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LIBRARY REVIEW 2014/2015 LIMITLESS POTENTIAL | LIMITLESS AMBITION | LIMITLESS IMPACT
Library review 2014–15
Contents Raising our game
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Improving Library space
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Collections
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Systems and services
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Helping and teaching
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Contributing to our communities
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People
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Statistics
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Our year in review
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Compiled by: Rachel Redrup, Julia Munro, Paul Johnson and Amy Rippon. This and previous editions of Library Review can be viewed online at www.issuu.com/uorlibrary
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Library review 2014–15
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RAISING OUR GAME Library review 2014–15
This was a session in which we continued to improve our services and facilities to ever better levels.
Late summer saw the completion of the refurbishment of our 3rd and 4th Floors – the culmination of the £4.4m refurbishment project that began in 2013 with the 2nd and 5th Floors. The new facilities proved highly popular. In the 2014 National Student Survey (NSS) final year undergraduate students showed their appreciation of
Before
2013 improvements by rating satisfaction with their Library at 87%, up 7% since last year and our highest ever score. In the autumn we held an event for University of Reading alumni, both to mark 50 years of the University Library at Whiteknights (and all the changes and adaptations of those
years) and to celebrate the latest transformation of our upper floors. Dame Lynne Brindley returned to her alma mater to speak, reflecting on her time at Reading both as a student and as a library assistant, her career in librarianship, including as Chief Executive of the British Library, and research into learning in the future. The event was a quick ‘sell-out’ and much enjoyed by all attendees. But we are not standing still. The University’s Feasibility Group on the Library Refurbishment continues to plan for a final major phase which will tackle the Ground and 1st Floors, other internal services, and the building’s exterior.
After
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We continue with service advances too. In March we began implementing the Talis Aspire online reading list system. This software will help us to ensure that the Library, in collaboration with academic colleagues, provides an improved reading list service to meet the current and future needs
Library review 2014/15
of our taught students. In June University Library and Collections Services’ successful application for membership of Research Libraries UK (RLUK) demonstrated that our research collections and support services rank highly in the UK and continuously improve and innovate. We look forward to working with fellow RLUK libraries on future initiatives in this arena. Alongside these activities many staff also supported the
Before
After
development of the University’s new campus in Malaysia as it reaches out to become an ever more global university. In August I visited to help to appoint the Head of the Learning Resource Centre (Wong Thiam Ming); in January Wong visited us to meet staff and see our operations; in April Paul Johnson (Head of Collections and Space) visited to share with Wong his experience of planning space. Library staff in the UK liaised with, trained and
assisted staff in Malaysia with the implementation of systems, acquisition of material, and gathering reading lists. It is, of course, people who enable and deliver all this progress and achievement. Sir David Bell (Vice Chancellor) and Dr Richard Messer (Chief Strategy Officer and University Secretary) continue to offer invaluable and strong support and encouragement, much appreciated. Will Broadway, our University Project Manager, was crucial to the success of the refurbishments. And my thanks as ever to all the Library staff for making possible yet another year in which their efforts have ensured that the Library has delivered more improvements and achieved well-deserved recognition. Our re-accreditation with Investors in People (IiP), gaining Silver this time, shows our ongoing commitment to the development of our staff, as well as their unfailing dedication to serving the Library and the University.
Julia Munro, Head, University Library and Collections Services, & University Librarian
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Library review 2014/15
IMPROVING LIBRARY SPACE By Autumn, the University’s £4.4 million investment in refurbishing the Library’s four upper floors, plus staircases and toilets was successfully realised to deliver the ‘wow factor’ intended. Some Autumn Open Day visitors thought our Library the best they had seen yet and that it ‘really made you feel ready to study’ and even, ‘This is the coolest library ever!’ Over summer 2014, parts of the 4th Floor (Social Sciences) had closed for renovation. Using blue with green accents, the group study area now boasts long tables and pods, including popular four- and sixperson glass pods. Separated by a glass wall, the ‘quiet’ areas comprise individual study workbays placed around the book stock. Our 3rd Floor (Arts and Humanities), now purple with blue accents, contains individual workbays and desks for quiet study. Former staff offices on both floors
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transformed into bookable consultation/meeting rooms with tables, soft seating, and a PC with large, mobile screens.
