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LIBRARY REVIEW 2013–2014 LIMITLESS POTENTIAL | LIMITLESS AMBITION | LIMITLESS IMPACT
Library review 2013–14
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Contents
Library review 2013–14
Our golden year
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Improving Library space
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Collections
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Systems and service initiatives
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Helping and teaching
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People
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Contributing to our communities
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Statistics
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Our year
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This and previous editions of Library Review can be viewed online at issuu/uorlibrary
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Library review 2013–14
OUR GOLDEN YEAR This was our golden year. In the absolute sense, the session 2013-14 marked fifty years since the University Library moved into a new building on the Whiteknights campus. A radical design for its time, it was the third academic building on the campus and the critical one that moved the University’s centre of gravity up the hill to Whiteknights, after half a century solely at London Road campus. In the abstract too, we rate our present time as golden. The University continues to recognise, with investment, that a good library is vital to the student experience. This session marked the permanent undertaking to fund term-time 24-hour opening, as piloted last year. Strong resource funding has continued, with inflation increases, underpinning our
ability to support University strategy in teaching and learning and in research. (Very different from 50 years ago when the then VC appealed to friends and neighbours for books to fill extended Library shelf space.) Perhaps most significant is the drive to transform our 50-year old Library building into a study environment fit for the 21st century. Not only did 2013–14 see the realisation of one, and the start of a second, phase to deliver a £4.4 million ‘wow factor’ across four Library floors, but also the University Feasibility Group formed to address works on our remaining floors and exterior. The positive reactions of students, staff, potential students, visiting library professionals, journalists, film-makers and photographers are a testament to the calibre of this session’s refurbishments.
Sir David Bell, Vice-Chancellor, and Dr Richard Messer, Head of the Student and Academic Services Directorate continued to champion the Library’s development this session. Their encouragement and support remains invaluable and very motivating.
And my thanks, as ever, to all the Library staff who deliver everything that is written about in the following pages. Their enthusiasm, commitment, and sheer hard work have ensured that the Library is indeed still at the heart of the University, appreciated by, and important to, all. Julia Munro University Librarian
Right: Before and after: 2nd Floor The airy 1964 Reading Room became congested over the years until a collections review and refurbishment produced this dynamic group study space.
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1960s
2013
2014
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Library review 2013–14
IMPROVING LIBRARY SPACE This session saw the completion of the first and the beginning of the second phase of a £4.4 million refurbishment programme for our top four floors. The refurbished 2nd (Sciences) Floor returned to us as term started in October, a modern blend of bright greens, browns and purples. The high-ceilinged area to the front of the building, originally a ‘reading room’, now encourages discussion by containing a wide variety of group study furniture. The most popular are the glass six-person study pods with display screens. The original central ‘exhibition area’ now acts as a focal point for the floor, with views through replaced glass walls to the stock areas of this and the floor above. Students also particularly love the individual workbays for quiet study situated around the book stock areas.
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The refurbished 5th (Silent study) Floor opened in late November. We needed longer to knock its small, dark rooms into two large reading rooms and a central, soft-seating area. Additional soft study seating overlooks the floor below through another glass wall, re-instating a feature of the original design. Both floors have plug sockets installed at nearly every study desk.
In September we made small rearrangements to our Ground Floor layout to open up more floor space to users and improve staff workflows. We removed the redundant Collection Point and grouped Self-service Points closer to the relocated Information Desk which we equipped with a new EPOS till. Book sale shelves moved to a more prominent position.
Immediately after exams, we once more pitched into a rapid period of removals, relocation, drilling, rewiring and painting. This was the turn of our 3rd (Arts and humanities) and 4th (Social sciences) Floors to be refurbished in a similar style but different colours. Additional works included refurbishing our two main staircases, as well as both Ground Floor toilets (returning them to single sex facilities to the delight of many Library users). We maintained Library services throughout, as we did last year, retrieving out-of-bounds stock from under sheeting during contractors’ breaks.
