University of Reading Library Review 2011-2012

Library review 2011–2012

Library

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ContentsBuilding new beginnings 2

Collections 4

Improving Library space 6

Helping and teaching Library users 8

Systems and service initiatives 10

Contributing to our communities 12

People 14

Statistics 17

Timeline 18

Building new beginningsAs the UK Higher Education sector continues to navigate through a period of great change, this year has been characterised for the University of Reading Library by the consolidation of new beginnings and refreshed enthusiasm for meeting future challenges and realising our aims and priorities in the service of the University.

We began the session as the sole University Library site and single service delivery point, supported by the new Offsite Store for lesser-used research material. We consolidated our role, moving closer to completing our ambitious Collections Project including integrating the Main and Bulmershe Collections into one coherent whole. The dynamic and innovative Study Advice and Maths Support Team came under the Library remit and now adds value to students, and also staff who benefit from their expertise when referring students, from within the Library fold. The retirement this session of two Library senior managers brought both change and continuity.

We have always aspired to deliver the library services our University community


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needs and this session enabled us to achieve more. My thanks go to all Library champions who share our vision, in particular to: Dr Richard Messer, whose support as Head of the Student and Academic Services Directorate is invaluable; Professor Hugo Tucker, for chairing the Advisory Board on Information Services, new this year to guide both the Library and IT Services; and not least Reading’s new Vice-Chancellor, Sir David Bell, who visited us in February and May. We appreciate his invigorating passion for the value and purpose of education and the University’s renewed recognition of, and support for, what the Library can, and should, do for the University. Students will appreciate the additional funds we were allowed to devote to course support this session and also the significant extra funding for information resources agreed for next session. They can also look forward to Students’ Union sabbatical officers working with the reconvened Feasibility Group on the Library Building to plan the environmental improvements students want.

Finally I thank my Library staff for another year of dedication to helping the University find and utilise the information crucial to its mission of challenging and exciting teaching, learning and research. This year’s Investors in People reaccreditation, four

University teaching and learning award, and several professional librarianship qualifications are testament to their excellence. However so also are the countless boxes packed and repacked in these twelve months, the stock shelved, the labels stuck, the spread sheets checked, a myriad questions answered and the lessons taught. As ever Library staff problem-solved, innovated and sustained services for the University and beyond. We look forward next session to building further on the achievements of this session.

Julia Munro University Librarian

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CollectionsThis session began in the middle of a major move – part of our ambitious Collections Project 2009–2013 to review all our collections and study space. With minimal disruption to our users, we were relocating 14,000 shelves of stock to create a single open access University Library at Whiteknights, supported by an Off-site Store for lesser-used research material.

The former Main Library, now the sole University Library, received over 2,000 shelves of Bulmershe stock, well-used material being shelved onto three subject floors. Some material was integrated immediately, but further integration from the ‘Bulmershe Collection’ continued throughout the session.

With Bulmershe Library closed to customers, staff worked on

through August to withdraw material no longer appropriate to University needs. The entire Library Cataloguing Team spent September processing lesser-used research material for retention at our Off-site Store. The Collections Project Team continued to work there mainly on journals into spring.

By April, we had offered nearly 1.13km of journals comprising 2,659 titles to the UK Research Reserve. Some of these went to join this national journals collection at the British Library in February, and in March we established our own UK Research Reserve Collection of rare journals. These are journals which we have been asked to keep at Reading and form an important part of this national journals collection. However we were able to withdraw and recycle approximately 1,433 titles which were already in this national collection, freeing up a further 700m of shelving space.

We continued to fill our Off-site Store with lesser-used research material, moving 3,500 shelves of material there by September.

Old bookshop blitzedOur stock is safely in the Library and new Off-site Store, and no longer in unsuitable accom-modation like the old bookshop store demolished this spring.


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We removed stock from the old bookshop (a temporary store subsequently demolished), and by December, from Bulmershe Library. All of our collections are now in the University Library or Off-Site Store. Further moves in July allowed us to place the Management books and journals classed in the 650s with the rest of the books and journals classed in the 600s, which made items easier to find for our users.

