LAM-Related Research Funded Under Spain’s National Research Agenda (2010 – 2020)

This study analysed and contextualised research on LAMs (acronym for libraries, archives and museums) funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation under competitive calls for projects from 2010 to 2020. The ultimate intention was to verify the existence or otherwise of a national research agenda on these cultural institutions. The initial search and location of Spanish Ministry-funded projects in official sources was followed by data processing and grouping by subject category. A total of 145 projects were analysed. The results showed LAM projects to be scant in number, highly varied in terms of subject matter, poorly funded, widely scattered across a number of areas of knowledge although with a prevalence of the humanities, and highly concentrated in certain institutions and disciplines. The subject-based analysis characterised LAM institutions, from the research perspective, as tools supporting other types of research but not themselves objects of study. None of the nationwide research plans was observed to include LAMs as a line of research. This study has essentially two practical implications. 1. It underscores the need for greater transparency among research project funding agencies; and 2. it defends the inclusion of LAMs among the items on a country’s national research agenda deserving of funding to enhance awareness of their value, purpose and projects

European National Libraries’ strategy

The study identifies and analyses the areas of strategic importance for European national libraries and sheds light on how they aim to confront the third decade of the twenty-first century. It shows the focus of their efforts and resources. The websites of 49 members of the Conference of European National Libraries (CENL) were reviewed in April 2019 to gather information on their strategic plans. The 10 plans found were subsequently analysed. The study identified good management practice in terms of the transparency inherent in the ready public accessibility of European national libraries’ strategic plans, as well as 11 areas for priority action defined in the plans analysed: collection and preservation/conservation of knowledge; access; participation in cultural and social life; furtherance of research; improvement of physical space; collaboration and alliance building; support for education; lifelong training for staff; digital innovation; support for business; and working atmosphere. The findings, drawn from 10 libraries with strategic plans, cannot be extrapolated to the entire population of the 49 initially chosen for the study. National libraries should consider the importance of announcing their priorities, disclosing what they do and how by making their strategic plans public. As this review inventories good strategic planning practice in European national libraries, its dissemination here was deemed to be of professional interest

Training for future information and documentation professionals at the Carlos III University of Madrid through internship in libraries, archives and document centres

The overall aim of this study was to determine whether the Carlos III University of Madrid’s Information and Documentation degree programme has delivered training suited to library, archive and information centre needs and to what extent such training should be restructured to rise to the challenges posed by relentless technological change. With those aims in mind, a competence matrix was applied to analyse the department’s historic series of worksite tutors’ assessments of students and the results of surveys conducted among both communities. The results attested to overall student and tutor satisfaction with the programme

Planificación y evaluación del Trabajo de Fin de Grado:el caso del Grado en Información y Documentación de la universidad Carlos III de Madrid

In the framework of the European Higher Education Area, the Undergraduate Dissertation is a subject on the official curriculum for the bachelor's degrees that can be earned in Spanish universities, Carlos III University of Madrid among them. It consists of an individual dissertation in which students apply the knowledge, skills and competencies acquired throughout their 4-year courses to a problem specific to the discipline associated with the degree to which they aspire. Planning, conducting and evaluating the work involved in the dissertation call for ad hoc tools that must be designed to accurately appraise the command of specific competencies associated with the degree sought by the student. The present paper introduces three such tools developed for the Bachelor's Degree in Information and Documentation offered at Carlos III University since 2008-09: a guidance manual, a preview system and an evaluation rubric. The guidance manual provides students with clear and precise instructions on how to undertake their study. The preview system affords a consistent, clear procedure for all students and for suitable monitoring of their progress at specified intervals. The evaluation rubric is a consistent and objective marking tool for juries. The three enable students and staff to suitably monitor progress and for professors to consistently and objectively evaluate all students in accordance with the duly weighted categories into which the competencies associated with the bachelor's degree in Information and Documentation are grouped.El Trabajo Fin de Grado (TFG) es, en el marco del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior (EEES), y en particular en los estudios de Grado que oferta la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, una asignatura más dentro del plan de estudios. Consiste en la realización de un trabajo de carácter individual, en el que el alumno demuestra los conocimientos, habilidades y competencias adquiridos durante sus estudios a un problema específico del ámbito de la titulación. La planificación, desarrollo y evaluación de esta asignatura supone diseñar instrumentos ad hoc que permitan valorar adecuadamente la adquisición de las competencias específicas ligadas al título de Grado al que opta el alumno. A tal efecto, en este trabajo, se presentan tres herramientas concretas que se han elaborado para el título de Grado en Información y Documentación que se imparte en la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid desde el curso 2008-09: un manual de orientación, un plan de avances y una rúbrica o matriz de evaluación. El primero de ellos, el manual de orientación, ofrece al estudiante una guía clara y precisa de cómo elaborar el trabajo. El segundo, el plan de avances, ha permitido desarrollar un procedimiento claro y unitario para todos los estudiantes y realizar un seguimiento adecuado de los avances de los alumnos con plazos temporales determinados. El tercero, la rúbrica o matriz de evaluación, ha facilitado una herramienta coherente y objetiva de calificación para los tribunales que los evalúan. Todas ellas permiten, tanto a los profesores como a los alumnos, realizar un seguimiento adecuado de los trabajos y una evaluación coherente y objetiva para todos ellos de las 16 competencias asociadas al TFG en el Grado en Información y Documentación con la correspondiente ponderación de sus indicadores

