In through the outfield

15 February 2009

British Library Entrepreneurship Training Day

Last week was a pretty hectic one for me.

It began with an all day Entrepreneurship Training Day on Monday 9 February. The day introduced postgraduate students to the Library’s collections, and the ways we can support entrepreneurs. Although the students were a bit reticent in the early part of the day they gradually warmed up, and we ended up with a fascinating closing session. The title was “Street smarts and book smarts – are business people and entrepreneurs really talking the same language as entrepreneurship scholars? How can academia actually help business in the current economic climate whilst still producing high quality peer reviewed outputs?”.

I was privileged to chair contributions from Dr Tristram Hooley (Senior Manager: Stakeholders and Networks, Vitae), Simon Butt (Director of Communications, NCGE – National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship) and Dr Jim Gazzard (Enterprise & Technology Executive, Royal Veterinary College). In addition we were joined at the eleventh hour by the British Library’s partner business coach, Rasheed Ogunlaru. The students, who were evenly split between those who were planning to start their own business and those who were studying entrepreneurship, came up with some excellent questions

One questioner was met with an unexpectedly strong response from the panel. He wanted to know why he should move from his safe and secure research job, with guaranteed funding for the next three years, to the risks and uncertainty of starting his own business. The panellists asked him how he could be so sure of his future employment with government cuts in education funding expected almost any day now. For many people entrepreneurship is the safer option, as they are their own boss and more in control of their destiny.

15 January 2009

Happy slapping for the Google generation

According to Google there are two definitions of Google Slapping.

The first is what can happen to your site after Google have revised their PageRank link analysis algorithm. Some websites have seen their search results ranking drop through the floor after having been slapped with PageRank penalties, Google slapping PageRank Penalties, and a Wired article.

The second comes from a recent net@night podcast with Amber MacArthur and Leo Laporte. They interviewed Mr. Calzone of http://gog.is who has developed what he calls ‘the simple Google slapper’.

“Ever felt like slapping someone with a Google search, while in an IM conversation, chat-rooms, or on Twitter? simply write http://gog.is and put the keywords in the url, like this: http://gog.is/clerks. This will redirect them to the Google search for clerks.

So the next time someone asks you how to remove spyware on their windows box, tell them to http://gog.is/remove,windows,spyware. Or simply http://gog.is/install+ubuntu. You can even write http://gog.is/what/is/love.”

This is a more friendly variation of what has become a popular response to simple questions between Internet sophisticates. They create a link to Let me Google that for you, with the topic in question. The site generates an animation of typing the search into Google followed by the patronising message “Was that so hard?”, before producing the search results.

Here is an example for the word library. Incidentally, it is gratifying to see that the British Library comes up at number five in the results. So it looks as though we haven’t been Google slapped (definition one) recently.

“Let me Google that for you
This is for all those people that find it more convenient to bother you with their question rather than google it for themselves. Created by @coderifous, contributions by @rmm5t. Inspired during a lunch conversation with @coderifous, @tmassing, @rmm5t, @EricStratton, and @methodvon. Not associated with Google™ in any way.”

[youtube=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=uOtdsJKsDc0]

6 January 200930 October 2012

Business nightmares and how to recover from them

This is the title of our forthcoming entrepreneurs’ masterclass on Wednesday 21 January featuring:

Rachel Elnaugh, one of the original Dragons’ Den team and founder of Red Letter Days
Gavin Griffiths, writer and ex-owner of the Erotic Review
Bradley Chapman of business networking site Millionaire Impossible
Aamir Ahmed of furniture company dwell

Given the current turbulent economic we thought it would be helpful to hear from a panel who have survived their own roller coaster ride and built business success on the back of the lessons learned.

Rachel Elnaugh has recorded an introductory message below.

[youtube=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=w3P5rYWAi8g]

More information and booking details for Business nightmares and how to recover from them.

6 January 2009

Michael Jackson as a ‘Thrilling’ librarian

I have just come across a video of the National Library of Australia’s staff Christmas party. I don’t know who chose to model the dance on Michael Jackson’s Thriller video, but the sight of a kick-fighting librarian and book trolleys spinning across the dance floor are something to behold.

