Trouble is they are all reporting the same inaccuracies. I had faith in the newspapers. They reported on the MPs expenses and all sorts of scandals we should know about. Now I’m thinking how much of this was true?

Take for instance the case of the Audit Commission. There were about five statements that justify the abolition according to the newspapers:

1. The Audit Commission spent £8,000 on a day at the races. This is plainly a subversion of the truth. The Audit Commission hired the conference facilities at the racecourse for a training event. This meant that each delegate had less than £70 spent on them each for a whole day of workshops. For a course this is remarkably good value for money. If the newspaper bothered to check their facts they would find that there was NO horseracing on that day.
2. The Audit Commission Lobbied in parliament. Again this is not true. What the Audit Commission did was to hire a company who ALSO did lobbying. The newspapers have looked at who but not at what.
3. The Audit Commission forced council to do fortnightly bin collections. The Audit Commission ADVISED councils to do this, purely on economic grounds. That’s what the Audit Commission is supposed to. Audit and advise on how to get value for money. Aren’t we supposed to be saving money?
4. The Audit Commission told their employees by email. This one is not strictly true. The nice Minister decided he was going to tell the Audit Commission of their doom on a Friday morning (Friday the thirteenth I might add). Not only this, but he told the organisation that he was going to tell the world on the next morning on Saturday. Given that the Audit Commission has offices all over the country, some people work from home, some people are on maternity leave, holiday, term-time working. Imagine having less than a day to get 2,000 people in a room together to give this news. Obviously this is not possible. I was there and they did the only thing they could do given the government’s time-frame. In the big offices they told us in person. Then they emailed, then they put it on the intranet. Thanks Mr Pickles, you really thought that one out.
5. The Audit Commission refused to publish their expenses. Another inaccuracy. How do I know this? It is on the website! If you are curious: http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/aboutus/procurement/spendwithsuppliers/spendwithsupplier200910/Pages/Default.aspx Mr Pickles, said on the 13^th and 14^th that the Audit Commission refused to publish their expenses. Yet there they were, available on the website from the 12^th. If I believed in conspiracies…

If you want to know what the truth is, visit the Audit Commission website and view their rebuttal at http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/Pages/lettertoericpickles.aspx

So as you can see, these five points have simple, reasonable explanations that would not have been hard to discover. The question is why didn’t the newspapers check their facts? Much as it pains me as a Librarian not everyone uses more than one source to form an opinion. The newspapers have a duty to tell people the truth. If they keep on misinforming them, people will stop paying. There is free news on the internet and you can check against several sources for free. It is easy to disregard the worst and take from the best. The future of news is the internet.

…or click here.

It does seem that this decision is political, common sense dictates that you need an independent body to audit something as crucial as our councils. Putting aside the independence of the organisation, the Audit Commission save the tax payers money by simply doing what it does best – Audit.

The firms charge more for doing the same work the AC does. The Audit Commission cannot make profits. Any ‘extra’ money is given back to audited body in the form of rebates or free services. The firms charge more now, what do you think they will charge when they don’t have to keep their prices down to compete with the Audit Commission?

The research side of the Audit Commission has also been important in our civic life. The AC highlighted the problems in Doncaster which resulted in action being taken on the failing council. Will the firms do the same thing? Who is going to keep a watch to make sure scandals such as Doncaster and Baby P don’t happen again or at least are minimised?

This organisation existed as the District Auditors first before becoming the Audit Commission. It has a proud history and I am proud to have worked in such a place. It takes a brave government to remove the safeguards the Audit Commission provides. Once disbanded it cannot be reinstated. All the skills and experience will be lost but it might be a couple of years, a few scandals and increased auditing costs for the councils before the powers that be realise their mistake.

Update:

I’ve just watched the news and was just flabbergasted by the champagne lifestyle comment. As the Librarian, the tasks I do and the responsibility I hold in most other organisations in Bristol (where I work) I would be paid more (that’s not even London!). This includes private firms and public organisations.

The saving of £50 million is a little spurious as well. Coincidentally that sum was the expenses published on the internet. The Audit Commission doesn’t actually get that much from CLG. Most of the income is earned by Auditors in the line of their work, therefore this will be MORE when the firms take over. Also the expenses were from last year when we were doing CAA work. This was abolished. The costs of the Audit Commission would have gone down dramatically this year as a result. Also rules were implemented this year that meant travel was restricted, the higher echelons were not allowed to go first class anymore, catering below certain numbers was restricted to external meetings (Bristol was not allowed this anyway) and meetings were conducted by VC.

