Library + Information Show and MUREX, 26 + 27 April 2023

This is a great place for library users to see and handle equipment usually reserved for people who�ve "been on a course", and to try out the latest library furniture, accessories and gadgets.  The show is aimed at library professionals, but we users were made welcome at all the stands we visited. This is our entirely personal impression of some of the exhibits.

Income generators - If a library has enough space it can make a bit of money selling book-related knick-knacks.   Peer Ltd supply small items such reading glasses - very appropriate especially as some are cheap enough to buy when you find you have come out without your own.  Their new range of revision booklets linked to school "key stages" to help children with homework also caught our eye.  The strangely named "That company called �if�" had book-related products that might suit libraries, such as colourful �Batty Bookmarks� and small reading glasses in tube-like cases, along with more expensive items likely to be sold by bookshops.

Copying Equipment - The copier is a staple in libraries and we wanted to see what progress has been made in machines that can copy documents placed "face up".  "Face-up" copying machines are kind to books, documents, and the person operating them.  However they usually have complicated devices to let you fiddle with the image, making them too grand and expensive for churning out copies of a few pages from a book, let alone your Christmas letter or tax statement.  They are becoming easier and simpler to use but at over �10,000 (plus a PC to process the �Pegleg� they produce) we do not expect to see one in our branch library soon.  It seems to us that the first firm to offer a well packaged, modestly priced, "face-up" unit designed to withstand untrained public library and archive users should clean up the market.

We were tempted, though, by the new �Book2net A2� "face-up" scanner at the �Genus - The Microfilm Shop� stand.  This has image enhancement software and costs about �12,000 to �15,000 depending on specification.  Another impressive machine, the �CopiBook�, shown by Image Retrieval (UK) Ltd, is smart and easy to use.  It operates at ordinary light levels so does not expose documents to ultraviolet or infrared light from powerful lamps and costs around �12,000 (black and white copying) to �21,000.  This firm also offers a scanning service at their Mitcham headquarters, copying precious documents on to microfilm or into digital form.

Help for those with visual disabilities - Several stands showed equipment to help library and archive users who have visual disabilities by providing them with enlarged images of books etc. and other aids.  Clearly a good deal of thought has gone into making this equipment user-friendly, avoiding the need for a lot of training before using it.

The easy-to-use �Livereader Library� shown by Visionaid Technologies lets partially sighted or dyslexic readers put a book, newspaper etc under a lens, and read the magnified image on a screen.  They can also get the machine to read the document aloud, which it does surprisingly well.  This desk-based unit is not portable and at close on �10,000 not cheap, but the firm has many other devices including Braille equipment, reading machines and magnifying equipment in a wide range of sizes and prices.

The Sight and Sound Technology stand featured the neat �Magnilink S Student�; a portable camera system for connection to a laptop computer which will store an image of a book etc, or in the classroom can give a student their own close-up image of the blackboard.  The firm also offers Braille equipment and magnifiers as well as equipment to help those with reading difficulties such as dyslexia.  Optelec Ltd also have an interesting range of video magnifiers, text readers and Braille equipment.

Newspaper Archives - Recent editions of newspapers are often available in digital form but we were pleased to see more digital archives stretching over decades or centuries.

Last year a test version of an archive of 100 years of the "Daily Mirror" was on show.  This year, the latest version, hot off the computer, was shown by News Archive Plus which has offered it for general use since about March 2006.  The programme searches the whole text of the newspaper and shows all the pages where your search term appears.  It does not yet highlight the search term, so you might have to read the whole page to find it, but they expect to put this right soon.  The cost depends on the number of users; a borough with around 250,000 population would pay about �950 a year to introduce it to their branch libraries.  The firm�s website is (in May 2006) �under development�, but you can have a free glimpse of the archive at a separate �arcitext� site (though only subscribers can get a legible page).  Future archives are likely to cover regional newspapers - the "Liverpool Echo" seems a possibility, though as with most developments plans may change.

Thomson Learning also offered digital archives including The Times Digital Archive, which can search the whole text of the newspaper from 1785 to 1985, though they were not demonstrating it at the show.

But, will we now become nostalgic about delving into the real thing, rummaging through old papers and coil after coil of microfilm, not even uncovering what we set out to find but coming across irresistible stories instead?  Finding things easily is efficient but not satisfying for a hunter-gatherer!

Reference books to read on your computer - Several firms were offering CD or �online� versions of familiar reference books.

