UKOLN

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Formerly known as The United Kingdom Office for Library and Information Networking, UKOLN is a centre of expertise in digital information management, providing advice and services to the library, information, education and cultural heritage communities. UKOLN is based at the University of Bath and is funded by the JISC and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), as well as project funding from JISC and the European Union.

UKOLN was established in 1989, although the organisation traces its roots back to 1977 with the foundation, by the British Library, of the Centre for Catalogue Research. Between 1994 and 2000, the Director of UKOLN was Lorcan Dempsey.

UKOLN's main work is:

influencing policy and informing practice
promoting community-building and consensus making by actively raising awareness
advancing knowledge through research and development
building innovative systems and services based on Web technologies
acting as an agent for knowledge transfer.

Its specialist areas include metadata and interoperability. It also publishes the Ariadne Web magazine, targeted principally at information science professionals in academia. Its involvement in publishing e-journals also led to the publication of the EU-funded Exploit Interactive and Cultivate Interactive e-journals. UKOLN also organises many events, including the annual Institutional Web Management Workshop.