Information School News

New research from the Universities of Sheffield and Leeds could improve hand hygiene in office settings using new ‘smart’ hand sanitisers Developed by British hand hygiene technology company, Savortex, the smart sanitisers can provide real-time data on how often people use them, send reminders to staff to sanitise their hands and help companies refill sanitisers more effectively Partnership shows how research can quickly develop new solutions for battling the pandemic Good hand hygiene is a proven, effective method for preventing the spreading of viruses including Covid-19 'Smart' hand sanitisers that can provide data on workplace hand hygiene are being trialled across the country, as part of research by the Universities of Sheffield and Leeds into how best to engage people with the latest Covid-19 workplace hand hygiene guidance. The new technology can grab the attention of the users with integrated video screens to display the latest workplace hand hygiene guidance and provid...

The ‘Mapping the future of academic libraries’ report commissioned by SCONUL was published on 8 December following a conference in London to discuss its findings. The report was produced by a team from the School: Stephen Pinfield, Andrew Cox and Sophie Rutter. Read the report here The report identifies a complex set of interrelated trends impacting on libraries the significance of which is often in the way they combine. In particular, it identifies five nexuses of trends bringing transformational change: 1. ‘Datafied’ scholarship: research increasingly underpinned by large datasets and digital artefacts, involving open, networked, algorithmically-driven systems 2. Connected learning: new pedagogies supported by technology-enabled flexible learning 3. Service-oriented libraries: libraries shifting their strategic emphasis from collections to services 4. Blurred identities: boundaries between professional groups and services b...