Are you involved or interested in teaching / training or academic engagement / liaison activities as part of your role? Then book your place now for the 2024 LCCOS eXperience eXchange, which will take place online on MS Teams on Wednesday 15 May from 2pm.

eXperience eXchange – what happens?

LCCOS colleagues come together to share ideas and good practice about teaching or training design and delivery or academic engagement or liaison activities through short presentations or other activities.

How does it work?

You are invited to give a short presentation or teaching activity (5-20 mins) to exchange your experiences on any aspect of your work relating to teaching or training design and delivery or academic engagement or liaison activities. This may include feedback from events or training you’ve attended, something new you’ve tried in your work, an idea you might have and would value some peer input, or simply giving colleagues an insight into your role and activities.

The event also includes Lessons from LILAC, a report by colleagues who attended this year’s LILAC: The information literacy conference.

Who can attend?

Anyone with an interest in teaching or training, or academic engagement or liaison. You can choose to present or simply to attend, but the event depends on contributions so please consider presenting – it can be as short or as long as you like! We particularly encourage LCCOS staff outside of Library Services to consider contributing. It’s a perfect opportunity for colleagues to find out what you do and enable cross-team innovation within LCCOS.

Image created by Microsoft Copilot’s AI.

Why get involved?

There are many benefits to being part of the eXperience eXchange, including:

• bringing colleagues together to give everyone a better understanding of activities happening across LCCOS.
• benefiting colleagues who may be inspired by your experiences to inform their work.
• an opportunity to get input and feedback from colleagues to help you develop your ideas.
• a development opportunity which can provide evidence for an application for HEA Arena fellowship or on job applications, giving opportunity to give a presentation or deliver a short teaching activity in a safe space with a friendly audience, and for sharing best practice with colleagues.
• an opportunity to try out new teaching activities or tools, including tools for presenting online, such as polls, breakout rooms and whiteboard features.
• an opportunity to gain inspiration from the work of your peers.

What is the format of the presentations?

This year we invite contributions in one of three formats:

• A short presentation (5-10 mins)
• A PechaKucha (20 slides of 20 seconds each)
• A longer presentation or activity (15-20 mins – allows time for more in depth presentations or opportunity for interactivity and input from colleagues).

If you’d rather not present, you can attend as an attendee only, but remember that the event depends on contributions.

How do I sign up?

Simply complete the registration form. We will send you the link to join and liaise with you over your contribution.

In this edition of Induction insights 2023:

• Sign up to be part of the Library Induction Taskforce.
• Helping students understand what to expect from their library when they start university.
• Sharing induction materials.

1. Sign up to be part of the Library Induction Taskforce

The Library Induction Working Group invite all library staff to get involved with meeting, greeting and supporting our new students by contributing to our face to face, central library induction activities as part of the Library Induction Taskforce. This is an opportunity to meet and work with other colleagues from across Library Services, to broaden your experience of providing support to students and develop or enhance your professional skills. Contribute as much or as little as you are able over the induction period, mainly in the week commencing 25^th September 2023.

Activities include staffing a stand at the Support Services Fair or a ‘Getting Started’ space in Main and Science libraries or contributing to demonstrations of Explore or welcome talks to international students.

If you would like to get involved, with consent from your line manager and prioritising support for induction activities at your own library site as required, please sign up.

• Library Induction Taskforce Signup 2023

If you routinely contribute to central induction activities every year, please ensure you still complete the form so we have a complete record of everyone who will be involved to help facilitate communications.

2. Helping students understand what to expect from their library when they start university.

For students starting at university for the first time, getting to grips with navigating UCL’s many libraries, collections and extensive online library resources can be overwhelming and daunting. We have produced a short guide with tips to help smooth this transition. Initially presented as a Sway, we plan ultimately to turn this into a video, and have deliberately framed it so it is relevant to anyone about to start at university, not only at UCL, so it can be useful to people before they have a confirmed university place. It is available on the Pre-arrival page of the Library Skills pages. Please share in any communications where it might be relevant.

• Transition to university: What to expect from your library.

