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The Director’s View: New reporting line for UCL Library Services

By Paul Ayris, on 15 November 2016

The role of UCL Library Services in UCL 2034

The Library Strategy lays down that our Mission is to ‘Provide an information infrastructure to enable UCL’s research and education to be world class’. Through its professionalism and concentration on the ‘User Experience’, the Library does just this.

The Dome, Wilkins Building, UCL

The Dome, Wilkins Building, UCL

Nonetheless, UCL continues to improve its service offering and to introduce changes to support that development. On Monday, 14 November 2016, UCL introduced a change to the reporting line of the Library better to reflect the Library’s Mission as an academic support Division.

With immediate effect, the Library has been moved from UCL Professional Services to report to the Vice-Provost (Research). As Director of Library Services, I have been honoured with the additional role of Pro Vice-Provost , with a remit to:

  • develop UCL’s scholarly communications offering, building on the current successes of the Library’s Open Access activity, UCL Press and our research data management offering;
  • continue the Library’s activity in collection management and collection building, in both paper and digital formats; and to look for collaborations with other collections, both in UCL and further afield in London;
  • The Director of Library Services will continue to be an ex officio member of the UCL Senior Management Team

These changes reflect the success of the Library Strategy and the great visibility that our facilities and services have across the whole of UCL. They underline the strong, historic links between the Library and UCL’s activity in teaching, learning and research.

We will continue to enjoy collegial links with UCL Professional Services. I have been asked, for example, to carry on as co-chair of the Organising Committee for the UCL Professional Services Conference in February 2017.

These developments are not related to the TOPS programme as such, which nonetheless continues to be discussed across UCL. UCL planning will continue throughout the whole of 2016/17, and it is too early to be clear what shape TOPS will take institutionally.

I will continue to post news about this week’s change as the role develops. The Library is well placed to deliver on the agenda which has been offered to us. I look forward to working with colleagues to make all this a reality.

Paul Ayris

Pro Vice-Provost and Director of UCL Library Services

 

The Director’s View

By Paul Ayris, on 7 November 2016

Library Operational Plan and headline budget 2017-2020

Every year, the Library is required to submit into UCL its Operational Plan for the next academic year and its budget requests for Strategic Initiatives Funding (SIF). Accompanying this is a set of financial projections and an overview of the Library’s strategic plan up to 2020.

Bartlett Library, Central House

UCL Bartlett Library, Central House

Today, Andy Pow and I have submitted these documents on behalf of UCL Library Services. The documentation can be seen as Library Planning 2017-20 FINAL submission 08 11 16 with Opening Hours bid for LibNet. It is 29pp long and has taken 2 months to put together…

The strategic priorities which the Operational Plan identifies are taken from the Library Strategy and the underpinning Implementation Plans. These are all grounded in the objectives of UCL 2034.

The result is an Operational Plan for the Library which is founded in the strategic objectives of the institution. It takes account of all the work which colleagues in the Library undertake every day, and also identifies strategic new areas where the Library wants to make a contribution.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all colleagues in the Library for their unfailing contributions to the high regard in which the Library is held across UCL. And my special thanks to the Senior Management Team and to the Leadership Team, for their support and guidance as the Library develops.

So, the Operating Plan has been submitted. Andy and I have still to defend it and to advocate for more resources in forthcoming meetings with senior UCL Officers. Whilst I am cautiously optimistic, we await the final result.

Paul Ayris

Director of UCL Library Services

The Director’s View: UCL Library Services Strategy

By Paul Ayris, on 10 September 2016

On Friday 9 September, the Library received 3 international visitors – from University Libraries in Auckland (New Zealand) and Melbourne (Australia). They visited because the work of the Library in UCL is increasingly well Cruciform Hub_0038known there, and they wanted to see how things are done.

In one of the sessions, I gave an overview of progress in implementing the Library Strategy and that presentation can be seen in UCL Discovery here. In the presentation, I looked at the 6 Key Performance Areas (KPAs) and illustrated how the Library was delivering on that agenda to support our users and UCL 2034.

