Tom Roper's Weblog

For Marcus, 1956-2012

Fear no more the heat o’ the sun,
Nor the furious winter’s rages;
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone, and ta’en thy wages;
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.

Cymbeline, Act IV, Scene II

The Spirit of Schubert

The Spirit of Schubert continues to please me; I have yet to switch on the radio and think, 'oh, no, not Schubi again' (I am grateful to Alexandra Loske for this colloquial diminutive). Of course, I have not listened to it all, or anything like, but even the fragments are interesting, even that fugue subject that lasted a few seconds. I was even inspired to make a Schubertiade for the cats in the comfort of my home, based on an iTunes playlist of everything I have by him, songs and piano music. It only lasts a day and five hours.

What is even better is the use the organisers have made of social media. I have mentioned the @franzisiunwell Twitter account before, but there is also a splendid Tumblr. Today was the day of the wanderer; tomorrow the theme is classical or romantic.

Seaford seafront: a missed opportunity

Advertising the exhibition

 

It is one of the clichés of Seaford conversation that the town neglects, indeed is almost ashamed of, its position on the coast. The sea-front, as I hope this picture conveys, is hideous. The town prefers to sell off the few amenities that might make it more interesting, such as the only pub on the front, to property developers.

An exhibition at the weekend, which might have offered some hope, was infected by the same disease. Supposed to show the town some ideas for development of the seaside, it only ran for two days, in a cramped space. Although University of Brighton architecture students were involved in preparing some of the designs, the only thing the organisers put online was the YouTube video below, with tedious music, and more appearances of the Union Flag than a Conservative Party conference c. 1959. It conveys nothing to the viewer.

What a pity. If the organisers had spent a little time in thinking about how to convey their ideas to the town's population, online and face-to-face, something more productive would have emerged.

Newbury

I'm not going anywhere near this all-weather nonsense at Lingfield. Today, at Newbury:

205: How's Business
240: Cue to Cue
340: On Borrowed Wings

These are posted a little late, but in the interests of posterity, I record them anyway.

Franz is unwell

I am looking forward to Radio 3's Spirit of Schubert season. All his music will be played, at one point or another, over . They have gone to town with social media, with a Tumblr and a Twitter account, the latter under the name Franz is unwell.

My introduction to Schubert came I think through the pages of Look and Learn, an improving magazine for young people which, strange child that I was, I begged my parents to buy me. Every week there was a single page cartoon strip biography of a famous figure from history. I remember Schubert's, and one illustration in particular which depicted a plump bespectacled man in a Vienna café, composing on the back of a menu. I remember learning that he died young, in miserable circumstances, though the magazine had not one word about syphilis in it. Later, the very first piece of music I played in an orchestra was the Rosamunde overture, under the genial baton of Graham Sudbury, the school music master. There is a clarinet figure a little way in,  not technically difficult at all, but to an eleven-year old, terrifyingly exposed. I took the part home and practised and practised. A treasured eighteenth birthday present was a recording of the Tod und das Mädchen quartet. I played the Impromptus on a cassette in the first car I owned, driving to the funeral of my parents' closest friend. I transferred the CDs of the Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Gerald Moore's lieder recordings onto my first iPod..

I am intrigued by Twitter accounts in the names of the long-dead and famous. Though I follow no living celebrities, apart from Stephen Fry, and this only because the government has decreed that all British citizens must follow @stephenfry, I find the tweets of such as @AlexanderIII or @MmedePomp, to name but two, endlessly fascinating. There are two modes of tweeting if you are a dead historical character; in the first the tweets are more or less entirely made up of the character's sayings or writing; in the second the character will comment on twenty-first century events and concerns. I have nothing but admiration for the people behind these accounts. Apart from a deep knowledge of one's subject, the tweeter must be endlessly resourceful to maintain a string of entertaining tweets. I could never do it. Mind you, has anyone claimed Edward Gibbon?

The return of Brighton LibTeachMeet

The second Brighton LibTeachMeet last night was one of the occasions at which one really understands what it means to be part of a profession.  Held under the auspices of the CILIP Sussex sub-branch, and ably chaired by Melinda Davies, @medav, Clinical Librarian at our hosts, the Brighton and Sussex NHS Library and Knowledge Service, we heard speakers from health, universities and public libraries. Apart from some technical difficulties, inevitable when trying to support a twenty-first century event with the legendarily unhelpful NHS IT network, it was a great success. I couldn't live-tweet, so I offer some notes below on the speakers; I've given Twitter accounts where I know them.

