Requirements for control and management of the Electricity Supply Industry (ESI) are changing with the political and economic restructuring in two countries in transition, Romania and Bulgaria. This thesis reports the results of a study on information systems used in the control and management of the ESIs, based on a survey of existing equipment and recent developments and trends. From this, recommendations are made for future enterprise-wide strategy in the context of uncertainties in direction and timescale of wider restructuring and financial limitations. The project deals with the following aspects of Information Systems Strategy: - Transmission and generation dispatching; - Distribution-level dispatching; - Management Information Systems; - Telecommunications. Modern practice is discussed, based mainly on UK experience, with reference to applicability in the countries under study. The information systems are compared and contrasted, and similarities are noted between Romania and Bulgaria. The situation in the UK illustrates possible routes for development and the implications of ESI privatisation. Of the above topics, telecommunication is considered a priority for co-ordinated strategy in order to avoid duplications of effort and because of the need for a telecommunications network for future developments in other aspects of information systems. Investment in private telecommunications may provide spare capacity which could be used to generate income to offset its cost. Systems for transmission and generation dispatching require investment to meet network control and security standards to derive economic benefit from interconnection with the Western European network, UCPTE. Distribution automation is not yet viable on a large scale, but rising labour costs, capital equipment costs and the increasing complexity associated with contractual arrangements may lead to a need to develop distribution automation systems and Demand Side Management.

The occurrence, form, and content of the elements of research papers used in bibliographical control is examined in the whole range of disciplines---natural sciences, social sciences and humanities. Instructions given by primary journals to authors about these elements are considered in the light of requirements for bibliographic control. 1. The information content of titles is assessed firstly by counting the number of keywords in them, and variations with discipline, time and language are reported. A more refined measure depending on the probabilities of occurrence of title words is then used for samples taken from journals in chemistry, history and philosophy. 2. Suggestions are made for improving the presentation of author details to facilitate bibliographic control. 3. The information in abstracts of experimental papers is analysed into the four divisions traditionally used for the text: introduction, experimental/method, results, and discussion, and the proportion of each type is compared with that in the text. A wider range of abstracts are also analysed into informative and indicative content. Literature on the uses of abstracts is reviewed in a consideration of their purpose, and arguments are presented for indicative abstracts. 4. A comparison of authors' keywords with terms assigned by indexing services shows that such keywords are not usually adequate or accurate enough for indexing purposes. Instructions to authors to use a controlled vocabulary, e.g. Medical Subject Headings, did not seem to be observed very closely. 5. The average number of references per paper is reported for various subjects, broken down for experimental papers into the sections used in studying abstracts. The value of including the titles of cited papers in references is stressed. As the use of on-line services takes over from use of printed indexes, reliance is likely to be placed entirely on authors (and editors) for index terms. Titles and abstracts seem to be a more reliable source than separate lists of keywords.

This research examines the presence of and reasons for local studies resources in the libraries and learning centres of further and higher education institutions in the United Kingdom. The study’s aims were to investigate the content and scope of local collections in academic libraries, to examine the impact these collections have on teaching, learning and research within the institutions, and to compile an inventory of local resources in college and university libraries. Using an approach combining basic- and applied research, the study represents the most comprehensive investigation of local resources in academic libraries so far. Both quantitative and qualitative data was collected by way of two survey questionnaires, plus observational visits to a small number of libraries, learning centres and Special Collections departments. In addition, interviews were conducted with local studies’ experts, collection managers, educators, and students. Secondary literature focusing principally on both local studies and academic libraries was also consulted. The study found that, while the literature, as well as ‘tradition’ tends to equate local studies and its resources with the public library, local material could be found in a majority of respondents’ collections. It is suggested that the relative neglect afforded local collections outside of the public sector is unwarranted, particularly when considering the potential for wider access to material that a more inclusive approach to local resources might allow for. The research also noted that the term ‘local’, as defined by the geographical scope of the material held in different collections, is open to significantly diverse interpretations, ranging from the college or university campus itself to one or more constituent countries (for instance, England and Wales). While some authors have addressed the complexity of defining ‘local’, the issue remains largely underexamined in the literature, where the term can frequently be based on little more than a tacit understanding of what ‘local’ means in any given context.