One of the key performance areas is, of course, the User Experience. Here, I looked at all the scores which the Library has gained in external surveys, notably the NSS. The 2016 NSS scores were very good for the Library, with a satisfaction rate of 88%, the second highest score in the NSS for UCL in the 23 questions asked. In the Staff, Equality and Diversity KPA, I showed the Highly Commended citation for the Leadership Team in the 2016 THELMA Awards. For Finance, Management Information and Value for Money, we looked at SCONUL benchmark statistics to see how UCL fares compared to other Russell Group universities. For KPA4, Systems and Processes, we looked at our estates work and how we are linking our new learning spaces to increases in UCL student numbers. KPA5, on Sustainable Estate, looked at our plans for UCL Special Collections. The final KPA, Communications, Open Access and Outreach, noted the success of UCL Press and celebrated the Library’s new work in communications activity.

AnalysisAt the end of the presentation, I evaluated the Library’s progress to date as we are now halfway through the Library’s strategy period. The Implementation Plans, which underpin the Strategy, contain 90 Action Lines which are regularly reviewed by the Leadership Team. At our last meeting, we recorded that 8 of the Actions had been completed, 65 were healthy and ongoing (and so marked Green), 8 were awaiting development (Amber) and none had failed (Red); there are also 8 new Actions which have recently been added to the Plans. These figures are good, but in the remaining 18-24 months of the Strategy period the emphasis must be on turning Green Actions into Completed Actions. That is the sign of success.

Paul Ayris

Director of UCL Library Services

The Director’s View: Leadership and Management Awards

By Paul Ayris, on 24 June 2016

THELMA Awards: UCL Library Services’ Leadership Team

23 June was a significant day in more ways than one. It was, amongst other things, the date of the THELMA Awards for DSC00514Leadership and Management in UK Higher Education. Held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane, the evening was a glittering occasion which was attended by 10 members of the UCL Library Services’ Leadership Team. The evening was compered by the comedian Jimmy Carr.

UCL came second in our category Outstanding Library Team – a fantastic performance. I was told afterwards that it was a wafer thin difference between UCL Library Services and the Award winner, University of Huddsersfield. UCL received the accolade of Highly Commended, which is very unusual. THELMA Awards usually only name the winner in each of the 17 categories of awards. However, UCL Library Services was one of only 3 institutions to receive the accolade of Highly Commended.

DSC00497It is a fantastic achievement for the Leadership Team, and indeed for the whole Library. It underlines that the Strategy we are pursuing, aligned with UCL’s 2034 Strategy, is the right one. Well done to everyone concerned.

Emboldened by this success, we intend to enter the THELMAs again next year – and then to go one step further.

 

Paul Ayris

Director of UCL Library Services

The Director’s View

By Paul Ayris, on 31 July 2015

UCL Library Services: UCL Institute of Education, Newsam Library and Archives

Today sees the production of the Report on the future alignment of activities and services in the UCL Institute of Education, Newsam Library and Archives, with the family of libraries in UCL Library Services.

The work has taken over 6 months and resulted in a 200-page Report.

6 Workstreams and just under 50 members of staff have been involved in contributing to the Report. It is a fantastic achievement. The discussions have been lively, positive and 100% engaging. The result is a remarkable piece of work, which maps in great detail how the UCL Institute of Education, Newsam Library and Archives, will continue to grow and develop as a full member of the UCL family of libraries.

A big thank you to all who have contributed to the writing of this Report, not least to Rodney Amis our Project Officer who has co-ordinated all the activity and produced the splendid final version of the Report; and to Frances Shipsey who leaves us today for a new role at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Please do take time to take a look at the Report, and at what has been decided.

Paul Ayris

Director of UCL Library Services

The Director’s View: Report to Library Committee (May 2015)

By Paul Ayris, on 14 June 2015

Oettinger meeting

UCL Library Committee meets three times a year – we had our most recent meeting on 4 June 2015. One of the regular items on Library Committee agendas is a report from the Director of Library Services on the Library’s performance against the new Library Services’ Strategy.

