People's Network useful links
A selection of useful links are divided into the following topics:
Network infrastructure
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BECTa British Educational
Communications and Technology Agency.
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BT Innovation and
Technology The pages of BT's website devoted to the work
of their Advanced Communications Technology Centre at
Adastral Park.
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Cisco Networking Basics A
useful guide which takes you through the basic building
blocks and the options and solutions for networking that are
available.
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Learndirect Centres A UfI
initiative to help people to have new learning
opportunities.
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Learning Lab The Learning Lab has
been set up to provide a centre of excellence to support all
those involved in the design, development and use of
learning technologies.
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The National Grid for
Learning (NGfL) A gateway of selected links to websites
that offer high quality content and information associated
with learning, supporting, teaching or managing education.
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NGfL Managed
Services NGfL Certified Managed Services provide a 'one
stop shop' for ICT for a wide range of educational
institutions, from primary schools to further and higher
education institutions, libraries and community education
centres.
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The Society of Information Technology
Management (SOCITM)The professional association for ICT
managers working in and for the public sector.
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SuperJANet4 The network backbone
connecting higher and further education.
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Direct Gov. The
Government umbrella brand for all its ICT initiatives,
giving anyone who wants it the opportunity to get online.
More information about the initiative is available on the DfES website and UK online centres website.
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Staff ICT training
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BBC WebWise - a popular way to
learn about the web online. Many public libraries promote
this source to users but it's also a very good place for
library staff to start. The BBC was commissioned to produce
WebWise for Librarians on CD-ROM and produced a magazine
especially for the NOF ICT Training programme. This was
funded by the New Opportunities Fund and issued to all
library services to support them in their training
activities.
- The BBC also produced a series of very useful programmes
featuring ICT developments in libraries and museums which
could be used for either training or promotion purposes. The
programmes were featured in the BBC's Get WebWise series and
feature interviews with Chris Batt and David Dawson of MLA.
MLA played an advisory role to the BBC during the making of
these programmes. To request copies of the video please
write to: Librarians Video, PO Box 7000, Manchester M60 3HE.
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The Chartered Institute of Library and
Information Professionals CILIP is the leading
professional body for Librarians and Information Managers.
- CLAIT (OCR level 1 Certificate for IT Users, also known as
New CLAIT). Further details can be found when you do a
search under IT/ICT on the OCR website .
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Cultural Heritage National Training
Organisation (CHNTO) Leading voice and source of
advice on current and future skills needs for the Cultural
Heritage sector.
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E-Skills Sector Skills Council -
The Sector Skills Council for IT, Telecoms and Contact
Centres.
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European Computer Driving Licence
(ECDL) The site, hosted by the British Computer Society,
includes the full ECDL syllabus, test centres and useful
FAQs.
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Internet Detective An
example of an interactive tutorial on how to evaluate the
quality of Internet resources.
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Information Services National Training
Organisation (ISNTO) Leading voice and source of
advice on current and future skills needs for the archives,
library and information services and records management
sector.
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learndirect is a network of online
learning and information services which was introduced
across England, Wales and Northern Ireland in October 2000.
For learndirect Scotland see SufI - Scottish University for Industry.
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Moving Here led by the National
Archives, have developed a new training manual to enable
learners of all ages to become confident IT users. The
manual uses the award-winning website to make learning
sessions both interesting and fun. It will help trainers
running IT skills workshops, as well as being an easy-to-use
self-help tool to take new IT learners through basic skills
required to get the most out of the Internet.
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Sector Skills Councils
Licenced by the Secretary of State for Education and Skills
in consultation with Ministers to tackle the skills and
productivity needs of sectors throughout the UK.
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TERENA Guide to Network Resource
Tools The Guide to Network Resource Tools (GNRT) is
produced by TERENA (Trans-European Research and Education
Networking Association) primarily for the user community of
its member academic and research networks. However, it is
made freely available via the web to encourage and
facilitate network use.
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Digital content creation
Good Practice Guidance
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AHDS A range of useful
resources, best practice guides, strategies and standards
for the creation, management and preservation of digital
resources.
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BUBL Information
Service Selected Internet Resources Covering all Subject
Areas, with a Special Focus on Library and Information
Science.
