The SINTO on-line community of practice is an electronic forum for all library and information staff in SINTO member organisations. It provides a space for librarians to communicate with colleagues in other library services and to discuss matters of general professional interest. The community will act as a continuing professional development (CPD) tool for staff at all levels and will give the local professional community a voice on professional issues.

The elements of the on-line community are:

The SINTO blog contains news of SINTO's activities and comments on general professional issues.
The SINTO wiki is a website containing information on a wide range of professional issues. Everyone is invited to register with this site and to edit it by adding their own information to existing pages or setting up new pages. It is a tool for sharing information with colleagues.
The SINTO Twitter feed provides short bulletins of news and information.
The SINTO Facebook page shows how a social networking site can be used.

For further information click here.

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Information & Economic Development

'Public Libraries in the Knowledge Economy' was a report by Naomi Clayton & Mark Hepworth  produced by The Local Futures Group for the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council in July 2006. This is a summary of the report:: Public Libraries in the Knowledge Economy Summary PDF File

'The Contribution of Information to Economic Development in the Yorkshire and Humber Region' (Carl Clayton 1999) is a discussion paper prepared for Yorkshire Forward the Regional Development Agency for Yorkshire and Humber as a contribution to the Draft Regional Economic Strategy. It outlines the importance of library and information services to economic development: The Contribution of Information to Economic Development in the Yorkshire and Humber Region PDF File

'The Contribution of Information to the South Yorkshire Vision' (Carl Clayton 1999) is an edited version of the above paper and was produced in response to the Objective 1 funding consultation document produced by the South Yorkshire Forum. It explains how investment in local library and information services can help achieve economic regeneration in this area: The Contribution of Information to the South Yorkshire Vision PDF File

Wikipedia

Is Wikipedia a useful source of information for school libraries? PDF File An article by Carl Clayton 2006

Evaluating Wikipedia and other sources PDF File An article by Carl Clayton 2006

Librarians & Stress

Stress and librarians PDF File A paper by S Saddiq and E Burke 2006

Equity and Excellence Debate

John Pateman's paper
Bob Usherwood's paper

Library services for Deaf People

Do libraries provide for the needs of Deaf people?
List of organisations and websites

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The SINTO Bob Usherwood Prize is awarded to a student of the Department of Information Studies at the University of Sheffield. The prize is awarded to a postgraduate dissertation that makes a significant contribution to improving professional practice or understanding related to co-operation and partnership working across sectors in the SINTO area.

The aim of the prize is twofold. Firstly is to encourage students to explore research topics that will be of value to local professional practice. Secondly to encourage practitioners to take more interest in library research in general and the work produced by students from our local "library school" in particular.

The prize is named after the Chair of SINTO, Professor Bob Usherwood.

Further details of the prize can be found here.

Prizewinners:

2008 - An examination of adult literacy materials and schemes in English prisons and the role of the prison library in their provision and evaluation by Peter Field.
Principally, the study aimed to describe some of the literacy materials available in prison libraries and some of the reader development programmes that accommodate informal learning. Additionally, the study sought to discover if the library is under pressure to measure and demonstarte outcome and value, particularly in relation to literacy learning. It concludes that there is some excellent practice in prison libraries, but it is dependent on variable local conditions. PDF file of this dissertation.

2007 - Medicine for the Soul: bibliotherapy and the public library by Elizabeth Brewster.
The study investigates the experience of bibliotherapy in the public library from the staff perspective. The impact of creative and self-help bibliotherapy are examined, and significant conclusions about the views of public librarians on partnership working, mental health, social inclusion and reader development are presented. The importance of partnership working is highlighted. PDF file of this dissertation.

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Libraries are Good for Business: work carried out for MLA Yorkshire into public library business information provision in Yorkshire between 2005-2006.

• Libraries are Good for Business PDF File- initial report by Kerry Wilson and Briony Train, The Centre for The Public Library and Information in Sociey (CPLIS), March 2005
• Libraries are Good for Business: Moving Forward PDF File - second report by Carl Clayton March 2006
• Libraries are Good for Business: facilitation of Yorkshire libraries' Better Deal for Business Participation PDF File - final report by Carl Clayton November 2006
  

CPD and Workforce Development for the LIS Sector in Yorkshire Mapping exercise bublished September 2009
CPD and Workforce Development for the LIS sector in Yorkshire.

Training and Development for Library Assistants (Carl Clayton August 2005): SINTO Survey of Training and Development for Library Assistants PDF File

Public Access to Electronic Resources in Academic Libraries by Carl Clayton, February 2002: Public Access to Electronic Resources in Academic Libraries PDF File

Staff and student research from the Department of Information Studies, University of Sheffield by Carl Clayton and Briony Birdi, May 2008: Theses from the Department of Information Studies, University of Sheffield PDF File

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Most SINTO members list their journal holdings on the Sheffield Union List of Serials (SULOS) maintained by the University of Sheffield Library.

SULOS is the catalogue for journals and periodicals in libraries throughout South Yorkshire and north Derbyshire. You can use this catalogue to find out which library holds the journal and then go to that library to use the journal or contact the library and request a copy.

Please note that journals that are held in electronic format may not be available if you are not a member of the library. Copyright law may restrict the provision of copies from journals.

SULOS is the periodicals catalogue of the University of Sheffield library with the addition of holdings from other SINTO libraries.

Link to SULOS here

• Enter the name of the journal in the Title Box.
• Select "Periodicals catalogue (SULOS)" from the drop down menu.
• Click on "Search".
• Click on "Show library holdings" for a list of libraries with that title.
• For details of the library locations click here

Read more about SULOS

• SULOS and Journal Holdings & Journal Disposal (Carl Clayton August 2007) PDF File

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