Apren 2010. [The fourth UPC strategic plan for libraries]

Postprint (published version)

digital¡. Fifth strategic plan for UPC libraries 2012-2014

Postprint (published version)

Public libraries: adapting to the digitised environment. An interview with John Lake

During John Lake's visit to Barcelona to take part in a seminar organized by the Facultat de Biblioteconomia i Documentació (Department of Library and Information Science) at the University of Barcelona (UB)1 EPI sought an interview to further explore some of the themes addressed in the seminar, drawing on his extensive experience in the world of public libraries.

Threading libraries performance when applied to image acquisition and processing in a forensic application

Peer-reviewed

Use and availability of scholarly journals in Catalan academic libraries

This paper presents the results of a survey of academics affiliated to the universities that are members of the Consortium of Academic Libraries of Catalonia (CBUC) and an analysis of the availability in the libraries of these universities of the references cited in a sample of articles published by these academics. The results reflect the major importance that researchers assign to scholarly journals as the main source of scientific information. Most state that they use electronic journals either exclusively or in any case more than print journals, a preference that is higher among younger scholars. With regard to frequency of reading, four out of ten researchers state that they read journals virtually every day, while nine out of ten report that they do so at least once a week. Scholars claim that the obstacles they face when trying to download an article are related to the lack of subscriptions. However, the availability study showed that most of the articles cited in their publications are available at least at one of the CBUC libraries. Though most researchers keep a copy of the articles they consult, just over a third of them use some kind of reference management software.

Towards personalization in digital libraries through ontologies

In this paper we describe a browsing and searching personalization system for digitallibraries based on the use of ontologies for describing the relationships between all theelements which take part in a digital library scenario of use. The main goal of thisproject is to help the users of a digital library to improve their experience of use bymeans of two complementary strategies: first, by maintaining a complete history recordof his or her browsing and searching activities, which is part of a navigational userprofile which includes preferences and all the aspects related to community involvement; and second, by reusing all the knowledge which has been extracted from previous usage from other users with similar profiles. This can be accomplished in terms of narrowing and focusing the search results and browsing options through the use of a recommendation system which organizes such results in the most appropriatemanner, using ontologies and concepts drawn from the semantic web field. The complete integration of the experience of use of a digital library in the learning process is also pursued. Both the usage and information organization can be also exploited to extract useful knowledge from the way users interact with a digital library, knowledge that can be used to improve several design aspects of the library, ranging from internal organization aspects to human factors and user interfaces. Although this project is still on an early development stage, it is possible to identify all the desired functionalities and requirements that are necessary to fully integrate the use of a digital library in an e-learning environment.

Ciencia, Tecnología y Difusión: las reflexiones de Ernesto Mezey sobre el quebracho colorado del Gran Chaco y su extracto tánico

En el año 1946 el químico Ernesto Mezey publicó en Buenos Aires su obra titulada "El Quebracho Colorado y su extracto tánico", con la intención de reconstruir las investigaciones llevadas adelante por un gran número de científicos y empresarios vinculados a la fabricación de tanino. El análisis historiográfico que hizo Mezey permite reconstruir sus reflexiones en torno al futuro de la exportación del quebracho después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, y en especial la competencia internacional de dos de las empresas más reconocidas: "La Forestal" británica establecida en la República Argentina, así como la española "S. A. Carlos Casado Limitada, Compañía de Tierras" fundada en el Paraguay. El artículo analiza la orientación otorgada por Mezey al extracto tánico durante las conferencias que ofreció en Madrid y en Barcelona en el año 1953 ante los miembros de la Asociación Química Española de la Industria del Cuero, así como el sentido de la revista "Tecnología del Cuero" fundada por él en Buenos Aires en 1960 en calidad de presidente de la Asociación Argentina de los Químicos y Técnicos de la Industria del Cuero.

La revista barcelonesa 'El Arte de Curtir' y el quebracho colorado paraguayo: periodismo y economía

[spa]Este trabajo analiza el papel desempeñado por la revista El Arte de Curtir, creada en el año 1909 en la ciudad de Barcelona por los hermanos Pedro Pablo, Fernando y Carlos de Corral y Tomé, cuya Fábrica de Extractos Curtientes dedicada al quebracho colorado paraguayo fue la base de organización del extracto tánico utilizado en Cataluña para la curtición.