University of Liverpool

�  Reading Lists @ Liverpool Iaunched in Sept 2013

�  1,700 lists at the outset

�  Mostly imported from our previous ‘system’: catalogue records with a reading list field added

A pre-populated system

�  Current recommendations were solicited by email from module coordinators

�  Lists were created/edited by Library Acquisitions staff

�  Much easier to engage academics if some of the work has been done for them

Why engage the academics? �  Library staffing capacity

�  Ownership

�  Immediacy

�  Student experience

Ethos �  Culture change

�  Ownership passing from the library to the academics

�  Removing barriers

�  Giving the academics the power – by making them List Publishers

How to engage the academics?

�  Success project

�  Liaison Librarians

�  Meetings

�  Mandate?

�  Web presence

�  Training

�  Persuasion by their peers …

Success project

�  July 2013 – July 2014

�  Academic Liaison taking the lead

�  One Page Project Plan

�  Tasks mapped against a timeline

One Page Project Plan

The original OPPM is Copyright OC Tanner 2008.

One-Page Project Plan was adapted by David Sommer Consulting for the Practical Project Management Workshop. http://www.DavidSommerConsulting.com

Objec&ves:      

Champions  have  been  iden&fied  

Support  and  training  has  been  established  

Marke&ng  has  been  delivered  

Student  feedback  has  been  obtained  

Project  Name:      

Reading  Lists  @  Liverpool  Success      

Project  Goal:      

Staff  and  students  are  using  Reading  Lists  @  Liverpool  by  July  2014  

Comple&on  Date:   30-­‐Jul-­‐14    

Project  Leader:      

Clair  Sharpe  

Updated  on:      

09-­‐Jun-­‐14      

Tasks          1.   Senior  University  staff  have  been  engaged  and  policies  agreed      2.   The  Guild  have  been  engaged      3.   Early  adopters  have  been  offered  VIP  support  by  Library      4.   Academics  have  been  engaged  as  reading  lists  published      5.   Liaison  Librarians  have  disseminated  info  at  relevent  meetings      6.   All  library  staff  have  been  updated      7.   Train  the  trainer  training  has  been  arranged        8.   A  mixed  programme  of  training  has  been  devised      9.   A  checklist  for  trainers  pre  &  post  session  has  been  prepared      10.   Reading  List  LibGuide  &  LibAnswers  have  been  updated      11.   Drop  in  training  sessions  have  been  added  to  calendar      12.   Short  demo  video  clips  have  been  added  to  the  LibGuide      13.   Training  for  Guild  student  reps  has  been  delivered      

14.   Resources  for  Courses  has  been  launched  15.   High  visibility  of  Reading  Lists  on  Homepage  has  been  secured  16.   High  visibility  of  Reading  Lists  on  catalogue  has  been  secured  17.   High  visibility  of  Reading  Lists  on  DISCOVER  has  been  secured  18.   High  visibility  via  VITAL  (Building  Block)  has  been  incorporated    19.   Marketing  has  been  aligned  to  the  Library  branding  exercise  20.   Digital  signage  inside  libraries  has  been  used  21.   Digital  signage  elsewhere  in  the  University  has  been  used  22.   A  "talking  head"  style  video  clip  of  an  academic  has  been  made  23.   A  focus  group  of  users  has  been  indentifed  24.   Feedback  from  academics  has  been  gathered  25.   The  use  of  module/programme  evaluation  has  been  explored    

A   We  think  academics  will  get  on  board  B   We  think  we  will  manage  user  expectations  C   We  think  Reading  Lists  @  Liverpool  will  fit  the  rest  of  the  University  

Liaison Librarians

�  Main channel of communication between the library and staff/students in academic departments.

�  Other library staff, (e.g. on the desk) need to be up to speed to a certain extent, but can refer.

Meetings (various!)

�  Student Experience Committees

�  Staff-Student Liaison Committees

�  Blackboard Baseline Group

�  Guild (Students’ Union)

�  University Learning & Teaching Conference

What should a reading list be?

�  Just ‘library’ materials: books/journals?

�  Encourage the debate

�  If the academic owns the list, it’s up to him or her …

To mandate or not to mandate …

�  We decided not (for the moment at least)

�  Depends on your institution

Web presence

�  Reading Lists LibGuide used as homepage – for news, training materials etc.

�  Ubiquitous links to reading lists

Integration, integration, integration

VLE: Blackboard (known as VITAL)

Library Web pages

Library catalogue

Discovery service: EDS (known as Discover)

LibGuides

Programme Planner

Work is ongoing to make reading lists part of university systems and processes.

Training

�  Module coordinators were invited to lunchtime training sessions. Staff signed up in advance via LibCal.

�  A total of 6 workshops ran in December and February.

�  47 academic staff attended in total.

�  3 Liaison Librarians were in attendance each time.

�  Training academic staff is nothing like training students!

I went to the workshop on the Library’s excellent Reading Lists @ Liverpool enterprise, a scheme that allows you to construct a reading list via the library site (but which is not limited to the library holdings and allows links to external resources to be added in one place, even letting media clips be inserted) which you can then link to your module VITAL site and by which students can access the catalogue, the resources and their availability as relevant, directly. It’s very impressive and, crucially, easy to use. I’d encourage you all to think about using it and if you need any help getting started I’ll do my best to assist.

Dr Rebecca Dixon

School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies

Students seemed to react well to it: it’s visually more attractive than other available forms of listing we have used (e.g. within VITAL itself) and directly brings up much more relevant information (such as library stocks).

So I would say that student response has been positive so far, though I can’t say that I asked them specifically about this function — it was just there in the background.

Prof Mark Collier

School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology

Varied perspectives, different challenges

�  Different subject areas have different priorities for their lists – Humanities and Social Sciences have longer lists and may need more support from the library.

�  We need to figure out who is and who isn’t engaging and why.

�  Liaison Librarians are the key, thanks to their knowledge of departments.

Advocates

�  Our early adopters have been invaluable as advocates

�  Academics are best placed to persuade their peers

“At first I didn’t see the point of this system. Now I wish we’d got it years ago. I wouldn’t want to be without it.”

Dr Laszlo Pazmany School of Medicine

Author of our most popular lists: PBL modules for Medical students. Module 2.13 had 3,139 page views in May 2014.

Persuasion by their peers …

�  A short video, professionally filmed

�  Featuring an academic from each of the three Faculties

�  Footage of the library and relevant screenshots are shown while the academics describe the advantages of the system

�  http://libguides.liv.ac.uk/readinglists