Reflections
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Keynote delivered to the JISC Collections AGM meeting, 20th November 2012 at Brunel's SS Great Britain in Bristol, UK. I moved from the British Library in London (where I'd worked for over 20 years) to the University of Aberdeen in October 2007, just over five years ago. Since then I've worked with the University on its £57m new Library and Special Collections Centre - The Sir Duncan Rice Library. In this presentation I reflect on being a newcomer to Higher Education, I talk about the holistic approach that we took to designing the library and services, and about the evidence based decision making that informed collection and service development. Finally, I reflected on some of the new forces that are coming into play and which will dramatically alter the library/academic/publisher relationships.
Reflections
- 1. Reflections Chris Banks University Librarian and Director, Library, Special Collections and Museums
- 2. Reflections • 5 years since moving to Aberdeen • Not from an HE background www.abdn.ac.uk/library/
- 3. Themes for today • HE from an external perspective • Taking the holistic approach to re-energising the service and the space • Observations on some of the emerging destabilisers (and opportunities) relevant to HE libraries www.abdn.ac.uk/library/
- 4. Institutional overview • Ancient University (founded 1495) • UK’s fifth oldest university • Medium sized – 16,000 students • Broad-based research-driven institution • Anthropology to Zoology • Competitively-won research income trebled over last decade • Recent investment in • Excellence • Infrastructure (including new library) www.abdn.ac.uk/library/
- 5. Remit • New building, including • Finalising design requirements • Fundrasing • Promotion • Modernise services, processes and systems • Mend the relationship with the academics www.abdn.ac.uk/library/
- 6. Early observations • Libraries sometimes seen as a cost rather than as an asset • Procurement • Risk appetite • Appetite for change • Academic Freedom (and trust) • Disciplinary differences • Disciplinary loyalty • Local HR policies • Relevance of physical library space www.abdn.ac.uk/library/
- 7. Investment in physical library space • The best achievable study and research facilities for staff and students • Re-thinking study/stock space in the light of e- • Proper discharge of our custodial responsibilities for our rare book and archival collections • Opening up the collections to a wider public • Transformation of the western side of the University www.abdn.ac.uk/library/
- 8. Investment in collections • Substantial evidence- driven investment in online resources • E-book collections • Journal backfile collections • Over 80% Collection Development budget spent on electronic resources www.abdn.ac.uk/library/
- 9. Targeted acquisition of backfiles Elsevier - backfiles 4500 4000 3500 Summer 2008 3000 backfile 2500 purchases 2000 1500 1000 500 0 07 08 7 8 7 8 9 07 08 09 7 8 7 8 -0 -0 l-0 l-0 -0 -0 -0 0 0 - - n- n- n- p- p- ov ov ar ar ar ay ay Ju Ju Ja Ja Ja Se Se M M M N N M M www.abdn.ac.uk/library/
- 10. Investment in automated processes • Open access stock RFIDd • Modern fast self issue machines installed • Automatic book returns and sorting system installed (including a 24 hour book return facility) • Shelf-ready books • Patron-driven acquisition www.abdn.ac.uk/library/
- 11. Investment in resource discovery tools www.abdn.ac.uk/library/
- 12. Cross searching all collections, including museum and archives (with single-sign-on) www.abdn.ac.uk/library/
- 14. Maximise the use of resources • Maximise the investment in the purchased / licensed resources • Eliminate complexity • Eliminate barriers to access • Walk-in access to e- resources • MFDs / Wireless printing / free scanning • Get the data to where it is needed www.abdn.ac.uk/library/
- 15. Link between metadata and use New e-Book acquisition E-book catalogue 3000 records added to our catalogue 2500 e-books become 2000 available 1500 1000 500 0 www.abdn.ac.uk/library/
- 16. Investment in training www.abdn.ac.uk/library/
- 17. Link between training and use? Reader instruction - user hours 16000 14000 Aberdeen 12000 Bangor Cambridge 10000 Edinburgh 8000 Strathclyde 6000 Swansea 4000 UCL 2000 SCONUL mean 0 Aberdeen Cambridge Strathclyde UCL www.abdn.ac.uk/library/
- 18. Process reviews as an integral part of the building design refinement
