Decarbonisation, Education Spending in the UK, and Electronic Monitoring and Surveillance in the Workplace: New Official Publications 22.11.21

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

Research and Development funding policy- “Research and development (R&D) funding is defined as expenditure on research, mostly in science and technology, that results in new products, processes and understanding. It includes research undertaken by, and funding from, public and private sectors.

The most recent data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that, in 2019, total public and private expenditure on R&D in the UK was £38.5billion – the highest level on record. This represents 1.74% of GDP in 2019, which is lower than in comparable countries like France (2.2%), the US (3.1%) and Germany (3.2%).”

Education spending in the UK – “Education spending peaked in around 2010 at 5.5% of GDP or £104 billion (2019-20 prices). It has fallen since then, but how much of…

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Earth, Air, Fire, Water: The environment and our collections

University of Glasgow Library Blog

The Maps, Official Publications and Statistics Unit can help you with your research on climate and the environment. We hold current and historical maps, statistical data, and official publications from Scotland, the UK, the EU, and internationally.

Water

The River Clyde, Glasgow

Rainfall

Rainfall data for Scotland (Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA)), England (Environment Agency), and Wales (DataMapWales).

Rainfall maps in our collection showing the average rainfall since 1881.

Water Quality

Waterbase, a collection of databases on the quality of Europe’s Water Resources (European Environment Agency (EEA)).

Data on Freshwater quality in Scotland (SEPA)

Drinking Water

Maps showing Drinking Water Protected Areas (DWPAs) in the Scotland River Basin District (Scottish Government).

Fire

Annual Up Helly Aa Festival, Shetland

Renewable Energy

World Energy Transitions Outlook: 1.5°C Pathway, June 2021 (International Renewable Energy Agency IRENA).

Renewable and zero emissions: An evaluation of renewable and zero emissions heating systems…

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OECD podcasts

OECD iLibrary’s content offering has just been enhanced with the addition of OECD Podcasts.

As the one-stop research repository for all OECD publications in a range of formats, the platform now contains interviews with experts and personalities from both within and outside the Organisation, as they discuss the key policy issues of the day.

Guests include current and former Prime Ministers from around the world, such as Jacinda Ardern, Gordon Brown and Laurent Fabius, each respectively talking about well-being, taxation and the environment, OECD Directors Laurence Boone and Andreas Schleicher on the economy and education, and comedian, Ruby Wax, on the not-so-funny matter of mental health.

The collection has more than 70 podcasts, available to stream online, or, exclusively for subscribers, to download as an MP3 file for listening at leisure.  New episodes appear regularly, each accompanied by a complete transcript in PDF, and like all titles on OECD iLibrary, these will be fully indexed by the major discovery services, such as EBSCO EDS, Ex Libris Primo, OCLC WDS and ProQuest Summon.

You can access the OECD ilibrary and listen to these podcasts via the National Library’s Digital Collections. The Library offers free online access to thousands of books, journals, newspapers and databases, if your main address is in Scotland and you join the Library.

Already a member? OECDiLibrary

Test your UN documents research skills

How are your UN documents research skills? Here is an interactive quiz, available in English, French and Spanish, that allows you to test your knowledge. The first few questions relate to UN Documentation in general, while the second half of the quiz involves using the UN Digital Library to answer some basic questions.

Try the quiz now! [English]

Essayez le quiz maintenant! [Français]¡Intenta ahora responder el cuestionario!  [Spanish]

From The Dag Hammarskjöld Library.

Climate change, COP26, and the environment: New Official Publications 25.10.21

University of Glasgow Library Blog

European Union

© European Union, 2021

UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, the UK (COP26) (debate) of the European Parliament, held on Wednesday 20th October 2021.

Recent trends in coal and peat regions in the Western Balkans and Ukraine. “The purpose of this report is to investigate the future of solid fossil fuels in the Western Balkans and Ukraine and the impact of the energy transition on the number of jobs related to these activities.”

