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

On Wednesday 21st June, I was delighted to co-host with Nina Pearlman, Manager of UCL Art Museum, the launch of Art UK’s ambitious project to catalogue the UK’s sculpture collection, supported by a £2.8m National Lottery Grant. The event took place in the Flaxman Gallery and Portico, fitting surroundings for a scheme designed to improve access to the hidden sculptures across the UK. Indeed, we recently completed a project to replace the inner doors to the gallery, so that later this summer, the external doors of the Portico will be opened on a daily basis and visitors on campus will be able to see into the gallery, as well as providing views out towards the Front Quad for Library users and staff inside the gallery.

Eilish McGuinness, Director of Operations from the Heritage Lottery Fund also gave a speech, outlining their support for the scheme and highlighting the impact which HLF have been able to make thanks to the funds raised by people playing the National Lottery.

Thanks to this project, the UK is set to become the first country in the world to create a free-to-access online photographic showcase of its publicly owned sculpture. In this highly ambitious initiative, around 170,000 sculptures – located inside galleries, museums and public buildings and outdoors in parks, streets and squares – will be displayed on the artuk.org website for enjoyment, learning and research.

As you may already know, the sculptures from the Flaxman Gallery itself are digitised as part of The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Digital Library which draws together rare books and art works related to Greek history, archaeology and culture in Special Collections and UCL’s museums (including the Flaxman plasters) http://digital-collections.ucl.ac.uk/R/HDGRYJD6S5651SAFVJRSG73PVD6V87K3L9Q8TVY3JFT5MJUGU1-04447?func=collections-result&collection_id=3204

The first results of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) have been announced today. The TEF is one of the flagship proposals which was introduced as part of the Higher Education and Research Bill in 2016 “to recognise and reward excellent learning and teaching.” The TEF assessment utilises National Student Survey (NSS) data to inform the award, specifically around Teaching, Assessment and Feedback and Academic support. The NSS questions on Learning Resources are not part of the dataset which is considered, although qualitative information can also be entered in the university’s submission.

UCL participated in this inaugural year of the TEF and has been awarded a Silver award, which means that “provision is of high quality, and significantly and consistently exceeds the baseline quality threshold expected of UK Higher Education.” This reflects the commitment of UCL’s community to providing an excellent teaching and learning experience, and particularly the distinctive nature of teaching at UCL which is based on the outstanding research which happens across the university, as set out in the Connected Curriculum. The award also acknowledges that there are some areas where we know that we can do better as an institution. The Office of the Vice-Provost (Education & Student Affairs) has been focusing in particular on tackling weaknesses in assessment and feedback and academic support, based on our NSS scores.

The TEF panel identified four specific points which supported its decision to award Silver to UCL, and I would like to highlight that the fourth of these was “the availability of a wide array of exceptional learning resources, both physical and digital.” This refers to the provision by Library Services, and we should all feel congratulated for contributing, in a significant way, to UCL’s achievement in the TEF this year. As I note above, NSS data referring to library services is not automatically considered as part of the assessment process, so the fact that this is included so prominently is a wonderful reflection of the strength of our collections and services.

More details about the TEF, including UCL’s 2017 narrative submission, and the UCL Education Strategy 2016-21 are available at https://www.ucl.ac.uk/teaching-learning/teaching-excellence-framework-tef

You can also find out more about the Connected Curriculum as UCL Press has just published the new book by Dilly Fung, Academic Director of the Arena Centre for Research-Based Education at UCL: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ucl-press/ucl-press-news/new-book-a-connected-curriculum-for-higher-education

The latest version of the Library Services Staff Survey Action Plan is available on LibNet. There has been activity on the areas which you identified as members of staff working in the Library, and the description in this version of the plan shows what progress has happened since last November. Highlights are outlined below, with a call for colleagues who would like to represent your peers in a new Staff Survey Action Group, which will devise the Action Plan for the next Staff Survey (due in late 2017).

Improvements to communication

Library SMT signed off a new internal communication strategy in May 2017, founded on staff feedback including findings from the Staff Survey. New strategy includes provision for more regular SMT Q&As responding to Library staff concerns or queries in monthly staff newsletter.

New computers

In light of staff feedback about IT equipment in Library Services, senior management approved additional expenditure of £110,000 to accelerate the replacement programme for staff desktop PCs. The Digital Libraries Team has ordered 121 new all-in-ones to replace all the staff Desktop@UCL PCs which are the lowest spec. Exact dates for delivery are yet to be confirmed, subject to the suppliers and ISD’s lead-in times, but the aim is to have the new equipment ready for start of session in September 2017.

