Alastair Smith Explained

Alastair Gibson Smith (1948^[1] – 20 November 2019) 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.^[2]

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.^[3] He worked at the National Library of New Zealand, BRANZ and Victoria University of Wellington, where he rose to Senior Lecturer.^[2] He was appointed the inaugural general secretary of the Bicycle Association of New Zealand in 1979. He was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a type of cancer, in 2001.^[4]

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. ^{[11] [12] [13]}

Notes and References

1. Web site: Virtual International Authority File record for Alastair Smith.
2. Web site: The end of an era: Alastair Smith retires from the School of Information Management . Knowledge-basket.co.nz . 2014-02-28.
3. Web site: Alastair's Qualifications . Vuw.ac.nz . 2014-02-24 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130505043159/http://www.vuw.ac.nz/staff/alastair_smith/qualns.html . 2013-05-05 .
4. Web site: Alastair Smith, the indomitable Aro Valley cyclist . Cycling Action Network . 22 November 2019.
5. News: Alastair Smith death notice . 23 November 2019 . Dominion Post . 27 November 2019.
6. Web site: Nation loses passionate cycling advocate. 18 January 2020. Stuff.co.nz. en. 2020-01-18.
7. Web site: Cybermetrics. Editorial Board . https://web.archive.org/web/20030410195728/http://cybermetrics.cindoc.csic.es/editors.html . dead . 2003-04-10 . Cybermetrics.cindoc.csic.es . 2010-05-24 . 2014-02-24 .
8. Web site: The Journal of Web Librarianship - home page . 2011-11-26 . 2014-02-24 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20111126011731/http://www.lib.jmu.edu/org/jwl/ . November 26, 2011 .
9. Web site: 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 . 2014-02-24 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20111111131624/http://informationr.net/ir/editors.html . November 11, 2011 .
10. Web site: Alastair's Home Page . Vuw.ac.nz . 2013-01-22 . 2014-02-24 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140207083222/http://www.vuw.ac.nz/staff/alastair_smith/ . 2014-02-07 .
11. Web site: Liam Butler . Eldernet Gazette . Eldernet Gazette . 2013-11-21 . 2014-02-27.
12. Web site: Book review: Everyday Cycling in Aotearoa New Zealand by Alastair Smith | . Booksellersnz.wordpress.com . 2013-06-17 . 2014-02-27.
13. Web site: Book Review: Everyday Cycling in Aotearoa New Zealand | Cycling in Christchurch . Cyclingchristchurch.co.nz . 13 December 2012. 2014-02-27.