3. Sharing induction materials

At the recent Induction Exchange (part of the LCCOS Staff Summer School (Get an enrolment key for the Moodle course)) we discussed the benefits of sharing induction materials put together for academic programmes or library sites. These might include videos, Sway presentations, quizzes, etc. Sharing can inspire, ensure best practice and save duplication of effort. Please share your local induction materials in the new ‘Induction sharing’ tab in the Library Skills Team site. Materials shared by colleagues at the ‘Induction exchange’ and previous staff training events are already listed.

• Induction sharing

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has increasingly been making headlines in the press since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, and the emergence of numerous other online tools utilising generative AI. Inevitably this is having an impact on education and research processes, and UCL is working to develop policy, guidance and support, whilst considering the related opportunities AI offers now and into the future.

UCL’s ‘AI in Education’ group includes AI experts, academics and representatives from across UCL’s support services and is addressing issues through various workstreams. I am involved in the Academic Skills AI workstream and, together with colleagues from the UCL Academic Communication Centre, UCL Digital Skills and academic staff, we are developing guidance on utilising AI, to complement policy, expand and refine existing guidance, and integrate with guidance on academic integrity and in the remit of individual support services.

One area with implications for LCCOS is AI literacy, which dovetails with several strands of information literacy. Key areas of the LibrarySkills@UCL skills framework which relate to AI include:

• AI tools as a source of information for academic work.
• The importance of critically evaluating information obtained from AI and consideration as to whether and to what extent it should be used to inform academic work.
• The extent to which the use of AI should be acknowledged in a piece of academic work and how to reference it as a source where appropriate.

The academic skills workstream is currently considering approaches to acknowledging and referencing AI, to develop consensus on a UCL recommended approach.

How can I get involved or find out more?

• Express your interest in joining a new LCCOS AI group. This group will identify opportunities and concerns relating to AI in the context of our services and support and help inform relevant LCCOS guidance on AI, including incorporating AI guidance into our existing skills offerings. Through my involvement in the AI Academic Skills workstream, this group can help to inform UCL’s guidance and support. To express an interest in joining the LCCOS AI group, please contact me: Angela Young.
• Sign up to attend our LCCOS Staff Summer School session on ‘AI at UCL: Library support for AI literacy’ on Monday 10 July, 14.00-14.50 on MS Teams.
• Consider the impact of AI on the support you and your team provide and the activities you carry out.

Bookings are now open for the 2023 LCCOS eXperience eXchange, which will take place online on MS Teams on Thursday 25 May 10.00 – 12.00.

Library Services’ Subject Guides Group has just published a new interdisciplinary research guide for Black Studies that aims to draw attention to and aid the discovery of Black scholarship in the collections of UCL Libraries. The guide has been created in response to feedback from students and academics who have reported difficulties in isolating the work of Black authors, artists, filmmakers, and other creators in our collections.

The structured, subject based arrangement of the print materials in our libraries does not allow for the creation of physically grouped, interdisciplinary collections; the new Black Studies Subject Guide attempts to address this by drawing collections together virtually. Obviously, our collections are not limited to print materials and a key function of the guide is to integrate physical and electronic resources, listing core databases and reference works, primary and secondary sources. Key sub-sections of the print collections are highlighted, for those wishing to browse the shelves. The Audio-Visual section directs users to our growing range of film streaming databases, including curated playlists available via Kanopy and BoB National.

It would be impossible to list every relevant book, journal or film in our collections so, alongside the links to major resources, we provide advice on literature searching, for example using subject headings in Explore, and link to our excellent existing training materials at LibrarySkills@UCL.

The guide also features a range of starting points for further research. This includes highlighting the work of individuals via the Focus on a Thinker and Spotlight sections, with direct links to relevant Explore searches and, where appropriate, films in Kanopy and BoB National. The New Books section highlights recently acquired titles by Black authors and on topics of relevance to the Black diaspora. Hopefully, these features replicate a browsing experience and aid serendipitous discovery.

The creation of this interdisciplinary guide is closely aligned with the work of the Library Liberating the Collections (LLTC) Steering Group. We hope it might also serve as an aid for academics in diversifying their reading lists and Liberating the Curriculum.