After discussion in the Library Services’ SMT, we have agreed that I will circulate this Report to the LibNet Blog after Library Committee meetings, so that all colleagues in UCL Library Services can see the recurrent status reports. Please look here for the Director’s Report May15.

The circulation of this Report marks the inauguration of a monthly Blog posting to this Blog called ‘The Director’s view’. In these regular Blog postings I hope to share with colleagues my personal views on current developments in UCL, and how the Library can support them. Given my personal interests in Open Science, Open Access and Research Data Management, I hope to use these Blog postings to share with colleagues news on current developments in these areas on a global scale.

I welcome comments on these Blog posts and will do my best to reply to colleagues, time and my diary permitting.

Paul Ayris

Director of UCL Library Services, UCL Copyright Officer and CEO of UCL Press

Death to Double Dipping

By Paul Ayris, on 18 March 2015

LERU (League of European Research Universities) has today issued a Press Release condemning the practice of Double Dipping. This is a statement that I was honoured to be asked to write by LERU.

Oettinger meeting

What is Double Dipping? Despite its innocuous name, it is one of the most pernicious aspects of commercial business models that universities have to deal with when purchasing e-content. In an Open Access world, universities pay APCs (Article Processing Charges) for publishing OA content in hybrid journals, and also pay a subscription to buy that journal. This is double accounting, or Double Dipping, and some publishers are being paid twice for access to the same content. Iniquitous. So LERU is calling on all universities and publishers to agree offsets – either against the price of the APC or against the subscription price – so that double payment ceases. A university like UCL pays around £5 million on purchasing content. We alone pay one leading publisher £1.5 million a year for access to just their content. So we certainly do not want to pay twice…

To get LERU to agree this statement, I spent a very wet Friday and Saturday in Milan with the Rectors of all 21 LERU universities trying to convince them of the validity of our case. The Provost of UCL, Professor Michael Arthur, spoke up strongly in favour of the proposed LERU statement I was advocating. This swung the opinion of the remaining Vice-Chancellors to follow UCL’s strong lead and advice. Looking back, I see this meeting in Milan as one of the seminal meetings in the history of Open Access, as we all work to forge a new scholarly communications system.

Look here for the text of the statement.

Paul Ayris
Director of UCL Library Services

Laptop loans in the Main Library

By James C Henderson, on 18 March 2015

Monday 16th of March saw the launch of laptop loans services in the Main Library.  This incentive amounts to a tacit expansion of library study spaces, by allowing students to roam free with borrowed technology.  We can expect the British Museum, British Library and the other public locations in the Bloomsbury area – perhaps even a few coffee shops – to welcome those with essays to write and research. 

24 gleaming machines are housed in an imposing steel cabinet with just enough of 1970s Doctor Who about it (there are breathing holes) to be charming.  We anticipate the venture will be a great success, as it provides not just a computer for those that might not have one but also the possibility of escape from the building noise currently worrying the main library.

 Curfew for the laptops is 10.00pm.  They must be returned to the drawer from which they were taken and connected to a power supply for the return to be completed.  The same card is needed for issue and return, which should ensure that they are treated with care rather than being handed round like a bag of jelly beans.  As the machines are programmed to reset themselves after every use, to clear files and so forth, students will be advised to save work to memory sticks or make use of cloud services.

 Any members of library services who would like a demonstration should feel free to talk to the assistants at MID, who will be glad to give them a run through. 

Further details are available here:

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/laptop-loans

IMG_4867

The Library’s New Clothes

By Scarlett Parker, on 18 February 2015

Image from Hans Andersen’s fairy tales (1913) London: Constable; by W. Heath Robinson; obtained from https://archive.org/details/hansandersensfai00ande


THIS FRIDAY I’ll be visiting the Museum of Brands in West London. It began as Robert Opie’s personal collection, growing from a single Nestlé Munchies’ wrapper to over 12,000 items documenting the development of consumer culture from the 1800s to the present day. It’s bound to be a nostalgia trip, but it will also be a chance to cast a critical eye over the aesthetic mutations endured and celebrated by that community of objects which populates our cupboards, adorns our walls, and steps over the thresholds of our collective subconscious like a vampire we don’t remember inviting.

