The document discusses how university libraries are changing to meet student needs in light of rising tuition fees. It reports results from a survey of 23 UK university libraries. Most libraries purchased new information resources, deployed new content delivery strategies like patron-driven acquisition of e-books, and introduced service improvements like extended hours. The majority indicated the new fees regime was partly responsible for these changes by increasing focus on student experience. Case studies highlight specific initiatives at the Universities of Durham, Newcastle, and York to purchase more materials, expand spaces and services, and gather impact metrics.
2. University of York
• Founded 1963
• UK top 20; RAE 8th;
World top 100; now
Russell Group; WUN
• 15,265 students
• >30 departments in
humanities, social
sciences, science
• Campus growth
• Heslington East
• Collegiate and
inclusive
3. Background - York
• New student fees - £9k pa from 2012/13
• National Student Survey (NSS)
• Key Information Sets (KIS)
• Institutional surveys
– Student Experience Survey (Students Union)
– PRes (University)
– PTes (University)
– Module surveys
• And Library surveys (LibQual+)
• And you?
4. = The student experience is very
important
"The £9k a year that students are paying for
their course should be all inclusive and include
everything that is necessary to fulfil the course"
"The York Student Experience: shaping the future" report
Student as Customer Student as Partner
5. Have student attitudes changed?
Students from all years are flocking to the library
in record numbers according to statistics
released by the University Library Services.
University Registrar, David Duncan, conjectured
it was “perhaps an indication that new students
on the higher fees regime are taking their studies
even more seriously than previous generations,
or possibly a reaction to adverse economic
conditions and the increasingly competitive jobs
market for graduates.”
6. Have Student attitudes changed?
Disgruntled third year Politics student
“I’m always noticing freshers wandering around
looking lost in the library, ‘cramming’ the reading
for their first seminar and saving spaces whilst
they have two hour long lunch whilst I’ve got
assessed work due in soon and can’t find a quiet
seat!
“You’re freshers – act like it! The new students
need to know their fresher priorities. I didn’t even
know the library had a second floor until summer
term of first year.
With thanks to YorkVision
http://www.yorkvision.co.uk/news/
youre-freshers-act-like-it/
7. The questionnaire
1. Please give the name of your institution (We will not name any
institutions in our presentation without express permission)
2. Has your library or university purchased any information resources
in 2012/13 which are specifically directed towards improving the
undergraduate student experience?
3. If Yes, to what extent was the new fees regime a driver for these
purchases?
4. Are you deploying new strategies to deliver content to students?
Examples might include: PDA of e-books; print PDA; e-textbook
platforms like VitalSource or CourseSmart; giving students their own
device/books
5. If Yes, to what extent was the new fees regime a driver for these
new strategies?
8. The questionnaire
6. Have you introduced any service improvements in 2012/13 which
are specifically directed towards improving the student experience?
Examples might include: free printing; abolishing fines; longer opening
hours; improved facilities
7. If Yes, to what extent was the new fees regime a driver for these
improvements?
8. Has your library received any additional funding from your
University in 2012/13 in order to improve the student experience?
9. Do you have any other comments about the response of your
library, or other libraries, to the changes in student needs and
expectations?
