The LCCOS Staff Summer School offers a programme of training and professional development sessions designed to support staff across LCCOS in delivering high-quality enquiry services, customer support, training, and advocacy.

This year’s programme features a diverse range of live online sessions, along with one in-person event, all led by colleagues who bring valuable expertise and practical insight. The Summer School provides an excellent opportunity to enhance your skills, share knowledge, and engage with peers across the department.

The full programme is now available, and all sessions are open for booking:

• Critical thinking in a GenAI World: Summaries and sources of information
• Introduction to OpenAlex
• Discover UCL Special Collections: A Practical Guide for LCCOS Staff (In-person session)
• Copyright, creativity and open science: Introducing the Copyright for Humans game
• AI Adventures: Explore, Learn, and Innovate
• Strategies for engaging students in teaching sessions
• Systematic Reviews: From Panic to Proficiency
• The English Legal System and Sources of Law
• Supporting our NHS Members
• Developing and Safeguarding UCL Libraries for the 21st Century: the role of Collections Management Policies

For full details of the programme and to book your place(s), see the UCL LCCOS Staff Summer School calendar.

Presentations, accompanying links and materials and recordings (where applicable) will be made available on the UCL LCCOS Staff Summer School Moodle Course. If you do not already have access, please get the enrolment key.

Sessions are open to all LCCOS staff, with approval from your line manager.

Congratulations to Esther Cable (Deputy Librarian, LaSS Library) who achieved the award of HEA Associate Fellowship, through UCL Arena, this summer.

HEA Associate Fellowship is a recognition awarded by Advance HE (formerly the Higher Education Academy) to individuals who demonstrate effective teaching and support for learning in higher education. It is nationally recognised, grants you post-nominals, and can be great evidence for your CV or when applying for jobs. What’s more, the process of applying for fellowship means you reflect on your work in the areas of supporting learning and teaching, and helps you identify areas for development of your skills. In so doing, it enhances your support of students and so contributes to the user experience.

Is HEA fellowship for me?

There are different categories of fellowship depending on your role and experience. Associate Fellow is suitable for anyone in a role that supports learning, whereas colleagues with significant teaching responsibilities and at least 3 years of experience might prefer to apply for Fellowship.

What’s involved if I want to apply?

UCL Arena Fellowship provides an accredited route to all categories of HEA Fellowship and is free for UCL staff. To apply you need to write a reflective report which outlines your areas of activity and includes case studies which illustrate how your work meets relevant criteria outlined in the Professional Standards Framework (PSF). You can submit throughout the year.

What support is available?

In addition to events and support through UCL Arena, there are monthly peer-support hybrid meets for LCCOS colleagues interested in or working towards all categories of fellowship. Esther gained support and encouragement from the meets, as well as motivation to get her application written and submitted.

How can I find out more?

The UCL Arena Fellowship website and Moodle course are great places to get started with finding out more, or attend a UCL Arena Fellowship initial guidance session. To join an LCCOS HEA Fellowship support meet, or be added to the Teams site, please contact Angela Young.

The UCL LCCOS Staff Summer School is a series of training and development sessions, events and online activities aimed at staff from across LCCOS, to support their ability to answer enquiries and to provide support, training and advocacy to users and stakeholders. Sessions are generally delivered by colleagues, so we can share our expertise.

Image generated by Microsoft Copilot’s AI

If you haven’t engaged with our Summer School before, it is a series of training and professional development events open to all LCCOS staff but particularly aimed at staff who are customer facing and whose roles include providing information and support, responding to enquiries, or liaison, teaching and training. The Summer School aims to support colleagues in developing their knowledge and skills so they are better able to fulfil these aspects of their roles. Sessions are usually delivered by colleagues, sharing the knowledge and expertise we have across LCCOS, and some may be aimed at staff supporting particular disciplines.

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 Friday 3 May 2024. 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

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.

Aside from obtaining a formal qualification (e.g. Masters / diploma / apprenticeships), there are several options available to LCCOS colleagues who wish to advance their professional knowledge, experience and skills. This can provide evidence for your expertise and commitment to professional development in the sector through attainment of a professional qualification. This survey will give us an understanding of the current status and future aspirations of LCCOS colleagues in relation to these qualifications, which will inform how we can best support staff who would like to work towards them.

To get a full picture, we kindly request all within LCCOS complete the survey by 12th January 2024.

All responses will be treated in confidence.

Please get in touch if you have any questions.

Many thanks

Craig Martin, Subject Liaison Librarian
Angela Young, Head of Library Skills

The UCL LCCOS Staff Summer School (formerly UCL Library Services Staff Summer School) is a series of training and development sessions, events and online activities aimed at staff from across UCL LCCOS, to support their ability to answer enquiries and to provide support, training and advocacy to users and stakeholders. Sessions are generally delivered by colleagues, so we can share our expertise.

For full details of the programme and to book your place(s), see the UCL LCCOS Staff Summer School calendar. Presentations, accompanying links and materials and recordings (where applicable) will be made available on the UCL LCCOS Staff Summer School Moodle Course. If you do not already have access, please get the enrolment key. Sessions are open to all UCL Library Services staff, with approval from your line manager.

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.