| Newsletter 11, February 1996 |
— These are current buzzwords that it’s almost impossible to avoid at present, even if you only read the regular daily newspapers.
There can be little doubt that, over the next few years, we are going to see big changes in information provision as these electronic information carriers mature and expand. It’s almost equally certain that we shall see yet new methods of information delivery: some of these we can already see in their birth pangs (look out for “Java”, for instance), and some will be as yet unimagined.
LMU has been moving cautiously into this brave new world. Partly this has been because our resources have constrained what we can do, but it has also been out of a desire to look and learn as much as possible before we leap.
At present, our relationship to the information superhighway could probably best be described as a group of villages connected by narrow country lanes, one of which leads to a major junction on the M1. There’s no problem getting the traffic off the highway, but there just isn’t the capacity on the lanes to distribute it in bulk and at speed. One of our major tasks will be to widen and straighten the lanes to turn them into trunk roads, and in the meantime to make the best we can of their limitations.
Notwithstanding all of this, we are proceeding into the age of Electronic Information, and the theme of this issue is to keep you informed about what’s currently happening. In particular, Mike Berrington, recently appointed as the Library’s Electronic Information Services Co-ordinator, surveys his new fiefdom and develops the idea of an Electronic Information Strategy further.
Mike also introduces a new service to which the Library has recently subscribed to provide Electronic Journals. This is provided via the World-Wide Web, and in so being is no doubt the first of many.
And speaking of World-Wide Web (or WWW as it’s more familiarly known!), LMU has recently launched its own University Web Service. This has been in preparation for some time, and we like to think we’ve arrived on the Web with one of the better first attempts. For more on this (including how to access it), refer to the article by Gary Taylor, who speaks from his new vantage point in Communications and External Relations as University Web Administrator.
This growth in electronic delivery of information, blurring the boundaries between computers and books, is, of course, one of the reasons for creating the integrated “Learning Centre” currently being constructed at Beckett Park. This major project is now well down the road, and a pictorial Beckett Park Learning Centre Progress Report shows how the major part of the construction work has progressed.
Electronic assistance is also growing in other areas of our work. One example of this is in Student Media Productions, where new computerized non-linear editing machines are enabling students to produce more professional results. Another is in the latest upgrades to the central reprographic services, introduced in Reprographics Report.
Still on the electronic side, other items you may wish to peruse include Computing Services Courses, a short explication of the policy on Student Email Access, and information on the new “Select 3” deal under which we are now purchasing Microsoft Software.
Returning to the more traditional, we have sadly to record growing instances of Vandalism of Library Stock, and request your assistance in trying to prevent it.
Finally, one of our recent arrivals introduces another: Esmond Wyatt, new Print Production Manager in Media and Educational Development Services, introduces the Print Production Management service. This is designed to help you get the best results for your production, using all the available media (including electronic!), without having to worry about the minutiae of the process.
Well, although I’ve done a quick run-through of most of the contents, I still haven’t covered all of them —so it’s entirely appropriate for me to conclude with my usual ditty: please browse through the whole of this issue, and pause to read all the sections that might be of interest to you. Thank you, and see you next time.
Mike Ford
