The day by day weekly summary has become, temporarily, a week by week monthly summary as time to reflect during the first few weeks of semester is scarce.
Added to the usual frenetic activity has been continuing work on the process of procuring a new Library Management Platform (LMP). During September there was scoring and evaluating of tenders and then recently there have been demonstrations by suppliers which again need scoring and consensus scoring. It has been a lot of work with working groups, internal and external groups and meetings and a lot of concentration. But it has been very interesting especially the involvement with other institutions and universities as part of SCURL to create a framework for using in the future. The process around tendering has been interesting too and it is good experience.
Anyhow, back to the beginning of Semester which went well. We had the usual situation when some changes and improvements especially to do with the building were only ready at the last minute but everything was ready. We had a stock relegation programme in place over the summer which involved clearing a lot of unused paper journals and this has created extra study spaces. We've also gained another room for silent study so increased our study space by approx 70 seats.
Our new Principal visited the library on Monday 7th September along with other invited staff and everything went according to plan - a successful afternoon and it was a great opportunity to show off all the good work and the good service we provide.
http://informs.hw.ac.uk/2015/09/08/the-principals-visit-to-the-library/
Semester began on 14th September and we were busy with enquiries right from the start. We get a lot of IT related enquiries in the first couple of weeks mainly about passwords, WiFi and email. Basically students want to get set up to access the university system as quickly as possible preferably on numerous devices. All the information is online but many still prefer to come to the library IT help desk for face to face help, advice and assistance so it is good that we provide online self help, telephone, email and personal help.
Library related changes have involved the short term loans (3hr loans) and reserved books. There has been a major change with these in that they used to be kept behind the Service Desk and issued by staff but we now have them on open shelving near the self issue kiosks and students can access them themselves at anytime 24/7. We are monitoring the situation as we go along but we haven't had any major problems so far (despite concerns by some staff). The system is not perfect but can be modified if need be once we have reviewed it at the end of the semester. I'm confident that it is going to work...
24/7 opening of the library started at the beginning of semester and will continue up until 18th December. It is now established that we are open 24/7 for all of semester time and revert to 9-5 during holidays.
Other things:
Lapsafe lockers for students to charge their laptops
New rota for Service Desk staff in order to get a better insight into use of staff resource
Room booking software for study rooms still going well and can be accessed from OPAC machines so easier for students to use.
Change Advisory Board is still proving useful for keeping up to date with communicating changes.
We had a good visit from Edinburgh City Libraries showcasing their ebooks, emagazines etc. and lots of students signed up so that was interesting and a great collaboration.
Social media updates continuing and I've been doing stuff for ELISA and CSGUK but that's another story.
Wednesday, 21 October 2015
Monday, 17 August 2015
Day by day - VLE staff training, staffing, IT Helpdesk, resources and reports...
Tuesday 11th
Academic and Learner Services Team meeting - catching up on what's happening after being off for a few days
Customer Services Team training - we have a summer training programme for our team with a variety of topics including:
Eduroam/wifi – configuring devices
MFDs – basic trouble shooting and maintenance
Inter Library loans – general overview
Basic kayako (IT Helpdesk system)
Creating google forms for statistics and surveys
Basic spreadsheets
Vision – general overview
Emails and text messages – procedures for replying on behalf of Service Desk
Social media – overview and demo of IS Twitter and Facebook and how to post
Group study rooms and tables – equipment / screens – how to use and help students
The sessions are delivered by me or members of our team who are specialists in any of the above. They are usually face to face sessions but increasingly this proves difficult as we have a wide range of staff working different hours and we have to repeat sessions when the semester only staff return. So this year for the first time, I'm creating an online course in Vision (Blackboard) so that staff can do the training at different times.
Today's session was on Vision (Blackboard) as some library assistants have not used it before very much and not as a student so they found it useful to be enrolled onto a course and work through the training materials. I have also created a test at the end of each topic. This means they can consolidate what they have learned and also I have a record of who has completed which training.
Wednesday 12th
Staffing issues and planning
Thursday 13th
IT help-desk day - catching up on issues over the last week including which groups of students can have access to which software depending on their location and campus.
Discussion with our Helpdesk system developer on issues that need resolving and developments. At the moment these are mainly around refining the processes needed for the most common requests from staff users outwith Information Services which are: Requests for new staff to be added to existing teams/departments within the system
Requests for new departments to be set up and accessed by either existing team members or new team members
As more departments across the University use the IT Helpdesk system, it becomes more challenging to keep protocols and procedures universal and we have to be flexible depending on what users require.
