SCONUL Focus Number 46 2009 Contents ISSN 1745-5782 (print) ISSN 1745-5790 (online) 3 Transforming libraries 5 Refurbished, remodelled …and revitalised Carol Kay 22 tlc@bedford: the library social learning space at Royal Holloway University of London (RHUL) John Tuck 26 A drop in the ocean Andrew Kennedy 29 The Donald Mason Library, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Julia Martin, Sarah Lewis-Newton 31 Brunel University Library support for PhD without residence students based in Bahrain Alice Cann 35 Bringing it all together: working in partnership across our university Diana Garfield, Ruth Rule 37 Collaborating on collections – a structured approach Ruth Bird, David Wills, Jules Winterton 39 New core text service at the University of Kent Diane Raper 43 Open access education sources David Alcock 44 Implementing an ETD policy in WIT Libraries Alan Carbery 47 Developing the Digital Research Repository at the University of St Andrews Janet Aucock 51 eResearch: the institutional repository experience at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh Helen Muir 54 Web 2.0 moves 2.0 quickly 2.0 wait: setting up a library Facebook presence at the University of Warwick Katharine Widdows 59 Learning 2.0 @LJMU: a staff development programme for learning and information services staff Leo Appleton 63 Library away days – home wins or own goals? Daren Mansfield 65 An away day with a difference: developing new ways of working at the University of East London Florence Achen-Owor, Win Pang, Peter Williams 69 Peer groups for second-tier managers Trevor Hodgson, Margaret Oldroyd 71 Scanning, tailoring and promoting information literacy support – another string to the liaison librarian’s bow Susan Boyle 77 Online information skills tutorials: Southampton Solent University reviews its approach Kathryn Apps 82 Information literacy on the move Tracey Totty 84 Rove West Sandra Clark, Ellie Clark-Webster 86 ASSISTing you online: creating positive student experiences at the University of Wolverhampton Wendy Haynes 91 Supposing is good, but finding out is better: a survey of research postgraduate students at WIT libraries Nora Hegarty , Helen Hayden, Delia Foley 95 Low-cost marketing initiatives at Waterford Institute of Technology libraries Kieran Cronin, Terry O’Brien 99 Latest research findings from the RIN Aaron Griffiths SCONUL Focus 46 2009 1 101 The Irish Working Group on Information Literacy (WGIL), Philip Russell, Terry O’Brien 105 CyMAL/WHELF study tour of Dublin Sue Mace, Christopher West 107 In memoriam: Tom Graham 108 In memoriam: Tony Bowyer, 1924-2008 110 LILAC 2009 conference report Ruth Patterson 111 “We’re all doomed!” Christopher West 115 RLUK/SCONUL digest of scholarly communication news Frederick J. Friend 121 Super-convergence: SCONUL shared-experience meeting, 16 February 2009 Richard Heseltine, Sara Marsh, Sue McKnight, Maxine Melling 125 News from member libraries 131 Advice for authors Editorial information The next issue will be published in October 2009. Please send articles for publication to SCONUL: [email protected] News items should be sent to Toby Bainton: [email protected] or to your usual contact person on the SCONUL Focus editorial team. Society of College, National Editorial team and University Libraries Antony Brewerton, University of Warwick (Chair): [email protected] 102 Euston Street John FitzGerald, University College, Cork: [email protected] London Carol Kay, University of Liverpool: [email protected] Diane Lindsay, University of Strathclyde: [email protected] NW1 2HA Lindsay Martin, Edge Hill College of Higher Education: [email protected] Tel: 020 7387 0317 Lys Ann Reiners, University of Lincoln: [email protected] Steve Rose, Southampton Solent University: [email protected] Fax: 020 7383 3197 Valerie Stevenson, Liverpool John Moores University: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Peter Williams, University of East London: [email protected] Published 3 times per year. Price £23.00 inland, £28.00 overseas. The views expressed in SCONUL Focus are not necessarily those of SCONUL or of SCONUL Focus editorial team. 2 SCONUL Focus 46 2009 SCONUL Focus is the journal of SCONUL, the Society of College, National and University Libraries. SCONUL Focus aims to bring together articles, reports and news stories from practitioners in order to generate debate and promote good practice in the national libraries and the university and college sector. As well as the paper copy, the current issue of SCONUL Focus is also available electronically via the SCONUL website (http://www.sconul.ac.uk). Contributions are welcomed from colleagues in all fields and at all levels: we merely request that the items contributed are concise, informative, practical and (above all!) worth reading. Opinions expressed in SCONUL Focus are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of