‘The University’s £4.4 million investment in refurbishing the Library’s four upper floors, plus staircases and toilets was successfully realised to deliver the ‘wow factor’ intended’
Additional work complemented last year’s 2nd Floor (Sciences) refurbishment with green paint, and the 5th Floor with popular, individual
soft seating for the central area. Linking everything together and aiding navigation, we added signage and floor-colour accents to our central staircases and lift lobbies. We are delighted that the University wishes to further revitalise our 50-year old building’s infrastructure, exterior and un-refurbished floors. Its Feasibility Group on the Refurbishment of the University Library, formed last session, spent much of this session in careful consultation with University ‘stakeholders’, in surveying and considering options. Architects Stride Treglown, who worked on our 2013-2014 refurbishment, were appointed in September. In February, the Group concluded that the current Library site, in the centre of Whiteknights campus, was the prime and best position, and that building a new library on another site was not a preferred option. Attempting a new build
Library review 2014/15
on the same site was agreed too expensive, requiring a temporary library to be established elsewhere. Hence, refurbishment of the existing building during occupation, over a period of about three and a half years at a cost of ca.£40 million, was agreed the preferred option since the Library could remain operational for students throughout. By June, the project had been approved in principle by Council and moved into scheme design stage. It is now hoped to begin work in summer 2016.
‘This is the coolest library ever!’
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Library review 2014/15
COLLECTIONS This session saw the fruition of several months’ work with key publishers to increase subscription access to a much greater range of e-journal content, adding 4,299 new titles by April. This allows all our researchers to access a much greater range, quickly and easily. We bought online journals published by Wiley, Taylor & Francis and Cambridge University Press from 1997 onwards; Oxford University Press from 1996 onwards; Sage from 1999 onwards. This complements our existing individual journal subscriptions, as well as the full range of Elsevier journals available on the ScienceDirect platform. We also increased the number of titles available via Project Muse, and the number of Annual Reviews we take. Users may search for journal titles in the Library’s Enterprise catalogue or for articles by subject key words using the Library’s Summon discovery service or through individual subject-related databases. Our Library users themselves directed us to buy nearly £94,000 of the e-books they really needed, without even knowing it during two rounds of a Patron Driven Acquisition (PDA) project with EBL. In October and
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January our catalogue displayed thousands of EBL e-book records, although only actual use triggered purchase. In total, 438 e-books were bought outright and 2,371 short-term loans were triggered. Throughout the session we continued to expand online reference and journal access with subscriptions to resources such as: American Geophysical Union journal backfiles; Brill’s New Pauly Supplements 1 (classical reference works); Digital Loeb Classical Library; Drama Online (play texts and criticism); The international encyclopedia of revolution and protest; Oxford Handbooks Online; Oxford Scholarly Editions Online; WileyBlackwell Business & Management journal backfiles; Wiley-Blackwell encyclopedia of literature; Early European Books: collections 1-4 and The Vogue Archive through Proquest Archives; additional newspaper archives via Gale/Cengage; additional OECD datasets via UK Data Service.
Library review 2014/15
SYSTEMS AND SERVICES This session saw systems improvements great and small. A major development was initiating use of the Talis Aspire online reading list system across the University. This enables tutors to create interactive, annotated and prioritised online lists, linked to real-time Library availability of print resources, and e-resources. It also enables Library staff to prioritise purchases and access. Confirmation of funding by the University came in January. Implementation began in March, project managed by Kerry Webb (Learning Support Co-ordinator/ Liaison Team Manager). Ethan Scott joined her in April as Graduate Intern for the Project. Phase 1 addressed adding lists recording copyright-cleared scans, and all lists from selected departments with the most scans. Between March and September, we aimed to input over 500 lists, reaching 65% of our target by July. In June we enhanced our bibliographic records to facilitate
deep linking between Talis and Symphony (our library management system), allowing availability data to display within Talis. Other inter-system innovations smoothed the Library experience for our users. From August, University members could pay Library fines online through the UoR’s online payment system. From January students could borrow Library materials directly after receiving Campus Cards rather than the next day, once dynamic updates of new and changed Campus Card ID numbers from the Campus Card database came straight to Symphony (the Library Management System). Since June, users access most online resources we provide via
our renamed, redesigned Online Resources Single Sign On screen. Since moving from ‘classic Athens’ to OpenAthens Local Authentication and its associated proxy service, we provide access to most resources both on- and offcampus with University of Reading credentials via Institutional login solutions. We also redesigned our Item Finder screen to direct users more clearly to alternative means of obtaining items not available online via our databases.
