Friday 30 July 2010

Jack Mills 1918-2010

ISKO UK is sorry to announce the death of Jack Mills, on 9 July 2010, at his home in London, at the age of 91.

Jack had a long and distinguished career as a professional librarian, academic, teacher and researcher, and, for the last 40 years, as Editor of the Bliss Bibliographic Classification, Second Edition (BC2).

In recent years his work had been marked by the award of an Honorary Fellowship of CILIP, and the Tony Keny Strix award for services to information retrieval. He was also honoured by the (then) American Society for Information Science as one of a handful of British information professionals nominated as 'Pioneers of Information Science'.

His death was unexpected and peaceful, sitting in his garden at home, and, as usual, he had been working on BC2 during the day. A fuller tribute will appear on the ISKO UK website, and in the Knowledge Organization journal.

Monday 12 July 2010

Nominations invited for the UKeiG Jason Farradane Award

Hot on the heels of the UKeiG Tony Kent Strix Award...

The UKeiG Jason Farradane Award is made to an individual or a group of people in recognition of outstanding work in the information profession. The Award embraces activities in the information profession in its widest sense, while the UKeiG Tony Kent Strix Award focuses more narrowly on information retrieval.

Criteria
The Award is given in recognition of an outstanding contribution to the information profession, by meeting one or more of the following criteria:
  • raising the profile of the information profession within an organisation or field of endeavour in a way which has become an exemplar to others;
  • raising the awareness of the value of information in the workplace;
  • demonstrating excellence in education and teaching in information science;
  • a major contribution to the theory and practice of information science or information management.
Key characteristics that the judging panel will look for in nominations are innovation, initiative, originality and practicality. None of the criteria should be read as implying activity over an extended period. The Award is open to individuals or groups from anywhere in the world.
Nominations should take the form of a short description (no more than 3 sides of A4) of the work in question, together with full contact details of both the nominee and the nominator. Do not forget to include any documentation, references or URLs which may support the nomination. Nominations should reach the judges by Friday September 24th 2010.

Jason Farradane graduated in chemistry in 1929 at what is now Imperial College and started work in industry as a chemist and documentalist. He was instrumental in establishing the Institute of Information Scientists (IIS) in 1958 and the first academic courses in information science in 1960 at the precursor of City University, where he became Director of the Centre for Information Science in 1966. On the research side his main contributions lay in relational analysis, which can now perhaps be seen as providing a precursor to work in the area of A.I., and the concept of information. He saw information science as a step towards understanding and better organizing ourselves. The IIS first presented the award in 1979, to Jason Farradane.

Previous award winners have included: University of Warwick Library for The Learning Grid; Michael Koenig; Bruce Royan; Michael Keen; Newcastle University Library; Sandra Ward; Phil Williams; Phil Holmes.

Further details can be found on the UKeiG website at: http://www.ukeig.org.uk/awards/jason-farradane

Nominations for the 2010 Award are now invited, and should be sent with full supporting documentation to:
Chris Armstrong
Penbryn
Bronant
Aberystwyth
SY23 4TJ
Tel: 01974 251302
E-mail: lisqual@cix.co.uk

The closing date for nominations is Friday September 24th 2010.

Notes: UKeiG is an established professional group for all information professionals, users and developers of electronic information resources. The Group encourages communication and the exchange of best practice and knowledge across all sectors; and offers an e-journal, a mailing list, an annual programme of training courses; and an array of awards and burseries. UKeiG is a Special Interest Group of CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals. 7 Ridgmount Street, London, WC1E 7AE. Registered Charity No. 313014.

Friday 2 July 2010

2010 Call for Tony Kent Strix Nominations

UKeiG is now seeking nominations for 2010 for this prestigious award.

The UKeiG Tony Kent Strix Award is given in recognition of an outstanding practical innovation or achievement in the field of information retrieval. This could take the form of an application or service, or an overall appreciation of past achievements from which significant advances have emanated. The Award is open to individuals or groups from anywhere in the world. The deadline for nominations is Friday 24th September 2010. Further details of the award together with the address to which nominations should be sent are given below and at http://www.ukeig.org.uk/awards/.

The UKeiG Tony Kent Strix Award

Nominations should be for achievement that meets one or more of the following criteria:

  • a major and/or sustained contribution to the theoretical or experimental understanding of the information retrieval process;
  • development of, or significant improvement in, mechanisms, a product or service for the retrieval of information, either generally or in a specialised field;
  • development of, or significant improvement in, easy access to an information service;
  • a sustained contribution over a period of years to the field of information retrieval; for example, by running an information service or by contributing at national or international level to organisations active in the field.

Key characteristics that the judges will look for in nominations are innovation, initiative, originality and practicality.

The information to be supplied in the initial nomination should comprise:

  • The name, institutional address and qualifications of the nominee
  • A brief biography (not more than half a page of A4)
  • A relevant bibliography (i.e. not comprehensive but including the key publications relevant to the nomination)
  • A justification for the nomination, of not more than half a page of A4, showing clearly which of the Strix award criteria the nominee meets and how the criteria are met

It is likely that the Award Committee will request additional information from the nominators for those nominees considered suitable candidates for the award.

Nominations should reach the judges by Friday September 24th 2010.

The Strix Award is presented in memory of Dr Tony Kent, a past Fellow of the Institute of Information Scientists, who died in 1997. Tony Kent made a major contribution to the development of information retrieval and information services both in the UK and internationally, particularly in the field of chemistry. The name Strix was chosen both to reflect Tony's interest in ornithology, and the name of one of the last and most successful information retrieval packages which he created.

Past winners have been Carol Ann Peters (2009); Kalervo Jarvelin(2008); Mats Lindquist (2007); Stella Dextre Clarke (2006); Jack Mills (2005); Professor Cornelis Joost (Keith) van Rijsbergen (2004); Dr Herbert van Sompel (2003); Malcolm Jones (2002); Professor Peter Willett (2001); Dr Martin Porter (2000); Dr Donna Harman (1999); and Professor Stephen Robertson (1998).

Nominations for the 2010 Award are now invited, and should be sent to:

Chris Armstrong
Penbryn
Bronant
Aberystwyth
SY23 4TJ
UK
Tel: +44 1974 251302
E-mail: lisqual@cix.co.uk

Notes:

UKeiG is an established professional group for all information professionals, users and developers of electronic information resources. The Group encourages communication and the exchange of best practice and knowledge across all sectors; and offers an e-journal, a mailing list, an annual programme of training courses; and an array of awards and bursaries. UKeiG is a Special Interest Group of CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals. 7 Ridgmount Street, London WC1E 7AE. Registered Charity No. 313014.