- 19. Review most activities • LEAN/KaiZen review of processes to ensure they are efficient and that staff activity adds value • Re-think workflows and locations to ensure efficiency • For print: resulted in a different approach to acquisition, a faster turnaround time, and happier customers and staff • Create spaces for opportunity • Informed design and staff location decisions • Freed up staff to work on uniquely held stuff (from archives to AURA) • Reduced down storage requirements and minimised move costs www.abdn.ac.uk/library/
- 20. Kaizen Blitz in the QML – engagement www.abdn.ac.uk/library/
- 21. Kaizen Blitz in the QML – engagement www.abdn.ac.uk/library/
- 22. Taking ownership and pride www.abdn.ac.uk/library/
- 23. Using data to inform decision-making
- 24. Re-thinking space – more research/study space, less open access stock
- 25. Borrowing figures for all sites 10 years to 2007 • All sites: 56% of borrowable stock has never been borrowed • QML: 47% • King’s Stack: 87% • Holland Street: 85% • CASS (Edinburgh Store) 99.88% • Overall there has been a decline in the use of print journals in favour of electronic • Overall there has been an increase in satisfaction in electronic journals www.abdn.ac.uk/library/
- 26. 2010 Staff Survey Prefer e-Journals to printed Journals? (staff) 12% Yes No 88% www.abdn.ac.uk/library/
- 27. Increasing satisfaction with e- Prefer e-Journals to print? Preferred e-Journals to print? (students) (students) 2010 2008 17% 41% Yes Yes 59% 83% No No www.abdn.ac.uk/library/
- 28. UKRR as part of our storage strategy • In 2008 it emerged that the cost of renting one of our offsite stores was to double • Costs for offsite storage in the longer term were likely to be in the region of £500k per year • Setting that figure in context: £500k = • 1.4 x 2008/9 total operating budget for the Library • 1.5 x current annual fund for purchasing books • 10 Senior Lecturers / Readers • 12 Lecturers www.abdn.ac.uk/library/
- 29. The shift towards electronic
- 30. Use of electronic journals continues to rise Full text article requests from e-journals by University of Aberdeen members 1800000 1600000 1400000 1200000 1000000 800000 600000 400000 200000 0 2005 to 2006 2006 to 2007 2007 to 2008 2008 to 2009 2009 to 2010 2010 to 2011 2011 to 2012 www.abdn.ac.uk/library/
- 31. Use of e-books continues to rise Section requests from e-books by University of Aberdeen members 2000000 1800000 1600000 1400000 1200000 1000000 800000 600000 400000 200000 0 2009 to 2010 2010 to 2011 2011 to 2012 www.abdn.ac.uk/library/
- 32. One full text download every 18.7 secs An e-journal article requested every x seconds 40.0 35.0 30.0 25.0 20.0 15.0 10.0 5.0 0.0 2005 to 2006 2006 to 2007 2007 to 2008 2008 to 2009 2009 to 2010 2010 to 2011 2011 to 2012 www.abdn.ac.uk/library/
- 33. Feedback
- 35. Key statistics 2011-2012 • Over 700,000 visits (compared with 456,929 in 2010- 2011) to library collections on LG floor and floors 1 to 7, a 52% increase • A 202% increase on previous year in the number of visits by non-members of the University www.abdn.ac.uk/library/
- 36. Undergraduate Usage: a 50% Increase Undergraduate Usage 100000 90000 80000 70000 60000 50000 UL QML 40000 30000 20000 10000 0 Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug www.abdn.ac.uk/library/
- 37. Special Collections • Overall number of reader visits up by 63% • Undergraduate reader visits up by 176% • Postgraduate reader visits up by 139% • External visits by researchers up by 187% www.abdn.ac.uk/library/
- 38. Academic feedback Grades Citation quality A library should be the heart of any academic institution and we now have a heart that is beating healthily www.abdn.ac.uk/library/
- 39. Staff satisfaction www.abdn.ac.uk/library/
- 41. • If Apple designed libraries they’d be like this, white and shiny and intuitive www.abdn.ac.uk/library/
- 43. CM (e.g. UKRR) Digitised / Physical Born Digital Re-thinking space Conservation Digital Preservation
- 44. Future focus • Local staff resource concentrated on service and UDCs • Shared / collaborative services, including LMS in the cloud • Minimising duplication across the institution and between institutions • New and more complex publishing / licensing / sales models • Finch / Open Access publishing / research data / repositories • Open metadata • Data re-use / text mining • E-Legal Deposit www.abdn.ac.uk/library/
- 47. Inspire to enquire Images: Adam Mørk and Chris Banks (the good ones are Adam’s)