In library terms we were changing suppliers and cancelling journal subscriptions. Our stock is held by an external company so we use less floor space in our offices. I would say the Audit Commission has one of the most cost effective libraries in the country. (Not backed up by any research)

Effectively we practice what we preached. We strive to be unbiased and professional and the best the country has to offer. I get the feeling the government doesn’t actually know what the Audit Commission does…

Books are VAT free. They are not a luxury but essential for us to grow and learn, so why are electronic copies, VAT liable?

There are the obvious arguments for electronic books, that they take up no space, you can carry hundreds in your pocket, you can make the text bigger if you have sight problems or even have software read them to you.

But what about the environmental benefit?

There are no printing costs and therefore no paper and no trees cut down. Also no books are thrown away in landfill when people can’t be bothered to recycle and there are no transport costs There are all these benefits yet the government still charges us VAT. I thought they wanted to help the environment?

You can borrow eBooks now. A company in America ‘lends’ book to a Kent library or libraries can buy from Dawsonera and then ‘lend’ them to customers. Libraries are still stuck with the increased VAT costs which inherently drive up prices. Why buy an eBook at a full hardback price when I can buy a discounted paperback of the same copy from Amazon? By buying from Amazon in some cases it is half the cost. However, the cost to the environmental of this insanity is the transportation of the offending object to me, the paper used and the storage after it has been bought. In real terms though, when our budgets are given to us on a yearly basis we have to think about buying the paper copies so we can buy more of them for our customers. Thus perpetuating the crime…

We want to help the environment but government policy in this area appears to be a stumbling block.

Just my thoughts…

For those who think I am exaggerating, here is a list of mouth watering specs on offer:

——————————–

Size and Weight:   

H 158 X W 239 X D 14mm 600-650 gm

Display:        

10.1” TFT Liquid Crystal Display, WSVGA (1024×600 pixels) resolution – Pixel QI display!

System;        

NVIDIA TEGRA 2, Dual Core Cortex A-9, ULP GPU

Power and battery:           

24Whz, Universal Charger + 3 cell standard battery

Storage:       

16/32GB eMMC

Input/Output Ports:           

2 USB + 1 mini, HDMI, MicroSD slot, SIM card slot, DC commector, docking Port

Communication:    

Wifi, Blue tooth and 3G

Sensors:      

3-Axis accelerometer, Ambient light sensing, A-GPS

Camera:       

3.2MP Auto Focus Swivel Camera

Audio:                       

Two Loudspeakers, 3.5mm Headphone jack + Microphone jack and built in microphone

Keyboard/Mouse: 

On screen keyboard, trackpad on back and Volume keys

————————-

Source: Notion Ink website

The Adam enterprise has been fraught with difficulties ever since it was first known about in December. I found out about it when the iPad was released. Ever the intrepid researcher I had a quick Google to see what was out there. My first reaction to the iPAD video was ‘I WANT one’’. However, after quiet reflection and calming down, I did what I always do – look at the specifications of the technology, look at the alternatives and then make my decision.

Well my decision was the Adam. This was supposed to be released in June but was delayed because of strange investor insistence. I say strange because most people who want an iPAD will probably buy one, just because they have left it too late to drum up expectation before, a) the start of the new Academic year and b) Christmas.

Why do I want one? I love to write and I plan to use it to access Google Docs. I love reading so I want it to use a large screen instead of my tiny HTC Desire (still bigger than the iPhone). The Pixel QI screen will mean I won’t suffer eyestrain, while the amazing battery (I think it was reported it was twice the time you would get from an iPad), would mean that I wouldn’t have to keep charging.

I am also excited about the storage. The biggest is 32GB but there is also a MicroSD slot which means you could double that and possibly more as more cards come out with bigger limits – something you can’t do with Apple products.

You may think I may get bored with Android. Pah! I say. If I do then you can also install the Chrome or Linux operating systems. How about a dual boot?

I really hope that Notion Ink sorts their Investors out (a quick boot up the proverbial perhaps?) and this amazing tablet actually reaches shops.

If you are interested in the Adam, their website is at: http://www.notionink.in/

If you would like to find out about the history so far then Slash Gear has written a good article at: http://www.slashgear.com/notion-ink-adam-behind-the-scenes-0997060/

Why you may ask? We are facing an energy black hole in the future with too much reliance on external energy providers. By external I mean of course, outside Britain. This is dangerous. Anything can happen in the future, these governments may restrict energy to other countries or they may apply a levy to increase the cost to an astronomical level.

The Government, by allowing this provide a new stream of energy to the National Grid. This will of course mean that councils will earn more money, instead of asking taxpayers to contribute more. I think this may also bring the cost of adapting our homes to renewable energy down. With big customers like these, more will be sold and with the economies of scale the price will reduce.

