Northern Ireland Publications Resource

Crescent Arts Centre

Verbal Arts – 18 Jun 2011 – 13:00

at Crescent Arts Centre

Ever wondered how to find out about books published in Northern Ireland or how to get your own book published?

Visit the Northern Ireland Publications Resource in the Helen Lewis Dance Studio to see a selection of the hundreds of books published here in the last ten years and to get advice on how to find a publisher or how to become your own publisher.

Members of the NIPR team will be on hand to offer advice and to show the range of services offered, which include editorial services, guidance on legal issues like copyright and deposit, and suggestions on how to bring your publication to the notice of readers.

LitNetNI will also be holding an information session on writing for children at the same venue.

LitNet NI – Writing for Children

Crescent Arts Centre

Verbal Arts – 18 Jun 2011 – 14:00

at Crescent Arts Centre

LitNet NI presents an afternoon of tips, feedback and advice from people who really know what they are talking about! The session will include information on the writing process to publication, agents and publishers for all those writing for children or hoping to do so. Participants will have plenty of opportunity for questions and a chance to reflect on their own practice and experience.

Lindsey Fraser is a Literary Agent with the Edinburgh-based Fraser Ross Associates. She began her career as a children’s bookseller, before spending ten years with Scottish Book Trust.  Her most recent book is J K Rowling: The Mystery of Fiction (Argyll Publishing), one in a series of biographies for teenagers.

Siobhán Parkinson was appointed Ireland’s first Laureate na nÓg / Children’s Laureate in May 2010. She writes fiction for children and young people, has published more than twenty books since 1992, and her work has been translated into as many languages. Her new title ‘Bruised’, a novel for teenagers, will be published in May 2011.

Sheena Wilkinson. Since winning the Brian Moore Award in 2006 with her very first story, Sheena Wilkinson has won many awards for short fiction including the Riptide International Award for young adult fiction.  Her first novel, Taking Flight (Little Island, 2010) has just won two Bisto Awards, the most prestigious Irish awards for children’s books. Taking Flight won both the Honour Award for Fiction and the Children’s Choice Award.

Tickets for the LitNetNI event are £10.00 each. Follow this link to book yours.

Advocacy for Special and Small Libraries, led by Linda Houston, will take place on Friday 3 June in the Belfast Campus from 2.00-4.30 pm. Download registration details.

Research Skills for Evidence-based Library and Information Work, led by Dr Jessica Bates, will take place on Thursday 9 June in the Coleraine Campus, also from 2.00-4.30 pm. Download registration details.

LISC is pleased to be providing funding support for these events to keep participation costs at a modest level. The course organisers are hoping for a good response and plan to offer further CPD opportunities in the future.

The guidance aims to help in ensuring that resources that are being created through public funds reach and engage with their constituent audiences.

Well worth a look.

In addition to the emails I have received from member organisations, two important letters of protest have been sent to DCAL. In her letter, Course Director for the University of Ulster Library and Information Management Course, Dr Jessica Bates, stressed the vital role LISC has played in planning, developing and delivering the course as well the support it has given to research in awarding the Master’s Bursary and the LISC Prize for the best dissertation. She went on to say, “All of these initiatives taken together reflect very strongly the key role that LISC has in building the library and information profession, and stimulating the research base in Northern Ireland”.

At its March meeting, CILIP Council also discussed the issue and agreed to write to DCAL. Their letter included the following points:

As the professional body for library and information workers in the UK, CILIP values the contribution which LISC makes to improving access to services locally, through its stewardship of the Northern Ireland Publications Resource (NIPR), the LISC Inspire scheme, Newsplan in Northern Ireland, its ongoing intellectual input to the development of the professional library and information qualification offered by the University of Ulster, which received CILIP recognition in 2009, and many other initiatives. LISC also makes a significant contribution to collaboration across the British Isles.

This includes, for example, feeding into the development of National Occupational Standards for the library, archives and information sector, Its participation as Northern Ireland’s representative on the British Library Advisory Panel, its involvement in the Library and Information Science Research Coalition which aims to facilitate a co-ordinated and strategic approach to LIS research across the UK, and as a lead partner in COLICO, the Committee on Library Co-operation in Ireland.

CILIP is also concerned that the potential disappearance of LISC after the withdrawal of funding will deprive DCAL of a key source of local, independent advice on library and information matters which can provide a valuable counterbalance to the dominance of the public library service, now under the management of a single authority.

We are concerned that there is a full understanding of the consequences of the loss of these benefits which clearly outweigh the tiny costs that LISC places on the public purse. We wonder about the rationale which led to this decision and we urge DCAL to reconsider the matter and reinstate the modest funding it has made available up until now.

LISC greatly appreciates this support.