Academic and Learner Services Team meeting - catching up on what's happening after being off for a few days
Customer Services Team training - we have a summer training programme for our team with a variety of topics including:
Eduroam/wifi – configuring devices
MFDs – basic trouble shooting and maintenance
Inter Library loans – general overview
Basic kayako (IT Helpdesk system)
Creating google forms for statistics and surveys
Basic spreadsheets
Vision – general overview
Emails and text messages – procedures for replying on behalf of Service Desk
Social media – overview and demo of IS Twitter and Facebook and how to post
Group study rooms and tables – equipment / screens – how to use and help students
The sessions are delivered by me or members of our team who are specialists in any of the above. They are usually face to face sessions but increasingly this proves difficult as we have a wide range of staff working different hours and we have to repeat sessions when the semester only staff return. So this year for the first time, I'm creating an online course in Vision (Blackboard) so that staff can do the training at different times.
Today's session was on Vision (Blackboard) as some library assistants have not used it before very much and not as a student so they found it useful to be enrolled onto a course and work through the training materials. I have also created a test at the end of each topic. This means they can consolidate what they have learned and also I have a record of who has completed which training.
Wednesday 12th
Staffing issues and planning
Thursday 13th
IT help-desk day - catching up on issues over the last week including which groups of students can have access to which software depending on their location and campus.
Discussion with our Helpdesk system developer on issues that need resolving and developments. At the moment these are mainly around refining the processes needed for the most common requests from staff users outwith Information Services which are: Requests for new staff to be added to existing teams/departments within the system
Requests for new departments to be set up and accessed by either existing team members or new team members
As more departments across the University use the IT Helpdesk system, it becomes more challenging to keep protocols and procedures universal and we have to be flexible depending on what users require.
Friday 14th
Last minute report for ISLT
Meeting with Resources staff about procedures for processing book orders more efficiently. Also implications from acquisitions point of view of the short loan collection being rationalised and reduced.
Friday, 14 August 2015
Student views about using the library and IT help #libraries #IThelp #feedback
At the UCISA SS15 conference, one of the sessions was a presentation by a student, Emma Anderson, from the University of Leeds. The presentation was entitled 'It's not just Facebook and Twitter. How students use technology in their everyday lives'. It was an insightful account of the student experience and interesting from our point of view, as 'providers' of the service as to how it is interpreted and used which is not always how we anticipate that it is going to be accessed.
I blogged about the presentation here http://bit.ly/1LbG9aV
As providers and developers of the service whether it be a IT helpdesk service or library service or any student facing service in a university, we aim to maintain a complete and coherent physical and online facility that serves all parts of the student journey and experience. From a students perspective, they want to dip in and out and take what they need, where and when they need it - to take the parts that are relevant to them whether it be a online resource or a study space.
The interesting areas to look at further are concerned with number of devices, what different devices are used for, that a variety of devices are needed, that study spaces need power and space and that social media is a small part of studying but a large part of life.
I drafted a survey which was based on these areas and tested it out on three students (not from Heriot-Watt University but 2nd/3rd year UG students). I asked them a series of questions based on Library and IT Help Services and facilities. I asked them to answer for the particular institution they had attended but it was not intended as a reflection of a particular University, rather their experience of university life. It was carried out in a fairly informal setting and included some ad hoc answers and information.
Q1 Do you know how to contact the IT Helpdesk at your University e.g. if your email wasn't working or a password needed changing
A1. No, would go to library service desk
A2 Looked up information online
A3 Yes, have office at back of library. Also can search website for email or telephone contact
Q2 - In the Library building - what are the 3 most important things that the library provides?
A1. PCs, books, study space
A2. Study space, PC, printing
A3. PC, printing, cafe/food area
Q3 - What sort of study space do you prefer to use or that you would like to see available?
A1. PC desk space, comfy chair, be able to whisper to the person next to me. Also group space.
A2. Reading room, books, lots of desks, sit with friends but lots of space so don't feel crammed in and not people moving in and out of the room all the time.
A3. Sometimes PC, sometimes space with no computer but a power socket. Silent space e.g. alcove with partitions. Not enough group space to practice presentations.
The following question they just answered together in general
Q4 - How many devices do you use?
Have phone, ipad, laptop plus use PC
Sometimes if using PC for work then use iPad to look stuff up at same time i.e. research for essay
Don't often take laptop into Uni so need PC at Uni
Wouldn't use laptop and PC at same time but use either of these plus ipad or phone
Study spaces away from PCs need plug sockets for ipad
Sometimes print out lecture slides beforehand and annotate during lecture as this is easier than making notes and matching up afterwards
Q5 - What do you use the Library Service Desk for? What would you go and ask about?
