Partnering with Academic Deans to Pay for

Online Reading List Help

Anne Worden, Faculty Librarian &

Kate Humby, Online Course Developer: Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences

University of Portsmouth

June 2014

Outline of Session

• Library perspective

• Graduate perspective

• Overall verdict

• Discussion

– what do you do?

– would this model work elsewhere?

The Library Perspective

• Obtaining reading lists is a problem

• Online reading list systems in place since 2004

• Encouraging buy-in from lecturers

• Good intentions and training given but…

• Could it be done better?

Innovation Using Faculty Funds

• Creative & Cultural Industries (CCI) had money

• Strong Library – Faculty partnership

• The Dean wanted money spent on a project

• Hard work getting book budget spent

• Reading list project the ideal solution!

Implementing the Project

• Faculty Librarian for CCI took the lead

– Prepared job description/person spec for HR grading

– Arranged interviews

• Job advertised via Faculty mailing list

– Fixed-term contract for 40 weeks

• Strategy agreed with Faculty Library Committee

• Graduate seen to be successful

• Knock-on effect

Rolling the concept out across UoP

• Library-friendly Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS)

• Agreeing funding was just the start

• Reliant on Faculty Librarian taking the lead

– Amending CCI post job details as 1 year hourly paid

– Arranging interviews, giving feedback

– Liaising with Faculty Manager

– Time sheets as hourly paid

• Support of the Dean made obtaining reading lists easier

The Graduate Perspective

So far three faculties have partnered with academic deans to pay for reading list help:

CCI: October 2012 – May 2013

HSS: February 2013 – February 2014

Business: September 2013 – September 2014

Why exclusively graduates?

Why exclusively graduates?

• Recent experience of higher education as a student

• Knowledge of university's departments, VLE and paper reading list constraints

• Easier for graduates to put themselves in the shoes of current students

• University investing in students who have invested in an education at Portsmouth

Advantages of being employed by a faculty

• Knowledge of commonly used faculty-specific resources and databases

• Relationships with lecturers and school administrators

• Manageable and focused workload

• Future employment opportunities

As a graduate, why I wish I’d had Aspire

• Electronic resources

• Digitisation project

• Lack of copyright breaches

• Accessibility to both print and digital resources

• Online integration with other resources

• Solid academic recommendations and referencing

• Suits multiple learning styles

Benefits of Aspire cont’d

• Improved communication with the library

• Readings can be updated immediately and by multiple academics / students

• Readings can incorporate current affairs

• Encourages academics to look further afield for new resources

• Promotion of less commonly used resources

Overall Verdict

• Reading list coverage today is very comprehensive across 3 out of 5 Faculties

– CCI 98% done, HSS 92% done, PBS 54% done

• Each Faculty very pleased – Lecturers and students benefit

• Library extremely pleased

– Over 175,000 visits to reading lists in 2013/14

– Aspire Dashboard analytics for use of each list

• Graduates delighted – further employment in UoP

Discussion Time

• What do you do about collecting reading lists?

• Do you already have specific reading list posts in your library?

• Would Deans fund posts in your library?

• Have you got a good alternative to share?