‘A major development was initiating use of the Talis Aspire online reading list system across the University’
Library review 2014/15
HELPING AND TEACHING Big events often get the most publicity, such as Welcome Week when the Library, along with the rest of the University, introduces itself to new students. This year we joined support services on module selection day in the inflatable Dome tent where our Social Media Team ran a Twitter Wall presenting how the Library and Study Advisers can support students. We ran ‘Finding your way’ workshops, a ‘Library fair’ and a prize draw for early borrowers. We handed out guides to Making the most of your Library. In this digital age, one might assume printed guides would be thought superfluous but 84% of those surveyed later told us it contained useful information. Another event was the fifth annual academic Library representatives’ Community of Practice meeting on establishing information skills development within the undergraduate curriculum. It showcased
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collaborative work to apply ANCIL (A New Curriculum for Information Literacy) to the Department of Food and Nutrition Sciences by Jackie Skinner (Liaison Librarian), Professor Bob Rastall (Head of Department) and Michelle Reid (Study Adviser). Throughout the year, Library and Study Advice teams are always working to support individual students and staff. Our three Study Advisers collaborated with academic colleagues in departments.
‘Liaison Librarians together spent over 800 hours teaching over 9,200 students in formal group sessions, and gave around 470 one-toone advice sessions’
They personally provided 117 sessions, 26% more than last year, but also embedded learning development into courses to reach a wider student cohort, this year almost 6,000 students. Liaison Librarians together spent over 800 hours teaching over 9,200 students in formal group sessions, and gave around 470 one-to-one advice sessions, in addition to other meetings with academic staff. We further developed online help which can be viewed whenever needed. Our liaison librarians implemented improved online guides to each of their subjects using Libguides, based on a template we developed last session. This technology allows us to embed search boxes, videos and feeds to separate tabs for each information resource type, surpassing what we previously achieved with simple webpages. The Library Videos Group updated Library videos and added new ones
Library review 2014–15
on literature searching. The Study Advisers screencasts’ popularity continues with views having risen to 72,000 during this session.
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Library review 2014/15
CONTRIBUTING TO OUR COMMUNITIES Our Library and staff continue to contribute to our University, academic, international and library communities. In November we staged an event for local University of Reading alumni on the Library’s 2nd Floor, the same place as the Library’s ceremonial opening in 1964. We celebrated both 50 years of the University Library building at Whiteknights – some attendees remembered the 1964 opening as students – and the completion of the latest refurbishment on this and other upper floors. Introduced by ViceChancellor, Sir David Bell, Dame Lynne Brindley contemplated her Reading student and library assistant days, her work in librarianship, including as Chief Executive of the British Library, and research into learning in the future. As part of, and based on, her research Construction Management PhD student, Hiral Patel, curated an accompanying and well-received exhibition detailing the life and adaptions of the building. Several visitors came to learn from and about us this session. In September we arranged an ‘Open house’ event for University staff to view our newly refurbished upper
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four floors, our University’s own Council members and the University of Warwick’s Librarian, Robin Green visited in January. Librarians from the Royal College of Surgeons visited to share our expertise in the Enterprise and AdLib catalogues. We were both delighted and proud that in June, our University Library and Collections Services joined RLUK (Research Libraries UK), an influential community shaping the future research library agenda. It demonstrates that our research collections and our support for research is rated among the very best in the UK and Ireland. We look forward to contributing to, and benefiting from, RLUK-led initiatives and innovations for outstanding research support services and collections in a digital age. Our Study Advisers’ published items enhancing their professional reputation including a paper on screen casting in the Journal of Learning Development in HE. The popular graduate student careers website ‘Prospects’ invited them to provide essay planning advice for their November feature article. Trainee Liaison Librarian Rosie
Higman participated in the European Union’s Erasmus university staff mobility scheme to give a presentation at the University of Bergen’s Staff Mobility Week. We continue to contribute to the local school community by hosting many out-of-term visits through our Schools Liaison Librarian. This session the role was assumed by Senior Library Assistant, Caroline Treeves.