Staff Survey Action Group

The Library SMT approved the establishment of a Staff Survey Action Group, chaired by myself as Director of Operations, to oversee action on future survey findings in an inclusive and transparent way. Terms of Reference have been agreed, and I will be calling for nominees during the summer to represent all grades of staff across Library Services. If you are interested in taking part, and have any queries, please contact me.

As previously advertised, the Library SMT hosted a presentation and Q&A session from the Transforming Our Professional Services (TOPS) consultant on 7^th June. Gillian Magee, who is heading design work for TOPS, outlined the objectives of the programme, the emergent service models and the likely implications for Library Services.

The background for TOPS is the fast growth of UCL over the past 10 years, and recognition that some Professional Services are struggling to catch up with demand, as identified in the Cubane survey conducted in 2016. As many of you will already be aware, TOPS has 3 key objectives:

• To establish more effective services and a more satisfied UCL community
• To provide clearer career pathways and more fulfilling careers for staff
• Improving Value for Money and Efficiency in Professional Services to enable greater investment in the academic mission of UCL

Gillian stressed that Library Services was not a focal area for TOPS, since there is evidence of the high levels of satisfaction from our user community. (As previously noted on this blog, benchmarking data indicates that UCL Library Services offers excellent Value for Money.). Through the TOPS consultations undertaken since January on various workstreams, very little feedback has been received by students or staff in relation to the library. Comments which have been received have been overwhelmingly positive. The main demands for improvement which were raised to the TOPS team included providing 24/7 access to libraries and more study space. Neither of the issues above are revelations to Library colleagues, and sadly they are out of scope for TOPS, although I would note that solutions are being pursued separately through bids for additional opening and ongoing work with Estates to increase our numbers of study spaces, including new computers at the Institute of Education Library.

In terms of the impact of TOPS on Library Services, there are 2 aspects envisaged by the TOPS team:

• the effects of TOPS on Library Services as a customer of other Professional Services (HR, Finance, Estates, etc.)
• defining any areas of Library Services which should be preserved, or areas where changes are required in line with the Library Strategy and UCL 2034. Specifically, this relates to preserving what works well where Library Services delivers excellent services or acts as a partner in providing services (Research Support services and Teaching, Student Support and Education administration), so that any changes are not to the detriment of the user experience.

To manage the first of the two impacts outlined above, Jennifer Brown (Departmental Administrator), Andy Pow (Head of Library Finance) and Jay Woodhouse (Facilities & Projects Manager) are being invited to participate in the relevant TOPS workstreams to represent the needs of our department in the process. The main area which TOPS is looking into for Library Services has been identified as establishing a blueprint for future mergers, to facilitate integration of local library services into the Library. TOPS are acutely aware of the need to avoid damaging links between Library teams and others involved in supporting research and teaching, and this will be a key consideration as they develop service models for other parts of UCL’s professional services.

The overall message from the presentation and the answers to our questions was that TOPS recognised the efficiency of the Library as a service provider and was not looking to initiate major changes to the department. There are a number of areas of Professional Services which are expected to be “transformed” (in line with the title of the programme), however for Library Services the approach is “light-touch”. Information on the TOPS webpages will be updated to reflect this in due course.

End-of-year Report to UCL Library Committee

Each term, Paul Ayris prepares a Report to the UCL Library Committee on progress in implementing the Library Strategy, which supports the UCL strategy UCL 2034.

The Report from the Pro-Vice-Provost for Summer 2017 covers each of the 6 Key Performance Areas of the Library Strategy. In Paul’s absence, Martin Moyle and I presented the report to Library Committee on Monday 5th June. Highlights from the report are listed below:

In terms of the User Experience, the report highlights recent developments at Senate House Library. The Chief Operating Officer at the University of London emailed members of the federal university to outline measures being taken to reduce running costs and increase the number of study spaces available. This week, it was also announced that on the departure of the current Senate House Librarian Jackie Marfleet at the end of July, Nick Barratt will take on the role of Acting Director of Senate House Library with effect from 1^st August.  Nick is currently Associate Director Collections and Engagement and will take the role for 6 months in the first instance.

For the KPA Staff, Equality and Diversity, it was noted that recent appointments to the posts of Departmental Administrator (Jennifer Brown) and HR Operations Manager (Faith Udeze) will enable progress on this KPA to resume in earnest. The Committee also noted Michelle Wake’s four years of highly valued service as CPD-25 Chair until the end of July.

Progress on the Finance, Management Information and Value for Money KPA was illustrated by the compliance rate which UCL has achieved in making its publicly-funded research freely available as Open Access. UCL receives funding from Research Councils UK for making funded research outputs available as Open Access (OA) materials. The annual target for RCUK-funded papers was 1090 papers. At the end of the review period, 1202 papers had been made OA, exceeding the target by 10%.