Identifying criteria for determining whether a ship produces reduced quantities of waste and manages it in a sustainable and environmentally sound manner. “This report identifies criteria to determine that a ship produces reduced quantities of waste and manages it in a sustainable and environmentally sound manner, in support of an implementing act to be adopted … To that end, a comprehensive literature review was conducted, stakeholders were surveyed, and interviews were held with a broad…

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Sport statistics, music streaming, and Legal Aid: New Official Publications 27.09.21

University of Glasgow Library Blog

European Union

© European Union, 2021

The differing EU Member States’ regulations on prostitution and their cross-border implications on women’s rights. “… after assessing the state-of-the-art of prostitution regulations in EU MSs and the current situation of sex trafficking and related data in the EU) [this study] identifies and evaluates cross-border problems/risks related to differing national EU MSs’ regulations and suggests future EU legislation to reduce them, thus preventing women from being trafficked while also protecting fundamental rights and gender equality.

Mapping of sport statistics and data in the EU: Final report to the European Commission. “This study is the first in-depth mapping of statistics and data regarding the economic and social contribution of sport at both EU and national levels in the EU-27.”

What if the Internet failed? “Since its early development in the 1960s, Internet infrastructure has become almost as important as electricity and transport infrastructures in contemporary…

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Food systems, the British Museum, and mental health: New Official Publications 14.09.21

University of Glasgow Library Blog

European Union

Policy Department, DG EXPO – European Parliament

EIGE’s indicators on intimate partner violence, rape and femicide: EU state of play. “This report analyses the current situation of data collection on intimate partner violence (IPV), rape and femicide in 30 different jurisdictions across all 27 EU Member States and the United Kingdom.” Recommendations to improve data quality, availablility and comparability of was also published.

The impact of disinformation campaigns about migrants and minority groups in the EU: In-depth analysis. “This analysis, commissioned by the European Parliament’s Special Committee on Foreign Interference in all Democratic Processes in the European Union, including Disinformation (INGE), aims to explore the impact of disinformation activity originated or amplified from abroad targeting minorities in the EU over the years 2018-2021.”

United Nations Food Systems Summit 2021: Process, challenges and expectations. “In October 2019, the United Nations (UN) Secretary General called for a UN…

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ParlRulesData.org

is an online database of parliamentary rules, containing the formal rules of procedure for various parliaments over time. The ParlRules database currently covers the UK House of Commons (1811-2019) and the Irish Dáil (1922-2020).

Over the coming years, ParlRules will extend data gathering efforts to other legislative chambers in Europe.

UK Parliament website give more details generally on parliamentary procedure with links to the relevant committees and current standing orders.

Hannah Chandler, Official Papers Librarian, Bodleian Libraries

Festivals, Cephalopods, and SLAPPs : New Official Publications 30.08.21

University of Glasgow Library Blog

European Union

© European Union, 2021

Regulating targeted and behavioural advertising in digital services: How to ensure users’ informed consent. “The study addresses the regulation of targeted and behavioural advertising in the context of digital services. Marketing methods and technologies deployed in behavioural and target advertising are presented. The EU law on consent to the processing of personal data is analysed, in connection with advertising practices. Ways of improving the quality of consent are discussed as well as ways of restricting its scope as a legal basis for the processing of personal data.”

Mobility imaginaries: The social & ethical issues of connected and automated vehicles : narrative analysis and engagement with different actors. “This report summarises key findings and recommendations arising from narrative analysis of policy and industry proposals in the field of connected and automated vehicles, based on a hybrid methodology of ‘discourse analysis’ and a number of…

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Biometric Recognition, Afghanistan, and Baby Boxes : New Official Publications 16.08.21

University of Glasgow Library Blog

European Union

© European Union, 2021

Biometric Recognition and Behavioural Detection Assessing the ethical aspects of biometric recognition and behavioural detection techniques with a focus on their current and future use in public spaces: “This study … analyses the use of biometric techniques from an ethical and legal perspective. Biometric techniques raise a number of specific ethical issues, as an individual cannot easily change biometric features, and as these techniques tend to intrude into the human body and ultimately the human self. Further issues are more generally associated with large-scale surveillance, algorithmic decision making, or profiling. The study analyses different types of biometric techniques and draws conclusions for EU legislation.”

Prison and drugs in Europe: Current and future challenges. “This European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) Insights report provides a comprehensive overview of the current knowledge and latest developments in the field of drug use and prison…

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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