We are grateful to Rupert Wood, Head of Collections and Space, for having the courage and confidence to lead this project and to Vicky Bird, Collections Project Co-ordinator, for her dogged determination in realising it. Both left us this year. However we are in the good care of their successors: Paul Johnson as our new Head of Collections and Space and the experienced Cataloguing

and Liaison Support Librarian Claire Cannings, promoted on secondment to Collections Project Co-ordinator for the remainder of the project.

The year ended with exceedingly good news. Finalists had told us via the National Student Survey that more Library books supporting their courses would improve their time at Reading. Consequently, Richard Messer, Head of the Student and Academic Services Directorate, gave us permission to spend an additional £50,000 this financial year on in-demand and reading list books, including e-books. Making the best use of our budget this year meant that we spent far more on information resources than previously. Furthermore the University decided to invest more on information provision next session.

Collections Project progressWell-used Bulmershe Library materials moved to Whiteknights. We retain important journals for the UK Research Reserve but were paid to dispose of others.

Improving Library space Students value the Library as a unique, central hub for study and interaction. Stock reorganisation delivered 12% more study space at Whiteknights by autumn with nearly 45% more on the 2nd Floor. We created more group space with the transformation of an under used photocopy area into Group Study Pods incorporating plasma screens for use with laptops, funky stools, whiteboards and tables with whiteboard tops. We introduced more technology in the form of plasma screens to two Group Study Rooms and Smartboards to two training rooms. Our ‘Quiet Study with PCs’ room relocated to a better, quieter location. Offices were built into its former space to accommodate the Study Advice and Maths Support Team, now integrated into the Library staff.

The Library’s Rewiring Project to update original 1960s electrical provision will span several years. A new distribution system was installed over summer 2011. The Basement and 5th Floors were rewired with brighter, ‘greener’ automatic lighting between December and February. Work to rewire the Ground and 3rd Floors began in summer 2012. At both times our fetch-and-carry service maintained user access to most material temporarily placed out-of-bounds by the works. We closed the 5th Floor to accommodate Library staff displaced from the Ground Floor by the summer works. An increase in power and data sockets installed for staff use here benefited Library users when the 5th Floor reverted to public Silent Study in September 2012. Subsequently the Library building achieved

Rewiring, relocation!Collections Project Team members were amongst staff temporarily relocated as the four-year Rewiring Project works through the Library (from left: Caroline Instone, Jake Sharpe and Project Co-ordinator Claire Cannings)

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a lower Energy Rating Certificate by June, progressing from a D to a C rating. We hope to improve further when the Rewiring Project is complete.

The Feasibility Group on the Library building was formed last session to plan strategic improvements benefiting future student. Postponed at its first meeting because of a veto on University capital projects, it reconvened in November in the expectation of sufficient funding for a small number of high-priority projects over a number of years. By July, a short-term project to improve Library study space was being planned with architects Stride Treglown, mechanical/electrical design and cost consultants Ridge, Library staff and Students’ Union representatives. This is likely to include new flooring, redecoration and upgrading study furniture on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Floors. It may also extend to additional group study facilities, improvements to power and data, or developments on the 5th and Ground Floors.

More study spaceMajor stock revision and moves delivered 12% more general study space (top); plasma screens for use with laptops came to Group study rooms (right); and new Group study pods were devised (bottom).


Helping and teaching Library usersWe help University members make the most of the information we provide both in person and by producing guidance they can access for themselves.

Library staff delivered 978 hours of training sessions this year. Liaison librarians develop specialist knowledge to deliver expert group and one-to-one training for their designated departments. Collectively we continue to provide induction each summer for new students on the International Study and Language Centre pre-sessional programme. In autumn our Freshers’ Week activities for new students included our regular Library Fair, held more prominently in our entrance hall this year. The promise of ‘freebies’ donated by information resource suppliers lures in new students to familiarise themselves with the Library and resources and guides in their subject. Study Advisers and the University bookshop staff also took part. ‘Finding your way’ training sessions in students’ first weeks gives them practical experience of finding and borrowing a book, including this year one session with British Sign Language interpretation. Roving staff offered help near Self-Service Points and catalogue terminals well into term. Information Points continue to provide help in the day and early evenings.

