Category: Entrepreneurs

Spotlight on Women Inventors and Innovators

Published on by Seema RampersadLeave a comment

I have been meaning to write and research women inventors for a number of years for Women’s History Month in March.  There are so many interesting stories of women inventors who have been highly intelligent, practical, innovative and trailblazing as they look for solutions to problems, develop new products, simply fill a gap in the market, and so many other reasons for creating new inventions.  Having recently looked as some of the links and stories below, they have made me feel in awe of their abilities and drive to get these from idea to successful invention – some from everyday items in our life to the cutting edge of science and technology. I am also pleased to say that I found so many stories that I am unable to spotlight them all on here.  I will, however, share some of the most inspirational women inventors, and some of the context around their stories.

I had to make my own living and my own opportunity. But I made it! Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them.

Madame C J Walker

Firstly, there would have been women inventors from the beginning of humanity but they may not have been documented for their inventions, as well as not given the credit for the inventions they produced.  In the last few centuries, women inventors have been recorded – with some of the earliest documented are Jeanne Villepreaux Power (aquarium), Nancy Johnson (ice cream maker), Ada Lovelace (First Computer Programmer) and Marie Curie (Research and Radioactivity) many more.  Some of these from the 19th century seem to be a direct result of the industrial revolution, as well as advancement and changes in lifestyles, homes and workplaces at the time.

Geographically too there have been a good balance. There are inventions that are happening now in all parts of the world, and I was pleased to see many international sites and even came across Globalwin (Global Women Inventors and Innovators Network), which featured Mark Sheahan – who is our Inventor in Residence at the British Library.  The world is very diverse and so too the types of inventions and innovations that are developed by women – from sustainable ideas to the use of natural resources available to them.  In my day job, I still meet several women founders who are planning their business with new products that they cannot source in current markets in the UK, or are using materials they have found in other countries and/or manufactured by international communities. 

Innovation by women are changing the world. However, women remain underrepresented in international patenting. – WIPO

The World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) has been celebrating the achievement of women inventors this month, but also highlighted some of the issues and challenges.  They have this resourceful page which states: “it is estimated that only 17.7 percent of inventors named in international patent applications were women in 2023. While numbers are rising, progress is slow”. Despite the lower numbers, there are some great case stories and the intellectual property that women inventors hold.  The case studies are international with various being developed from women across the globe on inventions or innovations ranging from solar energy, fish-skin products, beauty developments. There is still a lot to work towards filling the inventor gender gap, but there is certainly some special representative women who are doing their best to create new products and innovations across the globe.

Here are five inspirational women inventors who have been so interesting to read about:

Nancy M Johnson – Ice cream maker

Ice cream makers and equipment seems to be an invention that women were keen to develop. The Lemelson Center for the Study of Inventions and Innovations has a great blog post on Nancy M. Johnson who invented the ‘Artificial Freezer’ or ice cream maker.  It was very laborious to make ice cream in the techniques prior to her invention, and her inventions also help to save time to make a smoother more consistent ice cream. She was also one of the first women to file for a patent in her own name and not that of her Professor husband! Nancy was able to make her idea a commercial success but it was then bought by William Young who developed the ice cream maker further by making it even faster to make ice cream. The information in the blog hyperlinks to the Library of Congress’s photo in their online catalogue and short biography of her life. One thing leads to another – ice cream also need an ice cream scoop, and therefore that was another mechanical invention created Alfred F Calle.

Lisa Lindahl – Sports Bra

Lisa was a keen jogger in the 1970s, apparently running about 30 miles per week.  She realised that there was not enough support and garments for her and her friends Polly Smith and Hilda Miller who are also attributed in this link for the National Register of Inventors Hall of Fame.  What stood out for me is that she used ‘jockstraps’ support that was made of men and came up with a prototype for the jogging bra.  The rest they say is history: “When Smith sewed two jockstraps together and both Lindahl and Miller tested it on a run, they had the first workable sports bra prototype”. I have wondered about a ‘normal bra’ being developed over hundreds of years for women, but it is interesting reading about this and the photos are amusing too. I remember my colleague meeting with some female entrepreneurs over a decade ago where they were planning to create bras with better supportive straps that were more supportive for the larger busted women!

Katerine Johnson – Science Nasa Computer

There are quite a few women of colour who have created amazing products and helped with innovations over time.  It would have been more difficult as there would have been some discrimination in what was once a male-dominated world.  Katerine Johnson worked with other black women in the segregated states in the USA. This BBC Link with Science in Focus mentions: “Johnson and other black women initially worked in a racially segregated computing unit in Hampton, Virginia, that was not officially dissolved until NACA became NASA in 1958”. She worked on many space missions in the 1960’s and some of her black women colleagues were known to be the unsung heroes of NASA’s space mission. They were featured in the film Hidden Figures, which explored their story and the double standards at the time. It is a lot easier to see women in STEM celebrated, but for women inventor to file patents – it was difficult, especially women of colour. Such as Ellen Elgin who created the laundry wringer for clothes.  Although you did not have to disclose ethnicity in 1800s in the USA for patents, Ellen sold her patent for $18.00 at the time and was known to have said: “You know I am black and if it was known that a Negro woman patented the invention, white ladies would not buy the wringer. I was afraid to be known because of my colour in having it introduced into the market, that is the only reason.” Thankfully, the world has improved since then, and women inventors in STEM are thriving in the right conditions that support them.

“We will always have STEM with us. Some things will drop out of the public eye and will go away, but there will always be science, engineering, and technology. And there will always, always be mathematics.”

Katerine Johnson
Katerine Johnson – Source:
Katherine Johnson Receives Presidential Medal of Freedom
Source: Nasa Langley

Hedy Lamarr – Wireless Communications

I didn’t know much about Hedy Lamarr until I started this blog post research.  She was not only a famous Hollywood star – she seemed to be interested in inventions. Hedy was born to a Jewish family in Austria but fled to the USA when the country was invaded.  During World War II, she wanted to help the Allied Forces fight the Nazi from bombing. She worked with George Antheil to develop a new way to steer torpedoes. She knew that radio-signals used to control torpedoes could be jammed by the Nazis, which will make them miss their targets, and she wanted to come up with unjammable alternative. They both came up with different radio frequencies known as frequency-hopping (FH) which means the system could switch between keys.  This has been attributed to the invention to WiFi and Bluetooth – which was patented in 1942 but was not classified until 1981 and only used for military technology. There is a more detail explanation on this New Scientist article here. I can remember the first time I heard about WiFi and broadband in the 2000s, and even then, I was amazed by it.  We all know that we need and use WiFi every day now in our lives.

Marie Curie – Radio and mobile X-Ray

Marie Curie was a great scientist but also an inventor in some of the discoveries she made in her time. Her breakthrough discoveries in new radiation therapy for cancer treatment and x-ray machine advanced science and medicine.  She was most famous for radioactivity, a term she coined herself.  My first understand of of her was when I saw the Marie Curie Cancer Charity raising funds and caring for family who have been affected by cancer – her daughter had given them permission to use her name as the charity want to perpetuate her scientific medical research.  I haven’t really stop to think about what she did in as much details as I have in the last couple of days.  There are some amazing photos of her in her laboratory as well as in her personal life.  There was also a great Google Doodle and page celebrating her contribution to medical and scientific research as well as her contribution to humanity and saving lives. The next time I see the charity collection funds in her name – I’ll remember her immense contribution to the world.

“You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end each of us must work for his own improvement, and at the same time share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful.”

