Pollinators, Music Streaming, and the Gaelic language: New Official Publications 21.07.21

University of Glasgow Library Blog

European Union

© European Union, 2021

Protecting pollinators in the EU: This briefing includes the background of pollinators in the EU, status and trends in pollinators, EU action in favour of pollinators, and policy assessment.

Report on the 2021 big data and economic forecasting workshop: “Modern economies produce massive datasets that need to be analysed using new modelling techniques like those from data science. The exploration of such huge and real-time amount of information generates new insights that are potentially useful for policymakers when designing policy interventions. The second edition of the Big Data and Economic Forecasting workshop (March 16-17, 2021) gathered together researchers, practitioners and policy-makers from diverse backgrounds, with the goal of discussing the latest applications of big data technologies to economics and finance. In this report, we summarize the works presented and the main conclusions of the workshop, highlighting the relevant state-of-the-art and the venues for…

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Net Zero Nation, Tackling Deepfakes, and Further and Higher Education in Scotland : New Official Publications 02.08.21

University of Glasgow Library Blog

Westminster & the UK Government

© Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2021. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0

Covid-19 status certification “Covid-19 status certification has been proposed as a means of reducing the risk of transmitting the Covid-19 virus in a number of settings. This briefing explores the Government’s policy on certification. It also provides discussion on the scientific evidence and other issues associated with the use of certification.”

The relationship between church and state in the United Kingdom “A briefing paper on the relationship between church and state in the United Kingdom… The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has two established churches, the Anglican Church of England and the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. In broad terms, “establishment” refers to a formal relationship between a church and the state it operates in.”

Investigation of Former Armed Forces Personnel Who Served in Northern Ireland

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League of Nations

The predecessor to the United Nations, the League of Nations was established in 1919, after World War I, under the Treaty of Versailles “to promote international cooperation and to achieve peace and security.” It was disbanded in 1940 due to its powerlessness to prevent conflict.

The National Library of Scotland have digitized a selection of League of Nations documents which are all freely available. Until recently relatively few documents at all had been digitised, so this is a welcome resource for researchers from many disciplines.  

Read more on the UK Official Papers Blog

The Government Information Landscape and Libraries. A new publication from IFLA

OfficialPapersUK

The Government Information Landscape and Librariesillustrates the challenges and complexities posed by government publishing systems and the need to maintain professional government information expertise in libraries to assist users. The report demonstrates this through a series of case studies from selected countries, regions, and institutions worldwide that provide examples of government publishing practices, depositories, access to information, government libraries, preservation, data, and digitization.

Jennie Grimshaw (British Library) and Hannah Chandler (Bodleian Libraries) have co-authored the chapter (with thanks to Fiona Liang, National Library of Scotland) Government Information and Official Publications in the United Kingdom.

The chapter examines the complex and dynamic nature of official publications in the United Kingdom and how publishing has changed since the 1990s. It also looks at how the legal deposit libraries are collaboratively working together to capture digital publications/websites of official bodies (looking at the work United Kingdom Web Archive) and making them…

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Connecting collections amid COVID-19

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the formation of the Central Office of Information (COI), the government’s one-stop-shop communications agency, prompting The National Archives (TNA), British Film Institute (BFI) and Imperial War Museums (IWM) to team up for an ambitious new project showcasing highlights from their shared government films collections. In this blog, Sarah Castagnetti (TNA, Visual Collections), Michelle Kirby (IWM Film Curator, Cold War/late 20th-century conflict) and Patrick Russell (BFI Senior Curator, Non-fiction) explain how this collaboration came about, how their respective COI collections complement each other, and how they believe these uniquely produced films are still well worth watching today.

Read more on the National Archives website

Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence, online advertising, and the future of Public Service Broadcasting: New Official Publications 21.06.21

*OECD Publication – Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence is available to registered readers of the National Library of Scotland, living in Scotland, via the OECDiLibrary.

