"People getting angry"

There's been an overwhelming amount of comment - some considered, some reactionary and some just down right idiotic - on the riots and looting across the UK over the last few days, but when considering the causes, I think Dorian Lynskey in his piece on 'crisis music' actually sums up my feelings quite neatly.

Importantly, he distinguishes between the original protest in Tottenham at the weekend and the mindless, meaningless, looting and violence of the the following days...

A riot is a weapon of last resort; a cry for help; a public form of self-harming. The spark in Tottenham was political: the shooting of Mark Duggan by the police, the incompetence of the police in explaining to the community what had happened, and – reports currently suggest — at least one instance of heavy-handed policing during a demonstration on Saturday. The fuel was the pervasive frustration and anxiety of a suffering neighbourhood: record levels of youth unemployment, social services (especially youth services) slashed to the bone, the Education Maintenance Allowance scrapped, a damaged relationship between the police and the community, and collapsing faith in the political class. But a lot of the behaviour, especially the looting, had no political impetus and the immediate outcome makes the lives of deprived residents even worse than they were last week. There are no winners.

Library saved!: The Official Press Release

(Source: IMarEST)

PRESS RELEASE

Gift doubles the size of the existing library and historical archives open to the public in the City of London

Lloyd's Register has taken delivery of the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology's (IMarEST) library giving the collection a secure new home and assuring its preservation for the future.

The historically important IMarEST collection – which consists of more than 390 linear metres of material – now resides at Lloyd's Register's offices on Fenchurch Street in London.

"Like our own collection, the IMarEST library is one the great resources still available for current and historic information concerning maritime history, marine engineering, naval architecture, offshore engineering and ocean technology. It was absolutely vital that this collection be preserved to continue to provide the public with a rich sense of one of our traditional industries," said Richard Sadler, Chief Executive Officer, Lloyd's Register. "Part of our mission as a UK-registered charity is to advance public education within the engineering and technological disciplines. It is through acts like this that we continue to fulfill that mission."

The IMarEST was established in 1889 and is the largest international membership body and learned society for marine professionals with over 15,000 members worldwide. The move was made necessary by IMarEST's relocation this summer to smaller premises, which would not have had room to house the collection. By offering the library a new home at the Lloyd’s Register Information Centre, the organisation is ensuring that this important resource remains available to the public and to the institute's members.

Against a backdrop of widespread library closures in London and with many specialist collections under threat, hosting such an important resource ensures that this unique part of IMarEST's heritage remains available to provide researchers with marine engineering, technical and scientific knowledge.

“The Institute is delighted that our incomparable collection will be housed in such ideal surroundings, remaining in the City of London, and open to all our members and to a wider audience interested in marine affairs,” says IMarEST’s Interim CEO, Fiona Morris.

“In addition to thanking Lloyd’s Register on behalf of the Institute, I would like to pay particular tribute to the hard work of James McRae, the Institute’s Information and Knowledge Manager. He has worked with Lloyd’s Register to ensure the smooth transfer of our vast collection from Coleman Street to Fenchurch Street, harnessing online tools to ensure all members are kept fully informed, and is now driving forward Institute plans for future online services. He has done a magnificent and highly professional job.

“We are extremely proud of our collection in its new and very permanent home and look forward to making use of it on a regular basis and meeting many of our Members when they visit the Lloyd’s Register Library.”

The IMarEST will continue to provide its members with information and knowledge services and a virtual library online providing e-books. It will also continue to hold the institute’s publications and some current specialist books.

Lloyd's Register’s own historic archive and library was founded in 1852 at the bequest of Principal Shipwright Surveyor Augustin Francis Bullock Creuze, FRS, and a founder member of the first Royal School of Naval Architecture. Nestled in the heart of the City of London, the organisations Information Centre provides access to its historic archive, plus a full collection of the Lloyd's Register of Ships, dating back to 1764, and associated publications and material.