Marie Curie

Further links to women inventors:

Beautylich – Black History Month https://www.beautylish.com/a/vzjmr/black-history-month-hair-industry-innovators-inventors

European Patent Office – https://www.epo.org/en/news-events/in-focus/women-inventors

Iderdrola – https://www.iberdrola.com/talent/women-inventors

Lemelson Center for Study of Invention and Innovation – https://invention.si.edu/diverse-voices-women-inventors

National Women’s History Museum – Inventive Women – https://www.womenshistory.org/exhibits/inventive-women

USA Today – 50 things you never knew women invented – https://eu.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/money/2019/03/12/50-things-you-never-knew-women-invented/39158945/

Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_women_innovators_and_inventors_by_country

WIPO – https://www.wipo.int/en/web/ip-advantage/women-innovators-stories

Chanel – A fashion great

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To beat the January Blues, the most overarching theme for me to ‘Connect the Dots’ is fashion creativity and innovations inspired by my visit to the V&A exhibition on Coco Chanel, and work-related research activities.  My dear friend treated me to the Chanel exhibition at the V&A Museum, and I really was looking forward to it as it was only the second time that I visited it the museum.  I know that most of their exhibitions are really popular, but I missed the ones on Christian Dior, David Bowie and Frida Kahlo in recent years. The current exhibition ‘Gabrielle Coco Chanel – Fashion Manifesto’ about fashion designer Coco Chanel was truly an unforgettable experience, and a walk-through fashion, culture, social and human history.  There were so many aspects of her life, her work, innovations and fashion pieces that were phenomenal, beautiful and practical throughout in her lifetime on display at the exhibition.

I must admit I didn’t know much about Gabrielle Coco Chanel – and learning about the beginning of her life in 1883 is interesting to read on Wikipedia too, with her mother being a laundry woman and her father selling clothes in a nomadic way in France.  With the death of her mother when she was at a young age at 12, she was then brought up with her sister at an orphanage run by nuns. Crucially, she was taught to sew at the orphanage and this played an important factor for the rest of her life.  Her first job was as a milliner …and the rest they say is fashion history. With such as long life of creativity and designs – there are many books written on her journey from orphanage to one of the world’s greatest fashion designers and icons. 

“A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous.” – Coco Chanel

Some of the aspects of her life that I really like that were showcased at the exhibition were:

Iconic Fashion Designs – Without a doubt some of her earlier pieces were different from the long skirts and dresses known for at the turn of the 20th century.  At the exhibition, there were real examples of the hemlines going up, and the shoulder and torso exposed more with sleeveless designs.  This was such a change for women at that time in Europe, and it designs seemed to get closer and closer to the dresses that we know today.  Obviously, Chanel’s design are so classic and I was in awe of the fabrics, textiles, sequins, ribbons, beads – and the materials still looking amazing to this day for the items on display.  The exhibition items were probably from private collections, but with an original Chanel brand design and name, there is no wonder that a lot of these were kept by their owners as ‘fashion art pieces’. 

Innovative Twists – Seeing the fashion displayed over this time, it was obvious that interactions with fashionistas, suppliers as well as world trends having an impact on her fashion designs.  Chanel seemed be one of the early advocates for being careful in the sun with using sun cream as evidence by the labelling on some beauty products she provided.  She also designed cuts that made it easy to walk freely, play sports and incorporated materials and features that were new at the time such as gold buttons and her branded logo and was fluid to change styles.

“Nothing is more beautiful than freedom of the body,” she once said, and her designs lived by these words: Chanel’s silhouettes were fluid and androgynous, her designs loose and – in the case of her iconic little black dress, or LBD – democratic. She wanted women to move and breathe in her clothes, just like men did in theirs. Her work was, in many ways, a form of female emancipation.

How Coco Chanel changed the course of women’s fashion | CNN

Gender Empowerment – I loved the ultra-feminine pieces that were ranges from chiffon, lace, beads, textiles from rural communities in Nepal, to masculine cuts and androgynous designs with trousers.  Considering these were early 1900s, clearly Chanel’s goal was to make her styles access to all but also to celebrate the different needs and expression of society, culture and genders.  There was a section with dresses that was so beautifully pink for a youthful person, and I couldn’t help thinking of my own pink graduation dress when I was 16 years old.  I also loved her iconic Chanel Suit and how they represented a whole new dynamic to women’s practical wear, but also power embolden for feminine dressing.  It was spectacular to see all the suits displayed at the exhibition and they certainly still look in fashion today.  I couldn’t help but notice that some of our high street shops in Oxford Street, and in my neighbourhood, still have cheaper imitations of her Chanel designs from her handbag to jackets!

Entrepreneurship – Throughout her life, I think Chanel’s entrepreneurial fashion business can be admired for launching a whole variety of product which had her brand and style, such as her perfumes, handbags, suits and even the ‘Little Black Dress’ that she because famous for labelling. The story of how Chanel No:5 got the name from the fifth sample she received from her perfumier showed that she was willing to move away from the norm of the time – she was looking for ‘a scent that make a women smell like a woman and not a rose’.

Obviously, the Chanel brand is world famous and she was able to have significant international success and recognition from celebrities, world leaders to Hollywood greats – with some Nazi and French Resistance connections in wartime Europe, depending on the time of her long career.  She was also good see the opportunities to incorporate materials and styles of other regions, such as using tweeds from Britain and designs from global suppliers for Ostrich feathers. 

“Success is often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable.” – Coco Chanel

Internationally influential, Chanel was very shrewd in building not just a fashion house but a global brand.  She was one of the first persons to use a logo for her Coco Chanel (CC) designs. She also had many staff, partnerships, clientele with a retail network with logistical and intellectual kudos to build global brand at the time – especially for a woman.  She was famously also known as Mademoiselle Chanel.    

Positive Attitude – I particularly like the attitude that Chanel maintained throughout her long life, and the tenacity for her long career from simple orphanage to the height of fashion. Beneath all of her simplicity there was an elegance, allure and experimentation to try new things such as incorporating lace in designs when it previously only used for underwear garments. The exhibition describes this as Chic Simplicity, but it is the type of styles that has lasted for a long time …and will be around for still long time. Her designs like the icon suit, little black dress and the bag are like a metaphor for being full of simple design features with attitude and finer details that will be resilient.  It is ironic that they will never go out of fashion and that is her legacy will live on in the Chanel brand and icon fashion designs.

“I don’t do fashion. I am fashion.” – Coco Chanel

Chanel’s story and designs will inspire generations for ages to come. I see the connectivity with past and the present with a hint of innovation and I am so glad I was able to see this exhibition – which still has some dates available. Chanel certainly is one of greatest-of-all-time French Nationals and Designers. Merci Mademoiselle Chanel!

A very special year – a reflection on 2023

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I knew 2023 would be a busy year for me as I took on the role of President of Special Libraries Association (SLA), and it certainly turned out that way.  This was a year for a lot extra hours and hard commitment to get through extra work-load, on top of taking on a new role and responsibilities in my day job at the British Library.  I was fully aware that I needed to be conscious of time for my own wellbeing and my family commitments too for when the going got tough.  I didn’t do as much socialising or partying as I have in the past with my London or Caribbean diaspora communities, but found time to make sure I had some fun along the way, as well as visited new places – Milan, India, Toronto and Detroit.  Therefore, I will give you a run through on some of the highlights of this special year for me.

The first few months of 2023 I spent having clear targets for getting back to as normal as possible after the pandemic years, and this meant that although we had resumed our services by this time, we had to also incorporate the changes and the digital transformation that were gained in the years prior.  I was genuinely excited by having in-person events again and we were able to resume our normally workshops, groups, one-to-one meetings and events.  We also started a new project with London Boroughs, so it was great to outreach our services in areas, especially ones that I have not been to before and even in my own borough.  It was great to see some of the bigger events at the library too as we hosted large meeting with entrepreneurs and celebrated 50 years of the British Library in July with a staff reception.  One of the most popular library events I went to this year was the Fashion Retailing event which hosted Patrick Grant from The Sewing Bee television services as a star speaker –  and he certainly had groupies who came to see him!

I started doing a new role which meant I began going to various subject areas and physical spaces in the library which I won’t normally need to go. It made me see how a large national library like this operates, and how important our staff and processes are to maintain our services.  Sadly and annoyingly, the British Library came under a major ransomware cyber-attack at the end of October, and this has really slowed us down in a year when we were making many gains after the pandemic. Despite this, the lessons learnt in pandemic have enabled us to be more flexible, however it is our users and the sharing of knowledge and information that has paid the highest price.  I hope to learn from this experience too, and intend to resume our mission and purpose for sharing our collections, resources and expertise with our customers to the level that makes us one of the best public libraries in the world. 

In April, it was great to visit Milan for the first time.  I have always wanted to go to see a football game as a fan of Italian football since the 1980s.  It was great to see a game at the San Siro Stadium in Milan and get some of the fan’s atmosphere of the Curva Sud that you see on TV screens.  Ideally, I should have gone in the 1990s when I really was into Italian football but you can’t always do the things you want… when you want to do it.  I am pleased that I was able to tick this off my bucket list.

