The last day of BiW dawned grey and rainy, luckily it was still the only day we have to use the umbrellas we got from the arrangers. First thing in the morning we heard presentation on research documentation at UiB - the many uses of a CRIS (Current Research Information System). In short, it is a tool to manage research output and to handle day-to-day information management. Ideally CRIS is an integrated system and it's going on in Norway, Denmark and Finland.
Next up was bibliometrics, that means quantitative analyses of scientific publishing, citations, journal impact factors etc. In Norway, they have used Scopus for this (it is Elsevier's recent large bibliographic database, covering approx 16,500 peer reviewed journals) and also Google Scholar is sometimes an option. Interestingly, we also tried Scopus out at JAMK, but it didn't get the full support here and so it was not purchased. http://info.scopus.com/
Last short presentation was about gender statistics, in particular at UiB.
After the lunch we went to the Bergen Museum's Natural History Collections. It was a very nice way to end our week as I think that at least one museum visit is mandatory when visiting new places. Particularly the viking collection was very nice indeed.
Unfortunately I had to leave the museum before the official goodbyes in order to catch my flight, so I couldn't thank the arrangers in person and bid farewell to the attendees, but I'll do it here: thank you Signe and Ane (and all the others included) for making BIW 2010 one of the best events I've been to on library field! And also hello and thanks to the colleagues who attended BIW, it was a pleasure to meet you all, to network and to share some ideas of our work!
Monday, June 14, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Day 4
Here we go again, our 4th day is behind. The program started at 8.30 at the university. This time we went for a tour of the university's picture collection. It is one of the largest and most well-known picture collections in Norway, estimated in 1960s. Picture Collection Department is one of the special collections at the UiB. It contains photos from 1860s to 1970s. The collection holds for 20,000 photos in a card catalogue, 32,000 photos in a database, partially registered photos 26,000, 350,000 "known collections" and approx 600,000 photos remain unknown. Their database http://www.ub.uib.no/bilder/
It was fascinating to hear how people work at this department and how they have managed to form this big collection, including many photos from the well-known photographer Knud Knudsen (1812-1895).
Then we heard an extensive presentation about the other special collection at UiB, Manuscript and Rare Book Selection. They have ca. 2000 users every year and 10-20,000 loans. This collection consists of 14,500 books and journals. We learned about some very old and rare items in it, such as charters, maps, newspapers, manuscripts etc. Some of them dated back from the 13th century and were still readable. We also had a nice lesson in Bergen history.
Related to these rarities, digitization was the next topic. They have this interesting newspaper article database called Retriever, containing the main Norwegian newspapers. It's only accessible on the UiB network, but this is the interface http://www.retriever-info.com/en/ They also have PressDisplay, which is widely used in Finland too.
Check out their website http://www.uib.no/ub/en/services/manuscripts
The day was good, it's always nice to learn how versatile an university can be. Tomorrow is the last day!
It was fascinating to hear how people work at this department and how they have managed to form this big collection, including many photos from the well-known photographer Knud Knudsen (1812-1895).
Then we heard an extensive presentation about the other special collection at UiB, Manuscript and Rare Book Selection. They have ca. 2000 users every year and 10-20,000 loans. This collection consists of 14,500 books and journals. We learned about some very old and rare items in it, such as charters, maps, newspapers, manuscripts etc. Some of them dated back from the 13th century and were still readable. We also had a nice lesson in Bergen history.
Related to these rarities, digitization was the next topic. They have this interesting newspaper article database called Retriever, containing the main Norwegian newspapers. It's only accessible on the UiB network, but this is the interface http://www.retriever-info.com/en/ They also have PressDisplay, which is widely used in Finland too.
Check out their website http://www.uib.no/ub/en/services/manuscripts
The day was good, it's always nice to learn how versatile an university can be. Tomorrow is the last day!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Day 3
Wednesday's program was nicely planned. In the morning we went to Social Sciences Library to learn something about how information literacy education takes place in Bergen University, taught by the library. I'm not personally doing any education at my library, so this wasn't really my cup of tea - still interesting. Three persons of the library staff shared their thoughts on this somewhat disputed issue, especially how should the libraries arrange the education. We also tried to find answers by working in groups.
