Alastair Smith

For the Royal Air Force officer, see Alastair Smith (RAF officer).

Alastair Gibson Smith (1948[1] – 20 November 2019)[2] was a New Zealand academic in the field of library and information science. He retired in 2014 after spending most of his career at Victoria University of Wellington.[3]

Biography

Smith obtained a BSc in physics from the University of Auckland, a Diploma in Teaching from Christchurch Teachers' College, a diploma from the New Zealand Library School and an MA from Victoria University of Wellington.[4] He worked at the National Library of New Zealand, BRANZ and Victoria University of Wellington, where he rose to Senior Lecturer.[3] He was appointed the inaugural general secretary of the Bicycle Association of New Zealand in 1979.[2] He was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a type of cancer, in 2001.[2]

Smith died in Wellington Hospital on 20 November 2019.[5][6]

Publications

Academic

Smith served on the editorial boards of Cybermetrics,[7] the Journal of Web Librarianship,[8] and Information Science Research[9][10] and authored the following significant publications (greater than 100 citations according to Google Scholar):

• Smith, Alastair G. (1997) Testing the Surf: Criteria for Evaluating Internet Information Resources. The Public-Access Computer Systems Review 8, no. 3 http://info.lib.uh.edu/pr/v8/n3/smit8n3.html
• Smith, Alastair G. (1999) A tale of two web spaces: comparing sites using web impact factors. Journal of Documentation 55 (5):577-592
• Smith, Alastair G. (2001). Applying evaluation criteria to New Zealand government websites. International Journal of Information Management 21(2): 137–149.
• Smith, Alastair; Thelwall, Mike (2002) Web Impact Factors for Australasian Universities. Scientometrics 54(1/2): 363–380.
• Elgort, I., Smith, A. G., & Toland, J. (2008). Is wiki an effective platform for group course work? Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 24(2), 195–210. https://web.archive.org/web/20140416051146/http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet24/ajet24.html

Non-academic

• Everyday Cycling in New Zealand Awa Press 2012. ISBN 9781877551017 [11][12][13]

References

1. "Virtual International Authority File record for Alastair Smith".
2. "Alastair Smith, the indomitable Aro Valley cyclist". Cycling Action Network. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
3. "The end of an era: Alastair Smith retires from the School of Information Management". Knowledge-basket.co.nz. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
4. "Alastair's Qualifications". Vuw.ac.nz. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
5. "Alastair Smith death notice". Dominion Post. 23 November 2019. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
6. "Nation loses passionate cycling advocate". Stuff.co.nz. 18 January 2020. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
7. "Cybermetrics. Editorial Board". Cybermetrics.cindoc.csic.es. 24 May 2010. Archived from the original on 10 April 2003. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
8. "The Journal of Web Librarianship - home page". 26 November 2011. Archived from the original on 26 November 2011. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
9. "Editors and editorial board. Information Research: an international electronic journal. Information science, Information management, Information systems, Information retrieval, Digital libraries, Information seeking behaviour, Information seeking behavior, World Wide Web, WWW". Archived from the original on 11 November 2011. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
10. "Alastair's Home Page". Vuw.ac.nz. 22 January 2013. Archived from the original on 7 February 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
11. Liam Butler (21 November 2013). "Eldernet Gazette". Eldernet Gazette. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
12. "Book review: Everyday Cycling in Aotearoa New Zealand by Alastair Smith |". Booksellersnz.wordpress.com. 17 June 2013. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
13. "Book Review: Everyday Cycling in Aotearoa New Zealand | Cycling in Christchurch". Cyclingchristchurch.co.nz. 13 December 2012. Retrieved 27 February 2014.