In the future there is the prospect of substantial renovation for our Ground and 1st Floors, and exterior. After initial discussions and a workshop involving the Library, Students’ Union, Events and Catering, an external consultant reported at July’s first meeting of the Feasibility Group on the Refurbishment of the University Library. Next session we will investigate the scope of works and consider the effect on students - sheer scale will necessitate works running longer than one summer vacation.
Library review 2013–14
‘In the future there is the prospect of substantial renovation for our Ground and 1st Floors, and exterior.’
Before and after: Silent study The 5th Floor’s small rooms which once housed Special Collections were formerly far less conducive to silent private study than the bright, inspiring spaces created in 2013.
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Library review 2013–14
COLLECTIONS Although our ambitious Collections Project to review all stock officially ended last session, this year our dedicated staff put considerable effort into implementing its decisions. We continued preparing lesser-used research-level material for our Off-site Store. Another 9,000 books temporarily stored in our Basement moved there in April. Congratulations are due to our Cataloguing Team who by June had integrated material identified for open shelves from our closed Bulmershe Library. This was vital in freeing up space on the 4th Floor for group study space. So as to maintain service to Library users, further extensive stock moves enabling 3rd and 4th Floor refurbishment took place over Christmas and Easter vacations, and after summer exams. Our e-book provision continues to grow. We ordered 1,525 new eBooks from reading lists and other requests with funds allocated to individual schools/departments and faculties, an increase from nearer 1,200 last session. However we also allocated an extra £55,000 to pilot a two-strand Patron Driven Acquisition (PDA) Project. This allows Library users themselves to (unknowingly) trigger e-book purchases when they find relevant records in our Library catalogue. It
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allows us to offer a much greater range of e-books to ours users, but we only purchase individual e-books once a user chooses to view one. Our venture using MyiLibrary’s ‘Demand Driven Acquisition’ model began last April when records for e-books in five test subject areas appeared in the catalogue against a £40,000 deposit. By the end of the project in November that amount bought 507 new e-books. A second strand allocated £15,000 to Elsevier’s ‘Evidence Based Selection’ model from November 2013. Again this allows us to offer a much wider range of e-books to our users, and at the end of the year we purchased those which had seen significant usage across the year. We always make full use of all money allocated to Library materials. After ordering everything required by schools/departments we gathered remaining resources in June to purchase several large online datasets that will benefit a range of disciplines. These included British Literary Manuscripts Online, Cambridge Histories Online, Economist Historical Archive, Emerald Journal Backfiles, Sunday Times Historical Archive and Times Literary Supplement Historical Archive.
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Library review 2013–14
SYSTEMS AND SERVICE INITIATIVES This session the University confirmed permanent funding for term-time 24-hour Library opening and the latter part of Easter vacations. Our own University Security Services won the contract to provide midnight to 08:00 cover and began in March, ready for students’ busiest revision period. We have worked towards this with the University and Students’ Union over several years. We piloted it over the exam revision period last session, although we first had a week’s trial in the
1990s. This issue is very important to the University which is keen to respond to student demand, as reflected in National Student Surveys and other campaigns. (24-hour opening was requested in a Library student survey as early as 1969!) The extended opening hours have been extremely well received by Reading’s current and potential students. They also received national interest in a May BBC News: Education website article (www.bbc.co.uk/news/ education-27488873), an item generating the greatest social
media attention for the University to that date. Regardless of access to the physical library, our online resources are of course available to users 24/7. We enabled easier access this year by completing our switch from Athens to a combination of the Institutional (Shibboleth) and Proxy Authentication methods. Users no longer need to download a cookie and now need only their University username and password, or to select the University’s name from a list.
Our Web Team revised and restructured Library web content into the University’s new easierto-read, rebranded style.