This year we employed new ways to leave guidance for our users whenever and wherever they need it. Increasingly people are searching for video to find out how to do something, so we rejected our previous podcasts and moved onto video ourselves.

Library training in more formatsUsers can learn about the library with LibLearn Tutorials – instruction and quizzes on Blackboard, the University’s virtual learning environment – or new videos at: www.reading.ac.uk/library/videos.

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Library Fair advantageAttending the Library Fair in Freshers’ Week brings students awareness of resources in their subject, Library training available – and freebies from information providers.

Ready for the new session, we used mainly stills and captions to create two Library videos: Finding a book and Introducing the library. In January, we added QR codes to subject guide display stands, directing users with smartphones to their relevant subject webpage. We continue to revise and update our range of webpages and online guides. In July we rebadged our former Cyberlibrary Library course and quizzes on the Blackboard virtual learning environment as LibLearn Tutorials, updating them to include use of the new Enterprise catalogue.


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Systems and service initiativesThe extent of Library opening hours is a hot topic amongst current and prospective students. They benefited from a further increase of eight hours at weekends in time for the spring exam season (when the Library becomes the revision venue of choice). Additional weekend evening teams keep the Library open for self-service use 17:00 to 21:00 in the manner of our week-night teams who operate 19:00 to midnight. This was made possible by utilising savings from staff restructuring in our weekend teams.

From August, we began a much quicker and more convenient online inter-library loan request service for University staff and research postgraduates. The paper form-based service remains for taught students until we resolve some complex issues relating to authorisation and accounting. We implemented British Library’s new BLDSS service this year introducing colour copies, faster turnaround of books and no early recalls.

By the end of last session, we had switched on Enterprise, the new University collections discovery service. It holds data not only from the Library’s catalogue but also data relating to the archives and museum object collection from the University Museums and Special Collections Services’ Adlib system. For the first time users can ‘discover’ resources across collections. Over the year we invited comment and conducted user testing from Reading staff and students on the new interface.

Weekends? We open all oursWe advertised the Library’s additional weekend opening on display screens in the University.

Enterprise boldly goes where Unicorn went beforeWe switched the Library’s main catalogue to the Enterprise interface in July. Enter-prise is a collections and discovery service which also holds data from the University Museums and Special Collections Services’ Adlib system.

Insert footer on Slide Master

What have we done for you lately?

Stay open longer

We’re now opening the Library until 21:00 every Saturday and Sunday - an extra eight hours a week


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Study Advisers’ permanent fixtureNew offices were built for the Study Advisers and Maths Support Team in the Library where they are now valued members of Library staff.

Following positive feedback and June’s upgraded version of the Enterprise search engine, we switched our Library catalogue to the Enterprise interface in July. This gave Library staff time to retrain and develop teaching skills and written guidance for 2012-13 session Library users. The new system ranks results by relevance; allows users to refine search results by limits such as subject, date or online availability; shows online links more prominently; and is more forgiving of alternative spellings.

Administrative change brought the Study Advisers and Maths Support Team under the Library’s wing from August when they settled into new permanent offices on our 1st Floor. This makes them more visible to students, right next to the University’s largest PC area and IT Help counter and has increased their use.

After the Institute of Education vacated Bulmershe Court and moved to London Road at Christmas, we also transferred our Book Drop service between these campuses. Borrowers may deposit loans here for safe return to the University Library at Whiteknights.

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Contributing to our communitiesThe Library continues to play a part within the University, academic, local, international and library communities.

We always contribute to University undergraduate open days in October and June, the quality of a University’s library being taken into account by prospective high-achieving students and their parents.

