News from Member Libraries

News from member libraries

University of Birmingham

St a f f Diane Job has been appointed as Director of Library Services, effective 1 September 2009. Diane was previously responsible for the leader- ship of the faculty of medicine libraries at Impe- rial College London. Library services is one of six divisions within academic services.

Re f u r b i s h m e n t The feasibility study stage of the main library refurbishment project is now well under way and is expected to be completed in autumn 2009. Ini- tial planning is already under way for relocation and decant of services and collections during the period of the refurbishment work, which could take up to five years.

Sp e c i a l c o l l e c t i o n s m o v e s Special collections, which had previously been part of library services, became a separate divi- sion within academic services in 2009. The university is currently in the process of developing a new facility for special collections, which will bring all the collections, public service and con- servation facilities together into one purpose-built space spread over three floors at the heart of the main Edgbaston campus. The new accommodation is expected to be completed by autumn 2009 and includes exhibition facilities, a seminar room for up to 30 people and research space, together with an estimated ten years of expansion space for collections, two purpose-built storage areas for archives and rare books, a reprographics suite, staff accommodation and a purpose-built conser- vation studio. The new facility, to be named the ‘Cadbury research library’, forms part of a refurbishment of the iconic Muirhead Tower, one of the most easily recognizable buildings on the main Edgbaston campus.

St o c k m o v e s A number of major stock moves were undertaken during the summer vacation 2009:

• In the main library, stock was transferred onto mobile shelving in an area that had previously been occupied by special collections

74 SCONUL Focus 47 2009 (see above). This has improved access to our Le a r n i n g s e r v i c e s w e b p a g e s printed collections, by easing shelving over- A cross-service team has been working to com- crowding and simplifying the arrangement pletely remodel the learning services web pages. of stock in certain areas of the main library. Code named W-ALTER (Web-Alter), a full review • Following a decision to transfer teaching of learning services’ web presence was under- for education courses from the Selly Oak taken, looking not only at the student-facing sites campus to the Edgbaston campus from but also at the intranet, blogs and wikis. 2009/10, we have also been working to accommodate stock for these courses into Due to launch mid-September, the new web site our education library (and, to a lesser extent, will offer a richer experience, showing video other sites). clips, blog posts, updated news feeds and person- alised subject areas. In addition, a staff intranet Ne w g u i d e f o r i n t e r n a t i o n a l s t u d e n t s c o n f u s e d b y has been developed to ensure that academic l i b r a r y j a r g o n colleagues have access to everything they need Aware that librarians are as guilty as any experts through every stage of their teaching, learning of using jargon that means nothing to anyone else, and research. library services has produced a basic ‘jargon-bust- ing guide’ aimed specifically at students whose In d u c t i o n f a c e l i f t first language is not English. Edge Hill University is now one of the UK’s most rapidly expanding universities and with learning The guide, written in the special English used by services’ student inductions more popular than the BBC World Service, is an A–Z listing of the ever, and in order to maintain high standards, we most common words and phrases that students have given the programme a facelift. might see or hear when they are using library services, facilities and resources. Copies are avail- Evaluation of our student experience as well as able in all libraries run by library services and will benchmarking with other universities has led to be handed out to new students at the beginning our developing a new induction model, where of term. contact and interaction still remain critical for introducing and welcoming students to univer- Elizabeth Warner-Davies sity life. A small team was created to review the E-mail: [email protected] induction process and ensure that these aspects are maintained and further developed to meet the needs of our increasingly diverse student popula- Edge Hill University tion. A key aim is to avoid information-overload and yet raise awareness of the resources and tools RFID available. Following a successful project to implement self- issue four years ago, the summer months have September 2009: what will the induction pro- seen a further project to embed RFID technologies gramme look like? into the collections. With self-issue hitting the 95% target that was set, RFID has been chosen to 1 Registration will be our first interaction with improve stock management, ensuring that the students. Staff will be on hand to encourage library catalogue and the items on the shelf are a and support students in logging into the net- direct match. work for the first time, using the information provided in their newly received registration Studies show that up to 12% of stock can be mis- letter. placed where RFID isn’t in use, meaning we can add an extra 10,000 books from stock to circula- 2 Colleagues will then work with teaching staff tion this September (2009). The introduction of a to co-deliver a session that dovetails with returns chute and sorter and RFID self-issue will their induction to their first module. We will mean that queue lengths are reduced. We con- provide an overview of learning services that tinue to work with 3M as our partner, and will be will include video, slides and a quiz. the first UK site to implement this new model of returns sorter. 3 Drop-in sessions will follow in the second and third weeks of the semester.

