RUTH RIKOWSKI
News Update No.28
Some time has lapsed, once again, since I sent out my last Update. This is largely due to the fact that my father-in-law died a month or so ago, and it has been, and continues to be, a very difficult time for us – both emotionally and practically. This also means that I have not found the time, as yet, to start up another blog. However, I have begun the process of archiving all of my old AOL blogs, which I am very pleased about – see item 3 below (although admittedly, it is taking me rather longer than I thought it would, but such is life!). Meanwhile, I was delighted to see my article about Michéle Roberts published in this months Managing Information, and presented in such a lovely way as well. This prompted me to send out this latest Update. Hope you all enjoy it.
1. ‘MICHĒLE ROBERTS: LIBRARIAN, NOVELIST, AND RADICAL INSPIRATIONAL WRITER AND THINKER’ BY RUTH RIKOWSKI, IN ‘MANAGING INFORMATION’, Vol 16, Issue 1, 2009, pp. 64-69
It was great to see my article about Michéle Roberts published in the latest issue of Managing Information. And presented is just such a lovely and colourful way as well. Many thanks to the editor, Graham Coult, for the thought and care he gave to it all. With all Graham’s artistic flair, his skill as a photographer along with the quality of his writing and editing of course, the result is always a very enticing and engaging magazine, I think. I remember having such thoughts when I very first saw Managing Information (MI), when I was working at Clifford Chance in 1999 – it really grabbed my attention, as a magazine that was exciting, eye-catching and dynamic. In regard to my Michéle Roberts piece - it was also the main feature article in this issue. My article is surrounded by photos of lovely sunflowers, which conveys a wonderful, attractive and cheerful message – a good idea, particularly in this time of recession. There is also a beautiful photo of a sunflower on the cover. The sunflowers as portrayed in my article have @ in the middle of them, thus conveying a message about my IT background as well.
So, what about the article itself? It was inspired by me going to see and hear Michéle Roberts speaking at CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) Members’ Day, organised by CILIP in London, at SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London) on 16th October 2008. I went to hear Tony Benn speak 2 years prior to that at CILIP Members’ Day, which I really enjoyed (see my long piece about this on our website - http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Tony%20and%20Caroline%20Benn. So I went along to this event full of hope and I was not disappointed. It was also wonderful and it really inspired me.
In regard to Michéle Roberts herself, she is the author of 12 novels; including ‘The Looking Glass’ and ‘Daughters of the House’, which won the WHSmith Literary Award and was short-listed for the Booker Prize (1992). She has also held Creative Writing posts in academia, and been Chair of the British Council literature advisory panel.
But what particularly surprised me was that I found that I had quite a lot in common with Michéle Roberts – both of us loving books from a young age, and wanting to write books ourselves, for example; both having religious upbringings, which we rejected in our teens; both training to be librarians; both writing books and both being socialist-minded, feminists and radicals. Although Michéle Roberts is considerably more famous than me of course, and goes on the radio regularly etc!
In my article I conclude by saying that:
“All in all, attending Michéle Roberts talk at CILIP, reading her autobiography, feeling her passion for books, relating it all to my own experiences etc has been quite a wonderful and unique journey for me.” p.69)
A considerably longer version of this article is available on our website, at http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Michele%20Roberts
2. ‘MEMOIRS OF A LAPSED LIBRARIAN’ BY RUTH RIKOWKSI IN ‘LONDON CILIP: Newsletter for CILIP in London’
A short piece (a news item) by me about the Michéle Roberts talk was also published in CILIP in London Newsletter - see
http://www.cilip.org.uk/branches/byregion/london/newsletter -
scroll down to Issue 19, Feb 2009, p.1
3. ‘RUTH RIKOWKSI UPDATES’ – RUTH’S AOL BLOG ARCHIVES CURRENTLY BEING INSERTED ON OUR WEBSITE - see
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Ruth%20Rikowski%20Updates%20(Archives)
I am in the process of inserting all of my old AOL blogs on to our website (following on from AOL shutting down all their blogs last October 2008). This will mean that they are all widely available again, and will ensure that the material is not lost. I felt this was particularly important as the blogs are a kind of diary, and ‘tell a story’’, particularly in regard to how I have grown and developed in the writing and publishing world of late. It also, hopefully, helps to connect many different types of people together that would not otherwise be connected. However, it is taking me longer than I thought it would! I am currently up to the 13th News Update, and as you can see, this is the 28th Update. Still, I will get there in the end – although it will have to be fitted around many other things, of course.