Besides being a central busy hub, the Library can be regarded as a metaphor for university learning and enquiry and therefore a suitable venue for University exhibitions. In spring, photographs shortlisted in the Graduate School research image competition were displayed in the Library so as to seek nominations for a ‘people’s choice’ winner alongside the judges’ winner. Stalls in the Library, including those promoting Library European studies resources (presented by Ross Connell, our European Documentation Centre Librarian), contributed to September’s Researchers’ Night events. Reading was one of four UK venues to have won European Union funding to promote our arts and humanities research on Europe to the wider world. The Library café served continental food and there were mini-lectures, a tour and a quiz. In early summer, we showcased innovative work created by local school children and the University’s Ure Museum – part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Their giant model of an ancient Greek pot displayed an animated projection inspired

Getting your teeth into researchAn image showing dental wear was one of ten shortlisted in the Graduate School research image competition displayed in the Library. The competition spread awareness of work in progress at this research-intensive university.

Open Days, open houseWe welcome prospective students and their parents on University Open Days, who may take library quality into account when com-paring higher education options.


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by friezes on pottery of the period. The Library also accommodates out-of-term visits from sixth-formers at local schools seeking more challenging information resources.

Achieving success in our bid to Reading’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme (UROP), we were funded to give valuable research work experience to a summer student. Second year Typography & Graphic Communication student Elizabeth Baker showed great promise researching and establishing a Library digital image management database.

Our University Library proved a good benchmark when visited by other academic librarians. These included the University for the Creative Arts Librarian, University of the West of England Library staff interested in our Study Advice structures and organisation, and the 94 Group Executive Office Staff.

Our own Library staff also attended international events. Helen Hathaway, Information Skills Co-ordinator and University Teaching Fellow, took part in the European Union funded Erasmus exchange of non-academic university staff to Bergen, Norway for an event on information literacy. David Sutton, Research Projects Director, spoke at the British Library ‘Manuscripts still matter’ conference, the annual meeting of the Society of American Archivists in Chicago, and the annual conference of the International Council on Archives in Toledo, Spain. In January he became convenor of an international network on literary manuscripts, funded by the Leverhulme Trust and involving colleagues in the USA, France, Italy, Namibia and Trinidad.

Researchers’ Night takes the biscuit‘Researchers’ Night’, an EU-funded event, promoted Reading’s arts and humanities research on Europe to a wider audience. Ross Connell, our European Documentation Centre Librarian contributed a stall to an event in the Library. Biscuits decorated with the ‘Language text and power’ theme device were served!

PeopleHigh-level support of the University results from our dedication to staff training and development, not least through our own outstanding Staff Development Hour programme. In turn our motivated and dedicated staff feel valued and appreciated. This was demonstrated in two ways this session: our immediate success in gaining Investors in People (IiP) reaccreditation at the Bronze award level we aimed for; Library staff giving an ‘engagement’ rating of 90% in the University Staff Survey. (The average University rate was 79%.)

We support national librarianship qualifications for CILIP, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals. We mentor several masters-level trainee liaison librarians for CILIP chartership in well-structured three-year posts providing new professionals with a range of liaison, functional and supervisory experiences. Existing employees Elizabeth Schlackman, Elizabeth Simpson and Claire Cannings achieved chartership (MCLIP) this session; two trainees moved to senior posts elsewhere;

and new trainee Erika Delbecque joined us in June. We also provide graduate trainee library assistant posts for one year with mentorship – this year for Cathryn Peppard. In March our Collections Project Library Assistant Caroline Instone achieved CILIP Certification (ACLIP).

Library staff teaching skills were recognised this year when four of them won University Teaching and Learning Awards. Helen Hathaway, Judy Turner and Elizabeth Schlackman were praised for team teaching within the Library and with the Institute of Education. Ross Connell, Law Librarian, received a faculty award for outstanding contributions to teaching and learning, having been nominated by the School of Law.

We saw two Library Senior Managers retire this session. In September, Support Services

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Latest trainee liaison librarian

Erika Delbeque is training to be

a chartered librarian with us.