Perhaps we can generate some similarly creative choreography for next years British Library staff party.

[youtube=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=DPhM7JbsgxU]

11 December 2008

Asian surprises at the British Library

After three years at the British Library I have almost ceased to be surprised by items we hold. However colleague Hedley Sutton managed to come up trumps during his recent ‘Show and Tell’ for staff.

Here are a selection of some the curious documents from the Asian & African Studies collections he managed to find for us to educate and inform:

• A copy of the New Testament published in Constantinople (modern Istanbul) during 1914. The text is written in Armenian script.

• ‘Nature’s Self-Printing’ published in Mangalore City (South West India) by the Mission Press, a publishing house run by Missionaries who loved India. Appeared to contain samples of pressed Indian Flora from 1862. Some plant-resins appeared had leaked through the paper pages, various leaves showed signs of being nibbled by bugs.

• 1844 examination papers for entrance into the East India Company’s administration (the equivalent of the Civil Service). Any student who wanted to enter the Company had to study for six months and then pass examination with at least two Indian languages, with papers in economy and history, also Latin, Greek and Mathematics.

• This was a boxed collection of miniature books from Japan from the 1960’s and 1970’s. One of the books in was less than one inch square, with the initials JC embossed on the front; the content was Jimmy Carter’s inaugural speech both in English and Japanese.

• One of a series: ‘HogHunters Annual’, an Indian serial publication from 1928 dedicated to the hunting of hogs/wild pigs (aka Pig Sticking). The annual detailed ways of killing hogs with spears while riding on horseback.

• Unexpected was a batch of Nazi propaganda leaflets. These were again a serial publication, written in German in the late 1930s and distributed to Germans living in India.

• The presentation took a rather grisly turn with the record of Courts Martial held by the East India Company between 1801 – 1821. In the early 19th century East India Company, the attitude to behaviour was pretty severe. For example, in November 1818 a Private was sentenced to 1,000 lashes on his bare back for being drunk and refusing to go to his barrack when ordered to do so. Because all 1,000 lashes administered at once would kill anyone, the punishment would have taken place in instalments over several days or weeks. The record also gives a gruesome step-by-step guide for carrying out an execution by firing squad, including the music to be played (the Dead March from Handel’s ‘Saul’) and at what point to blindfold the prisoner.

Many thanks to Heather Morley for sharing her detailed notes of the meeting.

29 November 2008

Wheelie cleaning up in business

When I show potential customers round the Business & IP Centre I like to give little demonstrations of some our key databases.

I often start with Cobra (Complete Business Reference Adviser) from Cobweb. This is an essential encyclopaedia of practical information for starting, running and managing a small business. And includes more than 4,000 fact sheets, plus local area profiles and guides to writing business and marketing plans.

In order to illustrate how wide their coverage is, I ask for suggestions for obscure small scale business ideas. When Wheelie Bin Cleaner was suggested I had to supress a laugh at the idea for this as a serious business. However on entering the terms into the search box, Cobra came straight back with BOP477, a four page report. Included, were such gems as:

“Anyone considering starting a wheelie bin cleaning service will need to be comfortable dealing with the sights and smells contained in both domestic and commercial wheelie bins. Some of these bins may not have been cleaned or disinfected in some time, and may have contained all manner of rubbish, including food and sanitary waste.”

So I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised when reading my local paper the Mid-Sussex Times this weekend to see a report headed “Paul’s cleaning up”. Apparently Crawley resident Paul Fraser cleans the dirty bins using a jet wash in the back of his white van, and charges £3 for a monthly wash.

If he had access to the Cobra report he might be considering joining the National Association of Wheeled Bin Washers. A membership association, which endeavours to promote high standards in the industry.

29 November 2008

Business Start Up Show indicates increased interest

I spent the today on the Business & IP Centre stand at the Business Start Up Show at Olympia. This year they have moved into the larger hall and our stand was significantly busier than last year.

It seems that the recession is encouraging people to think about starting their own business, as predicted in one of my previous postings.