The fourth KPA is Systems and Processes where ReadingLists@UCL was highlighted as a significant success story in terms of how the library is supporting taught course students. The agreed target for 2016/17 is for 65% of current taught Portico courses to have an online reading list. At the end of January 2017, coverage stood at 58%.  In April, this had risen to 62% compliance, on track to meet the 65% target by the end of the year.

The fifth KPA is Sustainable Estate. Martin and I presented reports on space at Library Committee, one on the pressures on learning space experienced during the exam revision period, which prompted some discussion on the ShareTheSpace campaign and the UCLU-led opening of teaching rooms for study. We also outlined plans which are being worked on by Estates to  identify future accommodation of the Ear Institute and Action on Hearing Loss Library, as well as the Eastman Dental Institute after the leases expire on the buildings which they currently occupy. Library Committee welcomed two ISD-funded initiatives in summer 2017 where Library Services is a major partner:

• rolling out 600 PCs for students, including around 400 in library sites.
• installing space occupancy sensors in all Library-managed learning spaces (3,600 in total), as we set out to do in our Library Strategy. This will enable users to see in real-time where there are available seats across all of our libraries, via a simple web interface.

The final KPA is Communication, Open Access and Outreach. The report highlights the impact of UCL Press in making our research available around the world, and also the expansion of the Press to publish more textbooks. By the end of March 2017, UCL Press materials had been downloaded in 203 countries across the globe. UCL Press has won an Award from the Office of the Vice-Provost (International) in recognition of its work furthering the goals of the UCL Global Engagement Strategy (GES). Following the successful open access publication of Textbook of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Key Concepts in Public Archaeology, UCL Press is expanding its textbook publishing programme. It is now inviting applications from UCL academics to submit textbook proposals for any discipline taught at UCL at undergraduate or postgraduate level.

The final feature in the Report illustrates that 2016-17 has been another year of significant progress for Library Services in achieving many of its high-level goals set out in the Library Strategy. We are on track to complete 90% of our objectives by December 2017, which have delivered tangible improvements with RFID self-service across all sites, more study spaces, longer opening hours and the growth of the ReadingLists@UCL service outlined above.

The forthcoming annual Library Staff Conference will give us all an opportunity to celebrate achievements, and the theme for this year “Excellence in Customer Service” will reflect the work by staff across the department. If you would like to find out more about the plans for the day, or to nominate colleagues whom you feel deserve special recognition, visit the Staff Conference page on LibNet.

The latest briefing on Transforming Our Professional Services has been released and is available at TOPS_LeadershipBriefing_Edition8_v1.0.

Some examples of feedback from UCL academics on the “responsive and helpful” research support services offered by Library Services.

Since my last update, two colleagues from the Library Senior Management Team (June Hedges, Head of Liaison and Support Services, and Kate Cheney, Head of Site Library Services) attended the TOPS “world café event” on Research Support for academics, which was held on 24/05. Feedback from academics about the Library’s Open Access work and support for researchers was very positive, including references to subject librarians and local support across UCL.

As previously advertised, the Library SMT meets on 7th June and TOPS will be presenting on their findings in relation to Library Services and any potential impact. Given TOPS’ goals to enhance UCL processes and efficiency of many central UCL services including HR, Finance, IT and Estates, I believe we can expect to benefit from the programme.

I am arranging to meet separately with Geoff Dunk, Faculty Manager for Brain Sciences and one of the Design Leads (in tandem with Paul Ayris) for the TOPS Library Services work stream, since Geoff cannot join the Library SMT meeting. Following these two meetings, we will be in a better position to clearly explain how the Library workstream will be progressed, in line with the principles previously outlined by Paul Ayris and myself. The current functioning of the library, which perform very well, should not be disturbed by any new TOPS arrangements. Where there are opportunities to deliver better services in partnership with Professional Services, for instance in the areas mentioned in my previous paragraph, these should be pursued.

Do you have any thoughts or questions about TOPS?

If there are aspects of TOPS which you feel would be particularly helpful to explore further within Library Services or if you would like to submit any suggestions or queries to the TOPS team ahead of the meeting next week, please either contact me before 06/06 or, if you wish to share ideas with the TOPS consultants directly, you can write to Lee Bakewell.

As budgets for academic libraries continue to contract with the challenges of the current economy, most university libraries now struggle to sustain all of their objectives. It is vital that they are responsive and strategic in how they manage their finances.

