The British Library's International Engagement Strategy

2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 147-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andy Stephens
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
British Library ◽  
National Library ◽  
The Past ◽  
International Activity ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The World ◽  
International Engagement ◽  
Corporate Level

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and one of the greatest libraries in the world. It is also most emphatically a library for the world. Its collections can be said to contain both ‘the memory of the nation’ and also ‘the DNA of civilization’. Indeed the Library uses the positioning statement: ‘Advancing the world's knowledge’. The Library engages in international activity in a wide variety of ways and at all levels through the organization. However, prior to 2007 the Library had not had a systematic corporate-level focus for its international engagement activity. This paper addresses the British Library's International Engagement Strategy and sets out the contextual background that led to its development and adoption in 2007. It goes on to describe, by using a number of case studies, the range of international activity taken forward by the Library under this strategy in the past two years. These include the Library's support for the reconstruction of the Iraq National Library and Archive and its contribution to the World Collections Programme initiative.

scholarly journals Religion in the Age of Development

Religions ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 382 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Feener ◽  
Philip Fountain
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
The United States ◽  
Global History ◽  
The Past ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Past Half Century ◽  
The World ◽  
Past Half

Religion has been profoundly reconfigured in the age of development. Over the past half century, we can trace broad transformations in the understandings and experiences of religion across traditions in communities in many parts of the world. In this paper, we delineate some of the specific ways in which ‘religion’ and ‘development’ interact and mutually inform each other with reference to case studies from Buddhist Thailand and Muslim Indonesia. These non-Christian cases from traditions outside contexts of major western nations provide windows on a complex, global history that considerably complicates what have come to be established narratives privileging the agency of major institutional players in the United States and the United Kingdom. In this way we seek to move discussions toward more conceptual and comparative reflections that can facilitate better understandings of the implications of contemporary entanglements of religion and development.

Chapter II. the World Overseas

1966 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
pp. 23-35
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Industrial Production ◽  
Slowing Down ◽  
The Past ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The World ◽  
Rates Of Growth

There was some slowing down of the growth of industrial production as a whole during the summer months though the overall tendency continues firmly upwards (table 13).France, Italy and Japan are still expanding rapidly, though in the case of France not so rapidly as in the past. In most other countries, apart perhaps from Norway, rates of growth are declining. The United Kingdom is the most prominent of this group, but the slowdown in Germany is becoming quite marked.

International Civil Aviation Organization

1962 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 223-224 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Civil Aviation ◽  
International Civil Aviation Organization ◽  
The Past ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The World ◽  
To Come ◽  
Article 50

The first extraordinary session of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Assembly was convened at headquarters in Montreal from June 19 to 21, 1961, at the request of twelve of the contracting states, to consider increasing the size of the ICAO Council. The delegate of the United Kingdom proposed a change in article 50(a) of the ICAO convention to provide for 27 members of the ICAO Council instead of 21, and delegates of Venezuela, Cameroun, and South Africa immediately supported the increase. Among arguments advanced for expanding the Council were the following: 1) a Council of 21 no longer adequately represented the membership of the organization, which had reached 86; 2) adequate geographic representation was of paramount importance since international routes covered most of the world; 3) the increase would facilitate the participation in the Council's work of the more than twenty states that had achieved independence in the past few years; 4) the practice of holding an Assembly session only every three years placed greater responsibilities on the Council; and 5) all the specialized agencies except ICAO and the Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organization had increased the size of their executive bodies. Although there was some debate as to whether the increase ought to be to 25 or 27 members, the United Kingdom motion for the latter number prevailed, along with a proposal sponsored by the Italian and Venezuelan delegations stating that it was highly desirable for the amendment to the convention to come into force before the next Assembly session. Consequently, all contracting states to the convention were urged to ratify the amendment as soon as possible.

scholarly journals Alison Cullingford. The Special Collections Handbook. London: Facet Publishing, 2011 (distributed in the United States by Neal-Schuman Publishers). xiv, 210p. ISBN 9781856047579. $125.00

2012 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 204-205
Author(s):  
Laurel Davis
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
The United States ◽  
Special Collections ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The World ◽  
The University

This short, easy-to-use handbook was written by Alison Cullingford, the Special Collections Librarian at the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom. It covers the world of special collections from soup to nuts in ten relatively brief chapters, capturing basic points and then pointing the reader to a variety of additional resources for more information. Each chapter ends with a list that includes further reading suggestions, examples and case studies, and useful websites. The focus is on special collections in the United Kingdom, United States, and Australia, though much of the information is universally applicable.This is a particularly useful . . .