A1. If can't find a book. Pay off fines.
A2 If can't find a book.
A3 To hand in lost property. Haven't had to ask about books as bought text books and look online.
Q6 - What about using Self Service issuing and return for books in library?
A1. Good as quicker and don't have to talk to library staff! Also said good in case the book is a reference book and so you wouldn't feel daft if the machine displays a message saying reference only rather than being told.
A2 Good as same system as at another library so knew how to use. Good as gives a receipt showing date of return.
A3 Quick and simple. Good for out of hours. Good for short loans.
Q7 - Communication - what do you think about receiving emails from the university?
A1 Just skim read. Has to be relevant to studies. Don't read if about general university wide matters.
A2 Has to be quick and urgent with a relevant subject line.
Q8 - Communication - using the portal for communication
They were all both positive about this and gave explanations of how it worked and what the interface looked like. They had a good understanding of how it worked and how to access their respective VLEs. They seemed to consider a VLE as perfectly acceptable and didn't want anything more sophisticated or snazzy. The main reason for using the portal was to access the VLE and to receive notifications.
Q9 - Should the university use Facebook for communicating with students?
No to Facebook - although there should be a university Facebook page and a Library one - so I think what they meant was they would like to be able to view a University Facebook but don't want to interact with staff or lecturers.
They used Facebook groups for collaboration with other students
e.g. Revision group
e.g. Group work - could use a Moodle forum but would have to log in so Facebook group easier and useful for chatting and making changes to presentations. Use with other students but not lecturers.
It was an interesting discussion and does reflect quite accurately some of the results we have had from quick surveys at Heriot-Watt Uni about the purpose of visiting the library and what facilities are the most important. It has given me some good ideas about surveys that can be carried out next semester especially with new students starting in September and also as part of customer service excellence.
I blogged about the presentation here http://bit.ly/1LbG9aV
As providers and developers of the service whether it be a IT helpdesk service or library service or any student facing service in a university, we aim to maintain a complete and coherent physical and online facility that serves all parts of the student journey and experience. From a students perspective, they want to dip in and out and take what they need, where and when they need it - to take the parts that are relevant to them whether it be a online resource or a study space.
The interesting areas to look at further are concerned with number of devices, what different devices are used for, that a variety of devices are needed, that study spaces need power and space and that social media is a small part of studying but a large part of life.
I drafted a survey which was based on these areas and tested it out on three students (not from Heriot-Watt University but 2nd/3rd year UG students). I asked them a series of questions based on Library and IT Help Services and facilities. I asked them to answer for the particular institution they had attended but it was not intended as a reflection of a particular University, rather their experience of university life. It was carried out in a fairly informal setting and included some ad hoc answers and information.
Q1 Do you know how to contact the IT Helpdesk at your University e.g. if your email wasn't working or a password needed changing
A1. No, would go to library service desk
A2 Looked up information online
A3 Yes, have office at back of library. Also can search website for email or telephone contact
Q2 - In the Library building - what are the 3 most important things that the library provides?
A1. PCs, books, study space
A2. Study space, PC, printing
A3. PC, printing, cafe/food area
Q3 - What sort of study space do you prefer to use or that you would like to see available?
A1. PC desk space, comfy chair, be able to whisper to the person next to me. Also group space.
A2. Reading room, books, lots of desks, sit with friends but lots of space so don't feel crammed in and not people moving in and out of the room all the time.
A3. Sometimes PC, sometimes space with no computer but a power socket. Silent space e.g. alcove with partitions. Not enough group space to practice presentations.
The following question they just answered together in general
Q4 - How many devices do you use?
Have phone, ipad, laptop plus use PC
Sometimes if using PC for work then use iPad to look stuff up at same time i.e. research for essay
Don't often take laptop into Uni so need PC at Uni
Wouldn't use laptop and PC at same time but use either of these plus ipad or phone
Study spaces away from PCs need plug sockets for ipad
Sometimes print out lecture slides beforehand and annotate during lecture as this is easier than making notes and matching up afterwards
Q5 - What do you use the Library Service Desk for? What would you go and ask about?
A1. If can't find a book. Pay off fines.
A2 If can't find a book.
A3 To hand in lost property. Haven't had to ask about books as bought text books and look online.
Q6 - What about using Self Service issuing and return for books in library?
A1. Good as quicker and don't have to talk to library staff! Also said good in case the book is a reference book and so you wouldn't feel daft if the machine displays a message saying reference only rather than being told.