SCONUL Focus 47 2009 75 4 The whole programme will be underpinned Dr Rhona Sharpe from Oxford Brookes University and supported by the learning services induc- presented her keynote speech on the ‘Impact of tion module in the Blackboard VLE. learner experience research’. She assessed what has been the impact of learner experience research Re p o s i t o r y p r o j e c t (EROS) in the UK to date, what more could be done in The JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee)- light of the research findings and what we can funded EROS project is managed by learning learn from this experience about the tensions services and will create and populate an institu- between research, innovation and development. tional repository to improve the storage, preserva- tion, retrieval and use of Edge Hill University’s Professor Tara Brabazon from the University of research outputs. Starting with an analysis of user Brighton entertained delegates with her keynote needs to help identify and procure the reposi- entitled ‘We’ve spent too much money to go back tory solution that is the best fit for Edge Hill, the now: credit crunched literacy and a future for project will focus on the cultural embedding of learning’. Tara offered new models and modes the repository, underpinned by workflows and of teaching and learning by aligning information policies which will facilitate use of the repository literacy, media literacy theories and multiliteracy in line with Edge Hill’s existing practices and approaches. systems, wherever possible. The project exists within the context of previous repository start-ups The aim was to show, through examples and and will draw significantly on the knowledge that applications in university assessment, how already exists in the sector, as well as disseminat- students can move from everyday competencies ing lessons learned at Edge Hill, to inform future and skill development and into disciplinary and repository projects beyond the institution. trans-disciplinary scholarship. With public fund- The creation of a digital repository at Edge Hill ing under threat, the time for ‘easy’ technological is particularly timely since the university was solutions to complicated problems in widening granted research degree awarding powers in participation agendas requires renewed commit- 2008. Our experience in preparing for RDAP ment to literacy, professional development and highlighted the current lack of effective colla- academic expertise. tion of research outputs and, given the increase in research activity that will follow the award of The conference was a great success, building RDAP, creating a digital repository is a priority for on previous conferences and establishing the Edge Hill. SOLSTICE CETL as a key technology-enhanced learning event on the conference calendar. You SOLSTICE CETL ac t i v i t y can view the conference keynotes at http://www. SOLSTICE is one of the 74 national centres for edgehill.ac.uk/solstice/Conference2009/Key- excellence in teaching and learning (CETLs) notes.htm and access the presentations and full established in April 2005. SOLSTICE is commit- papers delivered at the conference at http://prezi. ted to enhancing student learning and the learn- com/83919. ing environment – for part-time and full-time students studying across multiple and dispersed The ReFORM project – reuse and repurposing of teach- locations – through technology-enhanced learning and learning content ing. Unusually for a CETL, SOLSTICE is managed Edge Hill’s ‘ReFORM’ project (http://www.edge- within learning services and this is reflected in hill.ac.uk/reformproject/index.htm) was one of many of the CETL activities, some of which are 20 funded by JISC’s ‘RePRODUCE’ programme to described below: test assumptions around reuse of teaching content in a real-world setting. Projects were funded to ‘It’s all in the blend?’ SOLSTICE CONFERENCE, develop, teach and quality-assure technology- June 2009 enhanced modules using at least 50% of learning The fourth international SOLSTICE conference materials drawn from outside their institution. All took place on 4 June 2009, welcoming over 150 digital content produced by the projects would delegates to Edge Hill University. The theme for be uploaded into JORUM (http://www.jorum. the conference was ‘Innovation, research and ac.uk/) and made freely available to the higher development: enhancing learning with technolo- and further education sectors. Creation and avail- gies’. Delegates had a choice of 38 sessions to ability of high-quality open educational resources attend, along with two stimulating and entertain- (OERs) is being heralded as a key component of ing keynote speeches. sustainable and scalable higher education in the UK.

76 SCONUL Focus 47 2009 ReFORM redeveloped a dormant 15-credit profes- (reusable learning objects), who demonstrated sional development module, ‘CPD304: Dyslexia how to develop open educational resources using and specific learning difficulties (SpLD) in higher GLO Maker 2 (generative learning objects). Tom education – support issues’, aimed at support staff emphasised the importance of the pedagogical working within the higher and further education design underlying the GLOs, which provides the sectors. basis for reuse. The audience showed tremendous interest in GLO Maker 2, released on 21 August The project has identified, reused and/or repur- 2009. posed learning materials related to themes around learning support, such as writing, reading and The second keynote speaker was Melissa Highton memory, and created new multimedia objects from Oxford University, who presented the devel- which focus on dyslexic learners’ narratives. It opment of open educational resources through the was a challenge because there was no critical mass ‘Open spires’ project. This project follows on from of content in the field of dyslexia support for us earlier projects, such as MOSAIC and Steeple. to draw upon. A positive outcome of this project is that we have been able to produce dyslexia- Three presenters were from the JISC ‘RePRO- ‘friendly’ open content in this important niche DUCE’ programme. Dr Carmel de Nahlik of area. Development of the module involved a Coventry University shared her work from the variety of specialists, as depicted in the SOLSTICE JISC ‘ROCOCO’ project on setting up a reusable notion of ‘new academic teams’, in particular common core for research-methods modules. The project managers, subject librarians, learning module is delivered online, to diverse groups, at technologists, module leaders, copyright and IPR three different academic levels and can be pre- specialists and staff and students with dyslexia sented within a subject-specific ‘wrapper’. and other SpLDs. Dr Peter McKenna from Manchester Metro- Effective reuse of digital content depends upon politan University presented the promises and deliberate planning for reuse at the design stage. pitfalls of reusability, using his experiences from Curriculum design using digital content requires the ‘Q-ROLO’ project (Quality – re-aggregation a rethinking of traditional roles and an acceptance of learning objects) and resources. The pitfalls of new approaches using non-hierarchical, multi- include IPR (information property rights) and professional teams. legal aspects, quality, issues with repositories and lack of tracking of downloads or reuse. We have captured and distilled our new under- standings and skills around content-creation into Peter Reed of Edge Hill University presented ‘Is what we are tentatively calling ‘open content liter- this a sustainable future?’, sharing his experi- acy’. We believe its incorporation into professional ences from the ‘ReFORM’ project, which involved development and training will support effective repurposing of suitable digital objects. practice in the sharing and reuse of digital teaching content within Edge Hill. The delegates’ thoughts about what is working well and the next steps regarding reuse and shar- If you would like a copy of ReFORM’s final ing of digital content were summarised by Lind- project report, contact [email protected]. sey Martin, eLearning strategy and development manager (SOLSTICE CETL), to round off the day. SOLSTICE seminar: ‘Creating and sharing digital content: promises and pitfalls’, 16 July 2009 Delegate feedback indicated that the day had The hot topic of creating and sharing digital been a great success and that this is a hot topic content was presented at this seminar, hosted by for librarians as well as technologists and aca- SOLSTICE. Alison Mackenzie, SOLSTICE CETL demic colleagues. Links to the presentations can director and dean of learning services at Edge Hill be found at http://www.edgehill.ac.uk/solstice/ University, opened the day by placing the semi- seminarseries/SharingContent.html. nar in the context of current research and recent publications. Techno-savvy students join forces to bridge the digital divide Five speakers with considerable involvement in SOLSTICE and students from Edge Hill Univer- sharing digital content presented experiences sity, the University of Central Lancashire and from their own work. The first keynote speaker Riverside College in Halton joined forces for a was Professor Tom Boyle from the CETL for RLO student-focused ‘Digital slam’ event held in May

