Library
Library review 2010–2011
Library review 2010–2011
Contents
Into a new era
Into a new era 2
The end of any era is the signal for new beginnings. As described in this Review, the 2010–11 session has been one in which the University Library has passed some significant milestones whilst making very substantial progress for the future.
Collections 4 Improving Library space 6 Helping and teaching Library users 8 Systems and service initiatives 10 Contributing to our communities 12 People 14 Statistics 17 Timeline 18
The closure of the site library at the Bulmershe campus (as part of the University’s strategy to cease academic activity there) was undoubtedly one such milestone. The closure of this library (part of the University Library since 1989) on schedule was the culmination of the first phase of our ongoing Collections Project and a testament to all the hard work of Library staff. But now their work on integrating the Bulmershe collections, study space and services at our Whiteknights Library continues. Strong progress in this session is seen in the new Off-site Store coming on stream, further improvements to study areas, as well as various other new service and system initiatives to benefit our users. The Collections Project, which is reviewing all our printed and electronic collections and the balance between them, is continuing to reorganise, repurpose and improve Library space; and our Project to
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Library review 2010–2011
redefine and reshape the crucial contribution to University teaching, learning and research activities made by staff working in the Liaison Teams has already begun to bear fruit. The Library’s Research Projects also had a particularly successful period and have entered an exciting new phase. Another milestone was the last meeting of the Advisory Board for Library Services (ABLS). ABLS, and its predecessor committee, have proved an invaluable source of advice and Able ABLS chair support on matters Professor Bob of strategic importance Chapman chaired the to the Library in Advisory Board for Library Services this its service of the last decade. University. For the last several years this has been due in no small part to the experienced chairmanship of Professor Bob Chapman, with whom I have greatly valued working. Next session we look forward to ABLS’ successor, the new Advisory Board on Information Services with both the Library and IT Services in its remit, chaired by Professor Hugo Tucker.
additional funds for information resources (as financially the year has been another testing one) and also for his strategic support and thinking on developing funding for our collections into the future. Little of this would have been possible without the firm foundation of past successes on which to build and so we end 2010–11 looking back with pride, and with sincere thanks on my part to every member of the Library staff for all that they have, yet again, delivered; but also looking forward with enthusiasm, vigour and determination to a new era for the University Library in what will undoubtedly be a challenging period ahead for UK higher education. Julia Munro University Librarian
The support of the Director of Academic Services, Dr Richard Messer, has again been much appreciated, in particular for
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Library review 2010–2011
Collections The challenge of closing our Bulmershe site Library on 29 July and establishing a Bulmershe Collection at Whiteknights, gave us the opportunity to continue rearranging and reprofiling our collections (both printed and electronic) and the associated study space. With our liaison librarians and other staff continuing their review of all the collections (in consultation with academic staff) we are better able to: accommodate essential printed texts on open shelves; have research and lower-use material easily retrievable, some from the new Off-site Store; make sure that an improved balance between printed and electronic sources of information is maintained; and increase the proportion of space at Whiteknights used for study areas rather than collection areas.
Bye-bye Bulmershe Bulmershe Library staff continued serving users until the last day of opening, whilst processing collections for transfer or disposal.
Reviewing all the collections, as part of our Collections Project 2009–2013 is ambitious, and hasn’t been attempted by any other large University Library in recent years. The work is being led by Rupert Wood, Head of Collections, and directed by Victoria Bird, Collections Project Co-ordinator. Supporting Library Assistants were Caroline Instone and, from September, Jake Sharpe. Geoff Gardner ably coordinated stock moves and led the development of the Off-site Store; and Rose-Ann Movsovic, Collections Manager, oversaw all the processing and cataloguing work associated with the Project. This session, whilst maintaining other services, almost all Library staff were involved in the various stages of selecting and processing items for relegation to closed access, retention on open shelves, withdrawal from stock, or retrieval from storage.
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Library review 2010–2011
Space race The race was on to install shelving and transfer lower-use and research stock to the Off-site Store.