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Library review 2013–14
‘This session the University confirmed permanent funding for term-time 24-hour Library opening’ Our Web Team worked hard this session to revise and restructure all Library webpage content and move them into the University’s new easier-to-read, rebranded style template. The first pages went live in May. We launched the new look Library homepage in June. This was informed by student and staff feedback. Our February survey showed 92% already ‘always’ or ‘mostly’ found what they needed. So we carried over the best features, added more, and ditched the rest. Prominent on our homepage
is not only is our Enterprise catalogue but our new Summon discovery service. Searching across all full-text resources to which we subscribe, it is better than Google for students in that it will easily retrieve academic peerreviewed articles with guaranteed access. It is also a speedy way to access articles on reading lists.
These included: an Enterprise catalogue upgrade which gave users more information on their searches; and the removal of unnecessary limits on some borrowing and on renewals. Our February shelving efficiency survey identified that we perform this still crucial Library activity quickly and effectively!
This year loans reached a healthy 98% self-issue rate, well up from 3% ten years ago! A number of service developments further streamlined our users’ borrowing experience.
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Library review 2013–14
HELPING AND TEACHING Helping and training students and staff is a key Library service. As usual, at Welcome Week and beyond we ran a Library fair, ‘Finding your way in the Library’ workshops and had roving helpers. All year liaison librarians supported schools/departments by providing information literacy skills training workshops and one-to-one advice so students have the best information to work with. In May we purchased online software LibGuides to produce enhanced subject-based guides to resources in each University subject. By July we had developed a template, ready to train liaison librarians to complete before autumn.
‘Liaison librarians and Study Advisers guide students individually and in workshops’
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Similarly, our Study Advisers continue to guide students individually, or in workshops, on best academic practice in order to enhance their potential. This January they introduced self-help screen casts on referencing. So popular is their growing video tutorials series that the number of views was almost 12,000 by the end of the session. This year we presented our annual Community of Practice for academics serving as school/departmental Library Representatives as a collaboration-themed teaching and learning showcase. Debate followed presentations from liaison librarians working at school/ departmental drop-ins and with
academic tutors or Study Advisers to deliver information and research skills. Law Liaison Librarian Ross Connell had earlier spoken about his close collaboration with Professor Rosemary Auchmuty to produce online teaching materials at a Higher Education Academy event on best practice in teaching research skills to law students. In March we formalised the Library’s Social Media Team to share operation of the Library’s Twitter and new Facebook accounts as recommended by our E-communication Project Team. By July, after three months, we had 100 followers ‘liking’ us on Facebook and over 1,000 Twitter followers.
Library review 2013–14
PEOPLE This session CentAUR, the University’s institutional repository of University authored work came within the Library’s remit. Our new colleagues moved into a newly refurbished office in the Library in January. In preparation for next session’s retirement of Celia Ayres, Head of Systems and Services, we undertook a significant reorganisation of our senior management team, splitting Celia’s responsibilities in two. Helen Hathaway, already a University Teaching Fellow and Liaison Team Manager, was promoted to the newly created post of Head of Academic Liaison and Support from January. Tim Chapman’s Liaison Team Manager role widened to incorporate duties relinquished by Helen. In June we interviewed for the remaining role of Head of Systems and User Services, appointing Sue Egleton who will join us in October. One of our former trainee liaison librarians, Sue is our second senior manager to return to us having gained valuable managerial experience elsewhere.
Our trainee liaison librarian posts are sought-after three-year posts providing a range of liaison, functional and supervisory experience and training with mentoring and a training budget in support of national librarianship qualifications for CILIP, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals. This session our Trainee Liaison Librarians, Ruth Jenkins and Erica Delbecque both achieved CILIP chartership status and moved on to advance their careers. Rosie Higman and YiWen Hon, replacement trainees appointed this spring, will take up their posts early next session after completing their Masters’ librarianship programmes. We also support one Graduate Trainee Library Assistant for a year before library/information science training: this year, Jamie Sheppard. We strongly encourage our liaison librarians and study advisers to participate in training resulting in Higher Education Academy Fellowship. In October, Study Adviser, Sonia Hood also achieved this after successfully completing her Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice.