UCL IS CHANGING and with it the Library. Or maybe I should say Library Services. We’re a loose collective unified by a core strategy and set of regulations, but with each site tailoring its service and environment to very different groups of users. This is a good and necessary thing. In the context of branding, however, this provides some challenges. The same issue exists at an institutional level: UCL’s Creative Media Services & Communications teams have constructed a corporate style guide (or ‘visual identity toolkit’ if you prefer) that governs the way a multitude of departments are supposed to be presented. Many of these departments strive to retain identities that differentiate them from the rest, and so a permanent balancing act is played out between UCLness and Department Xness.

THE PUBLICITY & SHELVING TEAM, hastily rechristened after photocopying services became centrally controlled by ISD (ably supported by assistance desk staff and service assistants), has been wrestling with this identity conundrum for many months now. Situated within the Main Library, it’s perhaps unsurprising that initial forays beyond the realm of signage and into the more attention-seeking world of publicity have happened within a half mile radius around the bloated auto-icon. What began as slightly frenzied bouts of research and improvisation using obsolete software iterations inside an infinite regression of desktop environments has reached a sort of coming of age. Members of the team have worked hard to develop a certain level of competence – expertise, even – in creating visual media for the Library, and when you couple this with the recent acquisition of appropriate digital tools, the end result is a tangible improvement in output: faster, more sophisticated, and more effective.

BUT THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING. As the Library strives to enhance and refine the services it offers to users, it must also improve the way it communicates these things to the relevant target audiences. I’m as cynical as the next person about branding. Probably more cynical. But I don’t want to see the labour, diligence, experience, and inspirational initiatives of my colleagues being overlooked, ignored, or simply lost in the noise of all those other products and services that clamour for attention in the hyperconnected age. So how are we going to do it? What does the UCL Library Services brand look like? What will it look like next year?

DEFINING THE LIBRARY BRAND is sure to be a collective endeavour. I don’t think it’s ever going to be a static thing, and I’ve got a feeling the unique selling point is the staff. I’m certain it will involve more ongoing aesthetic variation than I’ll see for any single product at the museum on Friday, but then, academic libraries are more complicated than bars of chocolate. Maybe libraries will never be as appealing either, but what they can be is a more satisfying experience. We just need to grab people’s attention and convince them that’s the case.

New roles for the Library’s SMT

By Paul Ayris, on 12 November 2014

Colleagues

As you may know, I have been undertaking a review of the roles on the Library’s SMT to prepare us to implement the new Library Strategy (to be approved by Library Committee before Christmas), the Professional Services Strategy and UCL 2034.

Last week we held interviews for two new roles on the SMT, following external advertisement of these roles. The posts comprise 2 Assistant Directorships – for Public Services and Support Services. The full remit of each role is outlined at the end of this email. I am happy to inform you that we have appointed Ben Meunier to the role of Assistant Director (Public Services) and Martin Moyle as Assistant Director (Support Services). Both Ben and Martin will begin their new roles on 1 December 2014.

The detailed remit of each role is as follows.

Public Services

    • Issue Desks at the UCL Main and Science Libraries
    • Enquiry Services delivered from the Main and Science Library
    • Membership and Disability Support
    • Photocopying & Shelving
    • Interlending & Document Supply plus the Library’s Stores delivery service
    • Communication activities across UCL Library Services
    • Space and Estate management
    • Health and Safety
    • HR functions

Support Services

    • Digital libraries, digital curation, and web and desktop support
    • Academic Support Group
    • Teaching and Learning Support Section
    • Bibliographic Services
    • Open Access Teams and services
    • Storage Services, particularly the Wickford Store
    • UCL Special Collections
    • UCL Records Office

I look forward to working with all colleagues in UCL Library Services to deliver on the institutional priorities which UCL has set in its new range of strategies.

With best regards

Paul