The ultimate goal in Bergen University Library is to embed IL education across the curricula. They also have a library teaching committee for this purpose. Surprisingly, 30 per cent of their staff (i.e. 30 persons out of 100) is doing some kind of information literacy education at the university. Compared to Finland, and to other countries I learned, the number is rather high.
They also have an online course named Search & Write, in which virtual students keep diary on IL related things as a guidance for real students. Very fascinating idea. See more at http://www.sokogskriv.no/english/
All in all, our Norwegian associates seem to deal with same difficulties in IL education as in other countries. There never seem to be enough time provided for the education, but still almost all students would need some sort of guidance, at least when they start to write their theses.
Rest of the day we heard about the student democracy in Norway, and one question was that whether libraries should be open 24/7, or at least some of the library premises. What I heard is that this is also a hot potato in UK, maybe in Finland too some of these days.
Lastly we visited the student house called Det Akademiska Kvarter. It was a really nice building and full of versatile program throughout the academic year. Every floor had at least one bar, so I can imagine the students like it too! Website http://kvarteret.no/
Later on we will have a complementary dinner at the city, should be nice!
The ultimate goal in Bergen University Library is to embed IL education across the curricula. They also have a library teaching committee for this purpose. Surprisingly, 30 per cent of their staff (i.e. 30 persons out of 100) is doing some kind of information literacy education at the university. Compared to Finland, and to other countries I learned, the number is rather high.
They also have an online course named Search & Write, in which virtual students keep diary on IL related things as a guidance for real students. Very fascinating idea. See more at http://www.sokogskriv.no/english/
All in all, our Norwegian associates seem to deal with same difficulties in IL education as in other countries. There never seem to be enough time provided for the education, but still almost all students would need some sort of guidance, at least when they start to write their theses.
Rest of the day we heard about the student democracy in Norway, and one question was that whether libraries should be open 24/7, or at least some of the library premises. What I heard is that this is also a hot potato in UK, maybe in Finland too some of these days.
Lastly we visited the student house called Det Akademiska Kvarter. It was a really nice building and full of versatile program throughout the academic year. Every floor had at least one bar, so I can imagine the students like it too! Website http://kvarteret.no/
Later on we will have a complementary dinner at the city, should be nice!
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Day 2
The second day was dedicated for the visit at the Bergen University Library and to learn how it works. First we headed to Humanities and Arts Library where our guide was Faculty Librarian Ane Landoy. Then we heard presentations by Ole G. Evensen (Head of department), Monica Roos (Special Librarian) and the Library Director Randi Taxt. Their website http://www.ub.uib.no/index-e.htm
The presentations were interesting, it's always nice to learn the facts and figures of each library. I´m not going to refer all the details in them, because I believe we will have presentations online later. In general, it was rather interesting to realize that libraries in Norway are facing the same challenges when it comes to open access publishing and electronic resources in general. It is soothing to know that we are not alone in Finland! Open access is still somewhat unknown way to publish and thus not the first choice among researchers. The library must promote it more and more in the future and deal with copyright issues, we learned.
Their OA system is called BORA, Bergen Open Research Archive https://bora.uib.no/ It's based on Dspace and Dublin Core. BORA contains of scientific work, PhD, articles, books and master thesis.
The joint library system in Norwegian university libraries is called Bibsys, http://www.bibsys.no/english/pages/index.php
Other (archive) systems they use include arXiv, PubMed Central, NORA (Norwegian Open Research Archives), Sherpa Romeo and DOAJ. Bergen Open Access Publishing sounded like a great option for researchers, when the library publishes their articles online, open access.
Other facts about the library: 100 persons working, 1,8 million books, 17,000 subscriptions. What really stuck out was that their budget is rather big compared to Finland: 14 million euros, of which the budget for books is 5,8 million euros.
