Volume 2, Number 5, June 2010 From the Branch VP, Jennifer Middendorf First of all, congratulations to Branch President Megan Clayton and husband Ned on the birth of their daughter Anna last week.
UC Change Thermometer
While Megan’s on parental leave, I’ll be attempting to step into her shoes, ably assisted by our wonderful organisers, Gaby and Paul, and by Caroline Syddall from the Education Library, who is joining our Project Star/Links team for two days a week. It’s been a busy few weeks for us at TEU House, during which we’ve seen the power of Tū Kotahi in action. The TEU and Academic Board stood together and demanded a halt to Project STAR while an external review of the library was carried out, and Council and the VC listened. The Learning Resources change proposal has been extended by six weeks, and two external reviewers have been brought in to examine the proposal. While this review is perhaps not quite as independent as some of us would have liked, I think we can count the fact that it is happening at all as a win for our collective voice. In the meantime, the change proposals continue to roll out, with the AVC Māori change proposal being released last week. While there are no redundancies proposed (for once!), the proposed changes will have a major effect on Māori and Pasifika staff at Canterbury, so TEU has been working closely with Māori and Pasifika members to ensure their voices are clearly heard. Management’s record on Te Tiriti issues has not been great lately, so we’ll be keeping a close eye on developments.
Redundancies:
95
Redeployments: 0 Additional redundancies proposed: 58 The VC admires TEU banners as library members await the arrival of Prime Minister John Key.
A student writes:
Time to get a bigger thermometer...
A little pigeon told us
The Vice Chancellor has told us of his dream of a future where we'll be able to use library services in cafes, lecture theatres, and even at home. It’s funny he should say that, because just last week I was sitting at home in my flat writing an essay and needed some references, so I got on my computer and used the library’s database access to find the full text of the journal articles I needed on-line. I found some useful data too in a thesis that’s been digitised and made accessible through the library’s website. Needing some advice, I used the on-line live chat to discuss my research with a librarian, who recommended I interloan a relevant article from another library. I could do that without leaving my flat too – I requested the article via the on-line form, and I’ll even be able to receive it by email. I found a couple of books that looked helpful, so I used the library’s website to request them (and to renew the loan on the ones I forgot to take back), and they’ll be waiting for me to pick up when I go into university tomorrow. Finally, I checked the on-line APA guide to make sure I was using the correct referencing style. Wake up Vice Chancellor! While you’ve been sleeping, the future you’re dreaming of has already arrived.
Administrators in one school had cause to wonder whether they’re quite literally being targeted for annihilation, when they came into work one morning recently and found a bullet hole in their office window.
Library Update On 9 June, the TEU endorsed a total of 52 member submissions on the proposed library changes under the Learning Resources Change Proposal. These joined the TEU’s 75-page submission responding to the proposal to disestablish 36 positions, including all management roles and most qualified positions and effectively gutting entire sections of the Library. If the proposal goes ahead in its current format, the loss of expertise, severing of lines of communication, switching of responsibilities and fracturing of the infrastructure will lead to a severe disruption of service. The vision described by the change proposal is more akin to McDonalds than a university library. Customer service will mean “would you like a bookmark with that?”, when what users of the library really want is knowledgeable staff who can solve your problems and get you the information you need when you want it.
General Staff Day General staff, academics and students came together on Wednesday to celebrate TEU General Staff Day 2010. Proceedings started with a meeting of 150 members, addressed by Branch President Megan Clayton and National President Tom Ryan, who spoke on the obligation of University management to meaningfully consult with Academic Board – an obligation that bore fruit recently at Canterbury when Academic Board pressure led to the VC’s decision to delay the Learning Resources change proposal while an external review is carried out.
Acting on advice from the TEU and Academic Board, the Vice Chancellor has appointed two external reviewers to examine the change proposal. The reviewers will be presenting their report in early July, after which there will be further consultation. So we’ll be going through the whole submission process again then. Watch this space.
After the meeting around 60 members marched to the Registry quad, bearing signs and banners and singing “Solidarity Forever”. As Megan pointed out, the lines: Is there aught we hold in common with the greedy parasite, Who would lash us into serfdom and would crush us with his might? have just as much relevance today as when they were first written. After rousing speeches, songs and chants from the library steps (during which the Vice Chancellor and members of the SMT were spotted watching from the 6th floor windows), the rally moved on to TEU House for a celebratory BBQ. More photos from General Staff Day can be found on the TEU Canterbury blog: http://teucanterbury.wordpress.com
Can you spot what’s missing from this picture? A vision of the post-STAR library, with half a millennium of experience gone.
Been wearing your badge? A clever member in the College of Education offered this handy hint:
Leave your badge on your keyboard when you go home for the night. That way you’ll remember to put it on in the morning, instead of leaving it pinned to yesterday’s outfit.
Contact your organisers University of Canterbury Gabrielle Moore 021 90 2396 extension 6485 tertiaryunion@canterbury.ac.nz
Other Tertiary Providers Paul Corliss 021 859129 extension 6288 paul.corliss@teu.ac.nz
Phil Dodds 027 44 99 422 extension 6768 phil.dodds@teu.ac.nz
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