The aim of this research was to see whether a conceptual framework could be developed that would help conduct: • studies of people's interaction with information; • user requirements analysis for information services and systems. The following questions were addressed: • could the accumulated past research in user studies and information seeking behaviour now provide a good basis for the development of a conceptual framework for understanding people's interaction with data, information and knowledge and • whether a conceptual framework could be developed that: ~ indicated those factors that influence the individual's interaction with information ~ indicated and helped explain those factors that influence each other and the individual's experience when interacting with information and information systems ~ helped to derive data that enabled the researcher to identify user requirements for an infonnation system that relates to their needs and also whether: • the conceptual framework would help to identify an appropriate research methodology and techniques for studying people and determining their requirements for information services and systems? As a result of the research a framework, that encompassed earlier models and frameworks, was developed. The framework evolved through an inductive analysis of the literature and was then applied to two communities. This led to modification of the framework. The resulting framework, and the levels of analysis that were considered significant, identified categories of data that were important and indicated the relationships between these variables. The communities were postgraduate students and informal carers. Insights were generated into the information experience of the two conununities and their requirements for an infonnation service. With regard to methodology and techniques it was concluded that, although the framework did help to identify the data that one can collect, many techniques, such as observation or task analysis can be applied and are likely to vary, depending on the research context. However certain techniques were shown to be more effective than others for gathering different types of data, such as behvioural or psychological.

The proposition of this thesis is to explore a key concept in archival theory and practice, namely the value of archives. The underlying principle is that by drawing upon ideas from outside of the archival discipline – from axiology – this concept can be examined in an innovative and reflective manner. The evaluation of archives is a core activity for archivists. Archivists make value judgements when they decide what to keep and what to destroy, and in how they choose to arrange and describe archives. However, although the term ‘value’ appears frequently in the professional archival literature, often linked with other qualifying terms, including ‘historical’, ‘evidential’, ‘legal’ and ‘informational’, these terms are contested, often ill-defined, and frequently misleading. This thesis critically examines the theoretical concepts behind such terms and their use within the archival profession. The application of Theory Derivation methodology, which employs analogy or metaphor to transpose and redefine a concept or theory from one context to another, enables the author to find new insight and explanations for archival value from the field of axiology (the study of value and value judgements). This thesis explores questions about what sort of property or characteristic of an object gives it value, whether having value is an objective or a subjective matter, and whether value can be measured. Philosophical concepts of value, in particular concepts of intrinsic value – as exemplified in the work of G. E. Moore (1 873-1958) – are explored. The re-interpretation of key tenets of archival theory, including appraisal, provenance and respect des fonds, through the particular framework of Moore’s Principle of organic unities will demonstrate that the concept of value has a wider resonance in the archival field than has been previously considered.

This thesis examines the impact of the democratic promises of Internet communication technologies, social, and participatory media on the practice of public archaeology. It is focused on work within archaeological organisations in the UK in commercial archaeology, higher education, local authority planning departments and community settings, as well the voluntary planning departments and community settings, as well the voluntary archaeology sector archaeology sector . This work has taken an innovative approach to the subject matter through its use of a Grounded Theory method for data collection and analysis, and the use of a combination of online surveys, case studies and email questionnaires in order to address the following issues: the provision of authoritative archaeological information online; barriers to participation; policy and organisational approaches to evaluating success and archiving; community formation and activism, and the impact of digital inequalities and literacies. This thesis is the first overarching study into the use of participatory media in archaeology. It is an important exploration of where and how the profession is creating and managing digital platforms, and the expanding opportunities for networking and sharing information within the discipline, against a backdrop of rapid advancement in the use of Internet technologies within society. This work has made significant contributions to debates on the practice and impact of public archaeology. It has shown that archaeologists do not yet fully understand the complexities of Internet use and issues of digital literacy, the impact of audience demographics or disposition towards participation in online projects. It has shown that whilst recognition of democratic participation is not, on the whole, undertaken through a process of actively acknowledging responses to archaeological information, there remains potential for participatory media to support and accommodate these ideals. This work documents a period of great change within the practice of archaeology in the UK, and concludes with the observation that it is vital that the discipline undertake research into online audiences for archaeological information if we are to create sustainable digital public archaeologies.

This thesis examines school libraries in Qatar between 2002-2012, assessing purpose, operation and evaluation and mapping provision against policy during this critical period of evolution of educational and digital development. It also considers research practice and communication in the school library sector in Qatar. The research is unique in providing a comprehensive study of school libraries at national and local levels, involving librarians, academics, students and parents through a mixed method approach combining interviews, surveys and library visits, supported by exceptional access to internal government reports enabling a systematic analysis of research and policy documentation in Qatar. Key findings identify a lack of coherent research culture at all levels shared across education and library communities in Qatar. There are also wider difficulties with systematic publication and retrieval of research and best practice literature across Arab nations. Current national reform recognizes the importance of literate, independent Qatari learners in a global digital environment, but there is limited understanding of the contribution school libraries and librarians can make to this, at strategic level, amongst teachers and students and even amongst some library practitioners. The research found that school librarians can offer much to literacies and cultural heritage. Recommenations are made for development of: research culture, curriculum mapping, evaluation, recognition of school librarians as education professionals working in equal partnership with teaching colleagues, and training and development. Also recommended are: the creation of a professional body and support network for librarians, an advocacy campaign and the development of practical models and toolkit resources. A key role is proposed for the Qatar National Library to lead evidence-based research and practical action in the field of (school) libraries in the Middle East. It is anticipated that the findings and recommendations can usefully inform strategy and practice at national and individual school levels in Qatar.