Likewise in Finland they had a questionnaire on library's services. The results were in the vein of Finnish results: it's hard to find online resources but the students are pleased with the services in the libraries in general. The students also ask for more silent rooms at the libraries. This sounds familiar indeed. The trend in library work is that the library education is increasing and everything is going digital and especially the social media is one big challenge.
Related to that, we saw two videos from YouTube made by the Bergen library (with the help of media students). They were really nice and professionally made - and the message was not only entertaining but also contained some basic facts on the library and the dangers of plagiarism. You can watch them on these links, they are really worth watching! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wytQ3pudf5k and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mwbw9KF-ACY
This is most definitely the way the libraries should approach their customers, the students. Humor is a good way to melt the ice, but still you can say serious things better that way, compared to old-fashioned printed brochures and so on. That's not the reality where our customers live anymore, I believe.
After that we moved to Social Sciences Library and saw eg how the music department is built here. Interesting facts!
This day wasn't exception when it comes to the program. Not too early starting and 6 hours of interesting library information was just perfect amount for one day. Everything went very smoothly, no complaining whatsoever. Everybody speaks very fluent English too. This must be the best organized event I've been to on the library field!
Here are some pictures of the day 2. Some of them is especially for our music library to check out how things are here!
The presentations were interesting, it's always nice to learn the facts and figures of each library. I´m not going to refer all the details in them, because I believe we will have presentations online later. In general, it was rather interesting to realize that libraries in Norway are facing the same challenges when it comes to open access publishing and electronic resources in general. It is soothing to know that we are not alone in Finland! Open access is still somewhat unknown way to publish and thus not the first choice among researchers. The library must promote it more and more in the future and deal with copyright issues, we learned.
Their OA system is called BORA, Bergen Open Research Archive https://bora.uib.no/ It's based on Dspace and Dublin Core. BORA contains of scientific work, PhD, articles, books and master thesis.
The joint library system in Norwegian university libraries is called Bibsys, http://www.bibsys.no/english/pages/index.php
Other (archive) systems they use include arXiv, PubMed Central, NORA (Norwegian Open Research Archives), Sherpa Romeo and DOAJ. Bergen Open Access Publishing sounded like a great option for researchers, when the library publishes their articles online, open access.
Other facts about the library: 100 persons working, 1,8 million books, 17,000 subscriptions. What really stuck out was that their budget is rather big compared to Finland: 14 million euros, of which the budget for books is 5,8 million euros.
Likewise in Finland they had a questionnaire on library's services. The results were in the vein of Finnish results: it's hard to find online resources but the students are pleased with the services in the libraries in general. The students also ask for more silent rooms at the libraries. This sounds familiar indeed. The trend in library work is that the library education is increasing and everything is going digital and especially the social media is one big challenge.
Related to that, we saw two videos from YouTube made by the Bergen library (with the help of media students). They were really nice and professionally made - and the message was not only entertaining but also contained some basic facts on the library and the dangers of plagiarism. You can watch them on these links, they are really worth watching! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wytQ3pudf5k and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mwbw9KF-ACY
This is most definitely the way the libraries should approach their customers, the students. Humor is a good way to melt the ice, but still you can say serious things better that way, compared to old-fashioned printed brochures and so on. That's not the reality where our customers live anymore, I believe.
After that we moved to Social Sciences Library and saw eg how the music department is built here. Interesting facts!
This day wasn't exception when it comes to the program. Not too early starting and 6 hours of interesting library information was just perfect amount for one day. Everything went very smoothly, no complaining whatsoever. Everybody speaks very fluent English too. This must be the best organized event I've been to on the library field!
Here are some pictures of the day 2. Some of them is especially for our music library to check out how things are here!