To be sustainable in the long term, universities need to look beyond traditional funding sources such as the UK government, fines, fees, photocopying, publications, donations etc. as they are no longer adequate .It has become important to seek external funding from sources such as from Trusts, foundations, charities, local authorities, Philanthropists, EU sources and even businesses.

Grants recieved from external funding can be used to deliver various developments round the library such as organising events to paying for training, contributing to salary costs for specific projects or research, restoration, conservation, rehousing of rare manuscripts, acquisition of printed books, manuscripts, records and archives, protection of endangered culture, preserving heritage and lots more.

Who exactly should be concerned with sourcing external funding? I would say most if not all of us.

The idea of writing grant applications might sound daunting especially if you have not had any experience of it, but due to the current financial climate, there is not really much choice. More and more institutions are now encouraging their staff to write grant applications as a way of achieving sustainable university funding.

This means that at some point we should consider the opportunities to be either authors or contributors to a grant application, to benefit areas of the library by facilitating projects,which cannot be funded otherwise.

For this reason, a talk on making grant applications and its importance to library services is being organised and delivered by me, library services’ Project management and information officer.

During this session, I will attempt to explain the simple steps we take when making a grant application. Questions like, who are these funders, how do I start looking for funders, what is the Library service’ grant application procedure, who can help with an application?

In the next couple of days, I will be sending out an email inviting you to express your interest.Kindly use the vote button to indicate your wish to attend.

For the second year running, UCL Library Services has been shortlisted for the prestigious Times Higher Education Leadership and Management Awards, for demonstrating best practice during the 2015-16 academic year. In this year’s selection, two UCL Library Services projects have been shortlisted as examples of sector-leading excellence.

1. LEaders Activating Research Networks (LEARN)

The Outstanding Library Team award recognizes outstanding work in library and information-services departments. This year, it is the LEARN Project which is being recognised. Based at UCL in partnership with a number of European and other international partners, The purpose of LEARN is to take the LERU Roadmap for Research Data and to develop this in order to build a coordinated e-infrastructure across Europe and beyond.

LEARN will deliver:

• a model Research Data Management (RDM) policy;
• a Toolkit to support implementation, and;
• an Executive Briefing in five core languages so as to ensure wide outreach.

In order to share knowledge about Research Data Management, LEARN has run a series of Workshops over 2016/17. The Final Conference is due to take place in London on 5 May 2017.

2. UCL Press

The Outstanding Digital Innovation of the Year award recognises the innovative use of digital technology to improve any function at a university. As the UK’s first fully open access university press, UCL Press has been pioneering a new model of scholarly communications. As highlighted in its first Annual Report, with over 100,000 downloads in 191 countries since its launch, UCL Press is going from strength to strength.

The fact that UCL Library Services is recognized by being shortlisted in both categories reflects UCL’s place as a leader in OA advocacy in Europe for 10 years. UCL’s financial investment in the Press supports its Global Engagement strategy, bringing UCL outputs to users around the world, thus adding value to the institution’s research. UCL Press is developing consultancy and hosting services to allow other universities to follow the UCL Press publishing model, or to use UCL Press infrastructure for their OA publishing, branded as their own university press. UCL Press and LEARN demonstrate how, as London’s Global University, UCL is leading the UK in the Open Science arena by harnessing world-leading research and cutting-edge technology to create impact via Open Access publishing.

I will inform you of the outcome of the awards ceremony, which is due to be held on 22 June. To be shortlisted for a THELMAs is already a significant achievement. Congratulations to all involved in securing this recognition for our excellent work as a department.

Learning about TOPS

As you already know, UCL is embarking on an initiative called Transforming Our Professional Services (TOPS). This project will develop options for how Professional Services at UCL operate. Professional Services include all administrative support functions, from departmental office teams, to Finance and HR, Careers, and Student & Registry Services, amongst others.

As Paul Ayris explained in his posting on 27/03, “the UCL family of libraries is one family, contributing to an overall library strategy for UCL, with a unified budgetary process and a joined-up reporting structure for all colleagues. All this is fully in line with the ambition of the TOPS programme.” We are working to ensure that the excellent work of our current library operations should not be disturbed by any new TOPS arrangements.

The TOPS Team are launching a series of opportunities for all staff and students to ask questions and give feedback about the proposed options for Professional Services. The first of these is an online student survey, which is currently open. In addition to the survey, there will be an in person consultation event specifically for students in June following the conclusion of the exam period. Invitations will be distributed for this event via Faculties, and details of the event will be posted on the TOPS website when they are finalised.