Manager Ian Burn retired after 32 years in the role. He will be missed for his patience, good (even wicked) humour and unfailing helpfulness. In June, Rupert Wood, Head of Collections retired after ten years masterminding three store projects and the Collections Project. His experience and knowledge will be greatly missed. His determined production of benchmarking statistics was instrumental in securing additional funding for Library materials. Our new Senior

Managers are Robin Hunter, Head of Administration/Facilities Manager and Paul Johnson, Head of Collections and Space. Both spent a few weeks with their predecessors before moving on to establish their own strengths in their roles.

Also retiring this year was Pam Burles, Accounts Assistant.

We were all saddened by the death of Allan Jones, a Library Attendant, of heart failure in September.

Piece of (Apple) cake

Ian Burn’s retirement cake

represented his Apple Mac laptop

on which he designed many

Library documents.


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Fly away Rupert, come back Paul

Paul Johnson (left) re

turned to

Reading to succeed Rupert Wood

as Head of Collections and Space.

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Statistics

2009 – 2010 2010 – 2011 2011 – 2012

Number of registered Library users

Total 22,087 25,087 21,934

Students 16,976 20,097 16,864

Staff 4,583 4,324 4,466

External users 528 666 604

Use of the libraries

Number of user visits 885,723 958,001 1,028,621

Number of items borrowed 651,535 589,776 531,601

Items borrowed from other libraries 4,657 3,566 4,242

Items supplied to other libraries 505 277 198

Number of enquiries in a sample term-time week 2,266 1,758 1,913

Number of Library staff hours spent teaching 600 788 978

Library staff

Full-time equivalent 83.60 81.20 79.1

Information resources

Catalogued books 1,209,988 1,136,986 1,103,854

Books added in the year 10,964 7,120 7,182

Current periodical subscriptions 23,502 26,274 29,001

Electronic periodicals 21,123 24,213 27,962

E-books 291,109 281,651 283,245

Library buildings

Total area occupied (sq m) 13,803 13,803 8,888

Study places 1,467 1,542 1,455

Study places with PCs 234 228 214

Study places with network connection (laptops) 24 32 38

Annual Library expenditure

Information resources £1,435,694 £1,551,600 £1,868,895

Timeline

August

Library reaccredited IiP with a Bronze Award

Study Advisers and Maths Support Team join the Library

Online Inter-Library Loan ordering for staff/research students begins

September

Ian Burn, Support Services Manager retires – replaced by Robin Hunter

Library participates in EU ‘Researchers’ Night’

October

Library joins in Freshers’ Week and Open Day events

November

Feasibility Group on Library reconvenes

Students Union ‘Love your Library’ campaign

December

More stock delivered to Off-site Store

Book Drop service closes at Bulmershe Court

Bulmershe Library’s lesser-used research items processed ready for Store

January

5th Floor and Basement rewired

Book Drop service begins from London Road

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February

50,000th book added to Store collection

Off-site Store user survey begins

219 journals transferred to British Library for UK Research Reserve

March

Library weekend opening hours extend from 17:00 to 21:00

UK Research Reserve Collection of rare journals created for retention at Reading

Library staff help plan Reading’s Malaysian campus library

April

Ross Connell, Helen Hathaway, Judy Turner and Elizabeth Schlackman win University teaching and learning awards

David Sutton becomes a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature

Journals processed for withdrawal or retention from seventh list agreed with UK Research Reserve

May

Pam Burles, Accounts Assistant retires

Helen Hathaway travels to Bergen with Erasmus staff mobility scheme

Library displays postgraduate research photographs and Ure Museum schools project

June

Erika Delbecque, Trainee Liaison Librarian arrives

Claire Cannings promoted to Collections Project Co-ordinator

Rewiring on Ground Floor – staff relocate to 5th Floor

More Collections Project stock moves

July

Library catalogue switches to Enterprise

Rupert Wood, Head of Collections and Space retires – replaced by Paul Johnson

Claire Cannings becomes Teaching Practice Collection Librarian


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For more information, please contact:

Julia Munro, University Librarian

University of Reading Library Whiteknights Reading RG6 6AE

[email protected] Tel (0118) 378 8770 Fax (0118) 378 6636www.reading.ac.uk/library

B06904 01.13

Documents

University of Reading Library Review 2011-2012