4. CHANDOS PUBLISHING IMPRINT BEEN SOLD TO WOODHEAD PUBLISHING
The Chandos Publishing imprint was recently sold to Woodhead Publishing Ltd., Cambridge.
Now, to order Chandos Publishing titles please contact:
Woodhead Publishing Ltd
Abington Hall, Granta Park, Great Abington,
Cambridge, CB21 6AH
Tel +44 (0) 1223 891358 Fax +44 (0) 1223 893694
This decision will help to enable Chandos books to be distributed more widely throughout the USA.
Visit the Chandos website at http://www.chandospublishing.com
5. MICHAEL PETER’S CONTRIBUTING TO A CHANDOS BOOK - ‘FUTURE OF THE ACADEMIC JOURNAL’ EDITED BY BILL COPE AND ANGUS PHILIPS, 2009, ISBN 1843344165 (pbk); 1843344173 (hdbk) http://www.chandospublishing.com/chandos_publishing_record_detail.php?ID=213
I was interested to discover that Professor Michael Peters is contributing a chapter to a Chandos book and on the important and highly topical subject of the ‘The Future of the Academic Journal’. Michael Peters has been very much at the forefront himself in the ejournal scholarly publishing field of course.
In the book summary on the Chandos website, it says that the book:
“…looks at a range of key topics that are of vital importance to academics and publishers alike. Will the journals business continue to grow? Open Access initiatives still form a relatively small part of journals publishing, but will they become the norm? How do librarians, publishers and academics see the future for journals? Will other forms of access to knowledge become more important? How will this part of publishing be affected by public policy, changes in copyright law, and the views of learned societies and research bodies?”
This should prove to be a very useful, timely and interesting book, I think.
6. GREGORY RIKOWSKI’S NEW BLOG, ‘GREGSWORLD’ AND HIS MYSPACE PROFILE FOR REVIEWS OF CULTURAL, MUSICAL AND FILM EVENTS
Gregory Rikowski, our youngest son, who is now 19 years old, started up his own blog a little while ago, and reviews various cultural and musical events that he has been to on it. There are entries for Herbie Hancock performing at the Barbican, London on 13th December 2008, for example; for the Sleeping Beauty ballet performed by the European Ballet in October 2008 at the Kenneth More Theatre and for Handel’s opera ‘Partenope’, held at the London Coliseum on 7th November 2008. See: http://gregrikowski.blogspot.com/2008/12/first-blog.html
Gregory also has a MySpace profile, which includes a film review section. See:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=92945414
7. ‘ALFRED HITCHCOCK: CLASSIC AUTEUR’ BY GREGORY RIKOWSKI
A piece by Gregory Rikowski about the film director Alfred Hitchcock (who he greatly admires) has recently been inserted on our website. See
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Hichcock
8. ESSEX BOOK FESTIVAL, MARCH 2009
http://www.essexbookfestival.org.uk/EBF/
The Essex Book Festival is currently taking place, and includes many really interesting events. The programme includes talks by people such as Francis Wheen and Simon Heffer, Joan Bakewell, Roy Hattersley, Alison Weir and Irma Kurtz. On a personal basis, I am very much looking forward to going to hear Simon Brett talk on 26th March and am going to a writers group, with Aminatta Forna on 28th March.
9. ‘PERSPECTIVES ON DIGITISATION’ – EDITED BY RUTH RIKOWSKI, SENSE PUBLISHERS, ROTTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS; FORTHCOMING: LATE 2009
I am currently working on my third book, at the invitation of Professor Michael Peters – which is an edited collection on digitisation, which will include a significant input from me, and will be published towards the end of the year, with Sense Publishers (https://www.sensepublishers.com/about_us.php?osCsid=1a7).
This builds on a special issue on ‘Digital Libraries’ which I co-edited with Isaac Hunter Dunlap for the refereed international ejournal, Policy Futures in Education – see http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pfie/content/pdfs/6/issue6_1.asp
The book will be divided up into 6 parts, with 22 contributors and a Foreword by Simon Tanner, Director, King's Digital Consultancy Services, King's College London. The book will includes sections on digitisation and higher education; digitisation and inequalities; digital libraries, reference services and citation indexing; digitisation of rare, valued and scholarly works; and the futuristic developments of digitisation.
That’s it for now.
Best as ever,
Ruth
19th March 2009
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