We also amalgamated some sequences for ease of use, such as integrating most-borrowed music score sequences into textbook stock in the Bulmershe Collection; and consolidating law collections. Transfer of relegated material to the Off-site Store began in May; and the year ended in the middle of a major move which saw 14,000 shelves of books being relocated with minimal disruption to our users, and Bulmershe Library staff valiantly continuing to provide their usual service into the summer.
Sent packing Over eight weeks, 14,000 shelves of material were relocated with minimal disruption to University Library users.
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Library review 2010–2011
Improving Library space Delivering what high-achieving students want is crucial to the University’s success. With this in mind, in March the University convened a Feasibility Group on the Main Library building at Whiteknights to plan major strategic improvements for future student needs. However an embargo on capital project expenditure postponed serious decision making. Nonetheless, a sub-group continued to prepare prioritised proposals for improvements in readiness for the full Feasibility Group’s re-emergence. Happily, several separate projects proceeded.
Silent study space Student demand for ever-popular Library study space was addressed by refurbishing further 5th Floor silent study areas.
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Students regard the University Library as a unique, central hub for study and interaction, besides the place to seek information and help in retrieving it. Especially at revision time, demand for more study space at the Main Library Whiteknights can be intense. New furniture arrived in November to fit out another 5th Floor study room (Room 500). In May, we used existing furniture to repurpose a staff meeting room (Room 508). After exams and by July, it was refurbished with a new floor, painted walls and new furniture. Recently we have reassigned all 144 5th Floor study places as a Silent Study area. In May a bid to the University Annual fund to increase much-in-demand Group Study space was partially successful. Next session we will use the award of £5,000 to develop the now underused Ground Floor Photocopying Area into a ‘technology rich’ study space with support from IT Services in purchasing equipment such as plasma screens. After the re-organisation of the collections this year, Library study space at Whiteknights will have increased by 12%, and by nearly 45% on the 2nd Floor.
Library review 2010–2011
In June, work commenced to re-site our room for Quiet Study with PCs. This allowed us to start building a suite of offices for the Study Advisers and Maths Support Team on the 1st Floor. The new base sites them conveniently in an area heavily used by students housing the University’s largest PC bank and the IT Help point.
Tight fit for purpose The Rewiring Project installed modern power distribution this session – including units only just smaller than our lifts – and will rewire floor by floor.
In June, the University began a Rewiring Project to update the Library’s original 1960s electrical provision by installing an up-to-date power distribution system. It involved moving stock to install distribution cupboards and drilling through floors to accommodate new cables. In July, electrical switchgear units were installed in the basement. Over the next few years each floor will be rewired, improving safety. We will also be pressing for an additional increase in plug sockets for laptop users, as requested in recent National Student Surveys.
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Library review 2010–2011
Helping and teaching Library users
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The Library’s core aim is to support teaching, learning and research. We operate in teams of liaison librarians who build up expertise mirroring schools/departments needs. Consequently, our Faculty of Arts and Humanities liaison librarian structure changed from August to reflect departmental mergers and a closure. To monitor our potential to purchase texts recommended by academics, we again conducted a reading list survey. Encouragingly we received 227 more reading lists this session, 59% compared to 42% in 2009–10.
We add value by teaching about information resources. In addition to 242 subject-based sessions, we ran 48 generic ‘Finding your way’ sessions for new library users and having rewritten training materials to make them more interactive and exploratory, 16 graded workshops for researchers on EndNote, bibliographic and database searching software. Liaison librarians assisted at a new joint Faculty of Arts and Humanities/Faculty of Social Science catch-up day for research postgraduates. From July, as the Library’s new contact for international students, Charlie
Playing the mild rover Library staff give roving help to users, as well as staffing information desks.
‘Finding your way’ workshops Many students sign up for orientation workshops and advise others to attend too.