I also like the modern and residential parts of Milan.  It certainly has an urban feel with green spaces, great metro system and cosmopolitan feel with tourist as well as residents.  The food is always something to look forward to in Italy, and I particularly like that you can walk around easily too.  We also visited Bergamo by train and it was nice to walk around the medieval areas and the nice promenades that are great for a passagiata. I am unlikely to visit Milan again, but my decades of curiosity on what it was like has been fulfilled. 

I literally flew back from Milan to London, and the next day I flew out to Delhi for a conference that I was invited to attend by our SLA Asian Community based in Delhi.  It was great to spend time with dear friends and great professionals such as Debal C Kar, P K Jain and Ravindra Sharma, Parveen Babbar, Meenal Oak, Sushmita Chakrabarty, and so many more in Delhi at the conference held at Galgotias University in Noida.  It was extra special to spend time with Liz Jolly (Chief Librarian at the British Library) and Barbara Lison (President of IFLA 2022-2023), as well as the other Asian and international delegates at the conference.  I was also able see the Museum of India and Rail Transport Museum with special tours with the curators.  Thank you to our hosts for showing us around Delhi, and the special trip to the Taj Mahal in Agra.  Many thanks to Mr and Mrs Santosh Gupta and his colleagues for showing me around Jaipur and letting me stay as their guest at the University of Rajasthan.  The city was also beautiful to see, and the architecture was so distinctive and unique.  I was able to present and speak to various hosts in India, and the trip was truly educational and work-related too.

I haven’t had time to reflect much this year but I know going to India has been on my mind since forever as an Indo-Caribbean whose ancestors were from India – as well as growing up with lots of Bollywood movies in Trinidad and Tobago.  I am also a Hindu, and therefore will always think of India and its’ special link to my heritage and identity. I hope I can see again some of the great people I met in India, and I would happily show them around London as they did for me for India.  May their lives be blessed with happiness, and I am very grateful for their kindness on my visit to India. 

I had a few weeks in Spring to get back to normal but then I was off to Toronto on my way to Detroit for the MLA|SLA Conference.  It made sense to stay a few days in Toronto as I was unable to get a direct flight to Detroit. I haven’t been to Toronto since 2009, so it was good fun to check out the sights again in the lovely Spring weather.  Toronto is very modern compared to Europe, so there is a different vibe.  It was great to see all the Blue Jay fans after the game to bring some vibrant life to the downtown walk.  It was also great to meet a friend I met on work related social media over a decade ago in a pub in Toronto, and I hope we can meet again as I own him lunch! It was also great to see family and spend time with them.

Detroit at the MLA|SLA Conference was a very memorable time for me as I was going as SLA President 2023! I literally worked for five days in Detroit as there was a lot of preparation and meetings whilst I was there. I certainly was very focussed in making sure I covered our board duties, meetings with our old and new association management companies, our joint partners for the conference (who were very welcoming to me) and most of all – all the great people I met at the conference.  The conference educational sessions were more relaxed for me to attend although I was there as president – luckily board business meetings were kept to a minimal, and therefore I was able to get a lot of conference insights and personal development aspects whilst at the conference too.  I am still to contact some of the connections I made as this year as I have been to busy but I hope to have more time soon.  I was also able to check out the some of the social aspects of Detroit at a couple of bars and restaurants, and the Detroit Museum of Arts.  I didn’t get to go the Hitsville Museum for the birth of Motown Soul with its’ proud cultural heritage. I do have some great photos of Detroit and I am proud that SLA were able to meet in 2023, and will cherish these memories for the rest of my career.

Obviously, my work for SLA carried on until the rest of the year and at times, it was inspiring with the many meetings and discussion, and other time it was extremely busy where I had to put in those extra hours into the early hours of the morning.  I know my health, exercise routine and social activities had to be put on hold for a little while this year, but I certainly would not have given up this opportunity to lead and serve and organisation the has been around for 114 years.  I am still very committed to SLA and the profession, and therefore hope that I can continue the great work. Some of the board top level achievements this year are – closed and transition to a new association management company, new infrastructure such as tech and operational (scholarship review, magazine relaunch, new tech etc) and the joint MLA|SLA Conference.  The challenges are still there but hopefully the foundations are firmer, and we can aim for stability and growth.  Wish us luck too! Thank you for putting the SPECIAL in my year.

Apart from this, I did go to the jazz Love Supreme Festival in June, visited some sights such as the Docklands Museum when my brother visited in summer, and I also checked out a few gigs in the autumn such as Mica Millar at the Union Chapel.  I am hoping that 2024 will being some more opportunities to go out socially and get more exercise.  I already have four things lined up for January and February with family and friends. 

As I close 2023 – I wish you all the best for the new year.  I have reflected broadly here on a year when I was awake more than I slept… but I am honoured, learnt a lot, and do realised we achieved somethings, if not a lot in transition. In this personal sense, it was certainly very special.

Hip Hop’s 50th Anniversary – from block party to global phenomenon

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Since the turn of the year, I have been seeing great celebrations for hip-hop culture not just coming from the USA where it originated, but from the global phenomenon that had earned its credentials on the world stage.  In recent weeks, I have been learning half-century since the birth of this genre, it is traceable to a house party on 11th August 1973.  The party was in an apartment building on Sedgwick Avenue, New York, where a young Clive Campbell – better known as DJ Kool Herc – used two turntables to loop percussive portions of the same record to create a continuous flow of music as mentioned in this celebratory page ‘It’s Bigger than Hip Hop’ by the BBC. 

  • SONY DSC

Coincidently, I spend a couple of hours last night listening to the BBC’s dedicated show called the ‘For the Love of Hip Hop’, as well as some great live show from regional Leicester.  This just demonstrates how hip-hop has grown organically to a global phenomenon.  I must add a disclaimer that I am not an expert on hip-hop, but I’m still learning some music to new artists (thanks to my son). And when I grew up in Trinidad and Tobago – we knew the big hits, but not necessarily some of the rarer music.  What I do like is being around to see how the genre grew, and evolved to what it is today. 

You can also tell from this timeline that there has been many momentous achievements over the years from the more mainstream song like ‘Rapper’s Delight’ (which even my soul-loving white husband knows), to the first time a hip-hop tune was played on MTV.  Since then there have been many stars and clear timeline of albums, awards, and entrepreneurial explosions in the last 50 years. 

Hip Hop is obscure, and it is not something that only journalists or musicologists care to research. Most people, whether they like music or not, have come into contact with Hip Hop. 

– Nick Siullo in the book ‘Communicating hip-hop: how hip-hop culture shapes popular culture’.

So how can you tell what is hip hop? Like with anything new that has grown so exponentially – it is now a really passion to document this, with hip hop now being looked at from an academic perspective for its’ impact on social change and culture. There is are some great terms mention in the following The Kennedy Center on the key identifiers and features, as well as glossary for the terms used, especially of you want to keep with the flow… or the ‘in crowd’. 

The Kennedy Center states in this article that hip-hop scholars attributes these six elements:

  • DJing – the artistic handling of beats and music
  • MCing, aka rapping – putting spoken word poetry to a beat
  • Breaking – hip hop dance form
  • Writing – the painting of highly stylized graffiti
  • Theatre and Literature – combining hip hop elements and themes in drama, poetry and stories
  • Knowledge of self – the moral, social and spiritual principles that inform and inspire hip-hop ways of being.

Source: The Kennedy Center

It is interesting to see that music and self-expression sits at the heart of the genre.  Hip Hop has had an immense impact on the world, but it was created by youth culture in the first years with roots in inner city urban life with social and economic struggles, with territorial expression on what would have been a multicultural New York. The invention of a culture enabled people to find a self-expression on these struggles with hope, and punching ambition.  In the later years, the genre is blamed for misogyny and for glamourising territorial gang culture, but if this was their reality – it is captured in their lyrics.  It is also a relief to see female artists have since developed as superstars too in the genre, and women have earned their place in hip hop history too.

“I developed these theories that all these elements of our urban culture were beginning to seem like one big thing. This was in 1978.”