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Colorado
Digital Toolbox A useful source of practical advice
providing resources on digital content creation and
management.
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PULMAN Europe's
public libraries and cultural organisations have a vital
role to play in the development of an e-Europe. The PULMAN
Network will stimulate and promote sharing of policies and
practices for the digital era, in public libraries and
cultural organisations which operate at local and regional
level.
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Digital Preservation
Coalition The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) was
established in 2001 to foster joint action to address the
urgent challenges of securing the preservation of digital
resources in the UK and to work with others internationally
to secure our global digital memory and knowledge base.
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Scoping the
Future of Oxford's Digital Collections A Study
Funded by the Andrew W Mellon Foundation.
Technical Standards
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UK GovTalk
TM
| UK online
| e-Government
Unit All you need to know about meeting the
e-Government Strategy - including website design guidelines,
e-Government Interoperability Framework (e-GIF),
e-Government Metadata Framework (e-GMF) and much much more.
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HEDS: the Higher
Education Digitisation Service HEDS offers expert
advice and consultancy on all aspects of digitisation, and
management packages to provide complete digitisation
services from feasibility assessment to final product
delivery.
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Imesh
Toolkit An architecture and toolkit for distributed
subject gateways. The project is funded under the NSF/JISC
International Digital Libraries Initiative.
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Metadata
for digital preservation: an update A vital aspect
of digital; content creation covered in this article from
Ariadne by Michael Day of UKOLN .
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Minerva
technical guidelines for digital content creation.
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NOF-digitise technical
standards Developed as part of the NOF-Digitise
Programme as part of the People's Network project.
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Research Support Libraries
Programme The Research Support Libraries Programme is an
outcome of the Follett
Review (1993) and the associated Anderson
Report (1996) . It brings together traditional and
new forms of access to library information, with specific
reference to support for research.
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ROADS
(Resource Organisation and Discovery in Subject-based
Services) is a set of software tools to enable the set up
and maintenance of Web based subject gateways providing a
flexible approach to gateway administration and allowing the
user interface to be tailored to suit particular needs.
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Technical Advisory Service
for Images TASI is a service funded by the Joint
Information Systems Committee (JISC) set up to advise on the
digital creation, storage and delivery of image-related
information.
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UKOLN
Interoperability focus The Interoperability Focus
works closely with other UKOLN staff on a range of issues
including Z39.50, metadata, distributed library systems and
public library networking. It also has a special interest in
moving beyond the library sphere, to encompass museums,
archives, and other aspects of the cultural heritage.
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World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C) The W3C was founded in October 1994 to lead the
World Wide Web to its full potential by developing common
protocols that promote its evolution and ensure its
interoperability.
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Evaluation and impact
For a full list of resources relating to the impact of the
People's Network please refer to the impact section .
Quantitative sources
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Association of Research Libraries .
Performance measurement links from ARL statistics and
measurement program.
- Bertot, J.C., and McClure, C.R. (1998). Measuring Electronic
Services in Public Libraries: Issues and
Recommendations. Public Libraries, 37(3):176-180.
- Davis, D. NCLIS library statistics program ,
(2001).
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ePLUS Survey (public
libraries, UK) There is not much information
currently available online about ePLUS, but essentially work
by the IPF is building on the PLUS survey methodology (see
below) to encompass monitoring of electronic services in
public libraries. A prototype survey is being piloted in
participating libraries at the moment. As things develop,
information will be made available on the IPF website.
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International Coalition of
Library Consortia . ICOLC guidelines for statistical
measures of usage of web based indexed, abstracts, and full
text resources (Nov 1998).
- ISO. TC 46/SC8 Library statistics and performance
evaluation.
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Library
and Information Statistics Unit (LISU).
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National Statistics
website . The National Statistics website contains a
vast range of official UK statistics and information about
statistics, which can be accessed and downloaded free.
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Public Library User Statistics
(PLUS) UK public libraries. PLUS surveys provide a
standard method of gathering information about public
library services. It is managed by the Institute of Public
Finance (IPF) and is set within the context of the Audit
Commission's value for money study and the DCMS standards.
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Ryan, J. Library
statistics and performance measures; Information MLA for
Information Professionals.
