A day in the life…Anne Bell - Head of Library Technical and Operational Services
My role is to assist the Deputy University Librarian in overseeing the operational management of the 18 library sites and sections in Cardiff University.
In addition I drive forward the strategic development of the library collections, particularly electronic information provision across the University, and I manage a number of our many externally grant funded projects. These are part of the process of implementing the recommendations of the strategic review of the library service which began in 2004/5.
Monday February 18th 2008
8.50 am | 9.10 am | 9.30 am | 10.30 am | 11.15 am | 12.00 pm | 1.00 pm | 1.45 pm | 2.00 pm | 3.00 pm | 4.30pm | 5.00 pm | 5.05 pm
8.50 am A Chance Meeting
My day starts before I reach the office, as walking up the lane from Park Place to the Arts & Social Studies Library (ASSL) I meet one of the INSRV Enablement Group consultants involved in research support.
We exchange news and I give a quick update on progress with the University’s pilot Institutional Repository, Cardiff ePrints, which holds electronic journal articles by University academic staff.
9.10 am A Regular Visit
A quick email check before I visit the Aberconway Library. Between us, the Deputy Librarian and I make regular visits to all of our 18 libraries in order to meet the staff regularly, exchange information and discuss and resolve issues affecting each library.
9.30 am Aberconway Update
Arrive at the Aberconway Library to meet the Site Librarian and Library Operations Manager.
Today the discussion is dominated by issues arising from the comprehensive refurbishment of the Aberconway Library that was completed in September, in particular, the effect on staff working patterns of the introduction of the self-issue system known as RFID (radio frequency identification), enabling library users to issue books to themselves.
In addition to local matters, we discuss the ways in which library assistant roles are likely to evolve as self-issue is introduced into more of our libraries.
Among the other matters that are raised are: developments concerning the South Wales Europe Direct Information Centre (SWEDIC) and European Documentation Centre (EDC) based in the Aberconway Library; the need for standardization across all the libraries in the procedures for handling very overdue loans; and some problems experienced by several libraries involving a new process for ordering stationery and other consumable items. I now have a number of issues on my “follow up” list!
10.30 am Feedback from Staff
On alternate visits to Aberconway I have a short meeting with all the other staff who are available.
Today I ask them to tell me how their roles have changed since the refurbishment and introduction of RFID. They no longer spend the majority of their time issuing and returning books at the Library issue desk – this has been replaced by the self-issue units.
Staff now spend more of their time helping students with IT queries and general library enquiries; and they say that comments from students and staff about the changes in the library have been very favourable.
This is welcome evidence that RFID self-issue will help us to deliver on one of the Library Review aspirations – the upskilling of library assistants by reducing their time spent on routine, repetitive tasks and enabling them to play a greater role in enhanced research, learning & teaching support.
11.15 am Evaluating EndNote?
To ASSL for a short meeting about bibliographic software (i.e. software for recording and managing references to the books and journals that students and researchers use in their work).
For a number of years the University’s preferred software for managing bibliographic references has been EndNote. This meeting is to consider whether the time is right to carry out a requirements gathering exercise to review EndNote and its competitor products. The advice from colleagues who have looked into it is that EndNote is the market leader for bibliographic software and is used by most UK leading universities.
This being so, the meeting recommends that at present an evaluation is not a good use of our time, and it is good news for staff and students who will not need to learn a new referencing system for a few years yet.
12.00 pm Lunch
Lunch with colleagues from another part of INSRV. We are not meeting specifically to talk about work, but we do catch up on staff news and rumour!
1.00 pm Promoting Cardiff ePrints
The first two hours of the afternoon I have kept clear in my diary to work on a report about promotional work for Cardiff ePrints. Institutional or Eprint repositories make research papers and other scholarly publications freely available on the Internet. Services like Cardiff ePrints are being developed by academic and research institutions worldwide, in order to make university research publications freely and more widely available to all.
Over the last 12 months we have engaged in talks and presentations to promote Cardiff ePrints to academic Schools in the university and to learn their potential needs from the repository. We have also produced a promotional postcard for distribution across campus to help raise the profile of the repository.