La misión en las bibliotecas nacionales europeas. Análisis y pertinencia

This work analyses the published mission statements from 28 European national libraries on their websites. The aim was to determine the degree of implementation and dissemination of the texts defining the essential nature of those organisations, as well as any convergence/divergence among them. The methodology used includes the search and reviewing of the mission statements published on the websites of the national libraries in 49 European countries, their analysis according to criteria of location and presence of features proposed by experts for the writing of this type of documents and, finally, the evaluation of the results. This analysis revealed that the national libraries show a clear interest in publicising their mission, which in most cases address the most relevant aspects of their purpose, although this not always translates into a relevant statement, both in content and drafting. Convergence among all the statements analysed has to do with the safeguard of the patrimony, its conservation and preservation.El trabajo analiza la misión publicada de 28 bibliotecas nacionales europeas en sus sedes web. El objetivo es descubrir el grado de implantación y difusión de esta declaración que define la naturaleza esencial de una organización, así como los puntos de confluencia/divergencia entre ellas. La metodogía comprendió la búsqueda y exploración de la declaración de la misión en las sedes web de las 49 bibliotecas nacionales europeas, su análisis, atendiendo a criterios de ubicación y presencia de rasgos propuestos por expertos para su redacción y, por último, la valoración de los resultados. El análisis realizado denota un claro interés de las bibliotecas nacionales por difundir su misión que, en la mayoría de los casos, da respuesta a los aspectos más relevantes de su función, lo que no se traduce siempre en la pertinencia del contenido y forma en su redacción. La convergencia que más peso tiene en el conjunto de declaraciones tiene que ver con la salvaguarda del patrimonio, su conservación y preservación

Model Systems of Precursor Cellular Membranes: Long-Chain Alcohols Stabilize Spontaneously Formed Oleic Acid Vesicles

AbstractOleic acid vesicles have been used as model systems to study the properties of membranes that could be the evolutionary precursors of more complex, stable, and impermeable phospholipid biomembranes. Pure fatty acid vesicles in general show high sensitivity to ionic strength and pH variation, but there is growing evidence that this lack of stability can be counterbalanced through mixtures with other amphiphilic or surfactant compounds. Here, we present a systematic experimental analysis of the oleic acid system and explore the spontaneous formation of vesicles under different conditions, as well as the effects that alcohols and alkanes may have in the process. Our results support the hypothesis that alcohols (in particular 10- to 14-C-atom alcohols) contribute to the stability of oleic acid vesicles under a wider range of experimental conditions. Moreover, studies of mixed oleic-acid-alkane and oleic-acid-alcohol systems using infrared spectroscopy and Langmuir trough measurements indicate that precisely those alcohols that increased vesicle stability also decreased the mobility of oleic acid polar headgroups, as well as the area/molecule of lipid

Transparencia voluntaria en los archivos universitarios españoles

Objetivo. Se presenta el índice de transparencia en publicidad activa obtenido mediante la aplicación TransPa_BA a la información relacionada con la transparencia disponible en las páginas web de 45 archivos de  las universidades públicas españolas. Diseño/Metodología/Enfoque. Se utiliza la herramienta TransPa_BA que se inspira y utiliza parámetros de la Metodología de Evaluación y Seguimiento de la Transparencia (MESTA). Cuenta con 22 indicadores para la medición de la publicidad activa en los archivos que atienden a los requerimientos de la Ley de Transparencia española. Resultados/Discusión. Los resultados obtenidos indican que, aunque hay ejemplos de buenas prácticas, la información relacionada con la transparencia aún es escasa. Los puntos fuertes identificados se corresponden con el directorio, la normativa de uso y el cuadro de clasificación. No existe un único espacio dedicado a la transparencia en el que se agrupe toda esta información.  Conclusiones. La propuesta TransPa_BA es válida para conocer si estos servicios están comprometidos con la publicidad activa, además de promover un aprendizaje colectivo que contribuya a la incorporación gradual de información que refuerce la transparencia activa de este servicio universitario o, si fuera el caso, eliminar elementos redundantes. Originalidad/Valor. Los indicadores y sus correspondientes atributos (presentación, forma, accesibilidad, reutilización, datación y actualización) ofrecen un marco para que los archivos universitarios puedan mejorar en transparencia y rendición de cuentas sobre sus actividades y principales resultados a sus grupos de interés

Chemical Synthesis of PEDOT–Au Nanocomposite

In this work, gold-incorporated polyethylenedioxythiophene nanocomposite material has been synthesized chemically, employing reverse emulsion polymerization method. Infrared and Raman spectroscopic studies revealed that the polymerization of ethylenedioxythiophene leads to the formation of polymer polyethylenedioxythiophene incorporating gold nanoparticles. Scanning electron microscope studies showed the formation of polymer nanorods of 50–100 nm diameter and the X-ray diffraction analysis clearly indicates the presence of gold nanoparticles of 50 nm in size