Andrew Knight University of RoehamptonLike many university libraries, Roehampton uses reading list software. Although a resource list culture has been successfully established amongst academic staff and students, such an approach has also resulted in reduced opportunities for collection development outside those resource lists. In this session, we look at how cross-departmental collaboration has been able to identify content for postgraduate students and researchers, as well as supporting the University community’s wider needs by developing non-academic collections in health & wellbeing, citizenship and student support

1. NOT ON THE LIST
Developing Collections beyond Resource Lists
Andrew Knight and Emma Shaw
University of Roehampton

3. BACKGROUND

4. About Roehampton
 9000 students, a focus on widening participation
 Collegiate structure based around four Colleges
 10 multi-disciplinary departments
 Most research intensive post-92 University in the last REF

5. Library structure
 New teams and roles established 2016
 Centralised purchasing via Resource Lists
 Strong focus on student experience

6. Library strategy
 TalisAspire Resource Lists 2011
 Resource List strategy 2015
 Resource List framework 2016
 Staff restructure 2016
 New £35m Library open 2017

7.  Taught programmes increasingly well-resourced
 Acquisition workflows more streamlined
BUT…
Are there gaps in our collections?
Collections beyond Resource Lists

8. Potential resource gaps

9.  Postgraduate resources
Potential resource gaps

10.  Postgraduate resources
 Non-academic collections
Potential resource gaps

12. POSTGRADUATE RESOURCES

13. Context
 Majority of purchases via Resource Lists
 Resource List Framework Undergraduate focused
 Engagement with Postgrads inconsistent

14. 21%
79%
University of Roehampton Student Body 18-19
Postgraduate Undergraduate

15. Satisfaction Survey - PTES 2017

17. PTES 2018 comments
 “There weren’t enough copies of some books in the library”
 “Research texts have been difficult to get hold of at key times”
 “The library is poorly stocked for my subject”
 “Often books are unavailable”

18. Resource List Framework
Reporting & data analysis
 How academics use Resource Lists
 Opportunities for engagement
 List quality and levels of engagement

19. Resource List Framework compliance
Postgraduate lists were on average less compliant
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
Taught Undergrad Taught Postgrad
"Red" Lists
(<5 sections or no items)

20. Postgraduate
Undergraduate
Resource List items added
Postgraduate lists have on average 22% fewer items added

21. Academic Engagement
 Who to engage with & which modules to focus on
 Communicate findings & project aims
 Get feedback

22. Feedback from academic staff
 Acceptance that Framework can work for PG, but:
 Too rigid “…the freedom to organise as appropriate…
not have a standard organisation imposed”
 Frustration with TalisAspire
“…it’s not the framework that’s the problem…
it’s the software”

23. Recommendations
 Continue to monitor and improve lists
 Promote flexibility of Resource Lists
 Promote content for independent research including PDA
 Develop shared / themed / non-module-specific lists

25. NON-ACADEMIC COLLECTIONS

26. Context
 “Support, encourage and challenge each other in a friendly
and inclusive community that values people as individuals”
 Duty of care
 Increased demand on Health & Wellbeing teams
 Citizenship module

27. “I am really pleased by the University's library so far,
both in terms of its staff, the facilities and the amount
of resources provided.
…but I think the university's role should also be to make
students think more holistically about their education,
and develop social consciousness.”

28. Engaging the non-academic community

29. Engaging the non-academic community
Who was on our radar?
 Health & Wellbeing
 Mental Health
 Disability
 Careers
 Student support services
 BAME students
 LGBTQ+ students
 Chaplaincy

30. Engaging the non-academic community
Who was on our radar?
“Support, encourage and challenge each other in a friendly and
inclusive community that values people as individuals”
 Health & Wellbeing
 Mental Health
 Disability
 Careers
 Student support services
 BAME students
 LGBTQ+ students
 Chaplaincy

31. Engaging the non-academic community
 How to get buy-in from Heads of Colleges & departments
 How to assist staff in a way which is helpful to them
 How to sustain engagement levels

32. What we did next
Tapping into the Community as a resource
 Follow up meetings with key contacts
 Resource List training sessions
 Hand over lists

33. What we did next
Establishing common themes

34. Successes
 Developed really good relationships
 Identified cross-departmental themes
 Shared Resource Lists

35. Some thoughts
 Manageability - limiting range of topics
 Sustainability – devolving management of lists
 Medium and long term review

36. Practical advice
 Allocating budget
 Finding physical Library space
 Naming the collection to maximise impact

38. CONCLUSIONS

39. There were some challenges
 Competing priorities
 Reliance on other teams
 Limited opportunities for academic engagement

40. There were plenty of successes
 Established relationships
 Supported central theme of University strategic plan
 Student focus = potential contribution to NSS and TEF

41. What did we learn?
 Gaps were present in collection development
 Academic engagement is important
 There are more gaps
 Researchers
 Academic Skills resources
 Special collections

42. Impact
 Extending the function of Resource Lists

43. Impact
 Extending the function of Resource Lists
 Extending the function of the Library

44. Impact
 Extending the function of Resource Lists
 Extending the function of the Library
 Enriching Collections

45. Any questions?
andrew.knight@roehampton.ac.uk
emma.shaw@roehampton.ac.uk