"This is a great opportunity to combine our collections, each complementing the other, and to build upon the good work undertaken by the information staff of both IMarEST and Lloyd’s Register," Information Centre Manager Barbara Jones said. “There is a significant amount of work involved in maintaining an active archive and library, so we are ensuring that further resources are made available to assure a successful amalgamation of our two collections.”

The collections are open to the public Monday to Friday between 09:30-12:00 and 13:00-16:30. Further information can be found here

Library saved!

Part of the library at IMarEST HQ

When it became apparent the library I've been solely managing for the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMarEST) for the past three years would no longer be accommodated in our new office building, it began a long and desperate search for a suitable and willing recipient of a collection that was 121 years in the making.

For 18 months I feared, that should no one come forward, the library would be broken up and sent to the four corners of the country or, worse still, pillaged by our Members only for the remnants to end up in the bottom of a skip.

Thankfully, after a number of false dawns, an organisation called Lloyd's Register have, at the 11th hour, agreed to house the entire collection as well as allowing our Members continued access. It's the best possible result in the circumstances and, as well as feeling euphoric at maintaining the collection as an important piece of maritime history, I'm selfishly grateful not to be the man 'on watch' when the death knell tolls.

Of course both organisations see it as a potential opportunity for some positive press and as such I'm going to record it here over the next few blogs for posterity. Although my counterparts at Lloyd's Register deserve the greater credit, I'm really proud that I was able to play my own little part in a positive piece of library related news.

Film Review: Senna

*****
Ayrton Senna was always seen as the enemy in my house when I was growing up.

As huge Nigel Mansell fans, we were constantly aggrieved to see our hero thwarted by the mercurial Brazilian, yet it wasn't just his occasional rivalry with the Brummy that poisoned our view.

For the main part, this documentary focuses firmly on Senna's intense rivalry with the other great driver of his era, the Frenchman and 4-time World Champion Alain Prost.

Prost's diametrically opposed approach of cold calculation - giving rise to the nickname 'The Professor' - resulted in great friction between the drivers, not only manifesting itself in the paddock but also on the track and resulting in two of the most infamous incidents in Grand Prix history at Japan's Suzuka circuit in 1989 and 1990.

The British media at the time portrayed Senna as very much the guilty party, arrogant and reckless to the point of dangerous liability. Director Asif Kapadia's portrayal however, paints Senna as the victim of politics and, in particular, Prost's close relationship with head of the FIA, Jean-Marie Balestre, also a French national.

Certainly Prost shows his true colours when instantly heading to the stewards office following the 1989 collision, ultimately resulting in the latters disqualification and thus handing the title to Prost.



Senna found F1's politics abhorrent, deeming its prevalence contrary to the very spirit of the sport that he engendered to so many of his adoring Brazilian fans. He comes across as the most staunch purist, always quick to defend his actions - "the racer who sees a gap and doesn't go for it can no longer call himself a racer".

Throughout we are treated to insider footage of driver meetings, team discussions and interviews from the time, much of which fans will not have seen previously. Not only does it shed new light on events but it adds a humanity which was never apparent through the prism of the media.

On the race weekend of his death in 1994, just 24hrs after Roland Ratzenberger's fatal crash in qualifying, we see Senna visibly upset at the passing of his colleague, shaking his head and close to tears in the car on the grid. The audience, knowing a similar fate awaits him, can't fail to be affected by the tragic irony.

As we ride on board with Senna in his very final moments - horrific, upsetting but never exploitative - the tension is palpable. With no narration nor talking heads to dissect the original footage, we are left simply with the whine of the engine. A somehow fitting accompaniement as the life of a remarkable sporting competitor comes to an all too premature end.

Radical, Militant, Librarian

Couldn't help but enjoy this passage from a blog I read a little earlier today via LISNews....

Believing in access to information as a human right means fighting for our communities. Fighting to make sure the digital divide continues to shrink. Fighting for privacy for our users. Fighting against the entire concept of censorship and lately, fighting for libraries. So this is my call to arms. Librarians are revolutionaries, and society needs us. And no I don’t mean killing all the things with fire. True thought leaders, true revolutionaries, are willing to overthrow the system, or join it, if that’s what works best for their community.

