The Summer School takes place during June and July, with a mixture of live online events that will be recorded, and face to face events.

Recordings and materials from previous years of the Summer School are available on the UCL LCCOS Staff Summer School Moodle course.

Please help shape this year’s Summer School by completing our suggestion form by 17 May 2023. You can also use the suggestion form to request the enrolment key for the Moodle course, if you don’t already have access.

• LCCOS Staff Summer School: suggestion form

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.

Back in December 2022 Sharon James and Sarah Turk attended this online course. Below are their write-ups of the presentations.

First presentation, delivered by Clare Caccavone

The first presentation, “Progressing neurodiversity and making adjustments” was delivered by Clare Caccavone, Programme Director at Ambitious about Autism. This charity provides support, specialist education and employability services for autistic children and young people. Clare informed us that 56% of autistic children have been unofficially excluded from school, 4 out of 5 autistic young people experience mental health issues, and only 29% of autistic people are in employment.

Features of autism include difficulties with social communication, social interaction, routines, and sensory overload. To bring this to life we were shown a helpful short video in which young people with autism talked about stimming, a coping mechanism that helps with anxiety. It involves repetitive actions such as rocking, hand flapping, feet tapping, sniffing a scent or squeezing a hand toy. The video is from the Ambitious about Autism YouTube channel. We also watched this Sensory Overload video that allows the watcher to experience what it is like to be overwhelmed by everyday noise and confusion.

Ambitious about Autism are proud of a pilot they ran, the Higher Education Network, where they worked with 17 universities, trained over 100 employers, and enabled more than 170 autistic students to benefit from paid work. Aiming to create a more neurodiverse workforce, they are also working with five universities this year.

Finally, we were given some tips for when working with neurodiverse students and colleagues. These include:

• In your workplace, notice what could present a challenge for others.
• Provide advance warning of any changes, cancellations or closures.
• Allow the use of self-calming strategies that are not harmful.
• Use someone’s name before talking so that you have their attention.
• Don’t assume what you have said is obvious; reiterate what will happen and why.
• Allow more time for information to be processed.
• Give staff and students any questions you have before meeting up with them.

I found this presentation very helpful, especially the practical tips. The videos were also informative and allowed me to better understand the experiences involved in being neurodiverse.  As a frontline worker I feel that this training will help me when communicating with all library users and colleagues.

Related link

Ambitious about Autism website.

by Sharon James

Second presentation, delivered by Daniela de Silva and Eleri Kyffin

The second presentation, “Inclusive recruitment practices at the University of Westminster, Library and Archive Service”, was delivered by Daniela de Silva and Eleri Kyffin from the University of Westminster Library. We learned about how they have transformed the recruitment process to make it more inclusive and support neurodiverse applicants.

When invited to interview, all candidates now receive a Recruitment Welcome Pack which includes the names and pictures of the interview panel, information about the team and post, interview tips and guidance along with the interview questions (or the topics for questions for senior roles). It was interesting to learn that feedback gathered from both the interview candidates and the interview panel members was on the whole very positive. Whilst some candidates found that having the questions in advance made them more nervous, the majority felt it was very helpful. The interview panel found that even with the questions in advance they could see the candidates’ strengths and weaknesses, and follow up questions could be used to probe a bit deeper.

As a recruiter who sometimes feels that the interview process may not allow a candidate to do themselves justice, it was very thought provoking to hear the positive experiences of both the panel members and candidates at the University of Westminster. What I found particularly inspiring was that whilst this began as a way of making their recruitment more inclusive for autistic candidates, it actually could have the potential to make the process more inclusive for all. Definitely food for thought!

by Sarah Turk

Report on UCL Library Services members’ attendance at the University Health & Medical Librarians group (UHMLG) Summer Conference, held in Swansea 16 & 17 June 2022 (see attached file).

Notes from UHMLG Summer Conference June 22 – all FINAL

Dear Library Staff,

I am happy to inform you that the Library Services Job Shadowing Scheme has been updated, with easy to follow guidelines and only ONE form to complete.

The purpose of this scheme is to make it as flexible and accessible as possible for anyone within the department to take part in a form of job shadowing. The guidelines are there to support you and the form is there to help guide the conversations needed to organise this activity.

What is Job Shadowing?

Job shadowing is a form of learning and development, where an individual from one area or team has the opportunity to work alongside and gain experience of the role of another individual. Job shadowing is accessible to all employees, of any shift pattern, any grade and any experience.

The flexibility of this scheme means that it can be successfully used within a hybrid working environment and job shadowing (observing, undertaking tasks, participating in meetings) can occur virtually as well as face to face.