SCONUL Focus 47 2009 77 2009 to explore the potential power of linking up a variety of different digital technologies and University of Gloucestershire tools. LIS (learning and information Services) staff Armed with mini-camcorders, digital voice finished the 2008–09 academic year celebrating recorders, ultra-small laptops, standard PCs, several departmental successes. mobile phones and digital cameras, the students put together a lively presentation for their col- ‘Support for research week’ at the beginning leagues. The process, known as ‘digital storytell- of June 2009 was the first major initiative to be ing’, is an emerging, interactive medium that is co-ordinated and promoted by the newly formed fast gaining popularity in such fields as the media LIS marketing group, part of whose remit is to and education. review how and why students use our learning centres. We used the tagline ‘Flying high with the As well as exploring the power of new technol- learning centres’ and gave humorous titles to a ogy, the students also examined the phenomenon variety of user-education sessions to reflect this known as the ‘digital divide’, referring to the upward-and-outward-looking concept, such as knowledge gap that can develop between people ‘Around the world in statistical resources’, ‘Trav- who have effective access to digital and informa- els in ebooks’ and ‘Notes from a big database’. tion technology and those who don’t. In research- Over 84 sessions across all five campuses were ing digital divides, students were introduced to offered, all bookable online and advertised via the concept of information literacy and the need our university’s ‘staff news’ pages. In addition, to think critically about information and online invitations were sent by e-mail to all research stu- tools and resources. Lindsey Martin, our eLearn- dents and staff. Finally, a blog was set up which, ing strategy and development manager, said: having been ‘seeded’ with a welcome from Ann Mathie, head of LIS, was updated by LIS staff in ‘It was great to see the students really getting into the a chatty and relaxed manner after every session. technology. In many cases, what they were seeing was The week went well, with very positive responses new to them, despite the fact that we assume that all from those attending, and we are currently in the young people are up to speed with every new gizmo on process of collating the feedback we requested the market.’ after each session had been run. We intend to use the valuable experience we gained in running the The students who attended said the day had week to inform how we target our users in the opened up their eyes to new ways of getting a future. message across. Pam Hampton, a student at the University of Central Lancashire, said: A more detailed report of how we implemented this initiative is available on request from Jane ‘It was a great day – very interesting and informative. I Nicholls ([email protected]). must admit I am a techno geek and I love my gadgets and the internet. I am pleasantly surprised to have At the end of June and after the end of term, LIS learnt some useful stuff.’ ran our second staff conference. Permission was granted to close all of our local learning centres so The ‘Digital slam’ was organised by SOLSTICE in that as many staff as possible could attend. Build- conjunction with the student learning and teaching on the experience gained in organising the ing network and guest lecturer Mark Roche from first such event last year – on the theme of ‘active Manchester Metropolitan University. learning’ – this year’s event focused on ‘information literacy’ and ‘making libraries interesting and Mandy Phillips inspiring places’. The day’s activities took place in E-mail: [email protected] our university’s well-equipped CeAL (centre for Active learning) building. Lindsey Martin E-mail: [email protected] Sessions included one by Sarah Kennedy, learning centre manager at our Francis Close Hall (FCH) campus, who was fresh off the plane from jointly presenting (with colleague Allison Davis) a paper at the ‘Information: interactions and impact international (i3)’ conference at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen. Sarah gave a

78 SCONUL Focus 47 2009 presentation on the joint research project currently ‘… they provide a service that supports students being carried out by CeAL and the academic and that is second to none’. Although the eventual practice unit at the University of Worcester. This winners from the total of 40 nominations came is entitled ‘Formal learning in an informal setting: from another department, the Oxstalls LC team the student learning journey’ and is investigating were thrilled to have their work publicly acknowl- students’ information-seeking behaviour through edged in such a positive way. a mixture of questionnaires and focus groups. Sarah also updated the conference on the progress Carole Wrightson of the draft UoG information literacy framework, E-mail: [email protected] which has been well received in our institution.

Johanna Anderson, information adviser at FCH, Imperial College London had us all enthralled with an account of her trip to Malawi in the autumn of 2008, where she inves- RIBA Aw a r d f o r Im p e r i a l Co l l e g e Lo n d o n - Ce n t r a l tigated the role libraries and information literacy Li b r a r y play in the life of a primary school in a third The design of the level 1 refurbishment of the world country. Sobering and uplifting by turns, Central Library has been recognised by the Royal her analysis of how the students and staff cope Institute of British Architects. A-EM Studios Ltd. with the limited resources supplied principally by received a regional award for their innovative another culture gave us much food for thought. design, creating a truly modern library space. Johanna is now incorporating this material into Debby Shorley, Director of Library Services, her dissertation for her MSc in information and attended the awards ceremony on 21 May. library management at the University of the West of England. Since the refurbished floor reopened in July last year, the library has enjoyed a significant increase In the afternoon, we had a change of topic and in student usage. The library team has also activity as Ann Mathie, head of LIS, challenged enjoyed welcoming a large number of library us to look at our learning centres through differ- colleagues (nationally and internationally) from ent eyes. Adopting the ‘visual scan’ methodology across the sector for tours, talks and visits. pioneered by Aaron Cohen Associates, presented at the CILIP executive briefing ‘Library as place’ Angus S. Brown in October 2008, Ann led us through the four E-mail: [email protected] space-quality definitions. Following this we went off into our FCH learning centre in groups to look critically at its different types of space and how Leeds Metropolitan University they impact on the student experience. Delegates were enthusiastic about this exercise and pro- Ar c h i v e s a n d Sp e c i a l Co l l e c t i o n s duced lists of suggestions for consideration. The Our Civic Quarter library now has a designated plan is for staff to visit each other’s campuses and university’s special collections room, comple- provide feedback for their colleagues. mentary to the university archive at Heading- ley library. These collections include historical Feedback on the day was overwhelmingly posi- materials from within the university, past course tive and, encouraged by both the head of LIS and materials donated by alumni and several external our vice-chancellor, we are now planning to make collections, on deposit with the university. The this an annual event. SCONUL colleagues who collections cluster primarily into art and design – would like an opportunity to talk to a friendly including books from the Leeds School of Art and and receptive audience about topics of mutual West Yorkshire Society of Architects collections interest are welcome to contact us! – and social policy, such as items from the National Cooperative collection. Materials are now organ- Finally, Oxstalls learning centre staff in Gloucester ised and stored in more appropriate conditions, were delighted to be nominated by our academic making it easier to exploit their potential for colleagues in the department of health and social teaching and research. With the appointment of care for an internal university ‘excellence’ award Keith Rowntree as principal information assistant in the category of ‘Enhancing the student experi- (archives), the priority is to provide an electronic ence’. These awards are presented annually at the description of the individual collections and their university’s staff conference. The citation high- constituent items, to promote knowledge of their lighted the helpfulness of the learning centre staff: existence and encourage usage. Enquiries con-