In the meantime we await the response from DCAL to our FOI request for information on how the decision to reduce our funding was reached. We expect to receive this later in April and the Executive Committee will be meeting again in early May to  consider what action we take as a result of that response and to take decisions on how we deploy our limited resources this year.

We will keep our member organisations and partners informed of developments and would welcome any further expressions of support.

The Coalition is now undertaking a review of its value and impact and in support of this has launched an online survey. If you have any involvement or interest in research, how it is funded, how research skills and capacity can be improved across the sector or how research translates into practice then do take a few minutes to complete the survey. With library services of all types under threat it’s all the more important that we can develop and access good quality research evidence that will help us in advocating for our services.

What have we done since then?

We held our scheduled meeting of the Executive Committee on Friday 4 March and we decided to write to DCAL protesting about the way in which the decision on LISC’s funding was reached and placing a Freedom of Information request for details of when the decision was taken, on what factors it was based and sight of all papers, notes or emails relating to the decision which were prepared by DCAL or other bodies and individuals. LISC also requested the names of all the bodies and individuals who may have been consulted by DCAL in the process of arriving at the decision and details of all correspondence both to and from those bodies and individuals. This letter was sent to DCAL on 10 March.

We also agreed to write to all our member organisations informing them of the funding decision. This letter was sent on 8 March. In addition, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), has been advised of the situation and we are hopeful that they will lend their support to our efforts to have the funding reinstated.

Why does this matter?

As well as our alarm over the impact of this decision for LISC’s work on a wide variety of fronts (LISC Inspire, Newsplan, digitisation, professional qualifications and continuing professional development, to name but a few) we are particularly concerned about the implications for the future management and governance of NIPR. Although NIPR works in collaboration with the project’s lead partners, the Linen Hall Library and Libraries NI, its success over the first ten years of its existence has owed much to the establishment of its own identity and brand, separate from both the partner institutions. LISC is convinced that any change in the current arrangements could endanger that success and damage the goodwill which has been built up with local publishers who have generously supported the NIPR scheme by donating their publications on a voluntary basis.

If LISC does not survive, DCAL also loses a key source of independent and expert advice on library and information matters. With library budgets under threat in all sectors, and with major reviews underway in the public library service, that independent voice has a particularly important role to play in informing the debate and highlighting the implications of decisions that would not necessarily be obvious to library users or lay persons involved in library governance.

The savings which DCAL will achieve from this measure are tiny compared to their detrimental impact. Support from the sector would be very welcome at this time and we’ll keep you informed of any further developments.

Anthony McKeown, a Libraries NI officer, accepted a certificate and a cheque for £150 as winner of the prize for the best dissertation submitted in the current academic year. His research topic was ‘Using emotional intelligence leadership skills when managing during organisational change.’

Sarah Smyth, an information assistant at the University of Ulster’s Jordanstown campus, is the recipient of the LISC bursary worth £650 and is currently researching for her dissertation on the use and perception of ebooks among UU students.

Kirby Porter congratulated both students and commented on how pleased he was to see the efforts which LISC had made towards the establishment of the post-graduate course at Ulster bear fruit in this way. Course Director, Dr Jessica Bates joined in the congratulations and thanked LISC for its ongoing support for the course.    Photographed L-R are Dr Jessica Bates (Course Director), Anthony McKeown, Kirby Porter (LISC Chair) and Sarah Smyth.

The resource is a searchable virtual library called ‘DIPPAM: Documenting Ireland – Parliament, People and Migration’, and it brings together into an accessible form and enhances three existing resources – EPPI -  the Enhanced British Parliamentary Papers on Ireland 1800-1922; the IED – Irish Emigration Database, containing runs of emigrant letters, newspaper extracts and other emigration-related materials for the 18th-early 20th centuries; and VMR – Voices of Migration and Return – a collection of 90 interviews with 20th century Ulster migrants.

This resource has been created by a collaboration between Queen’s University Belfast, University of Ulster, the Centre for Migration Studies (Omagh) and Libraries NI, and funded by the AHRC, and can be accessed via the webpage http://www.dippam.ac.uk . The resource will be fully operational from about 9 March, and a number of regional workshops are scheduled this month (see below). A launch event will also be held at QUB on 21 March.

Public Workshops Schedule
Armagh Library, 39c Abbey St, Armagh
Wed. 9 March at 7pm
Newcastle Library, 141 Main St, Newcastle
Thurs. 10 March at 5pm
Coleraine Library, Queen St, Coleraine
Tues. 15 March at 11am
Strabane Library, 1 Railway Rd, Strabane
Wed. 16 March at 4pm
Enniskillen Library, Halls Lane, Enniskillen
Wed. 23 March at 6pm