Further information including links to the form and guidelines, details of how to participate, plus a handy flow chart, can be found on the dedicated Libnet page: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/libnet/hr/learning-and-development/job-shadowing-library-services-staff

If you have any questions or wish to discuss the scheme further, please feel free to email aanchal.bhatt@ucl.ac.uk

Kind Regards,

Aanchal Bhatt

As per previous communications Library Services commenced its appraisal window on 1^st December. You may however have seen from the UCL News on 16^th December that UCL has now made changes to the appraisal process. If you have started or completed any appraisals prior to this blog you do not need to adopt for these the changes that will be outlined below until the next appraisal round, January to April 2023.

Appraisal Window

Library Services will be adopting UCL’s recommendation that we move to an appraisal window of January to April. Library appraisals should therefore be completed by the end of April 2022.

Appraisal form 

One of two appraisals forms can be used depending upon the role of the appraisee:

• Appraisal form with development plan
• Appraisal form – Manual and crafts workers

Developmental Conversations

The Developmental conversations approach allows for two-way conversation to take place which can enhance the appraisal experience through meaningful goal setting and personal development when using the UCL Appraisal form.

Further information can be found by visiting the guidance and e-learning for Developmental Conversations.

Appraisal Targets

There are four parts to setting Goals, the content of which needs to be agreed between the appraiser and appraisee.

• Deliver your departments/division’s priorities – UCL recommends 3 goals in this area.
• Discover your potential – UCL recommends 1 goal for this area.
• Defer/Discontinue activities that hinder you from achieving your role’s purpose and focus – UCL recommend 1 goal if relevant.
• Demonstrate how you work effectively – UCL recommends 1 goal.

Further details about goal setting can be found on the UCL HR webpage.

Training

It is advisable that Appraisers familiarise themselves with the UCL Appraisal Policy and complete the following training:

• Developmental conversations essentials e-learning
• Unconscious bias e-learning

How to manage the appraisal documentation 

1. The Appraiser and Appraisee should keep a signed copy of the appraisal document, in a confidential file/location, until the subsequent appraisal, when the document should be disposed of confidentially. (If the appraisee leaves the organisation, the paperwork should be disposed of confidentially at that time.)
2. If revisions to the job description have been agreed during the appraisal process, please send an electronic copy to Library HR at lib-hrteam@ucl.ac.uk.
3. Managers should record the completion of the appraisal on MyHR using the instructions that can be found via the UCL Knowledge Centre, under “MyHR Manager Self Service” – “My team employment information” – “Create employee performance appraisal“.

LibNet has been updated with the relevant information.

From 1^st December we will enter our new Appraisal Window, we would like to reconfirm some communication from the last cycle.  

Appraisal form  

Due to the ongoing impact of Covid-19, colleagues in Library Services are asked to continue with the abridged version of the UCL appraisal form, which can be found at https://www.ucl.ac.uk/human-resources/sites/human-resources/files/appraisal_review_and_development_scheme_short-form.docx . 

Appraisals and Covid-19

The position remains that the appraisal write-up should include acknowledgement of any agreed adjustments to objectives, workload or working patterns, for individual members of staff. Where a barrier, such as the impact of COVID-19 or lockdown, may have impacted on an individual’s ability to meet agreed objectives from the previous year, it should not impact negatively on the individual in terms of demonstrating good performance over the past year. Nor should their revised working pattern/workload create a barrier to any learning and development opportunities which have been identified as part of the appraisal process. 

How to manage the appraisal documentation 

1. The Appraiser and Appraisee should keep a signed copy of the appraisal document, in a confidential file/location, until the subsequent appraisal, when the document should be disposed of confidentially. (If the appraisee leaves the organisation, the paperwork should be disposed of confidentially at that time.) 

2. If revisions to the job description have been agreed during the appraisal process, please send an electronic copy to Library HR at lib-hrteam@ucl.ac.uk. 

The Libnet appraisals page has been updated with information about the abridged appraisals process: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/libnet/hr/learning-and-development/appraisals.

Developmental Conversations

The Developmental conversations approach allows for two-way conversation to take place which can enhance the appraisal experience through meaningful goal setting and personal development.

Further information can be found by visiting https://www.ucl.ac.uk/human-resources/learning-development/learning-academy/developmental-conversations .

The recommended Developmental Conversations training module is available for staff to complete via https://www.ucl.ac.uk/staff-training/enroll.php?code=ODDC .

Appraisal Targets

In line with the Library Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Action plan, all staff are required to have a target of engaging or undertaking at least one Equality, Diversity and Inclusion associated activity or event in the 2021/2022 academic session. For example contributing content to the Library Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) newsletter, engagement in wellbeing initiatives, attending a training session or team building exercises using the theme of EDI.

When developing the targets, consideration should also be given to the UCL Ways of Working and the indicators relating to the grade of the post that the employee holds.

4 dimensional (4D) goal setting:

UCL has introduced a goal setting framework based upon the following principles:

• Discover my potential – 1 goal required

• Deliver my role and alignment to UCL’s strategy – 3 goals required

• Defer/Discontinue activities that hinder me from achieving my role’s purpose and focus

• Demonstrate UCL’s way of working – 1 goal required

Further details about UCL’s 4 dimensional approach to goal setting can be found here.

