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May 28, 2023
Artificial Intelligence : where does it fit into library strategy?
UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH CENTRAL CAMPUS, LIBRARY.
Everybody’s talking about AI and Chat GPT – what will they mean? I attended an event on 20.4.2023 organised by the Information School Sheffield University which explored this question for libraries.
Dr Andrew Cox introduced the session, reminding us that chatbots & AI have featured heavily in the news recently, and of course have existed in scifi for some time.
What might AI look like in the library?
From what we’ve learnt about AI it will have a wide and deep impact on library service and backend operations and library information literacy. We’ll see new features like library chatbots, text and datamining support and automation of systematic reviews. Knowledge discovery of collections will change, with a new paradigm of search : instead of giving a list of results, ChatGPT will give an answer. Users expectations of what a search looks like will change dramatically. There may be an impact on library jobs (although the decline of the librarian has been forecast for many years since the arrival of the internet, and librarians have evolved and thrived). Changes to the workforce will probably be complex and driven by sector.
Fundamentally we should remember that AI is only as good as the data it relies upon. Our library expertise in finding and managing data in a complex information landscape, and in determining the provenance and quality of data remains key. Also, libraries’ work in supporting sharing, openness and interoperability of data is vital as this data becomes available for AI to use.
The University of Edinburgh Becomes the First UK University to Appoint a Web Archivist to Preserve 21st Century History
Heritage Collections welcomes a new member of the digital archive team, Alice Austin, the first dedicated Web Archivist at the University of Edinburgh and the first dedicated Web Archivist at a non-legal deposit UK University!
Community of Edinburgh Research Software Engineers (CERSE): Reflections on the 7th meeting
In this blog Dr Eleni Kotoula, Lead Research Facilitator at the University of Edinburgh, writes about the CERSE and their most recent event.
What is CERSE?
CERSE is a community like no other! It offers an excellent opportunity for Research Software Engineers (RSE) to get support and recognition for their work. In addition to Research Software Engineers, the CERSE welcomes those interested in the development, use, support or management of research software. Hence, researchers, research support and research data professionals can get involved, expand their network and broaden their understanding of research software engineering. To find out more, have a look at the CERSE Meeting Handbook.
A summary of CERSE’s 7th meeting
Members of the CERSE community across Edinburgh came together earlier this month in the Bayes Centre for the first post-pandemic meeting. After a long break from activities, the organisers from the University of Edinburgh Digital Research Services, EPCC, Sofware Sustainability Institute and the Centre of Data, Culture and Society were keen to resurrect meetings.
Mario Antonioletti opened the meeting, briefly referring to the RSE movement and its previous meetings in Edinburgh. Mike Wallis, Research Services Lead at the University of Edinburgh, gave an overview of the Edinburgh Compute and Data Facility, highlighting data storage, cloud and high performance computing services. Andrew Horne provided an update on EDINA’s ongoing project for the development of Automatic Systematic Reviews. Then, Mario Antonioletti presented EPCC and services such as Archer2 and Cirrus, as well as the important work of the Software Sustainability Institute. After the short talks, Felicity Anderson, PhD candidate in Informatics and Software Sustainability Institute Fellow, led an ice-breaking activity, followed by a networking session. All presentations are available here.
Next steps
The CERSE community has the potential to grow and flourish in a region so rich in research-intensive institutions and academic excellence. We aim to continue by alternating face-to-face and virtual meetings monthly. To do so, we need active participation from those interested in the RSE community. There are different ways to get involved; attending meetings, talking about your relevant work or volunteering to help organize one of the following meetings. For us in Digital Research Facilitation, CERSE offers the opportunity to meet and connect with researchers, RSEs, IT and research support staff. Moreover, we share the same passion for best practices in data-intensive and computational research. That’s why we have been heavily involved in supporting this community in practice and strongly encourage those interested to join us. We are looking forward to meeting you in one of the following CERSE meetings, either in person or online.
How to get involved?
Join the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) mailing list: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/ed-rse-community
Follow the CERSE on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cerse7
Join the RSE: https://society-rse.org/join-us/
Dr Eleni Kotoula
Digital Research Facilitation
Back to the Wall: A Year of Experimenting with the Main Library’s Digital Wall
The Cultural Heritage Digitisation Service (CHDS) has managed the Main Library’s Digital Wall since it was installed in late 2019.1 The Wall is made up of two sets of nine 4k screens which are operated by touch screens: users can navigate high resolution images of the library’s cultural heritage collections as well as watch videos that feature specific collection items, projects and pieces of work undertaken by library staff. When the Wall is not in use, it displays massive “Attractor” videos which run across all 18 screens, designed to draw users in. Read More
ERASMUS work placement visitor from Germany
My name is Judith Dähne (Daehne). I am the Research Data Support Officer of RheinMain University of Applied Sciences.
When I started to think about research data management (RDM) around 2015, MANTRA provided my first opportunity learn about RDM and how to handle data correctly. I also discovered DMPonline, delivered by the Digital Curation Centre, and it therefore seemed to me that Edinburgh was somehow the cradle of RDM.