‘A Library team won a University Collaborative Award for Outstanding Contributions to Teaching and Learning’ In April, a Library team won a University Collaborative Award for Outstanding Contributions to Teaching and Learning. Helen Hathaway and Study Advisers Sonia Hood, Dr Kim Shahabudin and Dr Michelle Reid showed an integrated team approach to developing innovative self-help materials on essay writing and referencing which represent a significant contribution to the student learning experience. In addition, Study Adviser Michelle Reid became the Library’s second University Teaching Fellow. Michelle’s innovative and enthusiastic approach to teaching has seen her in great demand by academic schools/ departments to lead sessions on study skills. The Library is also supporting the University in its Malaysian venture. In March we placed an advert for the University of Reading Malaysia Head of the Learning Resource Centre, whom we will continue to help train and support once appointed and in post. In June Library User Services Supervisor Fiona Kydd retired. 13
Library review 2013–14
CONTRIBUTING TO OUR COMMUNITIES Our Library and staff continue to contribute to our University, academic, international and library communities. In addition to providing the University with information and with teaching and training to make the most of it, here is how we contributed further to our University this year. We hosted exhibitions showcasing the University Research Opportunities Programme and two Fine Art students’ installations in March and May. We set a good example in the University’s Green Impact Awards by winning a Gold Award and our own Sam Tyler becoming Environmental Champion of the Year! We regularly welcome prospective students and their families at autumn and
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summer undergraduate open days. At the rebranded June days we were delighted to show off our refurbished facilities to appreciative visitors and to be billed as a key attraction. Whilst balancing the needs of students working here, we are happy to accommodate photographers and filmmakers showcasing the Library in University promotional material or journalists such as Sean Coughlan, BBC News education correspondent who visited in May to investigate students studying overnight in academic libraries. We always like to hear students’ views. We were pleased to work with the Students’ Union Education Officer, Emma Jackson whose student Library survey ran in November and reported in February.
Our contribution to the Library world included an aid donation of health and social care books we no longer needed after courses closed to the University of West Indies. Helen Hathaway, Kim Shahabudin and Anna Richards produced published articles in library journals. Helen also presented a paper at the Librarians’ Information Literacy Annual Conference (LILAC) about the Academic Integrity Toolkit, resources for academics to customise and embed in their teaching that a project team, including Helen, Kim and two International Study and Language Institute colleagues, developed to promote referencing and avoid plagiarism.
Library review 2013–14
‘An excellent example of how the diverse needs of users can be met’ CILIP Vice President, Barbara Band on our refurbishment
In November we received a visit from CILIP Vice President, Barbara Band. Writing in CILIP update in December she said, our refurbished floors were ‘a delight … an excellent example of how the diverse need of users can be met’. She was also ‘impressed with the organisation’s commitment to CPD and their support of Chartership candidates’. Our Study Advisers are in demand to contribute to conferences! In April, Kim Shahabudin contributed a session at the annual Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) Access to HE conference, and Michelle Reid and Sonia Hood at the Association of Learning Developers in Higher Education (ALDinHE) conference.
In addition to supervising the continuing research work on the Location Register (www. locationregister.com) and WATCH (www.watch-file. com) projects, Dr David Sutton continued with a full portfolio of activities on outside bodies. In March he chaired meetings of both the Group for Literary Archives and Manuscripts (GLAM) at the University of Sussex and Reading’s Diasporic Literary Archives Network (www. diasporicarchives.com) at the National Archives of Trinidad and Tobago.
