about lyn
I studied pharmacology at Kings’ College London (1980-1983), taking a post at Derwent Publications as an abstractor and indexer soon after I graduated. We used manual typewriters. In 1984, I joined the department of clinical pharmacology at UCL, and worked in the toxicology laboratory as an assistant to Professor Andre McLean. In this role, I was able to develop my natural talent for tidying and organizing by sorting out just about anything in the lab I could reach, including all our books, journals, papers, correspondence, photos and slides. There was an electric typewriter with a changeable daisy wheel. I also discovered the joy of small computers (PET, Sirius, Apricot F1…) and their potential for information handling. MS-DOS came on a 5 1/4 inch floppy disk. It was a bit new, we were used to CPM.
During my time in the toxicology laboratory, I gained my MSc in information science from City University London, and subsequently began my teaching career as a visiting lecturer there. At around the same time, I began working with ASLIB as a writer and course presenter.
On leaving the lab, I joined the Medical School Computer Unit at UCL (1989), where I expanded my computer skills to include support for IBM PC-ATs and dot-matrix printers, and embraced unix, mainframes, spss and a lot of cables. I also unjammed photocopiers for more favored clients. There were rumors that the internet was going to be something very big, and that portable computers were going to be something very small. My background in teaching and information led me into the additional and fortuitous role of “library liaison”, facilitating the provision of online database access, use of CD-ROM databases and automated catalogue to medical school staff and students. This latter role blended computing skills with an understanding of information within a specialist subject area – a very early “hybrid librarian”.
I was then offered the position of IT manager at the British Postgraduate Medical Federation, where I was responsible for strategic development of information systems both in-house and for the Deans of Postgraduate Medicine and Dentistry in the Thames Regions. This involved the installation of a large local area network with internet access from every desktop (1993). We were early adopters of web access, and end-user searching for both in-house and external databases. We made lists of new web servers and wondered how they would ever be organized like gopher.
In 1996, I joined the Information Program (formerly the Network Library Program) at the Open Society Institute in Budapest. After writing and presenting a series of international workshops on library automation and information systems, I worked as a project manager to establish a network of training centers for the professional development of library and information workers throughout Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. I also directed and co-presented five internet related summer schools at the Central European University, also in Budapest.
In the meantime, I worked on my PhD at UCL SLAIS, and completed my award in 2002. (Toxicology knowledge and information: the impact of new information and communication technologies).
In 2004, after a brief (v enjoyable!) spell at Thames Valley University, I joined the permanent staff at City University London, where I am currently Programme Director for our courses in library and information science.
I am also now the Assistant Dean | International for the School of Informatics at City.
last edit december 2011