When I heard of the final opportunity to visit the UK with the EU’s ERASMUS programme (it will stop in May 2023) I was keen to apply for a visit with the Research Data Support team of the University of Edinburgh… I am really happy that I landed this wonderful opportunity of a short job shadowing visit.
I attended several meetings and training sessions of the Research Data Service team. I am impressed how much support and aid is provided for the researchers. The infrastructure of storage and exchange like DataStore, DataSync, DataShare, DataVault forms the technical basis of the support.
Even more important, in my opinion, is the personal backing and advice of the data management team.You might just ask your questions by pressing one of the “Contact us” buttons and there you find email and phone numbers of the research data team at your finger tips.
And the team really takes care over every single dataset that is loaded in DataShare: how to enhance the metadata and how to make it more visible for the scientific community. Not many institutional repositories are curated in such a detailed way – I will take home some precious tips and workflows!
One sticking point, however, is the same as with us: How do we make the services known? How do we reach as many researchers as possible? And how can the transformation to more open science then succeed? Perhaps to just carry on with talking and teaching seems the only way…
Robin, Simon and Judith enjoy a working lunch at Howie’s
Research data are a social good and data management supports the verification and replication in science. Ultimately transparency, openness and good data management strengthen the credibility of science and help to counter climate change deniers and conspiracy theorists. To emphasise this argument, like here in Edinburgh, is also a very important take home message for me.
I would like to thank Robin & her team for sharing their knowledge and their hospitality! I hope we stay in touch.
Guest blog post by Judith Dähne
RheinMain University of Applied Sciences
Bloomsbury Professional Ebooks: formerly on LexisLibrary
We want to alert students to a change we’re dealing with regarding Bloomsbury Professional ebooks which were formerly offered on the LexisLibrary platform.. Unfortunately going forward these will no longer be available on this database, and we’re working on access to them via Bloomsbury’s own platform instead.
The courses affected are mainly Property, Evidence, Criminal, Employment, and Contract Law, and the book titles are as follows:
- Walker & Walker: The Law of Evidence in Scotland
- A fingertip guide to Scots Criminal law
- Commercial Leases
- McDonald’s Conveyancing Manual
- Conveyancing Practice in Scotland
- Property Trusts and Succession
- Mental Health, Incapacity and the Law in Scotland
- Scottish Law of Leases
- Scots Criminal Law
- Employment Law in Scotland
- Contract Law in Scotland
- Missives
- Scottish Planning Law
- Scottish Older Client Law Service
- Drafting Wills in Scotland
- International Sucession Laws
- Thomson’s Delictual Liability
- Tolley’s Estate Planning
- Tolley’s Inheritance Tax
- Tolley’s Company Law Handbook
- Style Writs in the Sheriff Court
While negotiations are ongoing with Bloomsbury (and until the end of May 2023) we’ll be able to access all of these titles using a trial they’ve given us to their own platform, providing students from 2022/23 access through the end of Semester Two exams. The procedure for finding these books is as follows:
- Visit the EResources Trials page
- Click on ‘Bloomsbury Professional Scots Law Titles’
- You will be prompted to log in with your usual username and password.
- You’ll arrive at a page that will give you the username and password to use on the Bloomsbury site
- Click the link to Bloomsbury (it helps to do this in a new tab or window so you can copy the log in details), then enter the username and password to log in.
- Use the navigation on the left hand side to access the title of the book you need.
This information has been added to the DiscoverEd records for these books, and I will also be circulating it via newsletters, blogs and other communication channels. Please do share this information with your classmates to assist them with their study or research if they require access to these books.
If you have any issues accessing these items please email us on law.librarian@ed.ac.uk.
New to the Library: BFI Player
We are happy to let you know that the Library has a pilot subscription to the fabulous BFI Player, a video on demand service from the British Film Institute (BFI). Access is available to us until the end of August 2023.
BFI Player streams acclaimed, landmark and archived films. Reflecting the BFI’s wider cultural mission the focus is on British and European independent films but it does also include international releases. And it allows you to access classic and cult films from across the decades. Read More
On trial: Latin American Newspapers, Series 1
Thanks to a request from HCA staff the Library currently has trial access to Latin American Newspaers: Series 1 from Readex, which allows you to explore Latin American history and culture during the 19th and 20th centuries.
You can access the Latin American Newspapers: Series 1 via the E-resources trials page.
Trial access ends 5th May 2023. Read More
On trial: Colonial Caribbean
Thanks to a request from HCA staff the library currently has trial access to Colonial Caribbean from AM Digital, which provides access to British Colonial Office files from The National Archives, UK.
You can access the Colonial Caribbean via the E-resources trials page.
Trial access ends 28th April 2023. Read More
On trial: Two databases on sexuality and LGBTQI+ history
Thanks to a request from staff in HCA the Library currently has trial access to two databases from AM Digital that look at sexuality and LGBTQI+ history, Gender: Identity and Social Change and Sex & Sexuality.
You can access the Gender: Identity and Social Change and Sex & Sexuality via the E-resources trials page.
Trial access ends 27th April 2023. Read More
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