X Close

LCCOS staff news

Home

News for colleagues within the LCCOS department.

Menu

Buildings News

By Collette E M Lawrence, on 17 November 2016

Appologies for “Buildings News” being off line, we will be starting our weekly updates from today!

Main Library

Heating – Maintenance are continuing to work to isolate the leaking heating eliments within the second floor ceiling in the History corridor. These works should be completed today and there will be some noise disruption while pipes are cut and capped. Once this work is complete the system will be filled and checked for leaks. If no leaks are found the heating will be turned on and will take a couple of days for the building to reach normal temperature.

Hebrew and Jewish Studies – Shelving has been removed and material moved to the corridor to make room for additional study spaces. The library has been awarded funds for new desks, chairs and power in this room, but is waiting for funds to come through. In the mean time we are intending to fit some older furniture to create extra spaces in the short term.

Lift – On Monday 21st November 2016 the Main Lift will be out of service for its ropes to be replaced. This work will start at 5.00pm and should be completed by 11.00pm. Students who require the lift for access can be assisted via the North Junction Physics Lift. Emergency egress procedures remain unchanged.

Science Library

Lighting Project – The replacement of the Science Library lights with new energy efficient LED units is ongoing.  The team are working down the building and have reached the First Floor. Once all the new units have been fitted the brightness levels and controls will be fine tuned, requiring a repeat visit to most spaces. However this second visit will be quick and not cause as much disruption.These works should be completed by Christmas.

Learning Lab Project – The Second phase of the Learning Lab refurbishment will start on Saturday 26th November 2016. Access to the Computer Clusters and Services will be via the First Floor and rear stairs for the duration of this project. Signage and information flyers have been created and will be available to students. A staff help point along with two Self Service kiosks will be placed on the First Floor to assist students. These works will be completed by the 8th January 2017. Equipment and furniture will be removed from this area in the week before the start of the project i.e. next week.

Roof Repairs – The works to repair the roof are now completed and the scaffold has been struck. The team need to clear out Room 416 and make good, so there will be some disruption for the next two weeks. Redecoration is also required in the Research Grid following a leak created by this project. This will be undertaken out of hours in the next few weeks. Date to follow.

Staff Moves

Further updates with regards to this will follow in next weeks blog.

Closure of the History corridor, 2nd floor, Main Library

By Ricky Estwick, on 24 October 2016

Due to damage to the floor in the History corridor, this area will be closed for repair works between Sunday, 30th October at 1900hrs and Monday, 31st October, 0700hrs.

The repair works will take place along the whole of the History corridor, with no access to the corridor, reading room. In addition the staff entrance will be closed during these times.

This will mean that the reading rooms along the History corridor and the Dutch reading room will be inaccessible for 2 hours from Sunday 1900hrs to Sunday 2100hrs when the library closes.

A momentous week in the history of UCL Library Services

By Paul Ayris, on 5 December 2014

Opening of the new learning spaces in the UCL Eastman Institute Dental LibraryOn 3 December 2014, I was honoured to be asked to help open the new learning spaces in the UCL Eastman Institute Dental Library. Pictured at the opening alongside me are Professor Stephen Porter, Head of the Eastman Dental Institute, Robbie Lumsden and Anna Di Iorio.

At the opening, I described how this first week in December 2014 is a momentous one in the history of UCL Library Services. First, Professor Porter and I were jointly opening the fantastic new learning spaces in the UCL Eastman Dental Institute Library. All the team involved in the design and delivery of these spaces should be congratulated. The new learning pod, pictured in the photo, was the centre of attention at the opening, with many guided tours to explain how it operates. But the wider learning spaces in the Library are cutting-edge – modern, student-centric and offering the best possible support for the 21st-century ways in which students now learn.

Second, I talked a little about the merger on 2 December 2014 of the Institute of Education into UCL, to create the new UCL Institute of Education. This merger has turned UCL into a predominantly postgraduate institution, with over 18,000 postgraduate students. This means that UCL is the largest postgraduate institution in the UK and the biggest Higher Education institution in London. The Newsam Library and Archive at the UCL Institute of Education is the most significant library, probably anywhere in the world, devoted to the study of education in the context of the social sciences.

Third, the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his Autumn statement has confirmed funding of £141 million to support the development of UCL’s new research campus in UCL East at Stratford. This is one of the most important developments in UCL’s 200-year history. UCL Library Services is planning the construction of an 800-seat learning hub there to support the UCL researchers and students who will be based in Stratford. The Hub will also be a collaboration with local London boroughs, particularly the London borough of Newham, and be open especially to young learners, 14-18 years old. UCL Special Collections will have one of its two new bases there, to act as a focus for outreach and public engagement. An early development will be the creation of a Citizen Science project connected to the history of London – an area in which UCL Library Services is a specialist collector in London as a whole.