SCONUL Focus 47 2009 79 cerning the collections or potential new additions Rommi Smith. The intended outcome is a book on may be directed to Keith Rowntree (k.rowntree@ working in academic libraries. Academic librar- leedsmet.ac.uk) or Claire Williams (c.f.williams@ ians Catherine Parkin and Kirsty Carver also took leedsmet.ac.uk). Keith also maintains a blog at part in the festival’s finale, ‘May Day conversa- http://archivepost.wordpress.com/ where he tions’, discussing their favourite books and the picks up on items of interest regarding the archive importance of reading, which was broadcast on and special collections, ranging from observations the city’s BBC Big Screen. about their maintenance, the content and other ideas thrown up by working with our holdings. St a f f i n g Academic librarian Liz Lanfear has been Re a d i n g & Wr i t i n g Fe s t i v a l appointed a university teacher fellow. The teacher Libraries and learning innovation co-ordinated fellow network brings together individuals from the university’s second Reading & Writing Festi- across the institution who have been identified val (23 April – 1 May 2009). The launch took the for their excellent practice in assessment, learning form of a ‘Living library’ event (http://living- and teaching. Liz is also undertaking research into library.org), with Leeds Met staff and students information literacy and investigating the needs acting as ‘books’ that could be ‘borrowed’ and of researchers – she can be contacted on l.lanfear@ sharing their personal stories such as living with leedsmet.ac.uk for more information. OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), growing up in care, international volunteering and work- Another of our academic librarians, Stuart Smith, ing as a vicar. Library staff also enjoyed running is taking part in the university’s ‘Talents to the a different sort of library with its own rules for full’ secondment scheme and is spending six ‘borrowers’ who had to: months working within the Leeds business school. One of his projects is working with academic • return the ‘book’ in the same mental and colleagues on ‘resource enhanced learning’ (REL) physical condition as when borrowed – reviewing the resources students are encouraged • not damage the ‘book’, such as bend the to use in their learning activities. The aim is to see spine or spill food and drink over it if these traditional reading lists might be better • not take the ‘book’ away from the ‘library’, delivered to increase their take-up and use. REL and under no circumstances borrow the seeks to enhance the user-friendliness, attractive- ‘book’ overnight ness and quality of the ways in which we inform • not lend the ‘book’ to anyone else students about resources to support their stud- • respect copyright law and not photocopy the ies. Stuart can be contacted on s.smith@leedsmet. ‘book’ or plagiarise from it ac.uk. • not write on the ‘book’, unless in pencil – and ensure any notes were erased before the Meanwhile, cataloguers David Baron and Kate ‘book’ was returned. Bunting have been teaching on the university’s masters course in information management, pass- ing on their expertise by leading the ‘Organisation and retrieval of information’ module.

Tw i t t e r Leeds Met library is now on Twitter! – follow us at http://www.twitter.com/LeedsMetLibrary

Helen Loughran E-mail: [email protected]

University of Liverpool

As part of the festival, staff from the library, joined Bu i l d i n g development s by a student from the university’s MSc informa- 2008/9 has seen the conclusion of a number of tion management course and librarians from important library building and refurbishment local further education colleges, took part in a projects at Liverpool. We completed the final two-day creative writing workshop led by poet, phase of the extension of the Sydney Jones library playwright and parliamentary writer in residence (arts and humanities) with the absorption of