— Fab 5 Freddy

Hip hop has influenced other cultures and subcultures too.  Where there was music – there is dance, fashion, and art.  At the same time, New York’s subway trains were public property in the light term for graffiti artists and tags.  Street art has always been around but hip-hop also found expression in graphic art and marking of tags by gangs. The is a reference that graffiti started in this link Black Web America: ‘This creative expression is made up of written words used to spread a specific message, whether it be social, political or something a bit more personal from the inner elements of an aerosol spray can. Hip-Hop’s connection to graffiti dates back to the late 1960s, originating in the predominately Black and Latino neighborhoods of New York City where hip-hop music and street subcultures formulated‘.

Graffiti still exists but street art has exploded in the last decade in our spaces, and now another independent global artform. I am not able to visit the Bronx, but I know that even London has paid tribute and homage to the subcultures and hip-hop artists.  Recently there was also a large paper poster celebrating Notorious B.I.G’s anniversary album ‘Hypnotise’ in my neighbourhood.

In the last 50 years, there has been a plethora of new inventions and innovations on how we consume music. From the mechanical ability and skill to play music in house parties to the technical ability to mix, scratch, bebop, create lyrics – as well as engage and perform.  I love how this grassroot movement started, was very low budget, as well as ‘the technology’ not being as sophisticated as it is now in 2023.  For the future, one thing guaranteed is that the genre and the mechanics will evolve with time and innovations. 

 

There has been a lot of change in technology with the development of listening and playing musical equipment. From the larger record decks to personal devices tape decks, sound and portable music innovations has changed to ultra-modern listening and entertainment equipment. Dr Dre and Jay-Z, amongst others, are now successful entrepreneurs with a lucrative billion-dollar industry.  Dr Dre is known for his production styles as well as creating the headset Beats as well as other innovative products with his company being sold to Apple Inc in 2014.  

As expected, there is a lot of resources available online for researching 50 years of Hip Hop! From references shared on this Wikipedia page, to those provided by research organisation and libraries and digital content.  Such as this link from Albert S Cool Library and University of Memphis Libraries. I am discovering so much more about the genre and how it has grown from a back yard groove to worldwide celebration of the creativity and expression of lives in other languages and countries. It is a good time to recognise the artist and everyday person who has shared their creativity with us and hope that the genre is around in another 50 years for its 100th Birthday! Happy Birthday Hip Hop!

Say goodbye to summer…

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This year I didn’t have a beach holiday that I so love. I had been away in Spring and therefore it would have been expensive to go away in July or August.  I know there are some cheap deals out there but I had work, volunteering and family commitments.  June was apparently one of the hottest months on record and this makes it much more appealing to do things closer to home.  However, July was one of the wettest and it was hard to predict what to do.  It was very peculiar, and it seems we have some warm weather as we now go into September.  It has been sad seeing the severe heatwave in Europe earlier this summer, and the disaster from wildfire from Maui to Rhodes in Greece.  It seems climate change is becoming more evidential in our everyday lives. 

However despite the weather, I had to get on with plans in the last few weeks.  I didn’t go to British beaches and special gardens but I still had some time to do some fun things. 

The first was going to Norfolk for the weekend.  I haven’t been for a couple of years and it was typically very wet weather. It was good to stay very… very… near the Norwich Football City fondly known as Carrow Road, and the team is known as the Canaries. You might guess from the colours of the kit. It was quite special to see the game from a hotel room and it was a bit of sunshine on a sunny day! I remember looking at the tall building near the Lords Cricket Ground and thinking that is a great place to live if you like cricket.  I suppose it just a fun way to have important sporting venues close to you.

The next day, we went for a drive along the Norfolk and Suffolk coast through Great Yarmouth to Southwold.  I haven’t been going to Southwold until recently, but it is known as ‘Hampstead by the Sea’ as a pleasant seaside town. It is nice to visit as there is hardly any stress trying to find parking, and it is very residential as a holiday seaside town. I do recommend that you book a place to eat as it was hard finding a restaurant to eat at lunchtime on one of the few sunny days in the month.  However, the pier was less busy, and we were able to get some fish and chips for lunch.  It was nice to see some of the quaint seaside cottages and gardens.   

Back in London, we were able to get a few sunny days and one of them was when I took a first visit to the Docklands Museum. I wanted to visit after seeing an advert for the Indo-Caribbean exhibition advertised.  Visiting Canary Wharf on such a sunny day was amazing for the photos of the newest buildings, and in the newer financial district in London.  But don’t be deceived… it has a long history of commerce and trade from ancient times.  The Museum is well curated throughout the ages, and to get to the Indo-Caribeean exhibition – ironically, I had to whiz through the various floors and parts that had relevance to how we got to Indo-Caribbeans in the Caribbean.

Although I knew the history of the Caribbean, seeing the visual and curated content were still engaging and educational.  I found out things that even I missed in my Caribbean schooling – such as the slave traders in London, the wealth created by the sugar industry and how the greed for this wealth fuelled the Transatlantic Slave Trade.  There was so much to unpick that I cannot cover it all in this blog post. 

The Indo-Caribbean exhibition was educational and balanced on some of the issues that my ancestors may have experienced on their journey from India to the Caribbean.  It was sad, annoying and true that they were sometimes treated as cargo and the record keeping was not consistent.  If I have to trace my lineage to India – I will need a lot of patience and time to research it.  It is shocking and realistic to know of the journeys Indians made to the Caribbean, and it makes for an appreciation of their struggles, perseverance and resilience. 

This month, I also spent time working but it was interesting to visit some of the regional libraries that we are working with on our ‘Kick Start your Business’ project.  It was a nice pleasure to get a bus to the Library in Leytonstone with definitely felt like an Alfred Hitchcock appreciation day! Well, he is a local hero who had a great impact and career on cinema and film.  The local underground station has lots of mosaics as a dedication to Hitchcock.  It was also nice to see that the workshop room also doubles as a theatre and a cinema.  This library is not that close to me, but if it was closer – I certainly would be visiting it more. 

It was also good to make a trip back to south of the river and to see another local library for our project. It was very wet and it would have been good if I had more time to explore other areas closer to the venue, but when it was so wet… all I wanted to do was to get back home. Apart from this ventures, I spent some time in the garden and local areas. I can’t totally switch off in a city and therefore I like getting out in the countryside or visiting areas that I haven’t been before. This obviously requires good budgeting and planning.

Next year, I hope I go on holiday on a warm beautiful beach town.

Summer Library Celebrations and Sea Changes

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As this year is proving to be very busy due to my volunteering roles – there is a real challenge for me to get some free time to do nothing.  I seem to have lists, upon lists, things to do and therefore I have not been socialising as much this year.  I have been very active in the libraries and information world and therefore I will be writing about my activities from the last few weeks on here. 

I had some special activities this month as usually and one of them is going to Birmingham to for the CILIP Conference.  I didn’t realise that I actually walked through the NEC in Birmingham to get to the conference venue and hotel.  I had my phone stole the day before so it was a bit disconcerting getting a train without a smartphone as I had to ensure I had a tablet and lap top with me so I can send emails and printed tickets for my train journey. Apparently, I am not the only one who is experiencing stolen phones on the London underground or whilst out and about – but it makes you really out of depth with the way our travel and even IT authentication as well communication channels rely on smartphones in this day and age.  Once I got to the Birmingham, I was with a bunch of library and information professionals, so I knew I was in a safe environment and knew people attending there who can assist me if I need help. 

The CILIP Conference was my first visit to their conference and although I am going to conferences more frequently as SLA President 2023, this was not the case and therefore had to be very proactive with my own professional development over the years.  It is CILIP’s 125th Anniversary and I loved how they celebrated their past but also want to shine a light for the next 25 years on future leaders.  I also found the keynote on AI interesting for the way that we can use the technology for the benefit of developing services but the best take-away was making sure that we consider responsible AI. It is good to see ways that the technology can do some of the work for humans in a more efficient way and how we can implement it for research and data processing in knowledge and information management. 