Nostalgia as an Emotional Weapon

2019 ◽  
pp. 41-54
Author(s):  
Edoardo Campanella ◽  
Marta Dassù
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Economic Opportunities ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Political Outcomes ◽  
The World ◽  
Ordinary Citizens ◽  
The Way

Nostalgia is a multifaceted concept that leads to contrasting political outcomes. Reflective nostalgia is the benign form of the malaise. It looks at the past through critical eyes and recognizes that something might have been lost, but that much has been gained along the way. Restorative nostalgia, which proposes to rebuild the lost home, is the malignant form. The problem is that the world is now primarily dealing with a toxic restorative nostalgia used for political ends. Ordinary citizens struggle to adapt to the disruptions imposed on them by global forces that are out of their control, inducing them to find comfort in historical eras when life was easier, slower, and less colored by uncertainty. When thrown into political debates, nostalgia becomes an emotional weapon that can be used either defensively or offensively. To those who reject a cosmopolitan world and yearn for the socio-economic opportunities that were enjoyed by older generations, nationalism promises a source of identity and security. Equally, for those who aspire to restore the national glory of the past, nationalism provides a means to gain influence – to the detriment of other nations. This chapter shows why it is possible to talk about nostalgic nationalism only in the United Kingdom.

scholarly journals Fast Food Shutdown: From disorganisation to action in the service sector

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 513-521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Callum Cant ◽  
Jamie Woodcock
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Fast Food ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Industrial Workers ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The World ◽  
The Relationship

This article discusses the Fast Food Shutdown, a strike on 4 October 2018 that involved Wetherspoon, McDonald’s, TGI Fridays and UberEats workers in the United Kingdom. It compares the different strategies of the Bakers Food and Allied Workers’ Union at Wetherspoon and Industrial Workers of the World at UberEats. The two case studies, drawing on the authors’ ongoing ethnographic research, provide important examples of successful precarious worker organising. In particular, the argument focuses on the role of action in organising, as well as the relationship between the rank-and-file and the union. While these could point the way to the recomposition of the workers movement – both in greenfield sectors and within existing unions – there remain important questions about how these experiences can be generalised.

scholarly journals Introduction: The Global Riot

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-110
Author(s):  
Maura Brighenti ◽  
Lucía Cavallero ◽  
Niccolò Cuppini ◽  
Alejo Stark
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Mexico City ◽  
New Age ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Past ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Conceptual Clarity ◽  
The World

AbstractThe past few years have seen a number of “riots” – in Mexico City, Hong Kong, Chile, Ecuador, the United States, Argentina, France, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere. What do they have in common with one another and with other popular upheavals in history? How do they differ? What do they represent as sites of protest, resistance and rebellion? This forum explores the meaning of such riots through the meaning of the term itself, focusing mainly but not exclusively on the Global South, in theory and in the words and actions of rioters and the authorities who act to suppress them. If it is true the world has entered a “new age of riots,” citizens and scholars must begin to reach some conceptual clarity of what a global riot is, and seeks to become.

British Council as an Instrument of Public Diplomacy of Great Britain

2017 ◽  
pp. 305-312
Author(s):  
Mykola Trofymenko
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
Cultural Diplomacy ◽  
Foreign Minister ◽  
Cultural Relations ◽  
British Council ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The World ◽  
The Government

Public diplomacy of Great Britain is one of the most developed in the EU and in the world. The United Kingdom has developed an extremely efficient public diplomacy mechanism which includes BBC World Service (which due to its popularity boosts the reputation and the image of Great Britain), Chevening Scholarships (provides outstanding foreign students with opportunity to study in Great Britain and thus establishes long-lasting relations with public opinion leaders and foreign countries elite) and the British Council, which deals with international diplomatic ties in the field of culture. The British Council is a unique organization. Being technically independent, it actively and efficiently works on consolidating Great Britain’s interests in the world and contributes to the development of public diplomacy in Great Britain.   The author studies the efforts of the British Council as a unique public diplomacy tool of the United Kingdom. Special attention is paid to the role of British Council, which is independent of the governing board and at the same time finds itself under the influence of the latter due to the peculiarities of the appointment of Board’s officials, financing etc. The author concludes that the British Council is a unique organization established in 1934, which is a non-departmental state body, charitable organization and public corporation, technically independent of the government. The British Council, thanks to its commercial activities covers the lack of public funding caused by the policy of economy conducted by the government. It has good practices in this field worth paying attention by other countries. It is also worth mentioning that the increment in profit was getting higher last year, however the issue of increasing the influence of the government on the activities of British Council is still disputable. Although the Foreign Minister officially reports to the parliament on the activities of the British Council, approves the appointment of the leaders of organizations, the British Council preserves its independence of the government, which makes it more popular abroad, and makes positive influence on the world image of Great Britain. The efficiency of the British Council efforts on fulfillment of targets of the United Kingdom public diplomacy is unquestionable, no matter how it calls its activities: whether it is a cultural relations establishment or a cultural diplomacy implementation. Keywords: The British Council, public diplomacy, cultural diplomacy, cultural relations, Foreign Office, Her Majesty’s Government, official assistance for development

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