Library review 2013–14
STATISTICS 2011/12
2012/13
2013/14
Total
21,934
22,367
24,431
Students
16,864
17,222
20,237
Staff
4,466
4,601
3,643
External users
604
544
551
79.1
73.5
77.6
Total gross floor area managed by the Library (sq m)*
-
-
9,905
Total number of study spaces
1,455
1,455
1,436
Number of open access workstations (PCs)
214
214
208
Total catalogued print stock
1,103,854
1,083,846
1,080,505
Number of print books added to stock in the year
7,182
8,142
8,077
Number of e-books for which the Library has paid*
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-
324,722
Total number of periodical titles purchased*
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-
17,964
Number of full-text items held in the institutional repository available externally*
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-
2,847
Full text article requests
1,105,831
1,057,097
1,178,882
Section requests for e-books
484,918
512,181
552,178
Total number of users entering the Library during the year
1,028,621
1,237,749
1,096,065
Number of library staff hours spent delivering information literacy training
978
951
1,003
£1,868,895
£2,669,028
£2,647,993
NUMBER OF REGISTERED LIBRARY USERS
LIBRARY STAFF Full-time equivalent LIBRARY SPACE
INFORMATION RESOURCE PROVISION
LIBRARY USE Total number of unique loans (not including renewals)*
221,142
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 2013–14
1,436 TOTAL NUMBER OF STUDY SPACES
2,847 NUMBER OF FULL-TEXT ITEMS HELD IN THE INSTITUTIONAL REPOSITORY AVAILABLE EXTERNALLY (centaur.reading.ac.uk)
1,178,882 FULL-TEXT ARTICLE REQUESTS
1,003 NUMBER OF LIBRARY STAFF HOURS SPENT DELIVERING INFORMATION LITERACY TRAINING
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Library review 2013–14
OUR YEAR IN REVIEW From refurbishments to surveys, we’ve had an eventful year working to improve our library.
DECEMBER 2013
AUGUST 2013
OCTOBER 2013
• Enterprise catalogue upgrade introduces search results sorting and holds count.
• CentAUR, the University’s institutional repository comes within the Library’s remit.
• Refurbished 2nd Floor reopens.
• Self-issue reaches 98% of all loans.
• Vice-Chancellor views Library refurbishment progress.
• MyiLibrary Patron Driven Acquisition project ends.
SEPTEMBER 2013
NOVEMBER 2013
JANUARY 2014
• Redundant Collection Point removed, Self-Service Points rearranged to improve users’ borrowing experience and staff work-flows.
• Refurbished 5th Floor reopens.
• Helen Hathaway becomes Head of Academic Liaison and Support.
• University Council visits refurbished floors. • RUSU survey on Library. • Evidence Based Selection of Elsevier eBooks begins.
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Library review 2013–14
JUNE 2014 APRIL 2014 • Library/Study Advisers team win collaborative University Teaching and Learning Award.
• New mobile-friendly, revised/ rebranded Library homepage launched with prominent new Summon discovery service search box.
• 9,000 more books moved to Off-Campus Store.
• Refurbishment resumes for 3rd and 4th Floors, Ground Floor toilets, and staircases.
FEBRUARY 2014
• Unbound periodical loans automated.
• Library invests in more major online resources.
• Shelving efficiency survey.
• Campus Card swipe access to Library introduced 00:00– 08:00.
• Michelle Reid, Study Adviser gains University Teaching Fellowship.
• Library website survey reports.
MARCH 2014
MAY 2014
JULY 2014
• Permanent 24-hour termtime opening begins.
• First revised/rebranded Library webpages go live.
• Library Community of Practice Teaching and Learning Showcase event.
• Trainee Liaison Librarian, Erica Delbecque and former Trainee Liaison Librarian, Ruth Jenkins awarded Chartership.
• Feasibility Group on the Refurbishment of the University Library’s first meeting.
• Fine Art students’ exhibition in Library.
• Library awarded gold Green Impact Award; Sam Tyler made Environmental Champion of the Year.
• Study Advisers’ video tutorials pass 11,000 views. • Former health and social care books gifted to University of West Indies.
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Not only did 2013–14 see the realisation of one, and the start of a second, phase to deliver a £4.4 million ‘wow factor’ across four Library floors, but also the University Feasibility Group formed to address works on our remaining floors and exterior.
LIBRARY REVIEW 2013–2014 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
B11249 02.15