Central England , University of

Barking & Dagenham Family Reading Project

One of thirty-three projects funded by DCMS/Wolfson Challenge Fund in 2000-01, the Family Reading project targeted adults between the ages of 20 and 40, encouraging parents to read and use libraries for their own benefit as well as to support their children. CIRT was the external evaluator. Project report available at: www.cie.uce.ac.uk/cirt/publications/b&dfamilyreading.pdf

Contact: Sarah McNicol, Research Fellow, [email protected]

Evaluation of the Designation Challenge Fund

CIRT evaluated the Resource/DCMS Designation Challenge Fund, a three-year, £15m Fund, established to support the development of designated collections in non-national museums. The final report which was submitted to DCF in September 2002 also made recommendations for future management of DCF projects and, more specifically, for future evaluation of DCF awards. It is hoped that the report will be made available on the Resource website.

URL: www.cie.uce.ac.uk/cirt/projects/past/dcmschallenge.htm
Contact: Stella Thebridge, Research Fellow, [email protected]

Creating access to NELH in Public Libraries

This project created access to the National Electronic Library for Health (NELH) website in two case study public library authorities: Birmingham and Hampshire, investigating the demand for the service and patterns of use. The findings of this research was used to draw up guidelines to facilitate the introduction of the NeLH or similar electronic health information services into other public libraries in other areas. Final report available at: www.cie.uce.ac.uk/cirt/publications/NELH.pdf

Contact: Sarah McNicol, Research Fellow, [email protected]

Evaluation of the SMSMA Scheme

CIRT secured £8,300 to evaluate the Sharing Museums Skills Millennium Awards Scheme (SMSMA scheme), and submitted a report to Resource in March 2002. A summary version of this is on the Resource website as follows: www.resource.gov.uk/documents/cirtrep.pdf

Contact: Stella Thebridge, Research Fellow, [email protected]

Evaluation of the JISC Legal Information Service

The main conclusions of the evaluation and associated recommendations have been submitted in a confidential report to J-LIS. The evaluation suggested that a clear need exists for a legal information service such as J-LIS, to provide reliable legal information concerning aspects of IT for the FE and HE communities in one central location. It is likely that the use of the service will continue to grow and that the user community will be widened.

Contact: Pete Dalton, Research Fellow and Director (acting,), [email protected]