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StatMarket - gateway of
links to free global Internet usage statistics
Qualitative sources
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BECTa Research
Network. This web site is for all those with an interest
in research evidence regarding the use and impact of
information and communications technology (ICT) in education
and learning.
- Bertot, J. and McClure, C. Developing national library
network statistics and performance measures: summary of key
performance and electronic services measure studies
(1999-2000).
- Brophy, P. 'The evaluation of public library online
services: measuring impact' on behalf of MLA and the New
Opportunities Fund (now BIG) to accompany the 2002 People's
Network Workshop Series.
Issue Papers no.1. 
Download the Issue
Paper (PDF 411K)
- Brophy, P. (2004).
The People's Network:
Moving Forward (PDF 894KB)
The People's
Network project has seen the introduction of 32,000 new
computers giving free or low cost internet access in public
libraries. The People's Network: Moving Forward reports the
impact of the project's first full year.
- Brophy, P. (2003).
The People's Network: A
turning point for public libraries (PDF 323KB) is an
early assessment of the impacts that this service is having
on its users.
- Cabinet Office. International
benchmarking report for electronic service delivery
(July 2000).
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ePLUS
Survey (public libraries, UK)
There is not much
information currently available online about ePLUS, but
essentially work by the IPF is building on the PLUS survey
methodology (see below) to encompass monitoring of
electronic services in public libraries. A prototype survey
is being piloted in participating libraries at the moment.
As things develop, information will be made available on the
IPF website.
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EQUINOX (Library
Performance Measurement and Quality Management Systems)
Targeting European libraries, published in 2000. This was an
EC-funded project to develop performance indicators for all
libraries in the new electronic environment. He electronic
library indicators complement traditional library service
ISO 11620: Library Performance Indicators.
- Fitch, L. and Warner, J.Dividends: the value of public
libraries in Canada (report for the Library Action
Committee) (July 1996).
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IdeA
Knowledge. UK local government best practice.
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JUSTEIS.
JISC Usage Surveys: Trends in Electronic Information
Services (DILS, Abersystwyth, 2001). Higher Education
libraries focus. Monitoring of usage of higher education
based electronic information services.
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JUBILEE
JISC User Behaviour in Information Seeking: Longitudinal
Evaluation of EIS (University of Northumbria, 2001). Higher
Education libraries in the UK. Linked to JUSTEIS, JUBILEE
developed a methodology for predicting and characterizing of
information seeking behaviour relating to electronic
information services. There is an emphasis on user-based
criteria for evaluating success.
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LibQUAL+ Current
research in the USA to 2003. LibQUAL+ aims to provide a
measure of service quality value according to users'
perceptions of service quality, and identifies gaps between
desired, perceived, and minimum expectations of service.
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Longitude toolkit -
Library Networking Impact Toolkit for a User-Driven
Environment UK public libraries. The aim of this toolkit is
to enable public libraries to assess the impact over time of
end-user electronic services provided in the library, both
on individuals and on the community.
- New Measures for the New Library. By Rebecca Linley and Bob
Usherwood in 1997. The research describes the use of 'social
process audit' to measure the social impact of public
libraries in Newcastle upon Tune and Somerset using
qualitative research methods.
- Online at PA Libraries project by J Bertot and C McClure USA
Libraries
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Public Library User
Statistics (PLUS) UK public libraries. PLUS surveys
provide a standard method of gathering information about
public library services. It is managed by the Institute of
Public Finance (IPF) and is set within the context of the
Audit Commission's value for money study and the DCMS
standards.
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Talbot, C.
and Newman, D. Beyond access and awareness:
evaluating electronic community networks. (BL report 149)
(Nov 1998).
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The
Value and Impact of End-User IT Services in Public
Libraries (VITAL) UK public libraries. LIC-funded report
by Juliet Eve and Peter Brophy, published in 2001. Research
into how public libraries should measure value and impact of
the use of ICT. Project outcomes included a set of
methodologies for use by librarians and others for
management purposes and to collect convincing evidence of
use, impact and value; and evidence of the value and impact
that end-user services can have.
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Urban Libraries
Council. Impacts of the internet on public library use
(Oct 2000).
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Articles and publication sources
Here are a selection of printed and online sources which refer to
the People's Network project:
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