The first week of December 2014 is therefore a momentous one in the history of UCL Library Services, never more so because of the opening of the cutting-edge facilities at the UCL Eastman Dental Institute Library – a sign of how UCL cares about its student community

UCL Cruciform Library returning to the Cruciform Hub

By Kate Cheney, on 9 August 2014

The refurbishment works to create the new Cruciform Hub are now complete and the Cruciform collections and staff will be moving back from Monday 11 August.  The key dates are as follows:

  • The Cruciform collections, currently located on the Second Floor of the Science Library, will be unavailable after 21.00 on Sunday 10 August
  • The library is expected to be closed from 11-25 August
  • We hope to re-open at the Cruciform Hub on Tuesday 26 August

The temporary Cruciform service desk in the Science Library will be dismantled and the Management collections will return from the Main Library.  Another interim arrangement over the past year, the Medical Student Hub in the Wilkins Building, has now closed and will form part of the Graduate Hub.

There is a set of Frequently Asked Questions for library users during the closure period.

We aim to be open in time for returning medical students on 1 September, and will introduce a 24-hour opening pattern to mirror arrangements at Main and Science from the start of term on 22 September.

What else is new?  Like the Bartlett we will be introducing ‘Shelf Ready’ book supply from Dawsons this summer.  And like many library refurbishments we have a new entrance and staircase, close to the front of the Cruciform Building.  There will be some new phone numbers too:

  • Library Desk: 020 7679 6079 (46079) [unchanged]
  • Kate Cheney: 020 7679 9676 (09676)
  • Julia Garthwaite: 020 7679 9677 (09677)
  • Abir Mukherjee: 020 7679 9674 (09674)
  • Shekufeh Whittaker: 020 7679 9678 (09678)

What’s in the Cruciform Hub?  As well as quiet, and silent, study spaces and the library collections, it includes a teaching cluster and five seminar rooms that will all be available through the UCL Room Bookings service. There are additional workstations in the study areas and a laptop loan system will be introduced later in the year.

There are also six group work areas that students will be able to book themselves, three of which have facilities for informal presentations. These have been named after women who were former students of the Medical School and who have made a significant contribution to their profession.

The medical heritage theme will continue in a graphic ‘timeline’ recording notable dates, events and personalities in the history of the Medical School and its Hospitals, and we have been collaborating with Special Collections and UCL Public and Cultural Engagement in plans to install some eye-catching medically-themed displays in the two exhibition walls.

Visitors of course will be very welcome, we look forward to seeing you in the Hub.

Meeting rooms in Library Services

By Benjamin Meunier, on 2 June 2014

If you are hosting a presentation or meeting at UCL and want to use one of the Library meeting rooms, but want to check how many people can fit in the room, you can now find the information easily on LibNet:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/libnet/training/meeting-rooms

For small meetings, you can also book Science Library pods and meeting rooms (with more coming soon!) at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/rm_intro.shtml

Change to contact details for the Service Assistants

By Jay Woodhouse, on 16 September 2013

Please note the e-mail address for contacting the Services Assistants has changed, it is now:

lib-services@ucl.ac.uk

Please use this address for reporting maintenance, cleaning or any other study environment problems as well as any user issues where they are infringing the Library regulations, in the Main, Science, Post Grad Grid, Graduate Hub (when it opens on 7/10/13) and the JRB. This address will feature on the new signage and banners in these areas that is currently being printed and should be in place by this Friday (20/09/13).

The old e-mail address lib-service-assistant@ucl.ac.uk will be deleted this week.

New Library Regulations

By Jay Woodhouse, on 5 September 2013

As previously advertised the new Library Regulation have gone live from this morning (2/9/2013). These are available at:

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/regs.shtml

In the Main and Science Library there will be new signage to accompany the changes, with drinks and snacks being allowed in some areas. A sample of the banners we will be using is currently in the Flaxman lobby in the Main Library.

The Library Regulations will be slightly modified again on the 1st October 2013 to take into account some changes within the UCL structure. The Dean of Students (Welfare) post is being de-established from this date. Responsibility for student welfare and discipline is being transferred to the newly renamed Student and Registry Services (SRS).

There will also be a new post of Student Mediator, who will report directly to the Provost. This role will try to mediator disputes involving student and staff without recourse to formal procedures. If mediation is unsuccessful in finding and acceptable solution, formal process will be commenced. This position has been recruited and the current Dean of Student (Welfare), Ruth Siddall was the successful candidate. The post will start on the 1st October.

Science Library cluster – update

By Benjamin Meunier, on 27 August 2013

Physical – refurbishment works

The glass partition on the mezzanine (to segregate the quiet Postgraduate cluster) will now start on Wednesday 28 August 2013. The contractors will start working on the ground floor from the 2nd September and are due to have their works completed by 20th September.

Virtual – Desktop@UCL

While the Estates work is happening on the Mezzanine floor of the library, ISD will roll out Desktop@UCL to those machines between 27-30 August. These will be updated remotely as the apps are released. ISD will then upgrade those PCs on the ground floor from 09/09/13.

The key apps that will be available by the 9th September as a minimum are:

EndNote

Matlab

MS Office 2013

Reference Manager

SPSS

Stata IC

NVivo

La Tex with Bib Tex

Putty

For more information on the Desktop@UCL project, visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/isd/community/projects/ucl-desktop