‘We celebrated both 50 years of the University Library building at Whiteknights and the completion of the latest refurbishment on this and other upper floors’
Library review 2014/15
PEOPLE This session marked a period of change within our Library teams. Partly due to a University administrative review incentive scheme several members of Library staff retired this year. This included library assistants Maggy Baggs, Fiona Cummins, John Midgley, Judith Phillips and Judith Snipp, and Library Office Administration Manager, Gerry MacKinnon. Also retiring were several long-standing, senior members of staff. Celia Ayres, Head of Systems and User Services, retired typically without fuss or photos in October after 34 years’ service. Celia led many projects transforming Library systems, services and environment, ever enthusiastic to ensure Reading should benefit from new library and IT developments, and Library staff learn about them. She successfully mentored many trainee liaison librarians in CILIP chartership endeavours and was always generous with advice to colleagues needing her wisdom and experience.
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Rose-Ann Movsovic took early retirement in September after 30 years’ service. As our Collections Manager, she oversaw many changes and projects, not least the very challenging Collections Project 2009-2014.
‘The entire Library staff can congratulate themselves on achieving Investor in People (IiP) silver award in August’ Ruth Salisbury retired in January after 20 years of service, latterly as our Systems Manager. Her first task was to implement the Unicorn library management system across the whole library service - no small task! She saw us through several system iterations and associated OPACS, discovery tools and other technical developments. In February, we celebrated with a book-shaped cake, retaining
the considerable expertise of our Preservations Manager, Geoff Gardner after 40 years of service. He started work in the Library’s then Bindery in 1975. After careful consideration of the best staff structures to suit contemporary service demands, we set about a busy period of filling roles old and new. In October Sue Egleton joined our Senior Management Team as Head of Systems and User Services, bringing several years of systems experience at the University of Oxford. In April, Sam Tyler was promoted from Systems Team Administrator to Systems Manager. In summer 2015, Kate Devaney was promoted to the newly created role of Collections Services Manager and Rachael Scott to that of Content Manager. Librarianship is not always recognised for the graduate profession it is, committed to continuing professional development. To counteract this, our liaison librarians began listing their qualifications and publications on web contact pages, as do academic colleagues. In support of national librarianship qualifications for CILIP (the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals), our sought-after three-year trainee liaison librarian posts provide a range
Library review 2014/15
New Trainee Liaison Librarians Rosie Higman and YiWen Hon
of liaison, functional and supervisory experience, plus mentored training and a training budget. New Trainee Liaison Librarians Rosie Higman and YiWen Hon took up their posts in August. Existing Trainee Liaison Librarian, Anna Richards, achieved CILIP Chartership in December. We also support Graduate Trainee Library Assistants for a year before University library/information science training: this session, just one, James Cressey. We strongly encourage our liaison librarians and study advisers to participate in training resulting
in Higher Education Academy Fellowship. This session, Michelle Reid (Study Adviser) and Helen Hathaway (Head of Academic Liaison and Support) achieved Senior Fellowship; Kerry Webb (Liaison Team Manager) and Jackie Skinner, (Web Manager/Liaison Librarian) Fellowship; and Anna Richards (Trainee Liaison Librarian) and Rachael Scott (Content Manager) Associate Fellowship. The entire Library staff can congratulate themselves on achieving Investor in People (IiP) silver award in August.
We were sorry to hear of the deaths of former Library staff. James Thompson, University Librarian here 1967-1987, was very influential and wrote much within the academic library community. Carolyn Frey was a long-serving cataloguer for us. Kathy Paterson, who retired in 2007, was an early liaison librarian for Economics. Her passion and commitment to life-long learning led directly to the establishment of our Staff Development Hour in 1998 and our first IiP accreditation (2003), a fitting legacy for Kathy.
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Library review 2014/15
STATISTICS 2013/14
2013/14
2014/15
Total
22,367
24,431
22,851
Students
17,222
20,237
18,595
Staff
4,601
3,643
3,753
External users
544
551
503
73.5
77.6
78.7
Total gross floor area managed by the Library (sq m)
*
9,905
9,905
Total number of study spaces
1,455
1,436
1,319
Number of open access workstations (PCs)
214
208
191
Total catalogued print stock
1,083,846
1,080,505
1,081,985
Number of print books added to stock in the year
8,142
8,077
7,994
Number of e-books for which the Library has paid
*
324,722
374,345
Total number of periodical titles purchased
*
17,964
23,364
Number of full-text items held in the institutional repository available externally
*
2,847
3,999
Total number of unique loans (not including renewals)
*
221,142
201,105
Full text article requests
1,057,097
1,178,882
1,725,152
Section requests for e-books
512,181
552,178
1,020.909
Total number of users entering the Library during the year
1,237,749
1,096,065
1,279,614
Number of library staff hours spent delivering information literacy training
951
1,003
992
£2,669,028
£2,647,993
£2,912,100
NUMBER OF REGISTERED LIBRARY USERS
LIBRARY STAFF Full-time equivalent LIBRARY SPACE
INFORMATION RESOURCE PROVISION
LIBRARY USE
ANNUAL LIBRARY EXPENDITURE Total information resource provision expenditure
* Data not available before 2013/14 when SCONUL (Society of College, National and University Libraries) significantly changed requests for statistics, from which this table is compiled. 16
Library review 2014/15
An aerial shot of the Library captured by a drone
374,345
1,725,152
NUMBER OF E-BOOKS FOR WHICH THE LIBRARY HAS PAID
FULL-TEXT ARTICLE REQUESTS
23,364
1,279,614
TOTAL NUMBER OF PERIODICAL TITLES PURCHASED
TOTAL NUMBER OF USERS ENTERING THE LIBRARY DURING THE YEAR
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Library review 2014/15
OUR YEAR IN REV OCTOBER 14 • Celia Ayres retires and Sue Egleton arrives as Head of Systems and User Services.
