The Library Show is traditionally strong on library management systems and library furniture suppliers and most people go to get information from a range of suppliers. However one benefit of attending the show is the serendipty of finding suppliers that you weren’t looking for but are still of interest.
In the spirit of "we go to the library shows and drink the overpriced coffee so you don't have to" here is a random list of some exhibitors at the show you may have missed.
Harwell Support Services. Restoration of library and archive collections after fire and flood. www.harwellsupportservices.co.uk
The Library of Birmingham. Plans for the new Birmingham Central Library www.birmingham.gov.uk/libraryofbirmingham
Sight and Sound Technology. Solutions for the blind or visually impaired and for people with learning and reading disabilities. www.sightandsound.co.uk
ICC. Business information services www.icc.co.uk
Bailey Solutions. Library management systems, knowledge management and research tracking for smaller library systems. www.baileysolutions.co.uk
Spectrum Plastics. Durable plastic library cards and other encapsulated products. www.spectrumplastics.co.uk
Action Deafness Books Supplier of Sign Language Books and DVDs www.actiondeafnessbooks.org.uk
Access-it Software. Library management system designed for schools and colleges. www.accessitsoftware.co.uk
Go Green Bags Company. Eco-friendly bags. www.gogreenbags.com
Carel Press. Library promotional material for school and other libraries. www.carelpress.co.uk
MultiScreen Channel. Using television to communicate with library visitors in-house. www.multiscreen.biz
DLT Media. Supplying libraries and businesses with magazines. www.dltmedia.co.uk
Digitorial. UKPressOnline Newspaper Archive (Daily and Sunday Express,Daily and Sunday Star and Daily Mirror). www.digitorial.co.uk
and last but not least
The Amazing Adventures of Curd the Lion and us in the land at the Back of Beyond by Alan Gilliland
A self published children's book. Not the first writer to think they can match Lewis Carol, but this whimsical nonsense story stands out because of its illustrations by the author and it has a local setting - Brimham Rocks in the Yorkshire Dales. www.ravensquill.com
Showing posts with label exhibitions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label exhibitions. Show all posts
Thursday, 11 June 2009
Friday, 20 April 2007
Library & Information Show
SINTO organised its annual coach trip to the Library & Information Show at the NEC, Birmingham on Wednesday. There were 28 of us on the coach from the University of Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam University, Dearne Valley College, Sheffield Libraries and Corus.
The show was in a different hall to last year and my impression was that it was a bit smaller again. There was a good showing by Library Management Systems companies, furniture suppliers and library equipment suppliers. LIS has never been very strong on information databases and publishers (it clashes with the London Book Fair) but it did have a fair number. There was the usual selection small companies and organisations that provide an element of serendipity.
There was also a programme of free seminars. This is a bit of an add-on to the main event. The lecture areas, basically, tents in the exhibition hall, are not very large and fill up quickly. The programme is very varied. You don't expect to get groundbreaking presentations on state-of-the-art topics but rather reviews of general professional interest. I attended three presentations; Developing information literacy by Sheila Corrall, The corporate need for the information professional by Lesley Robinson and Wikis, Blogs and RSS by Karen Blakeman. (The presentations are meant to be posted on the LIS web site soon). Also running on the Wednesday was the (charged for) Library 2.0 Forum. I did not attend that myself but I am sure it will be covered by other bloggers.
So how was it for me? I'm a regular visitor to LIS because of our annual coach trip but I am not looking to purchase anything myself so its a bit hard to judge. Every year you can find someone, either am exhibitor or librarian, who says that it is not as good as it was and they might not come back - but my impression is that it still provides a valuable service for the profession. Generally people attend for one of two reasons. Either they want to compare a range of products such as Library management systems or furniture, or they want a general CPD event to keep them updated about what is happening. (Or they want to stock up an free pens!). You can argue that you could achieve both these goals by browsing on-line rather than traveling to Birmingham but it is useful to see and touch products and there is always the opportunity for networking. I met, among others, Ian Snowley - Cilip President, blogger& globe-trotter and was able to renew an invitation for him to visit Sheffield. He is planning to speak at the Department of Information Studies in the autumn so perhaps we can put on a joint event. Perhaps it could be an opportunity for librarians who are not members to ask what is the value of Cilip today? What do you think? [Desperate appeal for feedback :-)]
The show was in a different hall to last year and my impression was that it was a bit smaller again. There was a good showing by Library Management Systems companies, furniture suppliers and library equipment suppliers. LIS has never been very strong on information databases and publishers (it clashes with the London Book Fair) but it did have a fair number. There was the usual selection small companies and organisations that provide an element of serendipity.
There was also a programme of free seminars. This is a bit of an add-on to the main event. The lecture areas, basically, tents in the exhibition hall, are not very large and fill up quickly. The programme is very varied. You don't expect to get groundbreaking presentations on state-of-the-art topics but rather reviews of general professional interest. I attended three presentations; Developing information literacy by Sheila Corrall, The corporate need for the information professional by Lesley Robinson and Wikis, Blogs and RSS by Karen Blakeman. (The presentations are meant to be posted on the LIS web site soon). Also running on the Wednesday was the (charged for) Library 2.0 Forum. I did not attend that myself but I am sure it will be covered by other bloggers.
So how was it for me? I'm a regular visitor to LIS because of our annual coach trip but I am not looking to purchase anything myself so its a bit hard to judge. Every year you can find someone, either am exhibitor or librarian, who says that it is not as good as it was and they might not come back - but my impression is that it still provides a valuable service for the profession. Generally people attend for one of two reasons. Either they want to compare a range of products such as Library management systems or furniture, or they want a general CPD event to keep them updated about what is happening. (Or they want to stock up an free pens!). You can argue that you could achieve both these goals by browsing on-line rather than traveling to Birmingham but it is useful to see and touch products and there is always the opportunity for networking. I met, among others, Ian Snowley - Cilip President, blogger& globe-trotter and was able to renew an invitation for him to visit Sheffield. He is planning to speak at the Department of Information Studies in the autumn so perhaps we can put on a joint event. Perhaps it could be an opportunity for librarians who are not members to ask what is the value of Cilip today? What do you think? [Desperate appeal for feedback :-)]
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