Oxford University Press has its �Oxford Reference Online� providing over 130 dictionaries and encyclopaedias such as their Companion to Literature, English dictionaries and bilingual dictionaries of French, German, Spanish and Italian.  For those who want to consult the definitive record of the English language they also offer the complete Oxford English Dictionary online.

Managing the library catalogue - Last year we dodged stands offering total library solutions, user centric integrated platforms, graphic interfaces and viable professional data standards.  However once we found that the library catalogue is part of this we started asking why there isn�t a single on-line catalogue for London�s public libraries, or for that matter across the country - something similar to the COPAC catalogue for academic libraries.  The recently introduced �What�s in London�s Libraries� (WiLL) site helps us find catalogues, but still, so far as we can discover, forces us to search each borough's catalogue separately to track down that hard-to-find volume.  We wondered if the variety of systems used for keeping catalogues caused any difficulty.  Most suppliers said, "we all work to the same standards so if anyone wants a unified London catalogue there should be no technical problems", though one hinted that producing one that actually does what users want might still be hard because software suppliers would be unwilling to exchange enough information about how their products work.

We were, however, assured that the software running the local catalogue can easily be adjusted to make searching fit what users want (we are pestering our library authority about a catalogue which makes it hard search only what is in our branch library).  Have you ever been asked how you want the catalogue to work?  We made a note that we must talk to our library again about its catalogue.

Self service in libraries - Some libraries already have self service systems, letting users check their books in and out, leaving the library staff free to do more varied things.  The self-service machine will record what you take out and what you return and then give you a bit of till roll with the details.  Some machines read a whole pile of books in one go, some do it one at a time. Some tell you to put returned books on a nearby shelf, some sort them into bins.  But to get self-service going the books need a magnetic label stuck inside; we bet library staff wish for a machine to do that job!  We rather suspect, though, that in spite of all the sophistication that curly bit of till roll detailing what we we�ve borrowed and what we�ve handed back will cause problems.

Odds and ends - We know the show is meant for library professionals but we would like a little more recognition of library users � we are why libraries exist.  We hoped the Museums, Libraries Archives Council (MLA) folk might remind the professionals of this.  They provide strategic leadership developing strategy and policy in partnership and positioning museums and libraries at the heart of national, regional life and lead the transformation of museums, libraries and archives for the future, moving firmly away from a buildings-based only model and towards the 24/7 21st century library.  But we did not feel this gave quite the inspiration we were looking for. In their work they do take notice of what users want, but seem to rely on the library authorities to tell them what this is.  We did like their neat little booklets of quotable phrases about libraries and museums for �opinion formers� (Who They?). And, on a larger scale, MLA influences what you find in your library, for example its �Reference Online� programme advises on online resources and has agreed a model licence agreement for them � this helped to make the online version of the Oxford English Dictionary available in almost all our public libraries.

Happily the Library Campaign was there, letting visitors know that they are an independent national organisation which supports Friends of Libraries groups campaigning for better libraries.  Eric Hirons-Smith canvassed all the other stands and persuaded many of them to display the Campaign�s literature.

The National Literacy Trust was publicising the need to encourage a desire and ability to read. Their "Read On" campaign helps spread their and other organisations� work, such as a recent National Literacy Trust survey of what young people actually read and why some choose to read and others do not.

Customer Research Technology Ltd offer equipment to help collect and process on-the-spot opinions. Their "Opinionmeter XL", which asks users to respond to questions by pushing buttons on a pedestal unit, is becoming an increasingly familiar sight as organisations have to show they are meeting their targets.  The firm says that because the unit is easy to use the surveys have high response rates from all age groups.  At least one of the other exhibitors used a unit to find out what visitors thought of their display.  Of course, we suppose the value of the survey will depend a lot on who decides what questions will be asked.

Even though we can�t think of a library application, Apple Display Systems� (no relation to the music or computer folk) exhibit intrigued us.  We were invited to handle an expensive watch lying on a display unit. Our hands just passed through it.  We guessed it was a holographic image.  Wrong! � it was all done by mirrors and the watch was safe from sticky fingers in the unit below the glass top.   The unit is meant for putting valuable objects on show - as yet it cannot display anything much bigger than a wristwatch but the makers are working ways of using the idea.  The unit is so new that it is not yet (May 2006) described on the firm�s website, which shows their more traditional range of museum and shop fittings.

Next year - The "Trade Fairs and Exhibitions" website says the show will be back at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham on 18 and 19 April 2007.  For more information phone the organisers or keep an eye on their website.