AUGUST 14 • Library achieves Investor in People (IiP) silver award. • Library NSS score up 7% to 87%, our highest ever. • New Trainee Liaison Librarians, Rosie Higman and YiWen Hon, arrive. • Wong Thiam Ming LRC Head, UoR Malaysia appointed.
• EBL Patron Driven Acquisition project closed after purchasing 316 e-books. • Study Adviser, Michelle Reid achieves Senior Fellowship of Higher Education Academy (HEA); Liaison Team Manager, Kerry Webb, Fellowship; and Trainee Liaison Librarian, Anna Richards, Associate Fellowship.
• Trainee Liaison Librarian Anna Richards achieves chartership.
SEPTEMBER 14
NOVEMBER 14
JANUARY 15
• Rose-Ann Movsovic, Collections Manager retires.
• Library celebrates 50 years at Whiteknights with Dame Lynne Brindley and UoR alumni.
• Ruth Salisbury, Systems Manager retires.
• Graduate Trainee Library Assistant, James Cressey, arrives. • ‘Open house’ held for University staff to view Library’s refurbished upper floors.
• New special collections records added to Enterprise catalogue (Cole and Geology). • Schools Liaison Librarian role assumed by Senior Library Assistant Caroline Treeves. • Wong Thiam Ming starts work in the Learning Resource Centre (LRC), UoR Malaysia.
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DECEMBER 14
• Second EBL Patron Driven Acquisition project purchases 122 e-books. • Wong Thiam Ming, Head of UoR Malaysia LRC visits. • £50k donation from the will of Mrs J M Pope.
Library review 2014/15
VIEW FEBRUARY 15 • Geoff Gardner, Preservations Manager, celebrates 40 years’ service with the Library. • Social Media Team tweet for National Libraries Day.
APRIL 15
JUNE 15
• Sam Tyler promoted to Systems Manager (replacing Ruth Salisbury).
• University Library and Collections Services accepted to join Research Libraries UK.
• Paul Johnson, Head of Collections and Space, visits UoR Malaysia to help plan new LRC. • Ethan Scott appointed Graduate Intern for the Talis Reading List Project.
• Kate Devaney appointed to newly created role of Collections Services Manager. • Rachael Scott achieves Chartership.
MARCH 15
MAY 15
JULY 15
• Implementation of Talis Aspire online reading list system begins with Kerry Webb, Course Support Coordinator as project manager.
• Library assistants Maggy Baggs, Fiona Cummins, John Midgley and Judith Snipp retire.
• Rachael Scott appointed to newly created role of Content Manager.
• Helen Hathaway achieves Senior Fellowship of the HEA; Jackie Skinner, Fellowship; and Rachael Scott, Associate Fellowship. • Library again achieves Gold in the RUSU Green Impact Awards.
• Community of Practice Library Representatives. • Rosie Higman, Trainee Liaison Librarian gives presentation at University of Bergen Staff Mobility Week.
• Library assistant, Judith Phillips and Library Office Administration Manager, Gerry MacKinnon retire.
• 50 years since Library building at Whiteknights officially opened.
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LIBRARY REVIEW 2014/2015 For more information, please contact: Julia Munro, University Librarian University of Reading Library Whiteknights Reading RG6 6AE library@reading.ac.uk Tel (0118) 378 8770 Fax (0118) 378 6636 www.reading.ac.uk/library
B15134  06.16