Sheffield University Student Visit, 8 November 2012

1. Stephen Town,
Director of Information & University Librarian
Welcome & Overview
Sheffield University Students
8th November 2012

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
• Performance & Quality
• Current issues

4. UNIVERSITY CONTEXT

5. • Founded 1963
• UK top fifteen; RAE 8th;
World 103rd; newly Russell
Group; White Rose; 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. Borthwick & Burton
• Borthwick Institute for
Archives founded in 1952 as
a forerunner of the
University
• Raymond Burton Library for
Humanities Research
opened in 2003
• Archives moves from its city
centre location to an
extension to the Raymond
Burton Library in 2005 and
incorporated as Library &
Archives

8. 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
– Both Grade One listed locations
• Associations with
– The Railway Museum
– Yorkshire Country House
Partnership
– York Museums Trust

9. • 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

10. Senior Management Structure

11. Library Finance
• Staff (50%)
– Numbers 150; 100 fte
– Cost £3.6m
• Content (40%)
– Books etc £0.9m
– Serials etc £2.3m
• Other expenditure (10%) £0.4m
Income (£0.4m), capital (£25m+) & new fees (£0.4m)

12. Governance structure

13. INFORMATION STRATEGY

14. 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 …”

15. 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”

16. New Information Strategy
• Existing Information Strategy covers period
2008-2013
• Information Strategy Group approved
renewal for a new strategy to cover 2013-
2018
• Delivery of first draft of strategy due in
December 2012

17. Consultation priorities – in top six (2008)
• 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

18. Achievements 2008-12

19. Achievements 2008-12

20. Spaces for contemplation …

21. … for concentration …

22. … and for collaboration

23. Information Strategy Roadmap to 2018?
Strategy “vision-led and outcome driven”;
consisting of five programmes:
1. Teaching & Learning (Student experience)
2. Research Services (Open publishing)
3. Information flow
4. Sustainability & infrastructure
5. Understanding, engagement and
performance

24. Enablers
• Relationships
• Staff & culture
• Resourcing
• Collaboration &
partnerships

25. QUALITY & PERFORMANCE

26. Performance & Data collection
• Quality assurance
• Peer review & benchmarking (international)
• Performance indicators
– SCONUL statistics
– Balanced scorecard
• Quality culture
– User satisfaction measures & surveys
• Value, advocacy & transcendence

27. 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

28. LibQUAL+ 2011: all Library users

29. National Student Survey Trends
68
70
72
74
76
78
80
82
84
NSS 2008 NSS 2009 NSS 2010 NSS 2011 NSS 2012
NSS:%AgreeorStronglyAgree
University of York Library NSS Score 2008-2012

30. ClimateQUAL Survey Categories
Question Categories Sample Question
Diversity “The race of a team member does NOT affect how much
attention is paid to their opinions”
Customer Service “Library employees have the job knowledge and skills
required to deliver superior quality work and service”
Teamwork “This organisation provides a clear understanding of the
purpose of teams”
Continual Learning “Co-workers are able to provide reliable information about
ways to improve job performance”
Leadership “My immediate supervisor has excellent interpersonal
skills”
Innovation “Co-workers tell each other about other new information
that can be used to increase job performance”
Justice “Do the rewards in your division reflect the effort that
division members put into their work”
Psychological Safety “As an employee in this library one is one is able to bring
up problems and tough issues”

31. York ClimateQUAL Results vs UK and US Mean
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Climate for Continual Learning
Climate for Customer Service
Climate for Deep…
Climate for Deep Diversity, Valuing…
Climate for Racial Diversity
Climate for Gender Diversity
Climate for Diversity of Ranks
Climate for Sexual Orientation…
Co-worker Support for Innovation
Distributive Justice
Procedureal Justice
Interpersonal Justice
Informational Justice
Climate for Psychological Safety
Climate for Teamwork, Benefit of…
Climate for Teamwork, Structural…
Job Satisfaction
Leader-Member Relationship Quality
Authentic Leadership
Organizational Citizenship Behaviors
Organizational Commitment
Organizational Withdrawal
Team Psychological Empowerment
Task Engagement
Interpersonal Conflict
Task Conflict
York UK Mean US Mean

32. Some current issues
• Change and staff culture & capability
• Extension of traditional role
• Digital media, services and curation
• Capacity and critical mass
• Research – open data and access
• Information policy
• Library as publisher, and …

33. Questions?