- Amy Buckland, The talk I meant to give (Source: in forming thoughts)

It reminded me of this picture of a badge I came across a few years ago....

Here's a link to my previous post on Save Our Libraries Day and my personal battle for the library where I work (more news of which to come)....

Jocky's Blog: Save Our Libraries Day

Culture vulture

This is going to sound like the whining of a middle-class, good for nothing swine whose life is so sickeningly comfortable that his worst concerns are merely the pettiest inconveniences but....

Do you ever feel like you're drowning in too much culture?

That last sentence makes the bile in my stomach lurch upwards. Yet it's true, isn't it, the modern world provides such ease of access to the arts, both high and low, as to make it nigh on impossible to know where to train your attention first?

I've currently seven series worth of 'The Sopranos' to plough through on DVD, the complete 'Blackadder' box set sitting untouched on a shelf since my birthday in April, I've even got 6 episodes of HBO's 'The Pacific' piling up on my planner. I'm not even sure I think it's a particularly outstanding show! It's no wonder I felt a palpable sense of liberation when I recently deleted a whole host of 'Curb Your Enthusiam' episodes.

Meanwhile, practically all the music in the world is available at the click of a mouse, enticing me to check out the latest upcoming bands, spending far too much time listening to some terrible indie also-rans who, more often than not, demonstrate as much guile and inspiration as an episode of Eldorado! - Never has the adage 'all that glitters isn't gold' been more apposite.

Of course, I've neglected to mention the increasing pile of unread books under my bed; classic novels, political memoirs etc. I really want to read them but just struggle to find the time.

So why do it to myself? Why not just forget about it? Why should I let my life be dictated by a white box in the corner of my living room? Why does reading a book sometimes feel like a burden rather than a joy? Am I too often trying to appreciate other people's interpretation of life rather than making the most of my own?

Yes, it's clearly a quest for more and more knowledge but it's also a simple and shameful case of pompous one-upmanship. Ultimately, I want to be able to talk in an informed way about everything and to everyone.

If someone happens to comment on a film, I want to have seen it; if someone talks about the philosophies of Descartes - unlikely as that may be - I want to be able to give some kind of informed opinion; should an album I haven't heard appear in the top 10 lists come the end of the year, I want to know whether I missed out on an unexpected gem or whether it really is the pile of over-hyped dog turd I originally presumed it to be. It may be pretentious, arrogant, I don't know but there it is.

In the developed world the majority of us have it pretty easy. Food, heat and shelter are all pretty much a given for most of us and as a result we bother ourselves not with survival and, shamefully, not with acts of kindness, but rather with developing an 'identity'.

It's no great insight on my part but clearly we end up judging ourselves and each other, not by our deeds, but by how we dress, what we read, our likes and dislikes etc. and, of course, I'm a main offender. Here is my blog with its lists of what I'm reading, watching and listening displayed proudly to the left of this very text you're reading now. This is how I define myself.

I recently read a blog, the full-text of which can be read here, discussing the onset of eBook readers and whether or not they will ultimately put an end to printed publishing of books in the future. Fascinatingly, it suggests this is unlikely for 5 main reasons, the last of which is quoted below...

5) E-books can’t be used for interior design.

It may be all about vanity, but books — how we arrange them, the ones we display in our public rooms, the ones we don’t keep — say a lot about what we want the world to think about us. Probably more than any other object in our homes, books are our coats of arms, our ice breakers, our calling cards. Locked in the dungeon of your digital reader, nobody can hear them speak on your behalf.

We may never get round to consuming the content of all the books, DVD's, CD's etc. that come into our possession but you can bet we'll display them on a prominent shelf anyway. Culture has always been a kind of social currency but it can also be as debilitating as it is empowering.

I am become death

I just had to post this up. Since watching the clip for the first time this morning, I've become slightly obsessed with it. Whether it's the fuzzy black and white picture, his haunted face or the doom-laden tone of his voice, it just sends shivers down my spine...

Robert Oppenheimer, father of the atomic bomb, describes his reaction after witnessing the first controlled nuclear explosion