Fenton Research Weblog

The world's knowledge...

is indeed in the British Library.  What an amazing place!

Last night I had the pleasure of joining the City Information Group's tour of the British Library's Treasures Gallery, followed by an introduction and tour of the Business and IP Centre.

Viewing the Treasures Gallery is free to the public and a (few hours) trip I would highly recommend.  Highlights for me included original hand-written lyrics by John, Paul, Ringo and George (on the back of envelopes etc) and examples of Jane Austen's hand-written correspondence.  Other treasures include Captain Scott's diary, Handel's Messiah, notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci and, of course, the Magna Carta.

The Business and IP Centre, situated on the first floor of the library, is another information treasure trove, this time of business information sources.  Check their industry source guides and online database accessibility for a start.... 

Olympic revenues

The 9/10th August edition of the FT magazine includes details of 'olympic revenues', where they come from and where they're spent.  The figures are for Sydney (2000), Salt Lake City (2002) and the Athens Games (2004).

Although the article goes on to explain that the bulk of the $4.19bn raised went to the organising commitees, IOC, international and national olympic sport federations etc, it does not appear to show the real ROI for each host city, a figure I'm sure London residents would be very interested to see.

(click on image to enlarge)

Trail blazing

IWR have produced a 'summer special' edition for August, focusing on future visions of the information world.  The edition is entitled "Trail Blazing: Information chiefs map the path to success".

Check page 13 for a contribution from yours truly!