University of Glasgow Library Blog

European Union

© European Union, 2021

Online advertising: the impact of targeted advertising on advertisers, market access and consumer choice. “In this research paper, we provide a comprehensive overview of online advertising markets and we analyse the challenges and opportunities concerning digital advertising. We review the degree to which existing and proposed legislation at EU level addresses the identified problems, and identify potential solutions, with reference to experience from EU Member States and third countries. We conclude with a synthesis and specific policy recommendations, drawing on stakeholder interviews.”

Towards gender equality in the cultural and creative sectors: Recommendations of the OMC (open method of coordination) working group of Member States’ experts. “All recommendations are based on practical experience and good practise case studies. They highlight the importance of political commitment to improving gender equality in the cultural and creative sectors (CCS).”

Coronavirus pandemic in the EU: Fundamental rights…

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COP26, the 0.7 Percent Aid Target, and UK Sexual Orientation: New Official Publications 07.06.21

University of Glasgow Library Blog

Westminster & the UK Government

© Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2021. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0

The 0.7 percent aid target”The UN has a target for countries to spend 0.7 percent of their Gross National Income (GNI) on Official Development Assistance (ODA). In 2013, the UK achieved this target for the first time. Since 2015, the Government has also been under a statutory duty to meet it. However, citing the economic impact of the pandemic, the Government will spend 0.5 percent of GNI for ODA in 2021 as a “temporary measure.””

Policing in the UK “This briefing explains the key concepts underpinning the British model of policing. It introduces the key actors in UK policing. It provides a brief introduction to UK police forces and discusses their performance.”

Flags:the Union Flag and Flags of the United Kingdom “Flags, national and other, have an…

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Gender equality, low car emmissions, and recorded crime : New Official Publications 25.05.21

University of Glasgow Library Blog

European Union

© European Union, 2021

Vulnerable consumers. This briefing considers vulnerable consumers and their ability to find the best deals and benefit from the competitive market. It also covers EU law and policy, and the European Parliament view.

A comparative analysis of gender equality law in Europe 2020. “This report provides a general overview of the ways in which EU gender equality law has been implemented in the domestic laws of the 27 Member States of the European Union, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway (the EEA countries), the United Kingdom and five candidate countries (Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey).”

Eurostatistics: Data for short-term economic analysis “shows the evolution of the economic activity in the European Union, euro area and Member States. This monthly review gives a synthetic picture of the macroeconomic situation in the recent past. It is based on Principal European Economic…

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Queen’s Speech 2021, the Future of Europe, and Investing in Destabilisation : New Official Publications 10.05.21

University of Glasgow Library Blog

Westminster & the UK Government

© Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2021. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0

Queen’s Speech 2021 “This Library briefing identifies issues and bills that may appear in the Queen’s Speech on 11 May 2021 or require legislation in the forthcoming parliamentary session.”

Connected and autonomous road vehicles “This paper considers some of the key implications of ‘connected and autonomous vehicles’ (CAVs), often referred to as self-driving cars, for the UK road transport sector. It includes discussion of the potential benefits of road-based CAVs; barriers to adoption; and the evolving regulatory framework.”

Coronavirus: Returning to work “This paper provides an overview of the rules surrounding COVID-19 and returning to work. It discusses the lockdown legislation, employer’s health and safety obligations and when workers can refuse to go to work.”

Scottish Parliament & Government

Contains information licenced under the Scottish Parliament Copyright Licence

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Blockchain, football, and Covid-19 : New Official Publications 26.04.21

University of Glasgow Library Blog

European Union

© European Union, 2021

Digital Cultural Diversity “Digital technologies have revolutionised every aspect of our lives, and culture is no exception. Technology has a huge potential to make culture accessible to all, by democratising both consumption and involvement in cultural creation. However, technology depends on equipment and infrastructure, which does not necessarily facilitate the diversity of content available and discoverable online. Other factors, such as language, skills or geographical location can also make it harder to discover online cultural content reflecting cultural diversity.”

Study on ‘Solar Fuels Research & Invest: Defining and developing the global solar fuel value chain: techno-economic analysis and pathways for sustainable pathways for sustainable implementation’: “This European Commission funded study provides a techno-economic analysis of global solar fuel value chains and pathways for sustainable implementation.”

