Annual Review 2011

Annual Review 2011

Annual Review 2011

Introduction from the University Librarian This report sets out the many projects and developments that Library Staff have been engaged in over the past year. It paints a picture of a developing service determined to play a significant role in the student experience. Its been very gratifying to see the enthusiasm displayed by staff in tackling all the service improvements introduced in this period and their very active engagement with students. Im confident that the Library Service is continuing to develop across all campuses, and that despite the changes coming we will continue to work closely with academic colleagues and the other professional support departments to provide the best access to learning resources and learning development that we can.

Number of print books Number of e-books Number of print journal subscriptions Number of e-journals accessible through the library portal Additions to book stock (print) Additions to book stock (e) Number of items issued (print) Number of e-book access (whole book equivalents) Number of e-journal article downloads Number of inter-library loan requests satisfied Number of visits to our libraries

272, 125 2,278 484 79,058 9,259 790 185,520 126,372 113,786 4,318 605,640

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Learning Development The Academic Subject Librarian team offers a programme of Learning Development workshops, which are available throughout the academic year. The aim of these workshops is to enable all students to become independent learners. Topics include: introduction to essay writing, finding journal articles for your assignment, presentation skills as well as exam preparation. We ran a total of 54 workshops over the academic year and 256 students attended (203 of these in Semester A) For students requiring individual support, the Library provides a 1-to-1 Learning Development service, whereby students can drop-in and receive help and advice with their studies, whether it be about finding information, writing a report or how to structure an essay. We saw 190 students in 1-to-1 Learning Development. The top three types of enquiry were finding information, referencing and writing skills. During the year the Maths and Statistics Support Centre became a fully fledged service supported by matched funding from sigma. From September 2011 it will be fully integrated into the Librarys support for learning development. We have continued to develop the Learning Development@Lincoln website over the past year. The site provides an additional means of support for students, which is available whenever a student requires assistance with their learning. The website contains online learning materials including interactive tutorials and helpguides on a range of subject or study skills topics.

Annual Review 2011

Students had an eggselent time at the Festival of Teaching and Learning The University Library contributed to the Festival of Teaching and learning by promoting our new 1-to-1 Learning Development service. Over 300 students took part in a quiz that tested their Harvard referencing skills, and were rewarded with cream eggs and a helpful Harvard referencing guide. The feedback from this event was that students appreciated this timely reminder, and we hope to repeat this at an appropriate point in Semester A.

Research support We have continued to provide support for researchers throughout the past academic year by becoming actively involved in a variety of bids and projects. Academic Subject Librarians have offered a wide range of subject-based and generic workshops for academic staff and researchers. A new intiative is also currently being piloted, whereby librarians provide deskside training tailored to an individual academics needs. A new research support website is also being developed, which will provide a one-stop shop for these services.

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Mystery visiting The mystery visiting project undertaken by the University of Lincoln, Bishop Grosseteste University College and Lincoln College was repeated in the 2010/2011 academic year, following a successful pilot in 2009. In March 2011, four members of staff from the University Library visited two other institutions and staff from Bishop Grosseteste University College and Lincoln College visited the University of Lincoln Library. The comments about the University Library were generally positive and both of the visitors stated that our staff were very helpful. They also reported that they had enjoyed their customer service experience. They raised some issues relating to signage, posters and displays, which we have started to address by, for example, installing a new sign above the library entrance. A debrief meeting was held in May 2011 and it was agreed that it had been a valuable experience for all involved. It is planned to repeat the exercise in late 2012.

On being an intern - Steve Pannett gives his views I am a graphic design graduate and was appointed as an intern at the University Library in March 2011. Working as an intern has allowed me to gain valuable experience and has also given me networking opportunities with other university departments and external business, creating a healthy contact list of established business relationships for the future. By applying the professional skills acquired during my time in higher education, I hope that I have also been able to contribute to developments in my specific area of expertise. For example, working with library staff, I have developed a brand for the department that can be used in print and online media, allowing for more consistency when communicating new information, regulations or updates to staff and students alike. The atmosphere in the Library is very welcoming and allowed me to settle in quickly; job satisfaction is high and I feel the internship can only help towards future employment opportunities.

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Improvements to self-service Last summer, we appointed Lincolnshire-based company 2CQR to install RFID (Radio Frequency Indentification Device) technology in all our libraries. By introducing RFID, we simplified the steps involved in borrowing and returning items, which has improved the user experience and also freed staff time, enabling us to offer new services such as roving support. We were the first university in the UK to use 2CQRs new touch-screen, floor standing self-service units (Totems) which provide integrated receipt printing and the facility to accept cash and card payments for library fines. Since installation, we have worked closely with 2CQR to customise the look and feel of the self-service software, following feedback from our users. Improvements to date include customised backgrounds for each campus, user selectable buttons that comply with DDA regulations, a mini sort option that ensures items are deposited correctly on return and on-screen messages that are more informative and therefore easier to follow. A new version of the self-service software will be available to users in September 2011, which will provide new features such as item renewals, more detailed account information and statisitics analysis for staff use. We are currently working with 2CQR on the card payment system for the Totems, with a view to having this service available to library users in 2012.

