THELMAs: UCL Library Services “highly commended”

I would like to echo Paul’s message on the Outstanding Library Team award from the THELMAs yesterday, with highlights from the specific areas which formed our submission.

 

The category we were entered in recognises outstanding work in library and information-services departments. The University of Huddersfield were crowned the winners for Heritage Quay – a fantastic new knowledge hub bringing archives to life by using cutting-edge technology. Heritage Quay also happens to be one of two competitors with the Cruciform Hub for the SCONUL Library Design Awards, to be announced later in the year…

As close runners-up, UCL Library Services were acknowledged for achievements in a number of areas identified in the Library Strategy, which supports the vision set in UCL 2034:

• focusing on delivering excellent customer service, with particular mention for the Customer Service teams in the UCL Main and Science Libraries
• developing research-based learning hubs, such as the Cruciform Hub, with a clear commitment to environmental sustainability
• aligning policies and procedures of the UCL IOE Library with those of UCL Library Services following the merger
• fundraising over £2m to undertake externally-funded projects in 14/15, including the launch of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Digital Library
• launching UCL Press as the UK’s first fully open access university press

We are building on these strengths, and I believe that we will continue to lead the way amongst academic libraries, because of the new services we offer and are developing but first and foremost, because of the quality of our people: UCL Library Services benefits immensely from our very diverse and professional staff across all of our sites. Each of the achievements listed above reflects our ability to work together across different teams, to be creative in the way we do things, and to deliver successful outcomes within limited budgets. In these times of change, when it really matters, we will continue to rely on all of these abilities as we support UCL’s ambitions to be London’s Global University: “a diverse intellectual community, engaged with the wider world and committed to changing it for the better”.