Advanced technologies for industry: AT (Advanced Technologies) watch : technology focus on blockchain. “As part of a series…

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Merging the past with the present: web archiving and the Scottish Parliament website

This blog post has been provided by National Records of Scotland (NRS) and reflects the partnership working between NRS and the Scottish Parliament on web archiving and the release of the Scottish Parliament’s new website.

The Scottish Parliament (SP) launched its new corporate website two weeks ago. One of the challenges they faced was – what do we do with the old site and web content going back to 1999, when the Parliament came into being.

The historical value of this older content was not in question, but the SP team sought options to safely remove this older content from their new site, so long as it remained available elsewhere. To do so, SP collaborated with NRS’s Web Continuity Service to create a solution which incorporated live and archived web content. Read on to learn how we were able to put theory into practice.

Read the full post

Artificial intelligence, body image, and loneliness: New Official Publications 12.04.21

University of Glasgow Library Blog

European Union

© European Union, 2021

Humans and societies in the age of artificial intelligence. “While most of the ongoing discussions on AI limit themselves to the short and medium-term effects, this short and comprehensive report tries to go beyond the most immediate challenges and to explore also some of the longer-term impacts that AI may have on humans and societies. It summarizes the key issues in 10 takeaways and suggests a list of possible actions to be taken by policymakers.”

Addressing the dissemination of terrorist content online. “Dissemination of terrorist content is one of the most widespread and most dangerous forms of misuse of online services in the field of internal security.” This briefing looks at the current situation, details of the proposals the European Union is looking at to tackle the issue, expert views, and the legislative process.

Mapping of innovative practices in the EU to…

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The Turing Scheme, Blue Carbon, and a Digital Green Certificate – New Official Publications 29.03.21

University of Glasgow Library Blog

Newly published official publications from :

Westminster and the UK Government

Image copyright: UK Parliament

UK-EU TCA: professional qualifications – “This briefing explains what has changed for UK qualified professionals who seek to practice in the EU market and vice versa. It summarises the provisions in the Agreement under which the UK and EU can come to sector-by-sector mutual recognition arrangements in the future.”

The Turing Scheme – “This briefing gives an overview of the Turing Scheme. The scheme replaces the Erasmus+ programme in providing funding for participants in universities, colleges, and schools to go on study and work placements across the world from September 2021.”

Oxbridge ‘elitism’ – “For the last two decades both Oxford and Cambridge have taken more than half of their entrants from state schools. The latest rates are 61% for Oxford and 65% for Cambridge, or somewhat higher if overseas students at UK schools…

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THE GIG AWARDS 2021 – NOMINATIONS ARE NOW OPEN, BY FIONA LAING

Fiona Laing, Official Publications Curator at the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh was the recipient of the GIG Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019.

As a past winner of the GIG Lifetime Achievement Award I am delighted to announce that nominations for the 2021 GIG AWARDS are now open.

You can nominate yourself, your team or a colleague by completing the nominations form on the GIG website and emailing info.GIG@cilip.org.uk.

Each year CILIP’s Government Information Group presents two awards in recognition of significant contributions to government knowledge and information management. They are the GIG Annual Award and the Life-time Achievement Award.

More details on the Awards and how to make a nomination.

Concussion in Sport, Shopping Baskets, and Tourism: New Official Publications 15.03.21

University of Glasgow Library Blog

Newly published official publications from :

The European Union

CC-BY-4.0: © European Union 2020 – Source: EP

When and how to unwind COVID-support measures to the banking system. “This in-depth analysis proposes ways to retract from supervisory COVID-19 support measures without perils for financial stability. It simulates the likely impact of the corona crisis on euro area banks’ capital and predicts a significant capital shortfall. We recommend to end accounting practices that conceal loan losses and sustain capital relief measures. Our in-depth analysis also proposes how to address the impending capital shortfall in resolution/liquidation and a supranational recapitalisation.”

Clustering and unsupervised classification in forensics: From theory to practice.“Nowadays, crime investigators collect an ever increasing amount of potential digital evidence from suspects, continuously increasing the need for techniques of digital forensics. Often, digital evidence will be in the form of mostly unstructured and unlabeled data and seemingly uncorrelated…

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