Librarian’s Report
Bursar’s Report
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BY SUZANNE TONKIN
his has been another busy year for us in the Library with enhancements of the Library’s space and book stock. The College’s Giving Week in October saw many donors supporting the expansion of the Library’s collections in preparation for our expanded cohort in 2020-2021 and 2021-2022. Our work each summer always involves checking reading lists and updating the book collections, but this year we bought many additional titles. We also upgraded the subject, study skills and careers collections and greatly expanded the availability of textbooks in preparation for the arrival of our new students.
rom the bursarial view point this has not been a quiet year! We are in the midst of our major development plans whilst still dealing with the impact of COVID - so the financial and other resource challenges are very apparent. Once again, we have needed to adapt services and facilities in supporting our students, whether they were in Cambridge or elsewhere in the world. It has been wonderful to see how our dedicated staff teams have continued to show such commitment and flexibility. This has been true for those reliably turning up to frontfacing roles in College, trusting that the College and its community will do the right thing to keep them and each other safe, and also from those still working from home over a year later - having packed up their things in March 2020, not anticipating for a moment that their kitchen table would become their desk for quite so long…
A donation also underpinned the early support we were able to give to several of our undergraduate offer-holders through the establishment of an introductory collection of books which we then posted out to students over the summer. Feedback on this new service has been very positive with one student stating “As someone who wouldn’t have easily had the funds to buy these books, I would like to express how much I appreciate this!” We are incredibly grateful for the work of the Development Office and the support of so many generous donors, who have made such a difference to the Library’s collections. The summer also saw a refurbishment and upgrade of some of the Library’s study spaces, most notably in the basement rooms, where a new Careers and Enterprise Hub has been created to support collaborative work. A state of the art video-conferencing system, screensharing software, a visualiser and a large whiteboard are now available in a much lighter and brighter space. Other facilities include large write-on tables and as I write we are awaiting delivery of a “Zoom booth” – soundproofed space to allow students to conduct Zoom calls privately. We have also brought together the Library’s skills equipment to form a coherent practical skills collection, with support for disciplines that involve hands-on teaching. The collection holds such varied items as a cutting mat and light box for Architecture students, molecular model kits for Natural Sciences students, and even a kit to help our Medics and Vets practise their handwashing.
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ANNUAL REVIEW 2020/2021
BY LESLEY THOMPSON
The academic skills programme – MAP: Maximise your Academic Potential – has gone from strength to strength with our largest programme yet of skills sessions to support our students at whatever stage in their studies they may be. All our sessions this year moved to Zoom or Teams, which not only had the advantage of allowing our students to attend wherever in the world they were based, but also removed the cap on numbers so there was space for everyone. We were particularly pleased to be able to include broader “lifeskills” sessions as part of the timetable this year and workshops on mindfulness, resilience and managing stress were particularly well received. As ever, grateful thanks go to our sterling Library Team of Assistant Librarian Amanda Hawkes and Library Assistant Gill Saxon, whose hard work ensure the Library supports our students in their work and remains the friendly and welcoming space that it has always been.
Naturally, the College has suffered further financial losses as a result of the pandemic with reductions and refunds to students of rent and of catering charges for those not in Cambridge and reflecting reduced provision as a result of COVID safety requirements. These have cost the College around £500K. Unfortunately, as we rent some of the accommodation that we provide, we have still had to pay rent on those properties whether students were in occupation or not. Also, as predicted, in 2021 we have had almost no conference income in our normal busy period of July to September, leading to a further loss of income of around £700k. However, a range of positive factors has meant that the overall financial position of the College has been supported. Firstly, given the reduction in operations, we continued to claim support from the Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, allowing us to retain all of our permanent staff; and, secondly, we have again had intercollegiate support (around £1 million in 2020/21) in the form of the Colleges’ Fund whereby the better endowed colleges support the lesser endowed colleges. Although grants from this Fund are usually required to be added to the endowments of the recipient colleges, once again this year approval was given for them to be
used to cover operational expenditure. Finally, having suffered a dramatic fall when COVID first hit, the stock market bounced back quite quickly and has continued to hold up such that the value of the College’s investment portfolio at the year-end has meant that the College is in an overall better financial position at 20 June 2021 than at the previous year end. Throughout this whole period, we have continued to develop the College’s exciting plans for its future. Having scrutinised our business case and financial modelling, the University confirmed its 30 year loan facility of £16m to the College and construction of the Phase 1 building, built to Passivhaus standards, began on site in early 2021. Although it was sad to see Barrmore disappear, it has been very exciting to view the emerging new building – currently on budget and on programme, so we expect to be able to’ take delivery’ next August 2022. We have also taken on more rented accommodation for our growing student body and are currently working closely with the University on possibilities for a longer term solution at Eddington. We have pressed ahead with our ambitious growth and development plans as we believe that these will support the College’s long term financial sustainability - but doing this at a time when the College’s operational finances continue to be affected by the impact of the pandemic is challenging. We are very thankful that the Colleges’ Fund grant in 2021/22 will again be allowed to be used operationally but we are also all the more grateful to all who so generously support the College in whatever way – every donation makes a real difference. If you wish to know more about the College finances I am very happy to answer questions and the accounts, including the Trustees Annual Report, are available on the College website: https://www.lucy.cam.ac.uk/reports-accounts 2020/21 accounts will be uploaded once approved
ANNUAL REVIEW 2020/2021
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