Library review 2010–2011
Carpenter organised 20 Library staff to provide 16 introductory sessions (with 32 tours) and 16 electronic resource sessions for a record number of students on the International Study and Language Centre pre-sessional programme. Elizabeth Schlackman, an Education Liaison Librarian, received a Faculty Award for Outstanding Contributions to Teaching and Learning in May. These are awarded annually to teaching and learning support staff making significant, ongoing contributions. Elizabeth was one of a small number whose efforts achieved a special mention. Helen Hathaway (Science Faculty Team Manager/Information Skills Co-ordinator) was awarded a lifetime University Teaching Fellowship in March 2011, an exceptional achievement in a year of strong competition. Very few academic-related staff gain this prestigious award conferred on individuals demonstrating individual excellence and contributing to the University’s teaching and learning development. Designed to support further development in this area, it gives a three-year honorarium and the opportunity to apply for substantial project funding.
Liaison librarians want to be where the University needs us. So people can find us, this session we enhanced our liaison librarians’ web contact pages to show their photographs, and encourage students and staff to make contact. However, we also know that patterns of information use are changing. As part of our Refocusing Liaison Support Project re-examining where and how liaison librarians are best placed to serve, we piloted ‘roving’ help on the 2nd (Science) Floor. Over five autumn weeks, roving librarians on our Ground Floor answered an impressive 2,985 enquiries on Self-Service Points and other subjects. To help students and academics who may need help at any time of day or night, we provide a suite of online guides. In August, David Brown devised a new web version of our popular printed guide on searching databases, making it easier to dip into what one wants to know. By September, a new web-based guide was also helping students get started with literature searching.
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System and service initiatives We continue to refine and develop our extensive website’s capability to support the University. As a result of usability testing, our redesigned Library homepage went live in August. It now highlights the most popular information, notably our subject help, and brings together information on finding journal articles. We discovered just how central the Library website is to University life, when we started using Site Improve and Google Analytics. These tools analyse the site so we know where to make improvements. The Library homepage is one of the most visited pages on the University site – up to 2,000 hits per day – behind only the generic University homepage, staff and student portals, and
A hit in the University Our redesigned Library homepage at www.reading.ac.uk/ library is the sixth most visited page on the University website
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Reading Live. Our most popular section is E-resources, including the Databases A–Z list. By far the most visited guide is Citing References, although our databases guide is also well-used. We began using a WordPress blog to power news on our homepage this session. Its simple technology enables a small team to add and remove timely news alerts and Library users can now receive University Library News by RSS feed if they prefer. To cater for still more user tastes, in March we fed our blog into a Library Twitter account. March saw a live mobile version of our website containing information and links users might need on the move like opening hours, the catalogue and personal accounts. There is also now an iPhone app for searching the Library catalogue called BookMyne, available from the iTunes Store. Elibrary, the new version of our online Library catalogue was running in August with new features for users: an e-resourcesonly search, login by University username and password, a list of
Library review 2010–2011
one’s recent loans. Our Enterprise Project to create a single interface for University systems including those of University Museums and Special Collections Services (UMASCS) had a soft launch in July. UMASCS’ new system Adlib is now fully live running alongside the Library system. UMASCS’ old system OLIB was switched off in May.
Exceptional service Mystery shopping showed students rated 98% of our customer service ‘commendable’ or ‘satisfactory’.
Our Circulation Services Team worked all year to refine service delivery. Preparing to integrate delivering material from the new Off-site Store, they introduced an online request system for material from closed access via the Unicorn catalogue as early as October. We happily ditched the old green
paper request slips along with the need to decipher handwriting! Between February and March we decided to test our ‘customer service’ skills with a Mystery Shopping Pilot Project at the Main Library using real Reading students. We were very pleased indeed to receive ‘commendable’ or ‘satisfactory’ assessments on all aspects of all the ‘shops’ except one. Our next move will be to produce a ‘user service’ charter and to introduce it alongside more training, particularly for those in service areas not yet ‘shopped’. We aim to embed more mystery shopping as a regular University volunteering opportunity for students.