I met a City based lawyer who was positively relishing the prospect of being made redundant from her well paid, but boring job. She could wait to start investing her redundancy money into a business venture.

I was also rather suprised to see that Skype had a large stand at the show, but a company representative assured me that Skype are making a healthy profit. Although their computer to computer calls are free, they don’t cost Skype anything. For calls to landlines they share the profits with the local phone company.

27 November 2008

Celebrating books in the British Library

On Tuesday evening I decided to pop over to the Conference Centre to have a peek at the event being chaired by Sue MacGregor (who used to be a stalwart of the BBC radio Today programme).

The title of the event was ‘A source of inspiration’: conversations with British Library readers, and is a part of the programme to celebrate ten years since the St Pancras building first opened.

And what an impressive line up of readers the panel was:

The eminent historian Dr David Starkey, who spoke of his work as the Guest Curator of the Library’s forthcoming exhibition on Henry VIII opening next April.

Professor Martin Kemp spoke of using technology to make items understandable, citing examples of Leonardo da Vinci’s work, and challenging the audience to consider that digitisation should be about “digital exposition, not just digital storage.”

The award-winning architect M J Long was also on the panel. She has particularly close links with the Library; her firm Long and Kentish designed the Centre for Conservation, and with her husband, the late Sir Colin St John Wilson, was joint architect of the Library’s St Pancras building. It was interesting to hear her talk about how they imagined people studying in the variety of spaces they created, and to see how this had been successful in reality. Also the reward for using expensive, quality materials, wood and marble, which were standing the test of time well. I have to agree with her assessment. After ten years of heavy use, most of the building still appears new or nearly new. Even the heavy oak and leather chairs have plenty of life left in them after supporting thousands derrières.

Last, but by no means last – as far as I was concerned, was Tim Campbell, winner of The Apprentice television programme. He explained how the Business & IP Centre has provided him with crucial information for setting up The Bright Ideas Trust, a social initiative to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs. He described the Library as a “a hidden gem”, and his own desire to publicise the business resources to young people who might not otherwise come in.

The evening ended with a heated debate between David and Tim about increasing access to the British Library. David was worried about damage to the unique items in the collection through over use. Tim wanted to see more people benefiting from making use of our content.

All parties agreed that although increasing access to rare material through digitisation was a good thing, it was not a substitute for the need for subject experts to explain and educate readers.

24 November 2008

10 million hits per hour for the new European Library

The new European digital library Europeana proved to be so popular with 10 million hits per hour that it crashed within 24 hours of going live, according to the BBC report.

According to their home page, they hope to be back by mid-December.

In the meantime you can get a sneak preview from here.

I find it ironic that in the midst of news stories about the closure of both school and public libraries in the UK there is still a great deal of demand for library material from potential customers.

20 November 2008

Bravely Going Global at the British Library

I’m just back from our ‘Inspiring Entrepreneurs’ event Small companies, global ambitions with Brent Hoberman,, co-founder of lastminute.com, launched online interiors site mydeco; Asif Rangoonwala, founder of baked good suppliers Eurobuns; Dawn Gibbins, founder of Flowcrete flooring and the Barefoot lifestyle brands, and Richard Woods a co-founder of DIY Kyoto. who sell the ‘wattson’ energy monitor.

Once again the chair Matthew Rock managed the tricky task of giving everyone a say and finding time for lots of good questions from the audience.

Highlights of the evening were:

Noticing how punctual the audience was tonight compared to our event on Ethical Fashion. Something to do with the credit crunch or the nature of those attending.
Meeting both existing clients and entrepreneurs such as Ed Wray, designer of the BarbeSkew who had some revealing insights into the entertainment that is Dragon’s Den.
Hearing how important it is to understand how your product benefits your customer and also their customers.
Thinking of sections of a larger company as kingdoms, and giving the ‘kings’ freedom to manage without interference.
Employing mavericks as managers (that one came from Dawn Gibbins, who was an amazing speaker. So much enthusiasm, energy and honesty.
Meeting an entrepreneurial librarian, Jennifer Smith the co-founder of OneIS.