SSEES Lighting Upgrade

Our team information can be found at the following link Facilities & Project Team

We have now received confirmation from the contractor working on SSEES Lighting Upgrade.

Due to essential electrical work, which forms part of a lighting upgrade in collaboration with Library Services, Estates and Sustainability, the Lower Ground floor of SSEES Library will be CLOSED to users all day on Saturday 30^th April 2022. Unfortunately, it will not be possible for staff to offer a fetching service for material and journals during the closure, as there will be no lighting in that area.

Other floors of the Library are not affected and will be open as normal, on Saturday.

If you have any issues or queries regarding this, please contact the Library Facilities & Projects Team at lib-facilities@ucl.ac.uk

The Science Library will be closed to both students and library staff on the Friday 11th to Monday 14th February inclusive. The library will reopen on Tuesday 15th February. Library staff will need to make alternative working arrangements for these days.

This closure is required for the commissioning and switch over to the new fire alarm system. As part of this switch over the old fire alarm system will be shut off and for the duration of the closure the building will not have an active fire alarm, therefor it is not safe for students or library staff to be in the building. The fire alarm is a key safety system to allow the building to open. With the old system becoming more unreliable, the new system is need as soon as possible.

It was hoped this switch over could have been done over the Christmas break, but unfortunately the DMS Watson Building is linked to the Petrie and Boiler House and there have been access issues in both these spaces, delaying the completion of the new system installation.

For any queries please contact the Library Facilities Team.

Our team information can be found at the following link Facilities & Project Team

SMT have recognised the issues staff are having regarding the heating problems within the Main library and are working with the Library Facilities and Projects team to press Campus Infrastructure and Operations for a swift resolution. It is expected that the temporary heating solution will  be operational throughout the building by the end of the week.

1st floor main library:

Temporary heating will be provided by means of 2.8kw electric heaters.  We are still in the process of installing supplementary power to all areas that will enable us to fully deploy these heaters. Survey work is being undertaken tonight and tomorrow, with the intention of installing 2 X 60-amp supplementary power circuits: one for either end of the library. Works are expected to be complete by the end of this week. In the meantime, we have plugged in as many lower powered heaters as possible to mitigate the cold temps.

2nd floor

The 2nd floor temp heating solution will be provided by means of 20 stand only A/C split units, that will be secured in the window bays. These units only take a small amount of energy compared to the 2.8kw heaters. We also have supplementary power on the roof that we will use to feed these units. Works expected to be complete by the end of this week.

If you experience any concerns during the duration of this project, please do contact the Facilities and Projects team on: lib-facilities@ucl.ac.uk

Our team information can be found at the following link Facilities & Project Team

This is just a gentle reminder that the temporary heating install in the Main Library will be commencing tonight, Friday 3^rd December 2021.

The project will be taking place, between Friday 3^rd December and Friday the 17^th December 2021, all works will take place out of hours, when the Main Library is closed, and will be a welcome solution to the current heating issues in the Main Library.

If you experience any concerns during the duration of this project, please do contact the Facilities and Projects team on: lib-facilities@ucl.ac.uk

For further details please refer to the blog communications sent on the 26^th November, here: https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/libnet/2021/11/26/facilities-projects-team-blog-installation-of-temporary-heating-in-main-library-wilkins-building/”

Our team information can be found at the following link Facilities & Projects Team

With effect from Monday 29^th November 2021 – Couriers and individual deliveries are no longer allowed to go straight to the building for the central block of campus. For the Library this covers Main, Science and Student Centre only. All deliveries must go via the UCL Post Room at 20 Bedford Way and then be delivered with the post by the Logistics Team. This is a safety measure to reduce the vehicular traffic on central campus. New arrangements have been agreed with Logistics and signed off by the Library Operational Oversight Group.

Please note:

• For teams that get large, regular deliveries to their offices, these will continue to be delivered to offices as usual. The below applies to normal post, stationery orders and courier deliveries. If you are concerned about deliveries to your team, please contact the Facilities & Projects Team through  lib-facilities@ucl.ac.uk
• For large or one off deliveries that need to go directly to one of these buildings, such as large equipment or book collections, the organiser must ensure the delivering vehicle is booked in via Logistics beforehand, this can be done by the requestor or the company providing the delivery. Any un-booked deliveries will be turned away.

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/estates/our-services/security-ucl/parking-ucl/booking-vehicle-access

Main library: All deliveries will go to the autosorter room (113C) and be placed on the table provided. Signed for items will be placed on the table and photographed as proof of delivery. The outgoing post sack will also be in this location. The Customer Services Team will sort the post daily and deliver to the correct location within the building. Please note that the pigeonholes will remain in the Kitchen (204) on the second floor.

Science Library: All deliveries will go to the ground floor cupboard (G97A) near the staff lift. The pigeonholes will be moved to this location along with the outgoing post sack. Signed for items will be placed on the table or shelf and photographed as proof of delivery. The cupboard has the same lock as the staff kitchen, so staff will be expected to check their pigeonhole as normal.