80 SCONUL Focus 47 2009 the former departmental libraries in law, music, archivist, whose career in the university spanned archaeology and civic design. We also completed a total of 39 years. work in the basement area of the new wing, largely to hold compact shelving. The official New arrivals included Paul Catherall, our new opening of the newly extended and refurbished e-learning support librarian, replacing Steph- library was held in 2009. The ceremony was anie Allen, who has moved to the University of performed by Liverpool poets Roger McGough Worcester. and Brian Patten, whose archives we had recently acquired (see below). The poets drew maximum Un i v e rs i t y development s comic potential from the fact that our staff had There have been very significant changes within just discovered £450 in forgotten notes in Roger’s the university, not least the departure of our archive! vice-chancellor, Sir Drummond Bone. Sir Drum- mond has been a staunch supporter of the library The period also saw the completion of work, and much of the revival of our financial fortunes funded largely by the Wolfson Foundation, on the has been down to him. Our new vice-chancellor, Harold Cohen library (science and medicine). The Sir Howard Newby, brings with him a strong work enabled us to refurbish the three reading strategic focus and library staff have been closely rooms on the upper floor of the library and the involved in the implementation and development large landing that connects them. This allowed of the new strategic plan. Carol Kay project-man- the creation of a subject area for medicine, with aged the work on the restructuring of the uni- adjacent subject-specialist staff offices and the versity’s academic departments and has recently development of a suitable space for informal and been seconded to become project manager for the group learning. All three reading rooms are now professional services review and business process visible through large glass panels from the central improvement within the university. Laura Dunn landing, bringing out the scale and grandeur of was seconded to project-manage the development the space for the first time. Though most of the of the ‘internationalisation’ dimension of the new work was about modernisation, work on the larg- strategy, building upon the major and continuing est reading room was concentrated on reinforcing role she has in the development of library provi- its identity as a traditional space for quiet reading, sion in the new Xian Jiaotong Liverpool Univer- for example by providing task lighting at each sity in China. study desk (thus, fittingly, reverting to the way in which the room was lit when the building opened El e c t r o n i c development s in 1938). Over the past year we have been involved in the ‘ArticleReach’ project, in which we work co- All our building improvements seem to have been operatively with other research libraries around favourably received by our users, as reflected the world to meet each other’s inter-library loan in our score in the 2009 national student survey, requirements. The project has been very suc- which saw us among the top four positions in cessful, and suggests a model for wider future the Russell group and in the top three in the application. In the first six months of the project Times Higher Education and ‘International Student the overall number of inter-library loan requests Barometer’ surveys. we have supplied to our users has doubled, as they took advantage of the simple automatic- St a f f i n g request process feeding from our URL linker, fast Turnover of staff was greater than usual, partly delivery or response from ‘ArticleReach’ and a owing to the introduction of an early retirement/ good success rate at a cost that is comparable with voluntary redundancy scheme to allow us to other services. cope with the financial pressures the university is currently experiencing and the much sharper We are working with Serial Solutions to beta-test pressures the whole sector is likely to experience a new product called ‘Summon’. If it fulfils its after the next general election. We said goodbye to present promise ‘Summon’ could be the holy grail Wendy Spalton, law librarian, who had been with of library searching: something that operates with us in various capacities since 1978; Joyce Raynor, Google-like rapidity but leads to good-quality architecture librarian, who joined the library in library resources, and which searches our book 1981; and Margaret Johnson, user services librar- and journal holdings at the same time. It is able ian in the Harold Cohen library, who came to us in to search rapidly because it pre-harvests data 1995. Among those who retired, the longest serv- from major aggregators, no longer relying on ing member of staff was Adrian Allan, university searching the databases themselves in response

SCONUL Focus 47 2009 81 to each query. It thus avoids the flaw that bedev- Digital Assistants) and mobile phones. They ils first-generation federated search engines of show the remarkable creativity of our staff and returning data from library catalogues rapidly but how the exuberant and anarchic comic talent that delivering results from remote journal indexes abounds in Liverpool can be harnessed to strate- at a slower rate than the Google generation finds gic ends! If you go to http://www.youtube.com/ acceptable. watch?v=5slpJMRWKA8 you will realise why we are so proud of their work. Among our more notable electronic acquisitions this year have been the following: Guardian/ Se r v i c e development s Observer Archive; Goldsmiths-Kress Library of We introduced a number of enhancements to our Economic Literature, 1450–1850; the Springer services this year. Self-return of books was pro- complete 2009 collection; the Oxford Scholarship vided to complement the existing self-issue facil- Online – Law collection; and the complete Royal ity. We moved from a bypass book security system, Society of Chemistry e-book collection. under which books have to be passed around the barrier on exit, to ‘full-circulating’ security Pr o j e c t s in which triggers are desensitised on issue. We The library has completed a number of special also introduced coin payment of fines through projects in the period covered by this report, self-issue terminals (allowing readers to remove including successful participation in phase 1 of blocks from their records during unstaffed open- UK Research Reserve and the successful deliv- ing, for example). The existing ‘walk-in access’ to ery of the ticTOCs project (http://www.tictocs. electronic journals and databases provided at our ac.uk/). Together with other RLUK (Research Harold Cohen library was extended to the Sydney Libraries UK) partners, we completed the ‘19th Jones library. Century British Pamphlets’ online project – http://www.britishpamphlets.org.uk/ – which Phil Sykes concluded with a highly enjoyable launch event E-mail: [email protected] here at Liverpool. This incidentally provided an opportunity for our guests to see our newly refurbished special collections and archives accom- Liverpool John Moores University modation. This was a part of the Sydney Jones project, for which supplementary funding was La u n c h o f n e w s e r v i c e – l i b r a r y a n d s t u d e n t s u p p o r t provided by the Wolfson Foundation, allowing us From 1 September 2009, library and student sup- to provide a new reading room, staff area, display port (L&SS) will be launched, and will begin to facilities and teaching room. function as a newly converged service operating from the learning resource centres (LRCs) at John Our special collections and archives staff are in Moores University. the process of cataloguing the Liverpool poets’ archive. We have held the archive of Adrian Henri L&SS was created by bringing together services for a number of years, but with assistance from and associated staff from learning and informa- the Heritage Lottery Fund and other donors we tion services and the campus centres (previously were able to add to this the archives of Brian part of student services). From January 2010 it Patten and Roger McGough. An exhibition cel- will also include generic student-facing admin- ebrating the work of all three poets, ‘The Mersey istrative services previously offered from the Sound’, features material from the archives and faculty offices. The new service operates from the is on display at the university’s newly opened three LRCs (Aldham Robarts, Avril Robarts, I. M. Victoria Galley and Museum (see http://www.liv. Marsh). The services provided by L&SS include: ac.uk/vgm/exhibitions/the-mersey-sound.htm). • library and learning resources: includes col- One of the most exciting projects of the year was lection management, digitisation, circulation the generation of a set of video introductions to of learning materials, purchasing, copyright different dimensions of library provision for use support, information literacy, research sup- via YouTube. A group of our library assistant staff port, archives, study support, liaison with wrote, directed and produced these under the academics direction of subject librarian Linda Crane. They • ICT support: includes open-access PCs and also acted in them, animated them and even peripherals, open-access copying and print wrote and performed the music. All the videos services, laptop loans, IT enquiry support, IT are suitable for viewing on PDAs (Personal workshops for staff

