Travel Scholar 2014

The VALA Travel Scholarship for 2014 is awarded to Ingrid Mason.

Ingrid Mason is a self-professed metadata nerd and technologist, who has found a work-space that satisfies her interests in culture, the humanities, semantics and the web.

Ingrid has interests in: data, technology and research. She works as an eResearch Analyst for Intersect Australia and as a Data Specialist for the Australian National Data Service.

She has a background in digital cultural heritage (digital collection and preservation) and enabling discovery and interoperability across galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (the GLAM sector) – and – in providing eResearch support services for humanities, arts and social sciences including research data management and software development.

Ingrid will be travelling internationally in order to look at libraries …

She will travel to the United States, France, Belgium, Finland, and England and aims to visit the following organisations to find out about the following projects, platforms and initiatives creating, working with and publishing linked open data.

Stanford University Library (Linked Data 4 Libraries)
New York Public Library Labs (platform and data services)
Digital Public Library of America (platform and data services)
Bibliothèque Nationale de France (data.bnf.fr data service)
Europeana (data.europeana.eu data service)
National Library of Finland (FINTO data service)
British Library (bnb.data.bl.uk data service)

We look forward to hearing the results of Ingrid’s research at the VALA2016 conference.

Congratulations, Ingrid!

Travel Scholar 2012

The VALA Travel Scholarship for 2012 is awarded to Warren Cheetham from City Libraries Townsville.

Warren will be travelling to Canada and the United States in order to investigate existing and planned projects where fibre-broadband rollouts affect libraries, whether positively or negatively. He will identify and report on current best practice and make recommendations as to where Australian libraries might contribute to the global conversation about libraries and fibre-broadband applications.

We look forward to hearing the results of Warren’s research at the VALA2014 conference.

Congratulations, Warren!

Travel Scholar 2010

The VALA Travel Scholarship for 2010 is awarded to Tristan Badham from RMIT University.

Tristan will be travelling to the United Kingdom and the United States in order to investigate various uses of QR codes and mobile devices, most commonly smartphones, which assist library patrons to inform and expand their use of library facilities. He will investigate what what resources and information the QR codes refer people to, the maintenance and updates of QR codes when the information they refer to changes, and how it is decided what the codes will refer people to. His project would also investigate the possible expansion of their use.

Congratulations, Tristan!

Tristan’s research is documented in his paper. This is available via the VALA2012 Conference Proceedings.

Travel Scholar 2008

The VALA Travel Scholarship for 2008 was awarded to Kathryn Greenhill from Murdoch University. Kathryn traveled to the United States and Canada in order to study Alternative Discovery Layers and Open Source Library Management Systems. She investigated what they do technically and whether organisations that implement them have common factors that make them early adopters of technology.

Kathryn’s findings were presented at the VALA2010 Conference.

Travel Scholar 2006

The VALA Travel Scholarship for 2006 was awarded to Ellen Forsyth from the Public Library Services at the State Library of New South Wales. Ellen travelled to the United States in order to study the use of Vocera badges, which utilise portable wireless technology (WiFi), to facilitate roving reference service in public libraries. She investigated what they do technically and how these devices are changing the delivery of references services in libraries.

Ellen’s findings were presented at the VALA 2008 Conference.

Travel Scholar 2004

Anna Raunik, State Library of Queensland. An investigation of streaming – webcasting and webconferencing technologies in the US and UK.

This VALA Travel Scholarship study trip was undertaken in mid 2005 to investigated a range of webcasting, streaming and webconferencing solutions that have been implemented in North America and UK. The tour included visits to a range of libraries, museums and galleries using these services.

Anna’s findings were presented at the VALA2006 Conference.

Travel Scholar 2002 b

Stephen O’Brien, Hunter Institute of TAFE NSW. Collaboration, community and consortia in the digital provision of art image resources

Travel Scholar 2002 a

Terena Solomons, Hollywood Private Hospital, WA. Beam me up! Supporting PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) in medical libraries – new technology or just another format?

Travel Scholar 2000 b

Phillipa Webb, Northern Territory Library and Information Service, Factors which influence the successful implementation of digital technology in Aboriginal communities

Travel Scholar 2000 a

Amanda Magnussen, IP Australia Library, ACT, Electronic rights management in the UK