Featured Member: Hazel Hall

[Darcie Tanner]

Our featured member of the week is Edinburgh based Name: Hazel Hall.

Hazel is working for Library and Information Science Research Coalition, based in London, but she works mainly from her home in Edinburgh. Hazel was kind enough to answer a few questions for us about what she's up to:

What are you currently working on?
I was appointed in August 2009 to provide strategic leadership of the newly-establsihed Library and Information Science Research Coalition. It was formed in March 2009 by five bodies: (1) the British Library; (2) the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP); (3) the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC); (4) the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) and (5) the Research Information Network. The Coalition's remit is to facilitate a coordinated and strategic approach to Library and Information Science (LIS) research across the UK. In my first month in the Coalition post I have focused my efforts in establishing an online presence for the Coalition, for example creating a web site (http://lisresearch.org), and a Twitter account (@lisresearch). I'm undertaking this role for one year as a two-day a week secondment. My main job as Reader in Social Informatics at Edinburgh Napier University, where my teaching and research interests focus on information sharing for collaborative work purposes in online environments.

What's your favourite group on 38mins or do you admin a group, if so which one?
My favourite group is Edinburgh Coffee Morning, mainly in its face-to-face (as opposed to online) incarnation. I really enjoy the breakfast-time chat at Centotre on George Street in Edinburgh each Friday morning. However, more valuable has been making connections with the wide range of individuals involved in social media here in Scotland. I get a lot of pleasure helping others with my knowledge, for example pointing them to sources of funding for projects or connecting them up to members of the academic community who can help them further with their work. I have also become more technically savvy thanks to the expertise of others in the group. A good example is how quickly I was able to establish the LIS Research Coalition's web pages. This was largely thanks to help from two other EdCM members: Lorraine Paterson came up with the design and Jon Mountjoy provided technical advice on the set-up.

Anything else you would like to share with us?
I'm looking forward to partying with the Edinburgh Twitterati at the Edinburgh Twestival on Thursday 10th September.