Jil Fairclough (Brighton and Sussex Medical School, @bsms38) - Not outreach – inreach: getting to medical students: Jil showed us how library and knowledge services have integrated themselves into the medical school curriculum.

Tom Roper (West Sussex Knowledge & Libraries, NHS, @tomroper) - Marketing an outreach service in West Sussex the rolling English drunkard way: I shall say nothing about this presentation. My slides are on Slideshare, if anyone wants them, and I've embedded them at the end of this post.

Richard Hawkins (CILIP, @usernametaken10) - Live streaming events: a quick start guide: Richard wanted to show us live streaming in action, but was frustrated by the NHS firewall, though he and the organisers had asked for the relevant ports to be opened well in advance. He showed us how it's done, with witty illustrations of his own devising, and referred us to the CILIP Bambuser channel for examples.

Gary Green (Surrey County Council Library Service, @ggnewed) - Spreading the word using ifttt.com: Gary managed to make me understand how iftt.com works; I signed up for an account ages ago, but have never used it. Now I shall.

Ceris Howard (East Sussex Public Libraries) - Promoting public library services to teens: Ceris told us how East Sussex reach young people. One of her points applies to any group, that is, if you ask people what they want, you should act on what they tell you. A simple point, but often neglected.

Joseph Norwood (University of Sussex, @DreamingEntity) - Targeted Tweeting: How to find out who's really using your social media and how to connect with them: Joseph showed how he had analysed Twitter followers of the @SussexUniCareers account which he runs, and introduced scheduled tweeting, to make sure tweets appear at times when they will get maximum exposure.

Emma Illingworth (University of Brighton, @wigglesweets) - National Libraries Day 2012 - a national campaign - a local experience: Emma told us about how the University worked with the public libraries to use National Libraries Day to promote both services.

Rebecca Somers (West Sussex Libraries) – Outreach, engaging with families in the community: Becky told us about her work with hard-to-reach families in areas of social deprivation in the north of the county. I hope her slides will be up soon, as I look forward to seeing her photographs.

Ed Boyden (University of Sussex) – QR code use in the library as a way to report high levels of noise in silent study areas: Ed had come up with a fascinating and original idea. If readers are bothered by noise in silent areas, they can scan a QR code in a poster on the wall, which sends a text to the Duty Librarian, who will come running to chastise the wrong-doers.

Suzanne Tatham (University of Sussex) - Suggest a Book: Promoting Library Services at the University of Sussex: Suzanne showed us how they had used Facebook to take, and respond to, suggestions for stock; see http://www.facebook.com/suggestabooksussex. Some in the audience questioned whether this might not lead to long debates about selection decisions but it seems an interesting precursor of the move to user-selected stock and an excellent way to generate debate about collection development policies, something we usually pay lip-service to when writing and promulgating such documents.

Gary Green – Stats in a big font: Gary came back to tell us how, as part of an internal marketing campaign, he had simplified, and increased the impact of statistical presentations to library staff.

Tomroper libteachmeet 20 march

View more presentations from tomroper.

Cheltenham 2012: Gold Cup day

130: Baby Mix
205: Citizenship
240: Brindisi Breeze
320: Long Run
400: Cloudy Lane
440: Bourne
515: Astracad

Cheltenham 2012: Ladbrokes World Hurdle day

I had but one winner yesterday. Let's try again.

130: Sir des Champs
205: Our Father
240: Somersby
320: Thousand Stars
400: Hector's Choice
440: Up The Beat

Cheltenham 2012: Queen Mother Champion Chase Day

I can't claim that any great insight led to my two short-priced winners yesterday. Let's try again today:

130: Teaforthree
205: Monksland
240: Grands Crus
320:  Sizing Europe
400: Abergavenny
440: Vendor
515: New Year's Eve

Cheltenham 2012: Champion Hurdle Day

In a few hours, when the great cheer goes up that marks the first race of another Cheltenham festival, I'll be at the Speak Up for Libraries Lobby. I hope to see some of the races later on.

My betting strategy is often deliberately contrary, but today, even my twisted brain cannot find reasons to oppose the three odds-on favourites, Sprinter Sacre, Hurricane Fly and Quevega . The intellectual puzzles lie in the other races, not least the Cross Country. If the field remember to follow the course correctly, I think Willie Mullins Scotsirish has  a great chance.

1.30: Darlan
205: Sprinter Sacre
240: The Package
320: Hurricane Fly
400: Scotsirish
440: Quevega
515: Carrickboy