The Rise, Fall and Rise of the British Public Library Building

Focuses on recent developments and controversies surrounding public library buildings noting that despite predications of the death of the library due to the information revolution and the availability of digital resources, library buildings are attracting renewed attention and, generally, increased use. Suggests that the public library building may have an important role in the new local government philosophy of “place shaping”, and particularly in the “community engagement” agenda which is part of this approach. Explores the debate about the nature of the public library space and whether policies which emphasize the role of the public library as a welcoming community space run counter to many people's idea of the library building as a quiet place for silent contemplation and study. Suggests how public libraries may take forward the community engagement and user consultation agendas through use of the public library space, focusing particularly on the potential of reader and reading development activities for bringing people together and encouraging their contributions and ideas about public library services. Concludes with a discussion of how an emphasis on the role of the public library building in community engagement activities may impact on the ideals of community librarianship

Connecting for Successful Transition: Postgraduate Distance Library and Information Studies Students’ Transition Experiences

Transition in an educational context refers to the shift from one educational environment to another and involves students adapting to a new learning context. The literature on transition is plentiful but mostly focused on transitioning to school, between primary and secondary school or from school to university. While there is a common perception that the transition from undergraduate to postgraduate study requires only minor adjustments for students, evidence suggests that postgraduate students often experience transition difficulties, exacerbated when learning is undertaken at a distance and opportunities for face-to-face interpersonal interactions to address misgivings and ease transition are limited. Drawing on selected results of a study investigating Library and Information Studies (LIS) student experiences as they transition into postgraduate distance learning, this paper explores factors that facilitate and challenge postgraduate distance (PGD) students’ successful transition

Public libraries as e-government intermediaries

This paper presents an analysis of the potential for public libraries to act as e-government intermediaries (EGIs). EGIs are defined by the UK government as ‘organisations from the private or voluntary sectors offering services targeted at groups of customers’ (Cabinet Office, 2003b: 18). Intermediaries can assist people with their e-government use in recognition of the fact that although governments around the world are establishing e-government services, usage remains low in certain geographic areas and among disadvantaged sections of the population. In this paper, the characteristics of successful EGIs will be identified with the aim of establishing good practice in breaking down the digital divide and opening up e-government services to those who may benefit the most from them

Culturing of ‘unculturable’ human microbiota reveals novel taxa and extensive sporulation

Our intestinal microbiota harbours a diverse bacterial community required for our health, sustenance and wellbeing. Intestinal colonization begins at birth and climaxes with the acquisition of two dominant groups of strict anaerobic bacteria belonging to the Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes phyla. Culture-independent, genomic approaches have transformed our understanding of the role of the human microbiome in health and many diseases. However, owing to the prevailing perception that our indigenous bacteria are largely recalcitrant to culture, many of their functions and phenotypes remain unknown. Here we describe a novel workflow based on targeted phenotypic culturing linked to large-scale whole-genome sequencing, phylogenetic analysis and computational modelling that demonstrates that a substantial proportion of the intestinal bacteria are culturable. Applying this approach to healthy individuals, we isolated 137 bacterial species from characterized and candidate novel families, genera and species that were archived as pure cultures. Whole-genome and metagenomic sequencing, combined with computational and phenotypic analysis, suggests that at least 50-60% of the bacterial genera from the intestinal microbiota of a healthy individual produce resilient spores, specialized for host-to-host transmission. Our approach unlocks the human intestinal microbiota for phenotypic analysis and reveals how a marked proportion of oxygen-sensitive intestinal bacteria can be transmitted between individuals, affecting microbiota heritability