Student Centre: All deliveries will go to the staff office (1.02) on the first floor.

If you have any issues or queries regarding this please contact the Library Facilities & Projects Team at lib-facilities@ucl.ac.uk

Our team information can be found at the following link Facilities & Project Team

The installation of the temporary heating within the Main library will commence, this weekend, Saturday 27^th November 2021 and will be completed end of next week.

It will consist of electrical heaters being positioned in various office areas on the 1^st floor. In addition to that, on the 2^nd floor, there will be 24 external, heat pump, air conditioning systems, which will be fed through slightly opened windows to allow a connection with the external condensing unit. All works will be carried out, early morning, prior to the library opening, so there will be no disruption to staff and students.

If you have any issues or queries regarding this please contact the Library Facilities & Projects Team at lib-facilities@ucl.ac.uk

Facilities & Projects Team Blog – Our team information can be found at the following link Facilities & Projects Team

A temporary heating solution for the affected areas in the Main library, will be installed, by UCL Estates, as soon as possible.

There will be external gas units to cover the 1st & 2nd floors with temporary ducts through high level windows, which will disperse into those areas.

The 3rd floor will have stand alone, split units that will be installed through the windows. There will about 20 of those to enable adequate coverage for the space.

The installations will significantly improve the quality of warmth throughout the library for students and staff.
We’re just waiting for Estates to get costs finalised and the practicalities the install sorted out.

This will be an ongoing long term project with UCL Estates and we will continue to keep you updated on the progress.

Our team information can be found at the following link Facilities & Project Team

Please see below an update with regards to work taking place this weekend:

Saturday 28^th August 2021 – The Science Library will be closed due to Sodexo carrying out a vital deep clean on all of the floor areas, in all communal spaces, in readiness for the new term in September.

The team have been working hard going from site to site getting social distancing in spaces rearranged and signage removed ready for new direction from UCL for the start of term.

If you have any issues or queries regarding this please contact the Library Facilities & Projects Team at lib-facilities@ucl.ac.uk

Library Services performed tremendously well for another year in the latest round of Green Impact, when results were presented at UCL’s Sustainability Awards Ceremony 2021. With 17 awards in total to UCL Library Services, the UCL Sustainability hosts observed that “we must have one of the greenest libraries in the UK”!

This year’s ceremony coincided with the Library Services Staff Conference, however organisers of both events kindly arranged for the programmes to allow a 15-minute slot for our Library Green Champions to receive awards as close as “in person” gets for virtual events. Unfortunately this meant a number of us missed the Provost’s introductory remarks at the Staff conference, but we look forwards to catching up with the recordings of this part of the conference!

During the presentation of the awards, Library colleagues could hear which awards they had received and turn on their cameras at the Sustainability Awards, to receive well-deserved praise and recognition. A number of UCL colleagues celebrated the Library’s achievements at the awards, and it was a joyful celebration, where I enjoyed seeing the faces of many colleagues, although not all Green Champions were able to attend.

The full list of awards for Library Services is below; well done to everyone who was involved in the Green Impact Awards, especially our Green Champions who coordinated submissions for each site. In addition to our Sites and central award for the department as a whole, Bernadette d’Almeida was also recognised individually through a “highly commended” UCL Sustainability staff award.

Change Possible: The Strategy for a Sustainable UCL 2019 – 2024 sets us all the challenge of “inspiring sustainability action on an international scale”. The Library’s strong engagement with Green Impact, over many years, will inspire other services to follow suit and I know that our achievements in this area have already been noticed at a national level. Our Library Sustainability Committee is looking to ways we can achieve even greater impact in future years by working more closely together across sites. If you would like to get involved, please get in touch: you can find more information on LibNet.

Bronze:

• Bartlett Library
• Institute of Orthopaedics Library
• SSEES Library

Silver:

• IOE Library
• Main Library
• Ophthalmology Library
• Queen Square Library
• Royal Free Medical Library
• Science Team Library
• Senate House Hub

Gold:

• Central Library Services
• Cruciform Hub
• Institute of Child Health Library
• Institute of Archaeology Library
• School of Pharmacy Library
• Language and Speech Science Library
• Wickford Zero Waste

You can find out more about the Awards, and view a recording of the ceremony and a booklet with an overview of the highly commended and award-winners (including Bernadette) on the Sustainable UCL pages.

UCL’s Sustainability Director Richard Jackson attended the Library SMT meeting in June and participated in a discussion with SMT members on adopting vegetarian catering for Library Services events. The policy was introduced at UCL within the Psychology of Language Division (PALS) and has been adopted by a number of departments and divisions. UCL Library Services have now signed up to one year trial of Powered By Plants – catering will be 100% vegetarian or vegan by default.

This commitment is part of UCL Library Services’ activity to reduce our environmental impact, driven by our team of committed Green Champions, and to support wellbeing. It also supports UCL’s ambition to lead by example.

UCL provides detailed guidance on managing sustainable events. You can also find out more about sustainability initiatives from UCL’s catering provider.