My Favourite Tipples from a Head of Library Services
Jinfo Blog

By Leo Appleton

Abstract

My Favourite Tipples are shared by Leo Appleton, associate director of library services at the University of the Arts, London. He shares some of his favourite online resources in areas from the developing use of technology in the library sphere, to film and TV resources for education, and performance measurement.

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I've selected some of my favourite resources useful to me in my role as associate director of library services and responsible for operational and strategic management of six university libraries including print and electronic collection development, customer services and academic liaison support. I've also selected an app I use in my free time to help me appreciate hand-crafted beers and ales:

• Multimedia, Information and Technology Group: This is the special interest group of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals which promotes and discusses the organisation, delivery and exploration of information through multimedia and technology. Their website is a gateway to lots of current awareness and up to date information and discussion via their online journal (freely available apart from current year) and Blog.

• The British Universities Film and Video Council: BUFVC is a great resource for finding and accessing TV and film resources for education. Many of the resources are provided on a subscription basis but there is also plenty of free access. Similarly the British Film Institute (BFI) is also a great educational resource for film and moving image.

• Advanced Performance Institute: One of my key professional interests is performance measurement and developing and using key performance indicators. The website and resources available freely from the Advanced Performance Institute are a "must have" for anyone involved in this area of library management.

• EBSCO Discovery Service: As well as being a practitioner I am also a research student and some of my most used resources are the electronic and digital journal collections made available via subscriptions through the institutions I work for and study at. In particular I really like EBSCO’s Discovery Service (EDS) which, of all the discovery solutions I have used, as a student, seems to be the most intuitive.
  Similar freely available resources, which I use to access scholarly materials are the British Library and Google Scholar which is particularly useful if you need an academic bibliographic reference in a hurry or on the move.

• Untappd: On a lighter note, in my spare time I really like to use the Untappd app on my smartphone which allows me to check in and rate the craft beers and real ales, which I like to sample at beer festivals and events.

An article in FreePint which I found particularly interesting: 

• Four Components of "Value" Essential for Meaningful Conversations with Stakeholders. As someone responsible for service delivery and with a keen interest in performance measurement, any tips and techniques about demonstrating value and impact are always gratefully received. This article allows some insight in how to contextualise your "value" conversations.

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