Smile and Deliver

Dear Library colleagues, THANK YOU for taking the time to complete our Library Finance Survey, especially with so many Survey requests around these days. It is very much appreciated.

The information received was most interesting and revealing. This will be shared with you over the next few days, so watch out for Ken’s blog.

Why have I used the title ‘Smile & Deliver’? Well you may recognise it from the Conference which was of course tongue in cheek at the time and meant to be humorous especially for the occasion. I’ve used it here to capture your attention, as I don’t want you to think this might be another boring accounting piece. Accountants can have a reputation of being the shy quiet retiring types, (similar to Librarian’s so I’m told! :)) but library finance are looking to change that.

We’re hoping we can use the wonderful human factor, a smile, to connect and engage with our colleagues and hopefully deliver a more than satisfactory service for you and in turn, the library and UCL. I am aware that it’s not always possible, especially in our field of attaining value for money and limited budgets. We are also a small finance team potentially serving more than 300 members of Library staff, plus Professional services finance teams, but we non-the-less, will do our utmost to be a success.

Our survey may have come about sooner, but since my arrival (5 years ago) we had a major task in laying down the foundations for accurate reporting so that effective strategic decision making could be possible. We’ve also had changes in staff with Chris (Lobo) and Laura (O’Hanlon) returning to Australia and New Zealand respectively, Christine (Dami) leaving last Christmas as well as a new Finance system installed, myfinance.

We’re now better placed to enhance our engagement with ‘colleagues’ (‘customers’) and the idea of the Survey was fuelled as a result of members of the library asking what we do and also from questions/queries received in the group finance inbox. Ken then initiated the Survey, supported by Sandra and enthusiastically galvanised the team with the aim of improving ourselves. A brave step, but one I’m grateful for and which also coincides timely with the Library’s goal of achieving the Customer Services accreditation. The new library website will also provide us with a better platform for communication.

Thank you for your patience and your support, together we can make a difference.

Andy
Head of Finance