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Library review 2010–2011
Contributing to our communities Library staff are keen to play a part within the University, academic, local, international and library communities. At this year’s University open days, we hosted Institute of Education staff whose new facilities at the London Road site were not yet ready. We also hosted an evening drinks reception for the opening day of the Early Modern Studies Conference in July. In November, David Brown gave a presentation on academic sources of information for history, one of the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) Lunchtime Network seminars on current issues concerning arts, heritage and information services. Christopher Cipkin, Jonathan Jones and Catherine Smith made a contribution on librarianship to the Faculty of Arts and Humanities careers seminar. The Main Library Whiteknights hosted an exhibition preview celebrating the 60th anniversary of both MERL and the BBC radio serial The Archers. Many local schools visited to research the Library’s extensive collections during University vacations. Schools Liaison Representative Elizabeth Simpson organised an information session for local teachers in June.
Willesden Junction goes to Barcelona Willesden Junction – Early morning was loaned to an exhibition of British postwar art.
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The Library’s Research projects (the Location Register, WATCH and FOB) had a very successful year in 2010–11 and considerably extended their international range and reputation. WATCH (Writers Artists & Their Copyright Holders – www.watch-file.com) and FOB (Firms Out of Business – www.fob-file.com) are already well-
Library review 2010–2011
known worldwide, being joint web-projects of the Universities of Reading and Texas providing unique copyright-holder information.
Open Day with strings attached Library visitors to Open Day were entertained by Institute of Education music students.
The Location Register of Modern Literary Manuscripts and Letters (www.locationregister.com) is an updated version of a project first established in Reading in 1982. The Register recently received new grants from the British Academy, the Arts Council, the Strachey Trust, the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, the Pilgrim Trust and others, which enabled a new twenty-first-century research project to begin on 1 January 2011, with a new full-time research officer. The project has recently located and listed a good number of exciting new collections of literary manuscripts which have arrived in British establishments since 2001. The international reputation of the Location Register project has led to its Director, Dr David Sutton, being appointed in 2010 first as Chair of GLAM-UK (the Group for Literary Archives and Manuscripts) and then as Chair of the Section for Literary Archives of the International Council on Archives, where he has initiated several international research projects. He has also become the convenor of a new International Network on Diasporic Literary Archives, which will be funded by the Leverhulme Trust for the period 2012–2014 and will bring together partners in France, Italy, Namibia, Trinidad and the USA, coordinated from Reading. In November, the Leon Kossoff painting Willesden Junction – Early morning travelled from the 4th Floor reading room to a Barcelona art exhibition on British post-war artists.
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Library review 2010–2011
People The Library accords staff training and development high importance in order to provide high-level support to the University. We hold Investor in People (IiP) status, run our own outstanding Staff Development Hour programme and support national framework qualifications for CILIP, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals. We mentor several trainee liaison librarians for CILIP chartership in well-structured, three-year posts designed to give new professionals a range of liaison, functional and supervisory experiences. We welcomed Jonathan Jones in
Anot h J o n a e r t r ai n e t l i b r a h an J o n e s e s h i p l a u n r i an t r ai n t o o k u p a ch e d e e sh i l p i n i ai s o n S e pt e mb e r. 14
September. David Brown attained chartership in May. David and Elizabeth Simpson won the CILIP University, College and Research Group’s Sheila Corrall Publication Award for their paper on ‘packaged information’.Experienced professional Christopher Cipkin revalidated his chartership. We also provide one-year library assistant posts for pre-library school graduates. This year, these went to Ellie Hunt, Claire Knight and Catherine Smith. Retirements included Anna Beasley, Modern Languages Liaison Librarian/Arts and Humanities Team Leader in
d l ac e s r e p R oss a w ! ) ? ht l e f t r i an b y , rig ry ( C o py ainsbu cs L ibra i S t i Ian w/ Pol t). a h as L ell (rig n C on
Library review 2010–2011
August. With her commitment to customer service and detailed knowledge of collections she helped countless students, particularly international students over the last 16 years. Ian Sainsbury, Law and Politics Liaison Librarian/Social Sciences Team Leader retired in September. His professional legacy includes the law library he was appointed in 1974 to establish. He was our first ‘subject librarian’, basing himself beside his resources to help users. He was also the University’s respected Copyright Co-ordinator. Also retiring were Senior Library
L e ga l L aw L b o n d front ibrarian Ia ) past a on his re t n Sainsb u ir n d pr e sent ement, w ry (centre it h c o . l l e ag ue s
Assistant (Acquisitions) Val Davies, Receptionist Julia Reynolds, Bulmershe Library Assistant Diane Chessell, Weekend Team Supervisor Valerie Gray and Document Supply Co-ordinator Maggie Leach. Sadly, Dermot O’Rourke died in January. Retiring in 1983 as Head of Cataloguing after at least 25 years at the Library, he subsequently returned to work on special collections as honorary Curator of the Cole Collection. Users of the digitised card catalogue can still encounter his distinctive handwriting.