It was also good to see suppliers, other professionals and fellow volunteers at the Conference.  I went to some great talks on professional development and international issues from a session by IFLA.  The CILIP conference gave me an opportunity to see other professionals in the UK and hear what they are doing in their own libraries and subject areas.  I used to feel very dishearten by the lack of other professionals but this was partly because I was not going to these networking events. For the last 17 years or more – I get inspired by other professionals and don’t ever lose passion as they all do amazing work which has real value to their communities and users. I know I am active internationally but I hope I can perhaps present at a future CILIP conference and give back to the UK professional community. 

The next day, I also had to make a trip to a great event in London so got an early morning train.  Our department was hosting the launch of a new research report entitled Democratising Entrepreneurship 2.0 for the impact of central government funding for libraries to provide business support across England and parts of Scotland. This event was held at the House of Lords in the Palace of Westminster – which is one of the most iconic buildings in the London.  I was on the terrace and hosted our partners in various libraries in our national network. 

It was good to hear the speeches from our hosts and the board of the British Library as well as to see the views from the river.  At this event we were recognising the work that we have completed in the last three years but also looking at the future at how we can carry on this work.  I have been saying for ages that we need physical spaces like libraries, as well as support and expert staff to assist in knowledge and information sharing.  It was also great to see some of the products on display that have come out of the projects and hear how beneficial it has been to participate in our projects and programmes across the country.

I have visited the Houses of Parliament before for an outreach event about 12 years ago where I was able to see the chambers, staff areas in Portcullis House and the House of Commons library which overlooks the river. I think this must have been before my smartphone days as I don’t have any photos but once I started using a smartphone, I have more photos of library and information visits. The Palace of Westminster Great Hall is nice to see for its history as well as the debating chamber.  The staff who gave the tour then gave us good anecdotes of the prime ministers who had gone in the past and show us some of the unique aspects of the building. 

Our international team at the British Library had a great reception for the cohort for their International Leaders Programme for the 2023. It was great to network with professionals on the programme as well as to see staff.  It was great to feel connected to the 18 countries that were taking part in the programme and to hear from CILIP’s CEO Nick Poole on the why that we as library and information professionals to need to collaborate, share knowledge, best practice and opportunities with each other. I felt really motivated to hear the speeches and to see a great video celebrating the British Library’s 50th Anniversary.

There are few times in my career so far that I was able to celebrate with the whole organisation I work for – this is for example when Price Waterhouse merged with Coopers & Lybrand on 1st July 1998 – we were given special burgundy filing wallets and other branded mementos. I also remember celebrating the milestones of the 2012 London Olympics at City Hall with staff talks and presentations.  And this month, we were able to celebrate 50 years of the British Library.  Although I have only worked for the library for over 10 years – I have known it since I arrive in London as I drove past the construction site on Euston in the early 1990s.  It was in 1994 that I started using the Document Supply Centre and therefore have been a user of their services since then form the other side.  I know my colleagues take pride in working at the library and it an inspiring space.  I have a new role in the library, which keep me busy and there is always something new to do or learn in such a great organisation.  Here’s to the next 50 years!

And last but not least, I popped into my local library this weekend on my walk in my neighbourhood.  It was great to see how the library has recently been refitted and reorganised for the various users of the library.  There has been self-checkout for library materials for a while.  There are still spaces to read, borrow books, study, a children’s library and storytelling space as well as a café and reception area.  There is also a collaboration with the University of Portsmouth with the library for adult learning in what is now known as their London Campus. Even this short walk and a few minutes in my local library made me observe a sea-change on the changes happening in libraries.  Long may it lasts!

Artificial Intelligence (AI) – a hot topic for humans

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It was about seven years ago that I first attended an event by SLA Europe on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and I have been thinking of this recently. Luckily there is a review by my friend Richard recapping our thoughts in 2016 and it is interesting to read how the event predicted that the topic will be around in the next few years, the role for library professionals, and human intelligence. I knew it was important for me to attend, and the new technology should be on my ‘radar’ to know about as library and information professional.  After all the profession is at the top of the value change for information, intelligence, research and insight, just as Richard had mentioned before in his review – it is just that not many people realise this. Fast forward to 2023, I am pleased that we also had a presentation this year on ChatGPT by Mary Dee Ojala, who is excellent at the skills required for searching. 

Like some of the articles, content, conversations and social media that I have read in recent weeks – we are not to fear artificial intelligence but to embrace it like other technological revolutions that have comes in the past. Earlier this year I researched the 5th Industrial revolution for a presentation to SLA Asia.   I know there will be disruptions, as in the past, but it also a time for innovations and for new ways of doing things.  The only striking aspect is the rate of technological changes in the last few years.  Therefore, as this is such a ‘hot topic’ at present, I thought I could explore some of the recent ways it has infiltrated our way of life, and what it means for me as a library and information professional. 

Business is also changing due to generative AI, and now we can ask these system questions just like we started doing on Google(and other search engines) a few years ago.  The global market for AI is predicted to grow to US $1800000million according to Statista, a prediction on how some of these will impact on human related jobs and change our way of doing things.  There is survey conducted in 2021 with some of the jobs that AI should take away – like data processing, answering routine queries such as chatbots, problem solving and intelligence searching for large quantities of structured and unstructured data and content. It is great for us to harness the power of technology for human activity.  On arrival in Toronto Pearson International Airport in May, I recently went through most the immigration control using mainly artificial intelligence and machines such as facial recognition, and the microchip in my passport to match up the data and information that my stored on my electronic passport. Although there were delays caused to flights when the technology failed a few weeks ago at some London airports. However, it was definitely very high-tech and advanced compared to the Immigration Officer who served me in India and Italy, but it does mean that there is a loss of jobs and a reliance on technology. It was ironic that the time I gained going through an automated immigration and borders process in Toronto – the suitcases took ages to come out of the aircraft as there is a shortage of staff to get them to passengers.  Perhaps robots can be used in future to unload them from aircrafts to the baggage reclaim areas. 

Most retailers and marketers are able using it to create content – instead of sourcing and research original pieces of work – you can ask generative AI for some help. There are definitely more self-check outs in my local supermarket and I haven’t been in the large shopping centres recently but I imagine that we will see more use of technology in retail.

The World Economic Forum has this interesting strategic intelligence interactive took by McGill university, which recognises some of the advantages and disadvantages of AI for business and mentions the impact on the loss of jobs in the human workforce. It also has the impact on our social lives, and the way that entrepreneurship can use AI too.

One of my colleagues recently used ChatGBT for a patent query but apparently the results yield were many but the information was partly incorrect.  There are intelligent limits to all the unstructured content that might be there! There are obviously concerns and opportunity for us as library and information professionals to educate and scrutinise the content retrieved for our research and customers.  Disinformation and misinformation are the negative aspects of relying too much on AI, especially that which is not programmed to add value and cite reliable sources.  This is our professional role and an opportunity to enable digital literacy, educate and use ethical procedures.  I had one person mention to me this week that she used AI for her book – I haven’t read it as it is still being written, but I hope the information contained in the book would be able to stand up to scrutiny and evidence, especially if it relates to health and wellbeing.

In the real world, some are taking up the use of generative AI for helping with more routine and mundane tasks.  I saw that for social media and marketing – content and creativity can still be created by AI but marketers (like information professionals) will still have to look at ever evolving changes in format, new platforms, algorithm changes. Generative AI tools can be trained to produce content that is closer to a brand’s voice, but they still need a human touch to ensure guidelines are followed. Whilst generative AI can free up time for brand marketing, brands risk damaging trust by posting content that doesn’t sound like it came from the brand. Does this sound familiar? – “Generative AI can help with inspiration, but it isn’t a good fit for these other cases” – (eMarketer – ChatGPT and Generative AI for Social Media Marketing).  I love how the report actually warns that people already have low trust on social media so they are encouraging people to not pass off AI generated content as their own.  Good advice!

There are many positive initiatives that are being developed for AI, Machine Learning, Chatbots, and other forms of artificial intelligence and data science.  I have the benefit of passing by the Alan Turing Institute (the National Institute of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence) very frequently as it is based in the British Library where I work.  There are always several initiatives with a focus on human-centric research and innovations, especially as the newly released white paper for data science with a focus on helping society after the pandemic and war.  The most recent initiative I saw by the ATI was the use of AI to help with preventing cyberattacks. The best thing about seeing this space and the enigma code machine is that we will always need the best human minds and brains, like Alan Turing, to help us solve some of the world’s biggest problems.  This should be a guiding principle for data science and AI.