10. Please give your name and email address (we might contact you to
find out more about some of the initiatives you have mentioned)
9. The Results
• 23 institutions responded (questionnaire sent to
various lists and groups)
• Wide range, across all the main mission groups
• 17 have purchased information resources
• 16 are employing new strategies to deliver
content
• 22 have introduced service improvements
• 15 libraries have received some additional funds
from their university
11. The Results: New resources
• Q2 - Specific resources purchased for
Student Experience
• Q3 - Extent of fees increase being a
factor
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
Yes No
Main Driver
6%
Part of the
reason
59%
Coincidental
35%
Main Driver
Part of the reason
Coincidental
12. New resources: typical responses
• Reading list materials
• Reading list budget increased and ring-fenced
• Drive to get more reading lists from academics -
senior University management support
• Reading list processes re-engineered to get more
books on shelf for start of term
• More being digitised under the CLA licence
• Reading list software purchased
• Print textbooks given to students
13. New resources: typical responses
• Introduced a Fast-track student request system
for ordering a book or additional copies ('More
Books', 'Books on Time')
• More e-books (PDA, evidence-based
selection, packages)
• Targeted purchases to support specific subject
areas
• Additional licences to permit franchise and
international collaborative provision access
14. New Resources: further comments
"We had lower
numbers of e-books
than our benchmark
group"
"We had planned
many of these
initiatives anyway"
“The main driver for the
University was NSS and fees
weren’t mentioned (by me or
the higher powers)”
15. The Results: new strategies
• Q4- New strategies to deliver content • Q5- Extent of fees increase being a
factor
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
Yes No Plans next year
Main driver
19%
Part Reason
50%
Coincidental
31%
Main driver
Part Reason
Coincidental
16. New strategies for content delivery
• 16 libraries are deploying new strategies to
deliver content to students - almost all
mentioned PDA
• 2 institutions have bought print textbooks for
1st year students and may use e-textbook
platforms from next year
• 3 institutions mentioned pre-loaded devices
• 4 institutions have implemented a resource
discovery tool this year
17. Content strategies: further comments
“We recently undertook a
pilot of PDA of e-books & are
reviewing outcomes with the
intention of implementing a
long term approach"
"The new fees regime is the driver
for academic departments to give
devices/books. The library
developments are continuous
service improvements"
"The English
department, independe
ntly of the
library, provided
students with Kindles”
"We've been
moving to e-books
wherever possible
for some time
now"
18. The Results: Service improvements
• Q6 - Introduction of Service
Improvements
• Q7 - Extent of fees increase being a
factor
0
5
10
15
20
25
Yes No
14%
59%
27%
Main Driver
Part of the reason
Coincidental
19. Service improvements: responses
• Longer opening hours
• Refurbishment projects
• Improved wireless
• Free/reduced printing
• Considering abolishing fines
• Improved IT support in library buildings
• Working towards Customer Service Excellence
accreditation
• Improved student-library liaison
20. Service improvements: comments
"We continue to ask for additional resources as we have
always has done, but with the emphasis across the
University on the student experience, it is conceivable that
such requests are now more favourably received. Service
improvements made are usually at the request of students
so securing extra funding for these (e.g. extended opening
hours) ties in with the student experience agenda."
"These
changes were
overdue"
"NSS is the other main
driver (apart from our
underlying philosophy
of continuous
improvement)”
21. The Results: Additional funding
• Q8 - Has your Library received any additional funding?
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
£0 £1 - £49,999 £50,000- £99,999 £100,000 - £499,999 £500,000+
# of responses
25. Durham – Impact?
• Use of PDA is strong - usage stats analysed
• Use of existing statistical sources for
benchmarking (ISB, SCONUL Stats)
• Using entry statistics
• Planning to develop other measures focussed
on particular services and provision
26. Newcastle – What?
• 24/7 opening
– 2011/12 revision and exam
periods
– 2012/13 all term time weeks
• Space development
programme (main library
and medical library)
– Removal of stock to offsite
storage
– Added 300 extra study spaces
(including increase in silent
study)
• Introduction of Primo
(branded as Library Search)
27. Newcastle - Why?
• 24/7
– Explicit student demand
– Competition
• Space development
– Increasing student use of
the Library
– Demand for more silent
study
– Fit with strategic shift to
"e"
– Space design driven by
students
29. York - What?
• Refurbished buildings and 24/7
• Improved comms and marketing
• Increased digitisation of chapters and
articles
• Subject specific resources
• Fast track purchase of heavily
requested materials
• “More books” initiative
• Service developments
– Flexible loans
– Room booking systems
– LibGuides
– Web developments
– LibAnswers
30. York - Why?
• 24/7 on the student agenda and
taken into consideration during
refurbishment
• Using existing understanding of
issues for customers to drive changes
• Need to understand more about the
customer experience and to become
quicker in our response to issues
• Put the money in the hands of the
customer
• Not basing expenditure on
assumptions about customer needs
• Develop the Library, its collections
and services rather than “give away”
the investment
31. Flexible loans: Changes
• No fines unless an item
is requested and not
returned
• 4-week rolling loan
period throughout the
year
• Situational borrower
categories
• Dynamic loan periods
32. York - Impact
• Improved NSS (74% to 82%) and
LibQual+ (7% increase overall)
scores
• MoreBooks please!