ing r. a t ur n o r r e d t h i s ye f t o e n r i ’s t e e i r g M ag i e L e a c h g M ag
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Library review 2010–2011
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Library review 2010–2011
Statistics 2008 – 2009 2009 – 2010
2010 – 2011
Number of registered Library users Total
22,179
22,087
25,087
Students
17,097
16,976
20,097
4,435
4,583
4,324
647
528
666
1,091,250
885,723
958,001
629,848
651,535
589,776
4,943
4,657
3,566
230
505
277
2,727
2,266
1,758
533
600
788
84.92
83.60
81.20
Staff External users Use of the libraries Number of user visits Number of items borrowed Items borrowed from other libraries Items supplied to other libraries Number of enquiries in a sample term-time week Number of Library staff hours spent teaching Library staff Full-time equivalent Information resources Catalogued books
1,199,024
1,209,988
1,136,986
Books added in the year
14,265
10,964
7,120
Current periodical subscriptions
16,642
23,502
26,274
Electronic periodicals
15,738
21,123
24,213
No data
291,109
281,651
13,803
13,803
13,803
1,316
1,467
1,542
254
234
228
32
24
32
£1,395,033
£1,435,694
£1,551,600
E-books Library buildings Total area occupied (sq m) Study places Study places with PCs Study places with network connection (laptops) Annual Library expenditure Information resources
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Timeline August Revised Library homepage satisfies student needs
October
Online catalogue upgrade brings new features
We help Freshers whilst ‘roving,’ at the Library Fair and ‘Finding your way’ training
December
Liaison Librarian Research Support audit begins
Online requests for closed access items begin
Winter snows cause no change to Library service
September
November
January
Retirements of Faculty Team Leaders Ian Sainsbury and Anna Beasley
Anne Chesher appointed as Cataloguer and Liaison Support Librarian (part-time)
Arrivals of Faculty Team Leader/Liaison Librarian Ross Connell, Trainee Liaison Librarian Jonathan Jones and three graduate trainee Library assistants: Ellie Hunt, Claire Knight, Catherine Smith
Leon Kossof painting loaned to Barcelona
Charlie Carpenter promoted to Faculty Team Leader / Support Co-ordinator (International Students)
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Annual Finzi Poetry Reading by Bill Manhire
20,000 Store collection items temporarily moved to Bulmershe Library Julia Hallam begins as Location Register Research Officer
Library review 2010–2011
June February
Major stock removals begin
Mystery shopping exercise
Rewiring project and refurbishments begin at the Main Library
Community of Practice meeting for Library Reps and Liaison Librarians
April
Collections Project is two years old
Mobile-friendly Library website trialled
Bulmershe Library Course Collection books arrive at the Main Library
March
May
July
Helen Hathaway awarded University Teaching Fellowship
Off-site Store becomes operational
Bulmershe Collections move to Whiteknights, Bulmershe Library closes
Library Twitter account launched Off-site Store journal processing begins with Quality and quantity Adlib goes online
David Brown achieves Chartership Elizabeth Schlackman gets Faculty Award for Outstanding Contributions to Teaching and Learning
Hazel Grainger, Liaison Librarian arrives to job-share with Karen Drury Maggie Leach, Document Supply Co-ordinator retires
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Library review 2010–2011 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
B04718 02.11