Monday, June 7, 2010
Day 1
The first day of BiW is now behind and what a nice day it was. First in the morning there was registration and we were welcomed to the Bergen International Week at the Bergen University student center by the hosts. Learn more about BiW here http://biw.b.uib.no/
Right from the start I got the feeling that this event is really well organized and the atmosphere was very relaxed within our group. You can't always say that if the program is too hectic and you don't actually get a change to network.
What we learned when we shortly introduced ourselves was that we are many and we come from many countries: 57 participants from 17 countries. About half of us are from libraries and the other half come from international student administration. The biggest groups come from Spain, Italy, France, Germany, UK and Austria. There were two of us from Finland. The atmosphere was truly international inside the auditorium and outside it.
We also learned some basics of Bergen University by the vice-rector. If you want learn more, visit their website http://www.uib.no/en
After the lunch we had some time off before the guided city walk that lasted for two hours. Although I've been to Bergen twice, it was a really nice walk around the city and we all certainly learned new things about this nice city. It was cool to see how old buildings are saved here, especially if you come from a country like Finland where everything old is always replaced by new "innovative" things.
Then we headed up to the Floien with the funicular. Wikipedia tells more: "Fløyen or Fløyfjellet (originally written Fløien) is the most visited of the seven mountains that surround the city centre of Bergen, Norway. It has a funicular system Fløibanen that transports passengers from the centre of Bergen to a height of 320 metres in roughly 8 minutes, and the actual highest point (425 metres) on Fløifjellet is approximately 1 km to the northeast."
There, at the breathtaking scenery we had some nice barbecue dish and the atmosphere were even more relaxed, and even a Finn like me started really to getting friends with each other. I instantly learned something about the UK library system and how the German higher education works - thanks to the colleagues. And big thanks goes to our hosts who arranged this wonderful trip to the Floien!
Here are pictures that gives you some idea how nice and beautiful city Bergen really is.
Right from the start I got the feeling that this event is really well organized and the atmosphere was very relaxed within our group. You can't always say that if the program is too hectic and you don't actually get a change to network.
What we learned when we shortly introduced ourselves was that we are many and we come from many countries: 57 participants from 17 countries. About half of us are from libraries and the other half come from international student administration. The biggest groups come from Spain, Italy, France, Germany, UK and Austria. There were two of us from Finland. The atmosphere was truly international inside the auditorium and outside it.
We also learned some basics of Bergen University by the vice-rector. If you want learn more, visit their website http://www.uib.no/en
After the lunch we had some time off before the guided city walk that lasted for two hours. Although I've been to Bergen twice, it was a really nice walk around the city and we all certainly learned new things about this nice city. It was cool to see how old buildings are saved here, especially if you come from a country like Finland where everything old is always replaced by new "innovative" things.
Then we headed up to the Floien with the funicular. Wikipedia tells more: "Fløyen or Fløyfjellet (originally written Fløien) is the most visited of the seven mountains that surround the city centre of Bergen, Norway. It has a funicular system Fløibanen that transports passengers from the centre of Bergen to a height of 320 metres in roughly 8 minutes, and the actual highest point (425 metres) on Fløifjellet is approximately 1 km to the northeast."
There, at the breathtaking scenery we had some nice barbecue dish and the atmosphere were even more relaxed, and even a Finn like me started really to getting friends with each other. I instantly learned something about the UK library system and how the German higher education works - thanks to the colleagues. And big thanks goes to our hosts who arranged this wonderful trip to the Floien!
Here are pictures that gives you some idea how nice and beautiful city Bergen really is.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Introduction
Hello!
This blog will contain information on my trip to Bergen International Week 2010, held in University of Bergen 7.6.-11.6.
The preliminary program is here http://biw.b.uib.no/preliminary-program/preliminary-program-for-library-staff-and-librarians/
The first post will be online on Mon 7.6.!
This blog will contain information on my trip to Bergen International Week 2010, held in University of Bergen 7.6.-11.6.
The preliminary program is here http://biw.b.uib.no/preliminary-program/preliminary-program-for-library-staff-and-librarians/
The first post will be online on Mon 7.6.!
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