82 SCONUL Focus 47 2009 • student administration: includes enrolment, available. The ground floor is supported by student records, finance, coursework submis- roving staff as well as staff on the desks. The sion, withdrawals, module registration Aldham Robarts and Avril Robarts LRCs • programme enquiries: includes student continue to be open 24x7 in semester time. enquiries about the administration of programmes. • specialist support services: appointments and referrals, as well as some drop-in In addition, the LRCs will provide space for facilities provide access to specialist support other student services, most notably careers and services on other floors in the LRCs. These employability and welfare and counselling. This services tend to require extended one-to-one approach provides all core student support serv- support and are sometimes confidential in ices in one campus-based location. nature. Small multi-use rooms are provided for these meetings and are designed so that Ne w b u i l d i n g p r o j e c t s they can be used by students for group study As part of our convergence we have redesigned when not in use by support profession- and refurbished all three of our LRCs. This is so als. The services provided include welfare, that we could bring together the teams of staff careers, employability, library subject sup- that will be working together, and also to give as port and specialist computing support. much space as possible to the students. Therefore we have been co-ordinating three very different • study facilities: the LRCs continue to pro- building projects during the course of the year. vide a range of student facilities adjacent to This has presented several challenges (including print-based learning resources. Silent-study closing the Aldham Robarts LRC for five months facilities are concentrated on the upper floors in order to do some major refurbishment work), of the buildings. There are also bookable but it will all be worthwhile once the new LRCs group rooms and seminar rooms. are fully operational. In effect the new LRCs rep- resent the old libraries and campus centres, but all • remote services: as many services and facili- under one roof and with one set of staff delivering ties as possible are provided via the web services. or via phone and e-mail help. L&SS have taken the opportunity presented through Th e s e r v i c e m o d e l the merger to channel all remote enquir- L&SS supports all members of the university ies coming into the new service to a central and provides access and support to scholars enquiry point. This ‘call centre’ type of from other universities as well as members of the approach to handling enquiries will allow us public. Its collections (both print and digital), staff, to provide greater response to all telephone, space and web services support research as well e-mail and web-based enquiries. We will be as learning and teaching. This broad-based sup- making use of specialist ‘Help Desk’ soft- port contains a very strong focus on the student ware which will enable us to log, track and experience, placing a high priority on student sat- appropriately refer enquiries. isfaction. The service model is therefore designed to place student needs at the forefront but to We anticipate that there will be interest in this ensure that the broader clientele of L&SS have newly converged model from staff in other easy access to its staff and services. The service SCONUL libraries and we will publicise details of model is delivered in the three campus-based scheduled open days or specially arranged visits LRCs via: once we are ready to receive visitors.

• student support zone: the ground floor of Leo Appleton each LRC concentrates on student support. E-mail: [email protected] A ‘welcome hub’ provides reception, general enquiry support, appointments and referrals, assistance with IT and circulation enquiries Nottingham Trent University (all loans of print material are self-service). A transaction desk provides all student admin- NTU l i b r a r i e s & l e a r n i n g r e s o u r c e s w i n s c u s t o m e r istration help, including finance. Social learn- s e r v i c e e x c e l l e n c e a w a r d ing support is also provided on the ground Libraries & learning resources (LLR) at Notting- floor, i.e. flexible space allowing people to ham Trent University is among the few university work collaboratively, with refreshments libraries to gain the new government award for

SCONUL Focus 47 2009 83 customer service excellence (CSE). It is the first St a f f i n g c h a n g e s university library to do so with no previous Steve Monk, head of learning environment & experience of Charter Mark, CSE’s predecessor, information services (computing), has retired after or other external accreditation, and marks LLR’s nearly 30 years’ service with the university. Over commitment to developing its quality agenda. that period Steve has played an important part in many of the central IT services. For the last five Preparing for assessment involved staff across the years he has been responsible for the open-access library and prompted a fresh look at all aspects computing and media services. His most notable of service delivery, but especially those frontline achievements in that role were the establishment services which have immediate and daily impact of our 24x7 open-access area in the library and the on students and academic staff, and which have introduction of print accounting across the univer- been the focus of recent changes following the sity. Julia Paget-Woods will now take the lead in introduction of RFID and self-service. all learning environment & information services, Winning the award has confirmed that the adding the computing role to her existing library changes are working and appreciated, not least responsibilities. by our students, academics and other profes- Chris Watson has retired after seven years at the sional service partners, who all participated in university, initially as library manager at the Ply- the assessment visits, as this remark by one of the mouth campus and latterly as collection services senior administrators in the University shows: manager. Following her retirement, Fiona Greig will lead a new content and development team, ‘Thank you for asking us to be part of the process. It bringing together the functions of contract and was nice to have positive things to say and show part of supplier management, content lifecycle, resource the University off to an outsider.’ description, systems and e-development. Other role changes include Nicola Tricker (now con- Benefits of undertaking this award include a tracts & negotiation manager), Nicette Ammar framework for continuous quality review and (content lifecycle manager), Vicki Maguire improvement, a sense of achievement and (resource description manager) and Graham Titley renewed motivation amongst frontline staff and a (subject librarian and copyright advisor). raised profile within both the university and the sector. Se r v i c e development ILS staff are actively involved in two major uni- The external assessors were EMQC Limited of versity projects – enterprise-wide implementation Derby. of an e-portfolio system (based on PebblePad) and development of a research information manage- Celia Coates ment system, including the institutional reposi- E-mail: [email protected] tory and publications. In both cases, ILS staff are active in technical development, advocacy and training. University of Plymouth We also continue to be heavily involved with the Li b r a r y b u i l d i n g r e -n a m e d development of Talis Aspire, the new resource The University of Plymouth library will be known list system. We have been actively working with as the Charles Seale-Hayne library from Septem- Talis for ten months now (August 2009) and have ber 2009, although the official renaming ceremony had development engagement in the student view is yet to be arranged. Sir Charles Seale-Hayne was and academic elements. We have migrated all the responsible for establishing Seale-Hayne College old online reading lists to Aspire and have signed in 1911, which became part of the Polytechnic up over 100 academics to the Aspire service. Our South West (now University of Plymouth) in 1989. project team, led by the three subject librarians, Following the closure of the Seale-Hayne campus has led a series of promotional activities and in 2005, it was agreed that the library would take events to get the message of ‘Free your reading the name in order to reflect the importance of this lists’ across the campus. We are now feeding ideas local benefactor, who also endowed an educa- to Talis on how recommendation for purchase tional trust that exists to this day and is managed and the more ‘library’-focused activities can be by the university. developed.