Training

Please ensure you review training completed in the past year and that any mandatory refresher training is set as a training objective. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/human-resources/learning-development/mandatory-learning

There are 9 core mandatory courses:

• Staff online diversity training
• Unconscious bias training 
• Change possible: Be part of a sustainable UCL
• Information Security
• UCL fire safety 
• UCL safety induction
• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) training
• Freedom of information 
• Prevent duty training

GDPR refresher course  completion required every two years.

Mandatory training for Managers

Managers should complete UCL recruitment essentials  before participating upon recruitment panels.

UCL has a vast amount of training available for staff which can be found by visiting the Learning Academy.

The UCL Library Services Staff Summer School is a series of training and development sessions, events and online activities aimed at library staff from across UCL Library Services, to support them in answering enquiries and in providing support, training and advocacy to library users and stakeholders.

This year the entire programme will be delivered online throughout June and July, with a mixture of self-directed online learning and live sessions. Here is a taster of what’s on offer, with more sessions to be announced soon:

• Introduction to digital accessibility (Wednesday 9 June – Wednesday 21 July, self-directed online learning).
• Creating videos: an introduction (Thursday 10th June, 10.00-12.00)
• Blended learning by design (Monday 28th June, 10:00-11:00)
• LibAnswers and LibChat: Developing our online enquiry service (Tuesday 13 July, 11:00-12:00)
• eXperience eXchange and Feeback from FestivIL (Tuesday 20th July, 10:00-12:00)

Full details are available:

• UCL Library Services Staff Summer School Moodle Course. (If you do not already have access, please email libraryskills@ucl.ac.uk for an enrolment key).
• Make a booking and find full information for each session on our calendar.

Sessions are open to all UCL Library Services staff, with the permission of your line manager.

Angela Young, Head of Library Skills

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.

As we have entered our new Appraisal Window, we would like to bring to your attention some changes for the upcoming cycle.

Appraisal form

During the current Covid-19 pandemic, colleagues in Library Services are asked to complete the abridged version of the UCL appraisal form.

The new format dispenses with Parts A-C in favour of a single document.

Appraisals and Covid-19

This has not been a ‘normal’ year. UCL’s position is that the appraisal write-up should include acknowledgement of any agreed adjustments to objectives, workload or working patterns, for individual members of staff. Where a barrier, such as the impact of COVID-19 or lockdown, may have impacted on an individual’s ability to meet agreed objectives from the previous year, it should not impact negatively on the individual in terms of demonstrating good performance over the past year. Nor should their revised working pattern/workload create a barrier to any learning and development opportunities which have been identified as part of the appraisal process.

See more information about holding appraisals this year.

How to manage the appraisal documentation

1. The Appraiser and Appraisee should keep a signed copy of the appraisal document, in a confidential file/location, until the subsequent appraisal, when the document should be disposed of confidentially. (If the appraisee leaves the organisation, the paperwork should be disposed of confidentially at that time.)
2. If revisions to the job description have been agreed during the appraisal process, please send an electronic copy to Library HR at lib-hrteam@ucl.ac.uk.

The LibNet appraisals page has been updated with information about the abridged appraisals process.

Developmental Conversations

The Developmental conversations approach allows for two-way conversation to take place which can enhance the appraisal experience through meaningful goal setting and personal development.

Further information on developmental conversations is available.

The recommended Developmental Conversations training module is available for staff to complete.

Appraisal Targets

In line with the Library Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Action plan, all staff are required to have a target of engaging or undertaking at least one Equality, Diversity and Inclusion associated activity or event in the 2020/2021 academic session. For example contributing content to the Library Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) newsletter, engagement in wellbeing initiatives, attending a training session or team building exercises using the theme of EDI.

A discussion should take place regarding the Library Strategy and targets that link to the Strategic Key Performance Action objectives.

When developing the targets, consideration should also be given to the UCL Ways of Working and the indicators relating to the grade of the post that the employee holds.

4 dimensional (4D) goal setting:

UCL has introduced a goal setting framework based upon the following principles:

• Discover my potential – 1 goal required
• Deliver my role and alignment to UCL’s strategy – 3 goals required
• Defer/Discontinue activities that hinder me from achieving my role’s purpose and focus
• Demonstrate UCL’s way of working – 1 goal required

Further details about UCL’s 4 dimensional approach to goal setting are online.

Training

Please ensure you review training completed in the past year and that any mandatory refresher training is set as a training objective.

There are 9 core mandatory courses:

• Staff online diversity training
• Unconscious bias training 
• Change possible: Be part of a sustainable UCL
• Information Security
• UCL fire safety 
• UCL safety induction
• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) training
• Freedom of information 
• Prevent duty training

GDPR refresher course completion required every two years.

Mandatory training for Managers

Managers should complete UCL recruitment essentials before participating upon recruitment panels.

UCL has a vast amount of training available for staff which can be found by visiting the Learning Academy.