SCONUL. “The number of books we loan out and refer- ence inquiries we receive is sliding. We can all Transforming use Google and with discounts on Amazon, three-for-two offers in Waterstones and Tesco libraries discounting every Harry Potter book, many of us have the means to buy books. We need to make the library more of an experience. Our role will now be less about transactions with Perhaps it is a credit crunch thing but the national users and more about aiding their transforma- media seems to have recently (re-)discovered tion.”’ public libraries. The rather tired-looking library will itself be Some of the stories are ‘doom and gloom’. Rachel transformed: Cooke, for example, has bemoaned the fact that ‘yoga and coffee’ are taking over from books in ‘Visitors arriving when the new library opens some libraries in a misguided attempt to widen in 2013 will be confronted by an airy atrium participation, in her rallying Observer essay ‘Time filled with touch-sensitive computer screens to go into battle to save our world of books’ 1. and regularly changing exhibitions. Voluble group learning will take precedence over Other articles have been more positive. Plans to hushed reading rooms.’ build the UK’s biggest ever public library in Bir- mingham received plaudits from the literary great Transforming tired-looking buildings into beauti- and good in The Guardian’s wonderfully titled ful modern environments? ‘Books at Birmingham’s heart as recession begins a new chapter of public libraries’ (where do these Transforming usage from warehouses for books sub-editors get their training?!) 2. into interactive forums for the use and creation of knowledge? Of course, being a library issue, there are always going to be frank exchanges in the letter pages/ Transforming our users? blogs about the role of libraries but The Guard- ian piece was a bit more realistic than the usual Doesn’t this sound curiously familiar to those of ‘spend less on buildings and more on books and us who have been working in Higher Education that’ll stop the rot’ we get from Disgruntled Institutions (HEIs) over the last few years? All of Tunbridge Wells. The Head of Birmingham around us are magnificent changes to the physi- Library Services was given the opportunity to cal library. SCONUL Focus, with its usual aim to pronounce his intentions at some length: assist in the sharing of good practice, has been keen to spread the word about developments, ‘“We are trying to redefine the library and with articles on flagship spaces (the Saltire Centre archive in a major city centre. For 150 years the 3, the Learning Grid 4 and so on) as well as reports role of the library was to democratise access to on sometimes more modest changes in our ‘News books and information which many could not from member libraries’ column. SCONUL itself afford. That model of service is being chal- has promoted and praised innovations as both lenged. an active partner in Designing Libraries (with its exceptionally useful online buildings database)5 SCONUL Focus 46 2009 3 and by celebrating excellence with its Library 6. See, for example, Sheila Cannell. SCONUL Design Awards 6. Library Design Awards, SCONUL Focus, 42, Winter 2007, p. 92-94, available at www. We thought it was now time that Focus included sconul.ac.uk/publications/newsletter/42/32. an update on developments and these are brought pdf together in Carol Kay’s excellent collection of essays that follow this editorial. This is an inspi- All Web sites accessed 10 May 2009 rational collection that shows just how wisely we have invested in our library spaces over the last few years. And – speaking partly from experience – this investment has paid off for many of us with increased footfall and increased student satisfac- tion (something perhaps HEI managers interested in getting a good return on future investments should bear in mind as we enter a period of finan- cial stringency). Elsewhere in this issue we explore innovative approaches to staff development and enquiry sup- port, and offer top tips on how libraries can get the most out of Facebook. As our friends at The Guardian would no doubt say, a full and exciting chapter. Antony Brewerton SCONUL Focus Editorial Board NOTES 1. Rachel Cooke. Time to go into battle to save our world of books, The Observer, 22 March 2009, Review section, p. 6-8 2. Robert Booth. Books at Birmingham’s heart as recession begins a new chapter for public libraries, The Guardian, 3 April 2009, p.17 3. Les Watson. The Saltire Centre at Glasgow Caledonian University, SCONUL Focus, 37, Spring 2006, p. 4-11, available at www.sconul. ac.uk/publications/newsletter/37/2.pdf 4. Rachel Edwards. The Learning Grid at the University of Warwick: a library innova- tion to support learning in higher education, SCONUL Focus, 38, Summer/Autumn 2006, p. 4-7, available at www.sconul.ac.uk/publica- tions/newsletter/38/2.pdf 5.