A2 Good as same system as at another library so knew how to use. Good as gives a receipt showing date of return.
A3 Quick and simple. Good for out of hours. Good for short loans.
Q7 - Communication - what do you think about receiving emails from the university?
A1 Just skim read. Has to be relevant to studies. Don't read if about general university wide matters.
A2 Has to be quick and urgent with a relevant subject line.
Q8 - Communication - using the portal for communication
They were all both positive about this and gave explanations of how it worked and what the interface looked like. They had a good understanding of how it worked and how to access their respective VLEs. They seemed to consider a VLE as perfectly acceptable and didn't want anything more sophisticated or snazzy. The main reason for using the portal was to access the VLE and to receive notifications.
Q9 - Should the university use Facebook for communicating with students?
No to Facebook - although there should be a university Facebook page and a Library one - so I think what they meant was they would like to be able to view a University Facebook but don't want to interact with staff or lecturers.
They used Facebook groups for collaboration with other students
e.g. Revision group
e.g. Group work - could use a Moodle forum but would have to log in so Facebook group easier and useful for chatting and making changes to presentations. Use with other students but not lecturers.
It was an interesting discussion and does reflect quite accurately some of the results we have had from quick surveys at Heriot-Watt Uni about the purpose of visiting the library and what facilities are the most important. It has given me some good ideas about surveys that can be carried out next semester especially with new students starting in September and also as part of customer service excellence.
Monday, 20 July 2015
Using google forms for feedback
Using google forms is proving to be a quick and easy way of getting feedback from students who use our Edinburgh campus library. We have already been using them for recording quick, easily resolvable enquiries at the library service desk so decided to try them out last year for feedback.
Tuesday, 23 June 2015
Day by day - LMP, Collection Development, Change Advisory Board and external events
Monday 15th June
- Library Management Platform project board meeting including an update on the SCURL groups, internal operational groups and timeline for project.
- Weekly meeting with line manager - staffing and plans / developments for summer
- Collection Development meeting including update on stock relegation (books) and plans for removal of some of the journal stock to make more study space for students.
Collection development is officially the responsibility of the resources team however in practice a lot of the work, especially maintenance and relegation, is undertaken by the Customer Services team. This is mainly because they have the skills and knowledge of where the stock, books and journals, are located and their usage by students. The demand for items is monitored by Customer Services staff. We have a rolling programme of weeding and have just finished one list and are now starting on the quick reference and IPE books.
Tuesday 16th June
- In York for Leadership Foundation 'Leading Across Professional Boundaries' course
Wednesday 17th June
- Discussion re classification of IPE books to be integrated into main collection
- Discussion with line manager re staffing and plans for next semester
- IT Helpdesk update and current issues
- Change Advisory Board - communications re print servers, roaming profiles, office 2013 and home page
Thursday 18th June
- Oxford
Friday 19th June
- Association for Learning Technology Trustees meeting at Institute of Education, London.
Day by day - statistics, systems, more LMP and 3hr loans...
Monday 8th June - holiday
Tuesday 9th June
Wednesday 10th June
Thursday 11th June
Friday 12th June
Tuesday 9th June
- Statistics
- Libcal room bookings
- Relocation of 3hr loans - this has been a long running discussion now as to where we should relocate the short loan collection to. I've been looking at the usage stats and found that of the 900+ items that we have categorised as 3hr loans, only about half were actually borrowed during the last academic year. This is good news in that we can reduce the number of items kept in the collection. The other side of the story is that the main reason for a book being in the collection is that it is recommended by a lecturer - this doesn't however mean that it is actually used. We can reduce the size, and footprint, of the collection and also make it available via self-service for students. Now we just have to work out the best way to do this. There are two or three possibilities which I've circulated for information and suggestions...
Wednesday 10th June
- IT Helpdesk - catch up on issues
- Complaints log
- Staffing
Thursday 11th June
- Team meeting - 3 hr loans, tasks, staffing
- LMP project Document Delivery meeting - requirements and scenarios
- LMP project Inventory meeting - requirements and scenarios
- Emails to sort out mentoring
- ELISA and blogging
- Delivered training to staff on room booking system - collating statistics
Friday 12th June
- Customer service excellence network meeting - Northumbria Uni
Tuesday, 9 June 2015
Day by day - ELISA, ECA library, Library Management Platform and communications
Monday 1st June - a different start to the week from usual as I had the morning off as holiday. I did check my emails though just to make sure there was nothing urgent to deal with.
