Sheffield University Student Visit, 1 December 2011

1. Stephen Town,
Director of Information & University Librarian
Welcome & Overview
Sheffield University Students
1st December 2011

2. Programme
1300-1345 Director’s overview
1345-1415 Liaison & relationships
1415-1515 Buildings, services & tour
1515-1545 Digital library developments
1545-1600 Final questions

3. Director’s Summary
• University Context
• Information Directorate
• Information Strategy
• Projects
• Finance & Governance
• Quality & Performance
• Current issues

4. UNIVERSITY CONTEXT

5. • Founded 1963
• UK top ten; RAE 8th; World
81st; 94 Group; WUN
• 15,265 students
• >30 departments in
humanities, social
sciences, science
• Campus growth
– Heslington East
• Collegiate and inclusive
The University

6. • > 1m items
• >100 staff
• Archives extensive &
unique
• Developing digital library
expertise
• Director of Library &
Archives 2007; Director of
Information 2009
• Part of a broader
Information Directorate
The University Library

7. Branch Libraries & beyond
• York Minster: the oldest and
largest Cathedral Library in
the country
– Operated under a unique
partnership between the
Dean & Chapter and the
University of York
• King’s Manor Library
• Associations with
– The Railway museum
– Yorkshire Country House
partnership

8. • Directorate reorganised in
2010/11
• Aims:
– Support the Director in
strategy fulfillment
– Ability to offer joined up
services, particularly in new
user facilities
– Better structured to deliver
University Information
Strategy
Information Directorate

9. Senior Management Structure

10. Example Divisional Structure (Operations)

11. Example Divisional Structure (Strategy)

12. Content Division

13. Archives Division

14. INFORMATION STRATEGY

15. University Plan 1
“A world leader in the creation of
knowledge…the sharing of knowledge … and
the application of knowledge”
“We are custodians of knowledge …”

16. University Plan 2
“1.2 Information technology plays an
increasingly important role … academic
excellence will increasingly depend on
implementing technological innovation … [for]
learning … research … and multidisciplinary
collaboration”

17. Needs
‘Students want high quality, stimulating T&L’
‘They still desire a good library service ..real space for
group work and interaction’
‘Researchers want collaborative tools … mechanisms
for depositing research outputs … communication for
… collaborative research’
‘Library needs to support a range of repositories … new
teaching materials require management and storage’
‘All require training and support’

18. Consultation priorities – in top six
• Information content
More than half the respondents ranked this
first, and two-thirds in the top three
• Repositories and processes for academic
content collection
• A virtual library platform
• Learning spaces

19. Information Strategy Roadmap
Strategy “vision-led and outcome driven”;
consisting of six programmes:
1. Information & Communications Systems
2. Portals & Access Systems
3. Content & Knowledge Assets
4. IT Infrastructure
5. Integration Processes & Policies
6. Spaces

20. Portals & access systems
• Virtual Library platform
• Staff and student
portals
• Web site development
• Discovery tools

21. Content
• World class information
resources
– Print and digital
• Academic repositories
• Modern media
capability

22. Spaces
• Learning spaces on
Heslington East
• Refurbishment of the JB
Morrell Library
• Refurbishment of the
former Computer
Science Department as
the Harry Fairhurst
building

23. Enabling strategies
• Relationships
• Quality
• Staff & culture
• Resourcing
• Collaboration &
partnerships

24. FINANCE & GOVERNANCE

25. Library Finance
• Staff (50%)
– Numbers 150; 90 fte
– Cost £3.2m
• Content (40%)
– Books £0.4m
– Serials £2.3m
• Other expenditure (10%) £0.4m
– Income (£0.4m), capital (£25m+) & new fees (£0.7m)

26. Governance structure

27. QUALITY & PERFORMANCE

28. Quality & Data collection
• Quality assurance
• Peer review & benchmarking
• Performance indicators
– SCONUL statistics
– Balanced scorecard
• Quality culture
– User satisfaction measures & surveys

29. LibQUAL+: all core items trends
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
2008 2009 2010 2011
MeanRating
Year
University of York LibQUAL+ Survey Trends
Minimum Mean
Desired Mean
Perceived Mean

30. LibQUAL+ 2011: all Library users

31. Culture, Policy and current issues
• Change and staff culture & capability
• Extension of traditional role
• Digital media, services and curation
• Pedagogical change & technology
• Relationships
• Information policy
• Publishing

32. Questions?