– Student-led: extra copies bought
on demand
• Fast Track orders
– Library staff monitor numbers of
requests on items and buy extra
copies in response
• E-book turnaways
– Additional e-book copies
purchased
• Electronic Texts Service
– More chapters and articles
digitised
33. And yet to come: the York student manifesto
• Increase awareness of study spaces across campus other than in the Library and
Harry Fairhurst
• Maximise the use of study space in the Library and investigate the room booking
system
• Ensure sufficient study space at Heslington East
• Research the possibility of a monitoring system for remotely checking the
availability of study spaces across campus
• More books should be available online as e-books including all key texts for
courses
• There should be free inter-library lending for books that are essential for the
course
• All mandatory course costs should be subsidised including
clothing, software, course booklets etc
• Students should be provided with sufficient print credits and all printing should be
"not for profit"
• Essential travel for courses should be free e.g. travel between Heslington
East, Heslington West, and King's Manor as well as travel to and from placements
34. Next steps....
• Cluster into small groups
• Post-it notes
– Comments
– Questions
• Website
– https://sites.google.com/a/york.ac.uk/uksg/
• Comments and questions will be uploaded
• Planning to continue looking at this area –
look at the website
35. Some thoughts
• We do this stuff anyway – but perhaps this has given us
leverage?
• Are students more demanding?
• Has student behaviour changed?
• Do we understand the impact of the things we are trying?
• Are we “giving the money back” or are we “investing in the
future”?
• Students as “partners” rather than “customers” or
“consumers”?
• More with less? “conflicting pressure to reduce recurrent
costs across the University”
36. • "The York Student Experience: shaping the future"
report http://www.yusu.org/your-union/you-run-
us/research
• s.thompson@york.ac.uk
• liz.waller@york.ac.uk
• UKSG “Great expectations” website
https://sites.google.com/a/york.ac.uk/uksg/
Hinweis der Redaktion
EW
EW
EW
EW
ST
A lot of experimentation with PDA going on, and analysis of statistics. Can be hard to know what they mean in isolation, so would be good to see each others data and do some work on comparators. Not clear that there is one preferred platform and trigger model yet, and that is certainly why we’re have been experimenting with PDA on different platforms at York.
EW
New librarian 3 and a half years agoThese were the key areas identified for developmentSo not just in response to the new fees regime – already in planning or deliveryMore books – student led purchase (137k books purchased in 10 years on academic staff recommendation had never been borrowed). Strong emphasis on PDA but also “More books” campaingHow much do we really know about the use of our collections – Collection profiles here at York – COPAC collections management project – analysis tool – for more information http://copac.ac.uk/innovations/collections-management/More PCs includes laptop and notebook loan
Tasked with improving NSS scores when librarian arrived
Sum allocated to each department which they could input to
Responding to actual need
FinesNo fines unless and item has been requestedFines on requested items £2 per dayBlock on accounts with overdue requested items after a 24 hour grace period4-week rolling loan periodRuns across the vacationItems subject to recall over the vacationAll standard package customers moved to part-time category over the vacationUnlimited “renewals” on all items if not requestedSituational borrower categoriesStandard package – full time staff and studentsPart-time package – part time staff and students plus students on non-standard coursesPostal loans service – DL and placement studentsExternals – York graduates, SCONUL etcDynamic loan periodsMinimum loan period if the item has been requestedNumber of days the person with the item has to return it if the item is requestedNumber of days we hold the requested item in the Library for collection
LibQual+ 15% increase on Library as placeThroughout February we asked what books students wanted the Library to buy as part of the MoreBooks scheme. Bib Services received a total of 649 requests and ordered nearly £26,000 worth of extra copies and new titles (incl. 113 e-books). As the MoreBooks scheme was so successful, we are running it again in weeks 1-4 of next term. Publicity to students will go out shortly.We are also improving access to items that are in high demand. When there are three or more requests on a book we’ll purchase extra copies or an e-book where possible. Bib Services have placed FT orders to the value of £25,421 since October (incl. 119 e-books). Occasionally users may be refused access to an e-book because too many people are viewing it at the same time; this limit is decided by the publisher/supplier not the Library. We monitor this and when a turnaway happens more than once, we buy the e-book again from another source. Since the start of term we’ve improved access to 52 e-books in this way.The Electronic Texts team continue to digitise essential book chapters and journal articles, making them available through reading lists in EARL. This gives instant access to the texts both on and off campus.Since October the team have provided 2,821 articles and chapters in this way - 1,112 more than at the same time last year.
ST
"We continuously make improvements to the student experience, funding permitting, but senior management have been driving improvements across the University this year. This partly reflects the £9K fees regime, but I wonder if the same level of activity in this area would have happened if it had not been for our NSS results, given the conflicting pressure to reduce recurrent costs across the University."