Monday afternoon was a meeting of ELISA T&D group (ELISA Edinburgh) at NLS Lawnmarket. the main items that we discussed were communications including the ELISA Website / Blog / Twitter and the planned programme of visits. I am involved with the website and twitter account and tweet from the ELISA account at events. There is a great programme of events coming up with visits to some interesting libraries in the Edinburgh area.
Tuesday 2nd June - some planning and collating of statistics.
Still trying to get the SmartStock device set up for weeding and stock taking.
In the afternoon I went to the Edinburgh College of Art library for a visit arranged through ELISA.
I've blogged about it here ELISA visit to ECA library
Wednesday 3rd June - early start down at the IT Helpdesk to catch up on updates and to get staff input on changes to process for tickets from different departments. We're clarifying and reviewing some of our procedures over the summer in order to provide a consistent service.
Library Management Platform Project Board meeting - there is a lot of work at the moment involving the new LMP that we will be getting for September 2016. There is a project board, SCURL groups and internal operational groups. This meeting was an update on project progress and the timeline.
Change advisory Board Meeting - these are working out quite well so far and it is useful as a means of communicating about communications for IT changes. It's a good opportunity to catch up with other members of staff that I don't directly work with.
Other staffing stuff and building stuff - work has started on the new lift at the entrance to the library which will take nearly all summer. The rear entrance to the library is blocked off but the main entrance is ok.
Thursday 4th June - another early start with IT Helpdesk matters. Meeting with colleague from Malaysia about processing IT tickets specific to Malaysia campus and central tickets. Also discussion about knowledge-base and what information needs to be on knowledge-base as opposed to the website.
Library Management Platform catch up meeting for the SCURL groups.
Then LMP operational group for the management information requirements.
Catch up with Liaison Services Manager about shared tasks mainly about enquiries, issues and communication.
Then Service Improvement Group meeting - this was an extra meeting in order to try to push progress on a statistics / data dashboard - if only we had more time... but I think we are getting there and it is an opportunity to work across teams in the directorate.
Friday 5th June - communications meeting to discuss information for the start of next semester - information on the website especially 'Getting Started' guide and leaflets to hand out. Also discussion around noise levels and signage.
LMP meeting with external colleagues to look at scenarios for demonstrations for circulation, document delivery and inventory.
Updated social media channels
And that's another week gone by...
Monday afternoon was a meeting of ELISA T&D group (ELISA Edinburgh) at NLS Lawnmarket. the main items that we discussed were communications including the ELISA Website / Blog / Twitter and the planned programme of visits. I am involved with the website and twitter account and tweet from the ELISA account at events. There is a great programme of events coming up with visits to some interesting libraries in the Edinburgh area.
Tuesday 2nd June - some planning and collating of statistics.
Still trying to get the SmartStock device set up for weeding and stock taking.
In the afternoon I went to the Edinburgh College of Art library for a visit arranged through ELISA.
I've blogged about it here ELISA visit to ECA library
Wednesday 3rd June - early start down at the IT Helpdesk to catch up on updates and to get staff input on changes to process for tickets from different departments. We're clarifying and reviewing some of our procedures over the summer in order to provide a consistent service.
Library Management Platform Project Board meeting - there is a lot of work at the moment involving the new LMP that we will be getting for September 2016. There is a project board, SCURL groups and internal operational groups. This meeting was an update on project progress and the timeline.
Change advisory Board Meeting - these are working out quite well so far and it is useful as a means of communicating about communications for IT changes. It's a good opportunity to catch up with other members of staff that I don't directly work with.
Other staffing stuff and building stuff - work has started on the new lift at the entrance to the library which will take nearly all summer. The rear entrance to the library is blocked off but the main entrance is ok.
Thursday 4th June - another early start with IT Helpdesk matters. Meeting with colleague from Malaysia about processing IT tickets specific to Malaysia campus and central tickets. Also discussion about knowledge-base and what information needs to be on knowledge-base as opposed to the website.
Library Management Platform catch up meeting for the SCURL groups.
Then LMP operational group for the management information requirements.
Catch up with Liaison Services Manager about shared tasks mainly about enquiries, issues and communication.
Then Service Improvement Group meeting - this was an extra meeting in order to try to push progress on a statistics / data dashboard - if only we had more time... but I think we are getting there and it is an opportunity to work across teams in the directorate.
Friday 5th June - communications meeting to discuss information for the start of next semester - information on the website especially 'Getting Started' guide and leaflets to hand out. Also discussion around noise levels and signage.
LMP meeting with external colleagues to look at scenarios for demonstrations for circulation, document delivery and inventory.
Updated social media channels
And that's another week gone by...
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