We have also had a successful transition of our off-air recording service into a university-hosted

84 SCONUL Focus 47 2009 and Plymouth-specific ‘Box of Broadcasts’ (BoB) by the credit crunch, have included the embed- system. We implemented it in November to a ding of the new social learning space in the Bed- small select group of ILS staff and went ‘live’ with ford library (tlc@bedford), planning for improved a soft launch in May. Again BoB has been seen at silent-study space and a refurbishment of Bedford a number of university and teaching and learning library level 3 over the summer of 2009, as well as events and has been embraced by the academic preliminary discussions on a planned merger with staff. We now have academics making exciting St George’s University of London (a decision on use of recorded materials when they were not the merger is scheduled for the autumn). even aware of the service before this year. Library staff are now going through a process of selecting So c i a l l e a r n i n g s p a c e and ‘digitising’ core materials from the old off-air Issue 46 of SCONUL Focus contained a detailed recordings. article about tlc@bedford. After a full academic year of operation, it is pleasing to note that usage Fiona Greig of the remodelled space (based on sample day E-mail: [email protected] headcounts) is up by 38.9%. The IT-rich environment and the group-study spaces have been wel- University of Reading comed by many students. Their enjoyment and engagement with the space are reflected in com- Ex t e n d e d o p e n i n g h o u rs s a t i s f y s t u d e n t n e e d s ments made in the film that can be seen at www. Since April 2009, our customers have enjoyed rhul.ac.uk/Information-Services/TLC/ or on the extension of the opening hours of our Main YouTube (1,461 viewings at time of writing). This Library Whiteknights, until midnight in term and enthusiasm is not shared by the whole student Easter vacations. After several years of working community. At a two-hour Question Time-style towards this, at last – following a popular pilot debate – ‘Your library: love it or loathe it’ – held using library staff volunteers last session and in January 2009, there was a polarisation of views supported by a students’ union campaign – the around the merits of such spaces and library cafes university provided the funds for new dedicated and on the need for greater investment in infor- evening teams to embed the extended hours. mation resources and silent-study space. Additionally, during the 2009 April/May exam period another volunteer pilot project kept the Be d f o r d l i b r a r y l e v e l 3 r e f u r b i s h m e n t main library open later at weekends to meet stu- Over the summer of 2009 the top floor of the dent needs. We hope to continue this on a more Bedford library is being refurbished to provide formal basis in future. a comfortable, DDA (Disability Discrimination Act)-compliant silent-study space. The aims of Rachel Redrup the project, scheduled for completion in time for E-mail: [email protected] the 2009/10 academic session, are to replace the 16-year-old carpet, accompanying pig-pen study spaces and outdated lighting with a modern Royal Holloway University of London range of furniture, fittings and lighting conducive to reflective study. Un d e r n e w m a n a g e m e n t A new library management team has been in place Re c y c l i n g since January 2009 in Royal Holloway University The management team has overseen the revision of London. Coral Black (associate director, plan- and updating of a whole range of policy state- ning and administration) and Tim Wales (associ- ments. A particular success has been a new staff ate director, e-strategy) have joined John Tuck environmental policy. This work, energetically led (director of library services) and Matthew Brooke by graduate trainee Franckie Dunckley, culmi- (associate director, academic support). Other staff nated in a publicity campaign and the provision changes have included the appointments of Anna of a multitude of recycling bins and receptacles, Grigson as e-resources manager and Graham all of which have been met with the full support Seaman as systems officer and more recently, and cooperation of the student body and have following the departure of Damyanti Patel to added yet more colour to tlc@bedford. A joint Birmingham City University, the appointment of ‘Red Nose day’ venture with our students led to Paul Johnson as head of academic liaison. the concerted collection of fines on that day and their subsequent gift to charities. Major challenges during the year, apart from facing the inevitable retrenchment brought about

SCONUL Focus 47 2009 85 BoB develop a design that is both modern in terms of Not Twin Peaks but ‘Box of broadcasts’, to which functionality whilst remaining sympathetic to the we were pleased to be an early subscriber. This vision of the original architect, Sir Basil Spence. online TV and radio archiving service enables The key objectives of the project are to: subscribing institution members to watch and archive – for educational purposes – programmes • provide flexible, accessible, technology-rich from a wide range of UK broadcasting channels learning space (including BBC1, BBC2, BBC3, BBC4, ITV, Chan- • implement RFID, including an automated nel 4, Channel Five, BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4). book sorter, to facilitate all loan transactions Archived programmes can be viewed, clips can • zone study areas to provide social, group, be made and personal or shared playlists created. individual and silent learning spaces The service, acquired in February 2009, is proving • provide a graduate study area extremely popular at Royal Holloway. There have • provide open-access compact shelving been 415 subscribers here so far and 1,842 broad- • co-locate careers within the library building casts flagged up for recording and archiving. • provide an upgraded café • redesign and refurbish existing office space An d f i n a l l y … • re-organise the library collections to improve In our review of policies, we looked closely at past accessibility and navigation. practice and decided not to reverse the following Bedford College decision of 1936 (RHUL Archives, The physical works are due to begin in December BC AL 901/131): 2009, for completion in spring 2011, so it’s going to be a very busy 18 months. `Bedford College for Women Letter: May 8th 1936 RFID Dear Miss Paterson, Again as part of the library’s refurbishment As you know, last year I published a College regulation project, we went out to tender in April for a RFID to the effect that stockings should be worn by students self-service implementation, which will include a in the Library, at examinations and lectures. I do not book sorter, using the LUPC (London Universities think this rule has been very well observed as I had a Purchasing Consortium) framework agreement very widely signed petition asking that it should be for RFID. The contract has been awarded to Intel- rescinded. After talking the matter over with the Union lident. Tagging began on 10 July and we expect to Committee, I am convinced that the rule could not be have the book stock and audio visual collection enforced except at the cost of more friction than is wise. tagged by the end of September 2009. Self-service I have therefore withdrawn it… equipment will be installed and tested in the autumn, ready for an expected ‘go live’ date of Yours sincerely, January 2010. Through implementing RFID we G. Jebb’ aim to:

John Tuck • significantly increase the proportion of our E-mail: [email protected] self-service issue and return transactions to as near 100% as possible • reduce the amount of staff-mediated trans- University of Sussex actions, including fines payments, and so free up staff time for more pro-active user This has been an extremely productive and excit- services ing time for the University of Sussex library as • reduce shelving times by automating the we prepare for major changes over the next 18 sorting of returned items months. • improve stock-management capabilities through utilising RFID-based technology for Li b r a r y r e f u r b i s h m e n t stock-checking and locating missing items Following the award of a HEFCE (Higher Edu- • improve the ‘look and feel’ of our services cation Funding Council for England) grant for • enhance the user experience and increase a major refurbishment of the library at Sussex, user satisfaction. the planning process is now in full swing. The architects, Woods Bagot, were appointed in Janu- ary 2009 and are working closely with library staff, English Heritage and other stakeholders to

86 SCONUL Focus 47 2009 Re f i n i n g o u r c o l l e c t i o n a n d p r e p a r i n g f o r t h e This is the UK national ! r e f u r b i s h m e n t standard of customer Sussex will participate in the second phase of the service excellence for public UKRR (UK Research Reserve) project. We plan to sector organisations and withdraw up to 2.5 kilometres of low-use print is overseen by the Cabinet journals over the next few years. The majority Office. LIS previously held of the material will duplicate online content for the Chartermark award, which we have bought perpetual access. In addi- from 2006. tion, and to facilitate our major refurbishment, virtually all our print journals will move to a local Vi r t u a l a c a d e m i c l i b r a r y store later in the year. They will return to the The three universities in south west Wales (Swan- library as a single entity at the end of the project sea University, Swansea Metropolitan University in 2011. and Trinity University College) are collaborating under the £7.4 million South West Wales Higher Ta l i s As p i r e Education Partnership (SWWHEP), funded by Sussex is one of the pilot sites for the Talis Aspire the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales project. First impressions of the new product are (HEFCW). The partnership funds a variety of very positive, with academics in our focus group projects, ranging from joint procurement to shared and their students agreeing that the look is a e-learning platforms. major improvement on the old Talis List. All our existing lists in Talis List have been converted to One of the largest SWWHEP projects is the virtual Aspire and are accessible from within individual academic library initiative, which aims at a uni- course sites on the VLE (Virtual Learning Environ- fied approach to resources and services across the ment). Currently, academic staff have read-only libraries of the three universities. A major deliver- access since the reporting mechanisms to alert able of the virtual academic library is a standard, library staff of changes made to a list have yet RFID-based lending system for all libraries across to be developed, but these mechanisms, we are the partnership. This has meant tagging the entire assured by Talis, are under way. stock of the three university libraries: 1.1 million items in total. The RFID project is due for Library staff are working extremely hard in completion in September 2009, when all the RFID testing the functionality of the system so far, to self-service units in all the library branches will identify areas that are not working as expected have gone live. and areas for future development, which are then reported directly to Talis for resolution/considera- Another key component of the SWWHEP library tion. project is developing unified discovery tools. This will be based on the joint purchase and implemen- Ar c h i v a l m a n a g e m e n t s y s t e m tation of the Metalib resource discovery platform, We have recently purchased the CALM archival the VuFind portal and the Relais document deliv- management system. This will give us the facility ery system. to efficiently record, manage and cross-search all our extensive archival collections for the first time. The virtual academic library project is due for We are confident that this will open up our special completion in autumn 2010 and will be one of the collections to more researchers (both at Sussex widest-ranging examples of university library and beyond) and to new teaching opportunities. partnership in the UK. We hope to launch this catalogue to the public early in the autumn term of 2009. Su m m e r r e f u r b i s h m e n t s The library & information centre at Swansea Uni- Sally Faith versity is having one of its regular summer make- E-mail: [email protected] overs. This is driven by the installation of new, RFID-based self-service units (see above on the virtual academic library). We are also re-designing Swansea University and re-focussing our service points and associated frontline staff areas to unify a previously separate Cu s t o m e r Se r v i c e Ex c e l l e n c e range of services for our customers. Some of the Following a period of assessment in May 2009 vintage nineteen-sixties lighting in our bookstacks library & information services was very pleased is being upgraded to more modern, energy-effi- to receive the Customer Service Excellence award.

SCONUL Focus 47 2009 87 cient lighting. Last, but not least, our toilet areas are also having a much-needed update.

Archives is in the process of moving its materials into a new facility which will provide more spacious, purpose-designed accommodation for readers and documents. The move of the documents is progressing well and will be followed by the construction of a new reading room and staff accommodation, due for completion in autumn 2009. As a result of the move, Archives will be closed to all readers from Monday 1 June and will re-open on Tuesday 1 September 2009.

Al o h a Ha w a i i !

In May 2009 medical school deputy librarian Katrina Dalziel attended the ‘iFusions’ American Medical Library Association conference held this year in Honolulu, Hawaii.

She was awarded a bursary by the CILIP HLG (Health Libraries Group) and EBSCO in order to attend. Katrina kept us up to date (and rather envious!) with conference news whilst she was in Honolulu via the HLG Wales blog: http://hlg- wales.wordpress.com/.

Rachel Whitfield E-mail : [email protected]

88 SCONUL Focus 47 2009