Although I use technology for my work and I am attached to my iPhone, I don’t feel threaten by AI.  Not yet anyway.  I know we are talking about it and I have been paying more attention to it.  On the SLA Board we mentioned that we should be programming items on the topic, in my day job I have just been asked to prepare a discussion about it for our information services and I just read a few articles in CILIP’s magazine ‘Information Professional’ which reflects my views and calmness about it.  I do think there will be threats to some jobs but there will also be some opportunities to use it for basic as well as intensive information and intelligence needs.  I will probably revisit this blog post in a few years to see if my calmness was justified.  Perhaps I can use artificial intelligence then to programme my brain to look back too – just like in a sci-fi movie. For now, I will continue to encounter new AI developments one step at a time, and hopefully will understand this burning hot topic a little more each time.

India – A Trip to my Ancestral Roots

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Being Indo-Caribbean, India has always been on my bucket list to visit. Growing up in the Caribbean, we had great influence of India in our lives and consciousness in our heritage, culture, religion, and social structures.  My ancestors and parents were proud of our Indian heritage and there are so many ways we carried on traditions and stories almost 175 years after Indians arrived in the Caribbean.

As SLA President, I have been asked over a few years to present to SLA Asia and I remember telling Past President Tara Murray-Grove that this is one of the best aspects of making connections with the library and information community in India.  In the last few years this relationship has grown stronger and I was able to meet a few contacts in Charlotte in 2022.  It was only a few months ago, I was invited by Galgotias University to participate in the 11th International-Library and Information Professional (I-LIPS) Summit 2023 in Greater Noida, India.  I was invited to participate and therefore the cost of me attending and presenting at the conference was a lot less than if I was to self-fund on a holiday.  I knew this was an opportunity that I could not miss, and it was a dream come through to visit India – the land of my roots and ancestors. 

One of the first steps to get to India with a British Passport, was to obtain a visa.  This took a few weeks to sort out but it made me realised that although my great or great-grandparents were from India – it does not give me an automatic right to visit. Therefore, I would suggest that you give yourself time to arrange this if you plan on visiting.  After my third visit trying to arrange the paperwork for the visa – I got it.  I felt both happy and sad for my ancestors who perhaps went to the Caribbean, and never made it back to India.

My first task to India was the I-LIPS 2023 conference at Galgotias University based in the Greater Noida region of Delhi.  It is a private university and is one of the most accessible and affordable for students. The grounds were spread across few sites – with the conference held in the conference hall and other seminar and training rooms.  It was great to spend the first day with the students buzzing around, and meeting so many amazing library and information professionals from across India and internationally. We met the Chancellor of the university who told us the plans for the new site as well as the international insights we can share on many issues.

One of the most beneficial aspects of this trip for me is to spend time with the British Library’s Chief Librarian Liz Jolly, and IFLA President Barbara Lison. I know this was an opportunity to learn from champions and great role models in the library and information field.  It was also great to meet the highly qualified and professional library and information community in India – these include SLA Asia leaders and respected professionals such as Dr P K Jain, Dr Debal C Kar (our host) and his team, Dr Nabi Hasan and his team, Dr Parveen Babbar and other professionals who are driving forces and collaborative in the Asian community.  As SLA President, I am proud of what they do as for the information and knowledge ecosystem in their regions and internationally. It was my honour to meet and thank them personally.  I hope this close and special friendship will continue for many years to come. 

The conference was great in terms of content and subject areas on Partnerships, Sustainable Development Goals, Entrepreneurial Empowerment, Networks of Library and Information, new Digital Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Skills and Competencies of Library and Information Professionals, etc. I was able to meet SLA volunteers and leaders and it was great to meet in person.  I will be in touch soon with those who expressed interest on how we can continue to work together and collaborate, at least virtually, on the many aspects of professionalism and leadership in the sector.

It was great to see the cultural and social aspect of hosting an event in India.  The inaugural lighting of a light and the symbolism of this really sets occasional for enlightenment and clarity.  I was also so impressed with traditional India dress and the beautiful sarees being worn as working attire.  I love sarees and as I am only used to wearing them at weddings and prayers – I wasn’t brave enough to wear one on this occasion but if I meet me SLA Asia or India community again – I will make an extra effort to wear a saree or Asian wear.  I am also pleased that Dr Kar arranged a cultural evening with music, dance and song for us to experience the rich culture of India.  I felt totally at home in many aspects, and proud that the Indian diaspora still celebrate this culture outside of India.

On the third day of the conference, it was great to make the trip to the Taj Mahal and the Agra Fort in Agra.  The bus and the conference group who went on the trip made it fun and interesting with song and lunch on the way there and back – it was the first day to see life in India outside the conference.  The Taj Mahal itself was magnificent and visually appealing, especially as it was built in the 17th century.  The area around the site was splendid and the love story of Shah Jahan and his third wife Momtaz makes it truly one of rarest monuments to love on Earth.  The surrounding garden, buildings and architecture with the use of scientific, artistic and international design at the time is a must-see – and I thank our official tour guide for sharing his knowledge and insight with us. 

The link with Agra Fort in Agra was new knowledge to me too. The building again was impressive for the size of the site and initially seemed very much like a fort but once you get inside – the living quarters, social areas, the pavilions, views, harem, garden and emperor’s areas are exceptional.  The architecture was great and hearing how it was used at the time made it interesting. The British Army was also based there, and you can see where the gold once decorated the ceiling and towers.  The saddest part is knowing that Shah Jahan was held as a prisoner there by his ow son. The fact that you can actually see the Taj Mahal from Red Fort is heart-warming, as well as live connectivity of the story and era of the Mughals.

On a Sunday morning, we had a great drive from Noida to Delhi.  It was good seeing Delhi from the aircraft when I flew in, but I know it would be a lot bigger than I anticipated once we got inside the city.  The topic of a lot of the discussion a lot of the time as how India has overtaken China as the country with the most population in the world.  Going into any city – it became more urban, busy and crowded.  It was fabulous to see the buildings, the street traders, the various types of transport and the people.  It was Sunday and was not too busy in parts but as we got closer to Red Fort Delhi, it was busy as it was a public holiday weekend and lots of Indians were sightseeing too.  Red Fort in Delhi was on a large site and the building was so impressive.  It was great to see the colours but also the white marble of the some of the other buildings in contrast.  It was also reminded of some of the items I saw in the British Library’s Asian Collection on the Red Fort. We spent a couple of hours walking around and you probably need a whole day to take in all the surrounding gardens, but we were on a tight schedule. 

We also went to have lunch in Old Delhi, and this is where we saw more people going about their lives – selling, buying, socialising, dinning and going to the mosque.  It was very busy on the ground and we had to stick together just in case we got lost.  It was really great that we had Mr Bose accompany us and tell us all the facts on the local sights.  We also went for a drive around New Delhi and at this point of the day – it was extremely hot to be walking around.  So we took photos of India Gate and other parts of Delhi with just a brief stop. 

I hadn’t much time to work out my areas of interest before going to Delhi and really saw it as a work-related trip rather than a holiday.  So the second visit to the Humayun Tomb in Delhi was a great treat, and very much worth visiting.  It was not as busy was the Taj Mahal was very much linked to it as the tomb of the Mughal grandparent Humayun.  The design was Turkish and Persian in design with red hues, and the surrounding gardens and building was an oasis of calm and green in a bustling city.  It is one of the sites visited by Barrack Obama when he visited India and President of the USA. 

We saw the many old and new parts of Delhi and it was interested to see how planning and new areas were added to this ancient city.  My mind could not help thinking of history and how civilisations have developed over time.  There were really pretty parts with trees and gardens, but perhaps having more time as a tourist will give you more time to explore this great city!

On the Sunday evening we had an amazing dinner hosted by SLA Asia at the India International Centre in Delhi.  It was a great diplomatic area with dinner and social areas.  I was able to talk to our best supporters and sample of more of the delicious food.  I have grown so fond of people who truly are grateful to show appreciation for what IFLA and SLA are doing – I feel a real sense of responsibility and representation for my role at the conference and being in India.  I do intend to nurture these relationships and make sure we continue to support each other and the next generations in our common goals and ambitions for the profession, libraries and information services. 

