SBAC to manage aerospace and defence knowledge transfer network

The Society of British Aerospace Companies (SBAC) has been chosen by the Technology Strategy Board to manage the Aerospace and Defence Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN). The KTN will help promote innovation and collaboration across industry, Government and academia, helping to improve industrial performance and importantly help to drive forward the implementation of the National Aerospace Technology Strategy (NATS).

SBAC, as the national trade association for the aerospace industry, has extensive knowledge, experience and contacts with companies operating in the aerospace and defence industry. Its broader network of regional partners and their close working relationships with some 2,600 companies will give the KTN direct contact to a diverse range of companies at all levels of the supply chain.

The priorities for the new Aerospace and Defence KTN will include:

To deliver improved industrial performance through innovation and new collaboration maximising the impact of new research and technology and better co-ordination of resources for the delivery of the NATS.

To make the UK a more globally competitive environment for investment in aerospace and defence research and technology.

To facilitate innovation and knowledge transfer across the civil and defence sectors and closer collaboration between academia, industry and the Ministry of Defence.

To improve coherency and effectiveness of industry in science, technology and innovation towards Government supported by more rigorous analysis and technology road-mapping.

The Aerospace and Defence KTN will be jointly funded by the Technology Strategy Board and the Ministry of Defence. It is expected to have a budget of approximately £2.4 million over three years and will have a dedicated team to run the KTN and support the implementation of the NATS.

Further details can be found at: www.sbac.co.uk

Invitation to our AGM

ASLIB Engineering Group invite you to banish those January blues at their Annual General Meeting combined with a half-day seminar.

PERFORMANCE INDICATORS AND EVIDENCE–BASED LIBRARIANSHIP to be held at
IMPERIAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 58 Prince’s Gate, London, SW7

17 JANUARY 2008

and followed by

WINE AND NIBBLES

The afternoon will commence at 1 p.m. with lunch and the seminar
will run from 2 – 5 p.m., with the AGM from 1.45 p.m. to 2 p.m. and
wine and nibbles after 5 p.m.

The seminar will feature four presentations:

Victoria Bird (Reading University Library) will be talking about
various theories on measuring value added to companies by
libraries, focussing on Cost-Benefit Analysis, and outlining some of
the problems of statistical assessment, as well as providing a few
guidelines.

Selena Killick (DCMT Library, Cranfield University) will be talking
about the LibQUAL+ library survey methodology, allowing you to
ascertain users’ expectations and perceptions of the quality of the
library service in comparison with other libraries.

Celia Waters (Army Library and Information Service) will be
talking about how to demonstrate the impact of libraries to parent
organisations, and present a case study of the assessment of
DSTL library resources on the ability of research staff to undertake
research.

Frankie Wilson (Brunel University Library) will be talking about the
different aspects of measuring performance, and the importance of
the ‘human factor’.

The afternoon will include lunch, afternoon tea and coffee and the
social afterwards. A nominal charge of £10 to members and £15
to non-members will be made for catering.
Places are restricted to 20 so book early to avoid disappointment!
For further information or to book, please contact Rachel Daniels
on 01793 785 113 or r.j.daniels@cranfield.ac.uk

58 Prince’s Gate is located just off Exhibition Road, opposite
the main entrance to Imperial College, adjacent to the Tanaka
Business School:

http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/pls/portallive/docs/1/30141696.PDF

(It is no. 24 on the campus map.)

Elsevier develops Research 2.0 tools

Elsevier have recently announced their development of two new social networking tools to help academic libraries support their researchers. Both tools are aimed at encouraging collective intelligence and providing researchers with innovative ways of discovering and organising scholarly information using Web 2.0 technologies.

2collab is a social bookmarking site where you can store and organise favourite web resources. These can be stored within private or public groups so that individuals can share, tag, and comment on the bookmarks collated.

Scirus topic pages are wiki-based reference lists of key papers, citations, web resources and other materials on defined topics written by subject-matter experts.

Both tools provide a platform to facilitate and stimulate scholarly debate.

For more information see:

2collab: www.2collab.com
Email: enquiries@2collab.com

Scirus Topic Pages: http://topics.scirus.com
Email: feedback@scirus.com

ITU-T Recommendations now free

Recommendations on standardisation from the International Telecommunication Union are now free in view of the overall success of a recent trial. The ITU Council 2007 has adopted this policy on a permanent basis. The new policy also includes access to in-force and superseded ITU-T Recommendations (posted in PDF format only). It should be remembered this information is relative to ITU-T Recommendations only.

ITU-T Recommendations can be accessed at the International Telecommunication Union website.

Online material for mechanical engineers

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers is in the process of building a digital library to provide a single point of access for all its publications. When the full service is launched in 2008 users will be able to view the following:

• ASME's current Transactions Journals
• ASME's journal archive dating back to 1990
• ASME's conference proceedings dating back to 2002
• ASME Press e-Books

The test/ preview site currently provides subscriber access to ASME's Transactions Program online journals and can be found at:

http://www.asmedl.org/

We are encouraged to visit the site frequently as much more will be added throughout the rest of 2007. Feedback on the progress of the site is welcomed.

New British Library Service

The British Library have announced the launch of a new database to aid resource discovery - British Library Direct Plus. This subscription-based service provides access to details of over 67,000 journals and 400,000 conference proceedings in the British Library collection. Articles identified through this service may be ordered via the British Library Document Supply Service.
A basic service is now live, but an advanced version is planned for early 2008 which will allow users to build up individual libraries of resources including websites and e-journals.

For further information and to request a free trial contact: marketing@bl.uk

Science and Innovation report published

Lord Sainsbury recently published his Review of the UK science and innovation system which examines the role of science and innovation in ensuring the UK remains competitive in our increasingly globalised economy.

Key recommendations in the review include:

• A new leadership role for the Technology Strategy Board Working with the RDA's the Research Councils and government departments to co-ordinate public sector support for technological innovation, leverage public sector resources and simplify access to funds for business.
• Building on our success in knowledge transfer by giving more support through the Higher Education Innovation Fund to business-facing universities, setting targets for knowledge transfer from Research Councils, doubling the number of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships and extending these further to FE Colleges.
• A major campaign to enhance the teaching of science and technology including raising the number of qualified STEM teachers, increasing the number of young people studying triple science, improving careers advice, establishing a National Science Competition, and rationalising the many schemes to inspire our young people to take up careers in science and engineering.
• A key role for Government Departments based on an improved procurement capability, a reformed Small Business Research Initiative managed in partnership with the TSB, and consideration for the incorporation of innovation into the duties of the economic regulators.
• Increasing the focus of RDAs on science and innovation by encouraging them to put additional resources into TSB programmes, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, high-technology clusters around world-class research universities, and proof-of-concept schemes consistent with a nationally agreed specification.

The relevant PDF documents relating to the review can be downloaded from the HM Treasury website:

http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/independent_reviews/sainsbury_review/sainsbury_index.cfm

Or go direct to the Review:

http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/5/E/sainsbury_review051007.pdf