To help us shape it further, we welcome feedback and suggestions for content from all LCCOS colleagues. Initial focus is on the Arts & Humanities and Social & Historical Sciences, but we welcome suggestions for content in all disciplines. Please do let us know what you think.

Best wishes,

The Black Studies Subject Guide sub-group

eXperience eXchange – what happens?

Library staff come together to share ideas and good practice about library skills training and academic engagement activities through short presentations or other activities.

How does it work?

Colleagues from across Library Services are invited to give short presentations (5-7 mins) to exchange their experiences, feedback from events, or ideas relating to library skills training and academic engagement activities. The event will be delivered using Zoom. If you have not presented using Zoom before, this is the perfect opportunity to try it out with peers as your friendly and supportive audience. You may find our guidance on using Zoom for live online training helpful and we can provide individual support and guidance on presenting online if you wish.

If you’d rather not present, you can attend as an attendee only.

Is there a theme?

This year we invite contributions relating to any aspect of library skills training and academic engagement activities, but we particularly welcome contributions relating to delivering or supporting these activities in and beyond the pandemic.

How do I sign up?

Simply complete the registration form and we will send you the link to join.

Join our first ever online eXperience eXchange on Wednesday 20 May 2020, 10.00-11.30am.

eXperience eXchange – what happens?

Library staff come together to share ideas and good practice about library skills training and liaison activities through short presentations or other activities. For the first time this year the eXperience eXchange will be taking place completely online, with no limit to the number of library staff who may attend.

How will it work?

As usual we invite colleagues from across Library Services to give short presentations (5-7 mins) to exchange their experiences, ideas or feedback from events relating to library skills training and liaison activities. The event will be delivered using Blackboard Collaborate. If you have not presented using Blackboard Collaborate before, this is the perfect opportunity to try it out with peers as your friendly and supportive audience.

If you’d rather not present, you can attend as an attendee only.

Is there a theme?

This year we invite contributions relating to any aspect of library skills training and liaison activities, but we particularly welcome contributions relating to the online or remote delivery of these services. Ideas for presentations include:

• Something new you have tried to implement, or that you would like to try out in an online environment.
• A report back from a training event or conference you have attended.
• A review of an interesting article you have read.
• How you have been working to develop your own teaching or liaison skills.
• Using new technologies in training or liaison.

How do I join the event?

Full joining instructions will be provided. You will need:

• A computer / mobile device with Internet access and sound (speakers or headphones).
• If presenting you will also need a microphone (internal laptop / mobile device microphone or headset microphones are sufficient).

How do I sign up?

Simply complete the registration form and we will send you full joining instructions.

Many congratulations to the winners of the 30 Day Get Searching Challenge virtual trophy. This year’s challenge has 8 winners: Katie Abranson, Sandra Bamborough, Sandra Blaj, Heather Chesters, Katarina Homolova, Chris Li-In-On, Alicia Lucas Garcia and Sui Jing Ly. All winners managed to complete the challenge by undertaking 30 days of online activities within a six week period, which ended at midnight on Sunday 22nd July 2018.

The challenge is an online course for UCL Library Services colleagues, which took place over six weeks this summer. Participants could choose to follow one of two pathways:

• Pathway A: to learn about or refresh skills in searching library resources
• Pathway B: to explore and learn about different ways to present and deliver online library skills material

Gold, silver and bronze virtual badges were awarded for completing 25, 20 and 15 days respectively. Congratulations to the following colleagues who achieved badges:

• Gold: Kate Brunskill, George Finnigan, Gillian Mackenzie, Yuriko Nakano, Robert Seymour, Danny Williams
• Silver: Sharon A James, Rachel Perrins, Nadia Van Der Westhuizen

Well done to everyone else who attempted the challenge.

Now the challenge is over, it remains available on the UCL Library Services Staff Summer School Moodle course as a training resource for any member of library staff to access and has now been opened up so you no longer need to complete one ‘day’ before moving on to the next, but can dip in wherever interests you. If you have difficulties accessing the course or have any questions please contact library.skills@ucl.ac.uk.

Early bird booking is now open until 21st February 2014 for the annual conference of CILIP’s Information Literacy Group. For details visit the website:

http://www.lilacconference.com/WP/bookings/