IN THIS ISSUE:

• High-Tech Libraries And The ‘Local Knowledge Ecology’
• Council Websites ‘Not Improving Fast Enough’
• Live Testing Starts On Public Sector ‘Knowledge Hub’
• Innovation urged for local shared services
• European eGovernment Benchmark Survey
• ‘Key logger’ devices used in library computer fraud
• Barriers to open data - Special report

NEWS: High-Tech Libraries To Underpin ‘Local Knowledge Ecology’.

A new model of the public library as the centre of a highly-digitised ‘local knowledge ecology’, forging partnerships with other bodies such as educational institutions, health bodies and businesses to provide information services to their communities, was presented at last week’s ‘Edge 2011’ conference in Edinburgh....

Read full story here, Libraries of the future...

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NEWS: Council Websites ‘Not Improving Fast Enough’.

Council websites are not improving fast enough, despite a "modest improvement" in overall performance, according to the thirteenth annual ‘Better Connected’ review of UK local government websites by the Society of IT Management (Socitm)....

Read full story here, More progress needed...

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NEWS: Live Testing Starts On Public Sector ‘Knowledge Hub’ Live testing has begun on a new online platform - the Knowledge Hub, or KHub - designed to improve social media-based information-sharing between public sector workers.... Read full story here, Improving public sector networking... Back to index

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NEWS IN BRIEF:

Advanced Sharing: Councils must be more innovative with shared services if the concept is to be effective in minimising service reductions caused by funding cuts, according to a new report from think-tank the New Local Government Network. Shared activity must go beyond just back office services, which can only produce savings of 3.6%, the report says:

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European Benchmark: Online availability of 20 basic public services across the European Union rose from 69% in 2009 to 82% last year, according to a new report from the European Commission. The eGovernment benchmark survey, ‘Digitising public services in Europe: putting ambition into action’, ranked the UK as seventh among 32 countries for the availability of its online services, with Ireland placed at the top of the table:

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Library Fraud: Bank log-in details appear likely to have been stolen from library users in Wilmslow, Cheshire, after ‘key logger’ devices were found plugged into public library computers in the area, according to a report in the Manchester Evening News. The key loggers look like standard USB flash drives, but can be used to record details of bank accounts and passwords. Police are now studying the devices, which were removed after being spotted by library staff:

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Special report: Open Data Barriers As part of its stated intention to become "the most open and transparent government in the world," the government has over the past year or two obliged its departments to publish details of spending over £25,000; asked local government to publish details online of all spending over £500; and launched the data.gov.uk website, containing some 5,600 further datasets. However, the issue of what can be done with this data still remains. Mel Poluck investigates some of the ways in which open data is being utilised... Read full story here, Open data - maximising the information at hand... Back to index