Another special meeting was hosted by Dr Sangeeta Kaul from DelNet.  I heard Sangeeta present the work of DelNet at the I-LIPS 2023 Conference and was truly impressed with the vision, drive and dedication for serving their 7700 library members in 33 Indian states.  The meeting on Monday at DelNet headquarters in Delhi was fully of admiration and praise for the work they do for the last decades.  The organisation is built with great values and purpose, which has made it a success in many areas of leadership development, best practices, library and information knowledge sharing, and technological advancement.  DelNet whole-hearted seeks the best interest of the sector and the professionals who are central to this role.  After seeing the history, tour and work of DelNet – I have immense respect and admiration to the current leader Sangeeta, her staff and team.  They truly are carry on the great legacy of DelNet founder Dr H K Kaul.  I personally wanted to than Sangeeta for hosting us at The Grand Hotel for its convenience to their headquarters. Barbara and I were also part of a conference at DelNet, which was well attended by experience professionals and students in their network as well as 1000+ who logging in online on the webinar.  I hope I see Sangeeta and her team again, and would love to return the favour for what we do here in the field in the UK, or for SLA internationally.

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) hosted a talk to their staff and interns on Tuesday which was organised by their head librarian Dr Nabi Hasan.  I have known Nabi since 2020, and he has become a true friend and supporter as an information professional but also in my role in SLA.  Nabi is the Chair of SLA’s Education Committee and joint-chair of the SLA’s Annual Conference Committee 2023. I was able to give a talk on librarianship and information sector to student and staff who also inspired me with their great library, faculty and campus grounds.  It was nice to see how busy it can be and apparently some students stay up chatting to each other in the grounds late into the night.  Nabi pointed out that the interns got their places through a competitive process and that they are gifted and talented – I hope this ensures the future is in good hands.  I also thank the staff for showing me the study areas, and other parts of the university. 

I recently made contact with Indian artist and UN awarded winner Ihitashri at the British Library, and at her art exhibition at the Nehru Centre in London. Ihitashri was able to arrange visits to the Nationals Rail Museum and the National Museum in Delhi.  It was great to be greeted by staff and curators at both these museums.  I was welcomed and showed around by staff who had specialist curatorial knowledge of the collection and gave me insightful knowledge of the exhibition. 

The National Rail Museum asked me to open their new exhibition which linked historic sites to the rail network – and it truly was an honour to open the exhibition. The curators of the National Museum collections show me their permanent original exhibition, including Buddha’s relics and items from 2000-3000 years ago.  I was blown away by the items in the collection and the knowledge imparted on me by their staff.  I thank all of them for their time and efforts for making my impromptu visit very special.  I hope I can return the favour one day!

As part of my work, the British Council arranged a conference at Delhi Public Library (DPL) for World Copyright Day 2023.  I was able to Neeti Saxena (British Council) and meet again Dr R K Sharma (DPL) and his team.  The event was extremely well-organised and I was able to have a tour of the office and library areas.  The Delhi Public Library is responsible for 33 libraries across the city.  I admired the leadership and experience of Dr Sharma and thank him for his hospitality in having me spend the day at Delhi Public Library – and to see the role he has in doing this for DPL.

Dr Kar insisted that I spent my last free days visiting Jaipur and I certainly did not regret it! I was able to visit Jaipur with a train journey on one of their newly launched trains from Delhi Caant Station.  I felt safe travelling by train to Jaipur as Professor Dr Santosh Gupta from the University of Rajasthan was receiving me and showing me around this gorgeous ‘Pink City’. We visited the Amer Palace and City Palace – both of them were great at show Indian architecture and artwork.  We were able to see some of the items such as fabrics, jewellery and music that make this city special.  We had a great lunch with local dishes in one of their new eating areas.  At short notice, Dr Gupta was able to arrange for me to give a talk to staff and students for the Rajasthan Medical Library Association. It was truly nice to speak to 35 plus on issues in the profession and meet the attendees.

My last visit in Jaipur was also at an amazing temple overlooking the city.  It was beautifully made in marble and stained glass but we were unable to take photos of it.  I also visited a Ganesh temple near it as the sun was setting over the city. I was also surprise to see the more modern building of the city new the World Trade Shopping centre. I was truly pleased that I was able to see another area of India outside of Delhi. I do realised that India is a big country and there are some many diverse areas and regions to visit. Perhaps I can visit again another time.

I also wanted to repeat my deep appreciation and thanks to all who made my visit to India truly inspiring, heartwarming and special. As Nabi said to me – “it is like coming home”.

Reimagined – looking ahead with optimism

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We are continuing to get more in person events and this month I was able to go to some social events too.  The EIU invited guests to a Breakfast Briefing with their Chief Economist on ‘The Global Economy’.  This is the third time I attended one of their Breakfast Briefings, where I tend to come away feeling much more informed of the economic situation that we have to face.  The last time I attended an EIU event was a few weeks before the pandemic with a warning of the impact of the coronavirus – but then no one could have predicted the scale of it! Now we are living in more uncertain times with a cost-of-living crisis, inflation, slow-down in economic growth, power shifts and more conflict in the world.  It seems we really have to imagine a way out of this mess once more and therefore innovation, positive change and optimism are still in our tool kit. Some of the disruptions and adjustments require us to understand the dynamics we are in now, and how we can make things better. 

“The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge, but imagination”.

– Albert Einstein

One of the best aspects of the breakfast meeting was making my way across London early in the morning, and it was amazing to see the city waking up in the beautiful autumn sunshine.  The skyline is truly changing all the time and you can see old merge with the new.  It was a bit surreal for me as I walked from St Pauls with the World Reimagined project sculptures dotted around my walk to the Tate Modern.  I was aware of the Imagine Project as my friend Vashti Harrison came over earlier this year to prepare her sculpture. The first one I saw is placed in St Pancras Station (which I mentioned last month). However, in the heart of the city, right next to St Paul’s Cathedral, are several sculptures expressing the truth of Capitalism and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.  It is a ground level project to showcase the role that the city of London played in this brutal history.  It would be great if this is taught in British school in detailed – then we can see “the place the UK can hold in the world when it acknowledges its past and we are when we can give full dignity to all”.  It was great to see the World Imagined physical sculptures in Black History Month – and do look at their great website design too. 

Despite the amazing view over the Millennium Bridge to the Tate Modern, the briefing provided the facts and analysis which quickly brought me down to the contemporary world.  It was interesting to hear the challenges we will be facing now, and some of the long-term predictions for the world for 2050.  There has been a lot of uncertainties and shocks that have impacted on the world on recent years – there is hardship and some difficulties that we are experiencing due to geopolitical changes, costs, production and supply chains. It is good to hear about the positive impact that a country can have with immigration too, as people help growth as an economy and society grows.  It interesting to hear that some countries are also using Covid control to maintain a sense of order, propaganda and power.  The measures and mechanics used to stimulate growth is interesting to hear about as we navigate these difficult times. Perhaps knowing that the economic landscape can be fragile, we can then use more sustainable and shock-resistant measures. Hopefully we can prosper again as we develop, provide and benefit from fair and sensible economic strategies and activities.

Whilst at the Tate Modern, I also had a quick whiz around the main exhibition which was a very large art installation from the Chilean artist Cecilia Vicuna called Brian Forest Quipu. It was great to hear how stories and pieces of traditional significance were woven into fabrics.  The narrative, storytelling and poems on the wall were great at highlighting knowledge systems from indigenous cultures. The installation was accompanied with sound and movement – it was truly immersive to get into the zone that the piece has created.  It made me think of cultural knowledge systems and forms – from oral history, stories on sculptures, manuscripts, various print and non-print formats. It doesn’t matter where we come from in the world – it seems that there is a natural instinct for the human condition to provide a heritage for our people in the present, and for the future. We must continue to recognise and respect other peoples’ cultures.

Diwali was last weekend. I was invited to visit a Hindu temple in North London for Diwali celebrations last weekend.  I also invited friends to my home for dinner to celebrate Diwali with my family.  It is different to what I was used to growing up. Here deeyas are contained inside homes or buildings due to the weather.  Whilst in the tropics, deeyas can be left lit for hours in the still of the dark night. 

