."

He added: "Maps have a fascination for children – as they do for many adults. Give either a map and the urge to find a familiar place often becomes irresistible. But maps do more than show landmarks as they can demonstrate what the map maker wanted the audience to see and frequently say as much about the context in which the map was produced as the location depicted."

The British Library is the national library of the UK and one of the world's greatest research libraries. The Library's collection has developed over 250 years and exceeds 150 million separate items, representing every age of written civilisation. It includes books, journals, manuscripts, maps, stamps, music, patents, newspapers and sound recordings in all written and spoken languages. Users of the Library's collections and services include business people, academics, independent researchers and people working in the library and information science sector.

For further information please contact: Dr Bart Smith, Press and Public Relations, British Library, 96 Euston Rd, London NW1 2DB, UK. Tel: +44(0) 20 7412 7111; Fax: +44(0) 20 7412 7168; E-mail: bart.smith@bl.uk URL: www.bl.uk