The INSRV report will summarise the outcomes and make recommendations for future development to the University
1.45 pm Take a Call
I receive a telephone call from a supplier about equipment and furniture for library refurbishments.
This is a contact made last year when preparing for the Aberconway project.
I refer her to the Trevithick Librarian, who is currently spending much time planning for an even more far-reaching refurbishment to take place this year.
2.00 pm …And another one!
Another phone call. It isn't particularly surprising that I get a lot of phone calls when I do reserve myself some office time – I am out and about a lot visiting libraries and taking part in meetings about projects.
This call is from a publisher’s representative, and it is very relevant to the work I am trying to progress this afternoon. He wants to tell me about the repository system that his company has sold to another Welsh university.
A useful piece of news is that the university in question will be giving a presentation at the University of Wales Libraries Colloquium at Gregynog in June. At last year’s Colloquium I gave a presentation about the development of Cardiff ePrints and I am planning to go to this year's event to hear how other institutions are doing.
3.00 pm Off to Trevithick
Set off for another meeting at the Trevithick Library. This also involves the Institutional Repository.
A member of staff in one of the Schools has responded to our promotional postcard and we are going to discuss potentially adding his publications to Cardiff ePrints. I arrive early in order to be briefed by the Trevithick Subject Librarians and the repository administrator. The meeting is a very positive one and our academic colleague agrees that the library staff can start adding his publications to the repository; he also offers to seek further eager volunteers in his School.
The potential benefits for the University and for academic staff from this INSRV project are greater visibility and increased citation rates for published work placed in the repository. Research has shown that papers made available in Open Access (OA) repositories are more likely to be cited than non-OA publications. In addition, University staff will be able to comply with the requirements of research funding bodies which are increasingly stipulating that published papers arising from the work they have funded be placed in OA repositories.
4.30pm Catching up on those Emails…
Back to the office to check emails and deal with as many as possible that just need a quick response.
There is an urgent email about one of the libraries being short staffed tomorrow afternoon owing to staff sickness. I phone to ask whether anyone has been found to fill the gap, and find that thankfully someone from another library has agreed to work an extra shift. This is an important issue because some of the smaller libraries operate at times with only one or two members of staff, so sickness absence can have an extreme impact on services, and ultimately sometimes on whether the library can remain open. Finding an alternative member of staff at short notice can be hugely time-consuming, and I am grateful that this particular crisis has been averted before I even knew about it!
I also have a message about a meeting I am attending in London tomorrow in connection with the UK Research Reserve (UKRR), a UK-wide initiative lead by Imperial College London and the British Library (BL), to protect long term access to little-used print journal collections. This kind of material is increasingly at risk as all University libraries move increasingly to electronic journals and we need to make more creative use of the space traditionally occupied by long runs of (now under-used) print journals. The project will ensure that a minimum number of copies is retained and that the BL's collections are enhanced where possible. We are taking part as one of six early adopters in the pilot phase of the project.
Among other items in my inbox are emails about staff recruitment (routine follow-up for appointments arising from interviews held at the beginning of February); staff training (finalizing the programme for a development day for our Library Operations Managers and Assistant LOMs); and a reference request for a former member of staff.
5.00 pm Some Reading Matter
Collect together my reading matter for tomorrow’s train journey – it includes an early draft of a report of our experience with another UK-wide project: LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe)
While UKRR is concerned with preserving a safe number of print copies of journals, LOCKSS aims to preserve electronic journals and ensure long term access. We are one of 25 universities testing LOCKSS in practice as part of a project funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC). This project, like the institutional repository, involves both library and IT teams in INSRV.
5.05 pm The End of the Day
Finish promptly for the day, as I will be on the 06.55 train to London in the morning.
Reflecting on my day I feel encouraged that there has been a good balance between the operational role (managing day to day issues in the libraries) and the strategic (progressing Library Review objectives via project work). Most of my days are a balancing act, because daily “events” always have the potential to divert me from the (strategic) work I have planned.
Two things today have given me particular satisfaction: the visit to the Aberconway Library, where self-issue has brought the enhancement of library assistants’ roles a stage nearer; and the discussion with our academic colleague whose publications are to be added to the institutional repository – this also is moving an important concept closer to reality.