Results from this survey and the other consultation exercises with students and staff will feed into the final proposal in June when the consultation period ends. At the end of June the programme will present options for the future vision and design for professional services. This will include high level options for how the professional services operating model could work. The UCL Senior Management Team will discuss which option is right for us and how this should be implemented. Implementation of some of the agreed changes could begin from the start of the next academic session (September 2017).

You can find out more:

·       At the dedicated TOPS webpage, including presentation slides from previous events (under “Resources”)

·       Email the TOPS team at tops@ucl.ac.uk
 

Networked Organisational Communities as a Transformation Tool

I attended a lunch and learn event earlier this week on Networked Organisational Communities as a Transformation Tool. The emphasis was very much on the “learn” aspect and food for thought was the only sustenance provided. The hors d’oeuvre was a presentation from Faith Wainwright, Head of Skills and Knowledge at Arup. One of the founding principles of Arup, which is a global engineering firm, is that professionals from different disciplines come together to work on projects. In what is known as Ove Arup’s Key Speech, he set out a vision for a practice where experts in their respective fields work together to deliver an outcome which is better than what would have been produced had each specialism worked in isolation.

In her role, Faith oversees the organisation’s focus on networking & communities in practice. What that means, effectively, is that she helps specialist teams around the world in a particular discipline (like fire, materials or environmental analysis) to meet and exchange their knowledge and good practice. These networks of staff who share expertise and interest in a particular area complement the teams defined by the organisational structure. In establishing communities of practice, Faith made the point that it would be very easy to go “strategizing” but people love to talk about what they do, so her approach has been to create opportunities for people to tell others about what they do, and that in itself has allowed Arup staff to express their creativity and innovation. Faith’s key ingredients for managing communities of practice were: training, funding, leadership and management.

The main course was a two-part presentation by King’s College London (KCL) colleagues on Professional networks and transformative initiatives, by Laura Clayton – Director of Planning & Transformation at KCL and Ian Barrett – Director of Administration for KCL’s Faculty of Arts and Humanities.

Laura explained the rationale for establishing professional networks:

–          Frequently observed duplication of work across different units of work at King’s

–          High turnover of emerging talent, who could not see a career pathways through the organisation

Individuals felt pulled between different teams and the sheer volume of work was unsustainable. KCL senior management also hoped that having communities of practice would help demonstrate and develop the expertise of professional services teams which support academic mission.

KCL have set up 11 named professional networks established so far, each has a lead or co-lead (encouraging partnership between faculties and central services) and also a sponsor from senior management. Each network can have multiple goals, either related to their area or broader institution-wide improvements. For instance, their Business information group is looking to launch a Hackathon sponsored by Microsoft to look at ways of developing “King’s by numbers” visualisations.

Ian gave a detailed perspective on the Programme Administration Network (PAN) which he co-chairs with a senior manager from King’s central Registry & Student Administration. The network has been in existence for around one year and experience of running networks is “messy and contested, but that is ok and can be a good thing”. Ian noted that this type of initiative, in order to be successful, has to go “where the energy is” and “where the productivity can be”. The context for his network was the “One King’s” Journey, moving from local manual processes to standard processes underpinned by enterprise systems. Their network comprises 350 staff across central professional services and faculties. A Steering Group of 18 staff helps to lead the work. In terms of progress to date, Ian explained that they started with a 2-day away day for the Steering Group, established a Sharepoint site, held launch event, launched newsletter, and ran a full-day PAN conference for 350 staff with 35 sessions.  There is now a sense of momentum building and the network is working to prepare a career development framework alongside an integrated training programme for all staff involved in programme administration.

As the lunch and learn session came to a close, the pudding substitute was a Q&A session where UCL staff who had attended the session then asked questions to the panel, to try and learn any lessons which might apply to TOPS. One question was how did King’s fund this initiative, with the away day, conference and other activities all requiring resources. Ian explained that there was no major central budget but that faculties had invested a bit of their non-pay budgets into the Programme Admin Programme. They found that even a modest budget had enabled them to make some significant inroads towards improving their communication and start looking at ways of making their processes more efficient. I asked how they avoided duplication between workstreams, since 11 networks working towards similar high-level objectives might find themselves undertaking parallel work. Laura explained that all the Network leads meet quarterly, and report back to the Professional Services Executive. Their work also informs the institutional Planning round. Slides from all the presentations will be added to the TOPS webpage in the near future.

I will continue to inform you and will work to ensure that Library Services engages with the TOPS process. Faculties are being encouraged to promote TOPS with students, since it is important that UCL students and staff help shape these changes as a community. I would encourage you to keep an eye on the TOPS News & Events page, where you can find information on forthcoming information sessions open to all staff.