It was reassuring to visit the temple with mainly Guyanese diaspora and second generation migrants running and maintaining the programme for the temple. It was good to listen to the teachings and to hear the music and songs (bhajans) from the group.  We also were treated to lunch and sweets (Prasad).  I like that the temple community now also communicate by digital media to inform each other of upcoming events.  There was also a focus on youth lessons and sessions to ensure that the mainly older congregation will have trained or influence the next generation to carry on these religious practices and traditions.  Hopefully their imagination will be as vivid as mine, even though years has passed since the elaborate Diwali celebrations I experienced as a child.

At work, I attended a Diwali event hosted at the Alan Turing Institute with the new Caribbean Curator at the British Library giving a talk on her career thus far. It was great to experience this diversity in what is now a multicultural city.

Don’t reinvent. Reimagine.

I am slowly getting more social since the pandemic, and one event which was totally new is a cooking lesson that was a present for my husband.  We took a while to book the lesson due to time constraints, but it was great to finally make a night of the lesson.  There were various types of world cuisine classes to choose from but it really depended on how many spaces were available and if you can make the dates.  The first time I had fresh gnocchi and pesto, it was made by my husband’s cousin in 1995 in Rome, since then it has been one of my favourite dishes.  The tutor made us prepare an aubergine and mozzarella starter, homemade gnocchi and zabaglione.  For someone who has been around Italians for almost thirty years – it was great to learn about some of the food science of the aubergine, potatoes, eggs, garlic, onions etc – therefore, heard some real wives’ tales from the chef about cooking techniques and structure.  At the class, other attendees, tutors and the facility were really good, and I would recommend it. It is just a little far to go more often, and the price is a little more than your average three course meal for two in town.  But it really is a great way to learn and hone your creativity – now I can imagine doing a class like this in the heart of Tuscany. 

I haven’t been doing many local community events recently apart from looking after some garden plots.  I have been busy with my library volunteering most of the time when I am not working.  It is still great to walk around my neighbourhood and it always surprises me when I see new shops, creative displays and inspiration activism in my community walkabouts. There is definitely a new feel as there are several new multi-story homes being built in what was considered the outskirts of London only a few of years ago.  There seems to be a lot more young professionals around as affordable homes are clumped together near the underground stations, repurposed car parks or any free land.  I know we need more homes.  It just hope we do not lose the close knit and community feel we had the last 15-20 years, when I became more actively involved in where I live.  It is reassuring that even though we are growing in numbers as a place to live in the city – there are still some who believe that we have to look out for each other, and maintain the essence of fellowship and camaradie as we go about our daily normal lives.

Creativity grows out of two things: curiosity & imagination.

Benny Goodman

Mission Possible – Libraries & Information Pros Collaborating

Published on by Seema RampersadLeave a comment

It seems like a long time coming but libraries collaborating is happening…again. At least for me. This month has been busy just with my work which has been great for giving me a purpose and mission. I seem to have been fighting for the last 15 plus years.  I suppose I still haven’t gotten use to just relaxing as it has never been easy for me.

We get visits from lots of people who wants to visit the British Library, which is always a pleasure to do. This month I had two visitors from the library profession from Canada and Aotorea (native name for New Zealand). It is good to go around the library with fresh eyes. The building is impressive but also the different subject areas and physical layout. It seems like people and professionals are travelling again like Te Paea and Cellia who were travelling to Dublin for IFLA’s conference. It was nice to see other professionals like Loida from USA and Kevin from the Philippines there too showing there connections and activities on Twitter.

There are times when we meet people who are similar to us even though we have not met them before.  This is also when I used the word recently to describe library and I formation work, I said mission. The same word was used by Safy Al Ashqar, Head of the University of Mosul library, Iraq. Safy was a speaker for CILIP’s conference and I was introduced to Safy by a friend from SLA Europe and lucky for me, I was able to attend a staff talk at the library. Safy described the horrors of war and destruction on the building and collection as it was burnt and bombed. It was deeply sad to hear the stories of death and devastation. The resilience and tenacity of Safy and his staff is amazing and heartwarming. His presentation spoke of the bargaining for funds and equipment with creativity and design with new ideas he picked up from his studies in Malaysia. Out of 150 staff, Safy now has about 93 with 70 of them women. He understands the need for libraries for heritage, education, creativity, community and knowledge sharing. He was totally inspired for the connections and networking opportunities that physical spaces bring. He was offered ebooks for rebuilding a digital library but he elaborated on the need for physical spaces to meet, and to store physical collections. We all know that the first casualty of war is the truth and knowledge – from the burnt building and collection, there is new hope and regeneration all driven by a man and his community and staff on a Misson to make it possible! What an inspiration!

Last Friday I also went with my colleagues to the National Archives in Kew. It was great to visit the building although I have used their digital archive and often refer people to their enquiry service for registered designs and other intellectual property. It was great to be welcomed and shown around by their staff. We were shown original patents and trade marks, maps, storage areas for records, very large maps, library and reference areas, and the 1970s Brutalist purpose built building of course. As we walked around, you can actually smell come of the collection in the temperature and light controlled rooms. There were some great displays for the 1920s and parts of the reading room was aesthetically pleasing. I would visit again it is in my part of town but I am grateful to get the tour from the lovely staff. Mark Dunton has even written a book on British Prime Ministers of the 20th Century.

I wanted to remind you that the National Archives does have an amazing collection and we can use these items to create new stories and innovative ideas from what we research. It is also a great reminder that we are here to conserve and preserve for now but also for future generations.

Last week I also spent time in filming a new video for the Business and IP Centre where I work and the UK network of libraries offering support for Business and other creative use of libraries and their services. East Ham Library was nice and bright with great use of space for studying, resources, cafe and meeting spaces. It even has Salsa Classes on a evening! There has been a few libraries that have survived the cuts from the last 15 years, and it warms my heart they are thriving as spaces for those who need them for study, work, research, learning, meetings and creativity. There was also a definite community and civic engagement feel about East Ham Library.

I was also invited to meet delegates from the British Library’s International Library Leaders Programme, which was an intensive five-day residential course bringing together emerging and established librarians from participants from countries including Australia, Brazil, Chile, Germany, Jamaica, Kyrgyzstan, Slovakia, South Africa, Ukraine and the US. I lead a tour of about 8 librarians to some of the reading rooms with various subject areas, and as expected, they were impressed with the spaces and items in collection that were displayed (there are millions we can’t see). It was great to meet socially other British Library staff working on the Oceania collection, Living Knowledge, Higher Education and the newly appointed Caribbean Curator. I met again Nick Poole, CEO of CILIP, who is one of the best advocates for libraries, librarians, information profession, policy makers, civil engagement and for the profession in general. I also met with a Ukrainian librarian who has recently fled the troubles in Ukraine and it was great to here briefly what she is working on. I did pass on my concern and best wishes to her fellow Ukrainians in this difficult time.

A couple of weekends ago, I was able to participate on the request of the community engagement team in the Somers Town Festival, which is the close neighbourhood in Camden near the library. We were showing visitors on how they can use the library to start their businesses but also about the fabulous collections and spaces. It was nice to see some of the entertainment from spoken work, humanist choir, to Asian Classical dancing from an ex-staff, which I loved seeing LIVE in Trinidad or in film.

Breaking the News exhibition is also on until the end of August and I was excited to see this. I had the benefit of a group tour with a Curator who gives you the insights and stories of the items on display. I still like to let people know that information comes in various formats, and we have to still use and…preserve these for the future.

I wanted to also wish my colleagues in SLA Europe a Happy 50th Anniversary and we recently celebrated careers which my own newly retired colleague Neil Infield. I knew Neil before I started working at the British Library because of SLA but since working at the British Library he was a great popular, capable and kind colleague who became a friend. I will miss him, and the four other colleagues who have retired in my department in the last two years.

This is a big month for SLA for their Sourced Forward Conference and the associations future, as I write this in my hotel room in Charlotte, North Carolina. I will share more next month or on my social media channels. There is great responsibility in representing the profession, our members, our stakeholders and partners. I am also giving this my best shot and much gusto! Stay for the ride as we find our destination.