The energy companies may complain but they have had it too good for too long. When the wholesale prices go up, they charge us more, but when the wholesale prices go down, do they put their prices down? I think you know the answer.

Of course councils may go down the route of solar panels or wind turbines and the Telegraph suggested anaerobic digesters or incinerators which would reduce waste/land fill as well as provide energy. I think it would be interesting to see if they adopt the Bloom boxes that our American cousins have tried out. This has saved them hundreds of thousands.

There is now no legal restriction, how much energy we can make/save is only dependant on our imagination.

 

IPhone	HTC Desire
Dimensions
115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3mm, 137g Thinner	119 x 60 x 11.9mm, 135g Lighter
Display
3.5″, 960 x 640, 326dpi, TFT-LCD Can be seen in Direct sunlight better	3.7″, 480 x 800, 240dpi, AMOLED Bigger screen and the AMOLED means that it is uses less battery power and better video performance.
Power
Apple A4 CPU, 512MB	Snapdragon CPU, 576MB Additional RAM
Battery
7 hours 3G calling, 300 hours standby Practically one day’s use	6.5 hours 3G calling, 360 hours standby Practically one day’s use
Imaging
5MP, flash, AF, 720p video capture	5MP, AF, flash, 720p video capture
Storage
32GB	32GB microSD + 512MB Your storage is only limited to your SD Card!
Maps
Nav apps (not preinstalled)	Google Maps for Navigation
Price
Extortionate	Reasonable (Ok I got bored with the comparison at this point. The Desire is obviously better!

Widgets. The Desire has widgets which I adore. Why go to the homescreen your app picture is on and click it to get the inforation you want when you can just go to the home screen and the information is all laid out for you? Why?

The iPhone flaw, I mean 4, can now support multitasking with iOS 4 but only if the APP allows it. While the iPhone 4 screen is nice to use, the Iphone 3GS screen is slightly blurry to me. I think therefore the iPhone 3 or 3GS is not even worth considering. That coupled with the lack of multitasking, (which means you can’t browse to the internet while listening to music), no Flash support and it feels sluggish compared to the Desire, makes it a no-brainer.

The purchasing decision is really based on do you want a cool phone like the iPhone or do you want a cool phone which will actually let you do things with it. The choice, as ever, is yours.

If you don’t know what Last Pass is, where have you been? Seriously though, it is a free service where you only need to know one password and the rest are safely and securely locked away until you need them. If you have the toolbar installed in Firefox or IE then simply navigating to the website login will present you with the option of auto logging in.

How does it work?

Download the toolbar and little notifications appear at the top of the screen. It asks if you want to login, or if you haven’t already registered the site, you can save it, so the next time you go there you won’t have to remember the password.

The service also generates a password and inputs the password into the registration form. This not only means you don’t type anything so key loggers can’t get you but the password can be really complex. Something I wouldn’t be able to remember without Last Pass.

Last Pass and multiple logins to the same website

I know you are thinking this. What If I have two Hotmail/Google/Facebook accounts? You just choose from a list which one you want to login to! It is that simple.

Last Pass on the HTC Desire

This is a Godsend. While using Last Pass in your desktop browser is free, you have to pay around $12 to have the app for your mobile. I stumped up the money for this and I am really happy I did. It is a separate browser app in your app list but once you log in with you master password you know you can safely log in to any site that you’ve registered. Just click on the website and it logs you in.

The App has a master password so if anyone ‘borrows’ my phone, they can’t login to my favourite sites with MY passwords.

Perfect.

So here’s how I did it:

• Went into the server folder, then
• …/Lang -> Eng folder -> Pagetext.txt file
• Open the Pagetext.txt file with notepad.
• Replaced references to Reader Code to Staff number (Change to whatever you use).
• Saved the file.

And it’s changed.

It may take some time for the actual website to update. I don’t know why this is but I’ve given up waiting a couple of times and called their customer services only to find it changed in the meantime. Sometimes I think that catalogue hates me…

This is only available to later versions of Heritage, I think 4.2.9+

Go to:

• Enquiry menu -> Setup menu -> Enquiry group
• Click on the arrow beside the yellow filled box
• Choose your user group

The record for the User group will appear like catalogue magic.

• Go to the last of the Summary Displays, go into the Print Seq box and press enter.

A new row will appear

• Choose Cover image with standard summary information and put screen and Print seqs as 1.

Putting it as one will make it the default. I’m not sure if you have to rename the others but I changed them to a number later than they were.

• Also change the Detailed displays to Cover Image with standard information and make sure the screen seq and print seq are set to 1.

There you have it. Cover images on your Heritage searches and detailed records.

Batty Librarian over and out.