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The arrival of Wanda... In addition to the new RFID system, we also purchased Wanda, an RFID wand that gives us greater control over our collections. Using Wanda, we can now take an inventory of stock in an afternoon - something that once would have taken weeks to accomplish. Wanda also allows us to locate misshelved books quickly, and tells us when books are heavily used, so that their loan status can be changed accordingly.

Future IT During the year Library staff and colleagues from ICT worked with external IT consultant Ken Chad to develop an IT strategy for the Library. The resulting report sets out a clear roadmap for Library IT and identifies three clear priorities Authentication (for access to e-resources) Discovery and Updating of the Library Management System. We will be working with ICT to develop business cases for these projects with the aim of gaining funding during 2011/12.

Pancakes and mash In March, Lincoln hosted its first national Mashed Library event, sponsored by RLUK (Research Libraries UK). Mashed Library is a series of informal unconferences aimed at people interested in innovation and technology in libraries. Sixty people - drawn from all manner of academic, public and industrial libraries - travelled to Lincoln on Shrove Tuesday (8th March) for this latest event entitled Pancakes and Mash. Speakers were from the University of Lincoln, De Montfort University, UKOLN and (library campaign group) Voices for the Library. Details of future Mashed Library events are available at: www.mashedlibrary.com

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EMALINK event on 29th June Together with Bishop Grosseteste University College and Nottingham Trent, we held a staff development event to share good practice on collection management. 25 librarians from 8 universities in the East Midlands attended and participated in sessions led by Philippa Dyson, Di Walker, Paul Stainthorp and others. Feedback from the event was excellent, and library staff used the opportunity to discuss topics including reading list management, collection evaluation, and a methodology to assess the value for money obtained from online resources.

JISC project In February, Lincoln was awarded 36,000 of funding from JISC under their Infrastructure for Resource Discovery programme, for a project called Jerome: http://jerome.library.lincoln.ac.uk Jerome (named after the patron saint of libraries!) was a six-month project to build a new, innovative library search interface using modern, open source software and open bibliographic data. Developers from ICT Services worked with library staff to come up with alternative ways of searching the Librarys collections. The project ended in July with an event at the University of Cambridge, where staff from four different universities shared their approaches to opening up access to library data.

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Flexible learning area and changes to the Library In the summer of 2010, a flexible learning area was developed on the ground floor of the University Library. This represented the first stage of a project to repurpose certain areas in the library to improve the study environment, and reflected changes in the way students use the Library. In particular with the increasing emphasis of group work. The flexible learning area comprises modular tables that accommodate 50 user places, with an additional 35 casual seats. The bright colours of the seating contrast with the existing library dcor in order to emphasise the different approach. The area has proved successful with heavy usage throughout the academic year. Two presentation areas with sofas and presentation screens were installed at each end of the former Core Collection area in 2010, to cater for group work. In the summer of 2011, they are being developed into more formal group areas with the addition of flexible furniture. We have enhanced the flexible nature of our services through the provision of 10 laptops available for loan. They have been heavily used throughout the year. Roving, roving, roving During the last academic year at the University Library, the Customer Services team piloted roving, by taking library desk enquiry services to the students on the upper floors. In semester A we dealt with 276 questions, ranging from using printers to help with self-service and finding journal articles. In semester B there were fewer questions, which may have been due to the students being more familiar with our resources. Customer service staff are easily recognisable with their red lanyards and green badges. Following the successful pilot, we plan to rove again this year.

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Responding to feedback The Library continues to seek and respond to feedback obtained through user panels, subject committees and surveys. In the University Library, we have also installed Quick Vote, an online system which allows us quickly to determine and respond to user opinions on a range of topics. Following feedback on the new self-service machines, for example, we adapted the user interface, which resulted in an immediate improvement in user satisfaction. The National Student Survey We are pleased to note that for the 5th consecutive year we have improved our satisifcation rating, based on question 16 of the NSS Library resources and services are good enough for my needs 2006: 3.5 out of 5 2007: 3.9 out of 5 2008: 4.0 out of 5 2009: 4.03 out of 5 2010: 4.15 out of 5 - Placing as at 56th out of 155 institutions, level with the University of Hull. Riseholme enhances the student experience Riseholme Library has been updated to enhance the student experience with the addition of a new teaching room with full IT facilites. The room has 20 computers and an interactive whiteboard and is available for students for quiet study when not needed for teaching. The library has also invested in new shelving to accommodate additional stock and to improve accessibility for users. In addition, there are a number of new journal subscriptions to support Biology and other related subjects. Food information Service Feasibility Study At Holbeach, we are currently undertaking a feasibility study into the possibility of offering a food information service for local food manufacturing companies in South Lincolnshire. If a need for such a service is identified, we will work with the companies to develop an appropriate business model.

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Goodbye to Philippa Philippa Dyson retired in the summer of 2011. After starting her professional career at the University of Birmingham she joined Hull College of Higher Education in 1981. Six heads of department later, along with six changes of institutional name plus the physical relocation of the institution from one city to another, and changes of job title too numerous to mention, she ended her career as Deputy Librarian: Academic and Customer Services. We will miss Philippa and wish her well in her retirement.