Looking to the future while preparing for the present... . One college’s experience of recent change

Richard BirleyDeputy Head of Learning Resources

City College Plymouth

Nothing new under the sun… .

Putting it in context: the challenges facing City College Plymouth

… and everyone else!

Nationally:• The economy• Government education policy

Locally:• A changing demographic• Responding to the demands of the local economy /

emerging growth sectors

… and every other library!

• The march of technology: ‘computer says: you’re fired’

• Responding to the learning needs of a diverse number of courses & types of student – are we linked to, and supporting, the curriculum?

• Potential lack of awareness of, and engagement with, services provided by Subject / liaison Librarians and library services as a whole throughout the institution

• Relationship with clients: the ‘Google Generation’ Vs. “the ambivalence of some academic staff toward closer library liaison” / lack of awareness of resources

• The difficulties in measuring the impact of services / lack of engagement with library services throughout the institution

Putting it in context: the challenges facing Learning Resources

Getting our house in order

Getting our house in order

The Department is now made up of three distinct and related teams:

The Library: two sites and one study area

MAPP (Media and Print Production)

TeLIT (Technology enabled Learning Implementation Team)

Getting our house in order: before

Getting our house in order: after

Head of Learning Resources

Deputy Head of Learning

Resources / College Librarian

User Services Librarian

Coordinators X 2 (KR & GC)

Customer Assistant team

members

Acquisitions Librarian

Coordinator X 1 (GC)

Acquisition Assistant team

members

Tutor Librarians Reading List Assistant

Print Services Manager

Designers X 2

Print Technicians X 2

TeLIT Manager

LT Developer

LT Taxonomist

Media Developer

TeLIT team members

Finance & Administration

Coordinator

Finance & Administration

Assistant

Getting our house in order: rebranding

Getting our house in order: rebranding

Getting our house in order: rebranding

Success?• 95% overall satisfaction achieved in the College’s

Service Area Evaluation that took place in July 2011

• 222, 074 visits 2010-2011 - Average: 18,506 pm• 26,575 loans 2010-2011- Average: 3,757 pm• 88,886 e-book ‘page views’ Sept 2010 – Sept 2011

It’s all sorted then... ?

Er… yes and no

The new department structure has better defined line management with new posts and service teams focussing on areas for improvement (i.e. VLE (Moodle), information literacy and reading lists) that reflect the demands of the College and curriculum and enable us to respond more effectively… and raise our profile. The rebranding makes the service look more attractive and resources easier to find.

But it’s still a work in progress… .

Technology to the rescue... ?

But what about impact, student feedback, student expectations, liaising with staff… .

Can emerging technologies fill in the gaps?

Again, yes and no… . Emerging technologies provide us with opportunities not solutions… .

Opportunities: marketingWeb 2.0 & emerging Technologies enable libraries to market themselves – demonstrate the value of their staff, services & resources - cheaply, quickly & in a focussed, targeted manner

e.g. Blogs, Social Networking,mobile technology

Opportunities: collaboration … and collaborate, through increased feedback & user produced content – which can also be used to demonstrate the library service’s impact on the learner experience – with their users in order to meet these challenges

e.g. mash ups, wikis increased feedback & user produced content – which can also be used to demonstrate the library service’s impact on the learner experience – with their users in order to meet these challenges

How? Two small examples

They’re free but... .

Staff: training / time required to manage / exploit these technologies

Duplication: do ‘new’ technologies add extra value to existing services?

Sustainability What about legal issues, privacy & security?

Integration with existing technologies

“Advocacy, communication & marketing of services”This short phrase from Cooke et all's recent article (2011) neatly sums up the challenges & opportunities faced by libraries in the current financial climate

In order to fulfil their role, facilitating access to information, in a responsive, supportive & collaborative manner, while continuing to demonstrate their value to staff and students, i.e. show a return on investment, libraries will need to be proactive and adaptable, Web 2.0 in its many guises potentially provides them with opportunities to do this quickly, cheaply and innovatively, but flexibility is key

Summing up: ‘one size doesn’t fit all’

You don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes or Miss Maple to see that financial andtechnical changes are fundamentally changing librarianship and… .

There isn’t one ‘set’ of solutions to these challenges - each institution has its own‘peculiarities’ – but if libraries can embrace the idea of engagement and theidentity of being a hub, as we have, they can begin to make themselves invaluableto their institution

• Collaborative/’cross college’ work with other service teams • Embrace change/flexibility• Staff training

ReferencesAnderson, Paul. (2007) What is Web 2.0? Ideas, technologies and implications for education. [Online]. Available from:http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?hl=en&q=reference+for+What+is+Web+2.0%3F+Ideas%2C+technologies+and+implications+for+education&btnG=Search&as_sdt=0%2C5&as_ylo=&as_vis=1 [Accessed 20 October 2011].

Ashby, Martin. Et al. (2011) Scholarly communication at Loughborough University: astudy by Loughborough University Library. [Online]. Available from:http://www.lboro.ac.uk/library/about/PDFs/Scholarly%20communication%20at%20Lughborough%20University%202011.pdf [Accessed 20 October 2011].

Burkhardt, A. Social media: a guide for college and university libraries . College & Research Libraries News; 2010, Vol. 71, Issue 1, pp. 10 – 24.

Cooke, L. Norris, M. Busby, N. Page, T. Franklin, G. Gadd, E. & Young, H. (2011): Evaluating the impact of academic liaison librarians on their user community: a review and case study, New Review of Academic Librarianship, 17:1, 5-30. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13614533.2011.539096 [Accessed 20 October 2011].

Miller, R. Future-proof your library. Library Journal; 2008, Vol. 133, Issue 13, pp. 30 – 33.