Visitor generated content projects are becoming increasingly significant in the development and delivery of engaging visitor experiences in museums in the UK, but the rationale behind them and the impact they are having on not only visitor engagement but also museum practice are not always clear. There is a requirement to understand and articulate the impact of digital visitor co-creation in the museum environment and to discuss the challenges of implementing digital innovation projects in museums and the implications this has on institutional change. This thesis presents an investigation into the potential of digital visitor generated content applications in museum spaces to foster visitor engagement. The study emphasises that in order to develop engaging digital visitor generated content applications, museums must radically trust their visitors. As part of this research two digital visitor generated content systems were designed, tested, implemented and evaluated in three museums in the UK; the Grant Museum of Zoology, UCL, the Imperial War Museum, London and the Imperial War Museum North, Manchester. This thesis discusses the process of inception to evaluation of these applications and considers their impact on visitor engagement and goes on to investigate the challenges they bring to implementing digital innovation in a museum environment. Two key issues came out of the research into digital visitor generated content; the importance of radical trust and the fact that post moderation with digital visitor generated content does work. Additionally this thesis identified a number of challenges about the way that digital innovation projects are conducted and how they could be overcome, and finally some recommendations are offered for museums seeking to undertake digital innovation projects in the future.

The field of book history is concerned with exploring the physical form of the book and the circumstances of its creation and reception, in order to gain insight into the societies and industries which produced and consumed it. Hitherto, comparatively little attention has been given to the encyclopaedia as a generic form of the book. The purpose of this thesis is to apply the research approaches taken in book history to the encyclopaedia in order to define it as a type of book. Original research was undertaken in three parts: review literature was analysed to identify the encyclopaedia’s functional attributes, a selection of titles were examined to discern their physical features and surveys and interviews were carried out in order to gather the opinions of the main participants in its communications circuit. Once a definition was formed, it was applied to online forms of encyclopaedia to consider whether the encyclopaedia has a generic signature which carries beyond the material form of the book. The findings show that the encyclopaedia has a distinct identity, both in terms of the characteristics for which it is valued, and its physical components. This identity distinguishes it not just from familiar, much-studied forms of the book such as the novel, but also from other reference books such as dictionaries. The findings also demonstrate that many of these characteristics are present in the online forms of the encyclopaedia, even where technology might have made them unnecessary or irrelevant. While the definition formulated of the encyclopaedia is not a challenging one, it demonstrates that it is possible to formulate a toolkit for the identification of literary forms, and to apply it to new forms of book types, such as online versions. Refinement of this toolkit and application to other forms of the book could reveal new insights into the nature of different literary genres and their relationships to each other and to their readers’ expectations.

Large-scale digitisation has risen to prominence in recent years, with widespread agreement that it is fuelling changes in research opportunities and behaviour. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of large-scale digitised collections (LSDCs) by studying two exemplar case studies: British Library Nineteenth Century Newspapers and Welsh Newspapers Online. It applies an extensive mixed methods approach to evaluate how research is changing as a result of digitisation. The findings show that LSDCs are already having a positive impact on user experiences, although they are not the disruptive force that many have predicted. Researchers are heavily engaged with digitised collections, using them as part of a hybrid research environment where physical resources still maintain their importance. However, while there are major benefits for researchers in location-independence, time savings and the ability to search unprecedented quantities of historical materials efficiently, underlying research behaviours remain broadly similar. The lack of fundamental change is partly caused by issues with the resources themselves: commercial licenses which limit potential reuse of public domain materials; web interfaces which, by making assumptions about users’ information behaviours, in fact limit these behaviours in fundamental ways; and access restrictions which ensure that the benefits of large-scale digitisation are felt unevenly throughout society. Existing LSDCs can therefore do more to support emergent research activities which are currently theoretically possible but practically difficult. We propose that open licensing, “generous interfaces”, and a willingness to adapt to new user demands should characterise future digitised resources to fully realise their potential. In doing so, this thesis makes a unique contribution to our understanding of large-scale digitisation, and provides important recommendations for maximising their impact.