Kia ora kotou,

I’ve attended three library committee meeting so far as the staff representative, so I’ve now got a bit of an idea of how it works, and what its for.

It meets once a month, and has representatives who represent their faculties, as well as having UCSA and postgrad student’s association reps as well.   Mike Grimshaw chairs at the moment, he is a philosopher and sets an environment that encourages discussion (and occasionally discursion).

The first thing is that its a positive group.  People love the library, and that’s reflected here.  The library management is well respected, and in general people think we’re doing a pretty good job with what we’re given.  We can always improve things though, and the committee is keen for any suggestions about that.

The big issue – the one that’s taken a lot of time – has been about opening hours.  The student’s association ran a survey during study week last semester, and got a really large response for more study space.  IT was really well run, and I was impressed at the professional approach they took to gathering the data.  We’re still working on what exactly we are going to do as a response to that for that.  I raised the point that those who work extended hours in the library have a big responsibility, and have to be able to deal with a wide range of tasks and potential problems – its not a matter of hiring a student to stand behind a desk!

Another big thing, but it didn’t generate much discussion as it was presented so well, was the work done by the team at Macmillan Brown on their collection policies.

Keep an eye on Anne’s Librarian’s report – she posts it here every month.   I know a lot of you submit material for it, and it does get read.  It has a lot of good information on how the Library is performing.

If you’d like to talk about particular things you see in the minutes or think should be discussed, I’d love to catch up.