Kia ora koutou
Happy 150th birthday to UC today! I’ll try to keep this brief, as you may be off shortly to join in festive celebrations!
This week has been focussed on a few important themes. We’ve seen semester 1 exam period kick off, and a ‘flash mob’ of eager students crowding around our library doors just before 8am each morning!
Many of us are working on preparing our Library CAPEX (capital) and OPEX (operational) budgets for 2024 – 2026. Our information resources budget line is a particularly complex beast to wrangle, and I applaud the sterling efforts of the team to bring this to bear!
The revised and updated Terms of Reference for the Library Committee were approved at Academic Board last Friday, and so this morning’s Library Committee monthly meeting signalled the end of Assoc Prof Mike Grimshaw’s notable tenure as Library Committee Chair. Mike’s tireless advocacy and support for our Library over many years has been immense, and we thank and value his significant contribution.
And we are, of course, gearing up for the Library external peer review panel visit next week. There is a lot of organisation going on behind the scenes (or indeed, front and centre, in some cases!). I appreciate all the efforts and energy afoot, and your collective patience as we bring it all together. Once finalised, and as mentioned in last week’s update, I’ll share with you the schedule of interviewees, who’ll be meeting with the panel members at some point during their visit.
Also as discussed at our recent Staff Forums, a reminder that this is such a rare chance to get our aspirations aired in front of an expert and receptive audience, to help them help us shape our way forward.
I thank you all for engaging with this opportunity, and know you’ll join me in in providing manaaki and a warm welcome to our wonderful panel, when they arrive onsite next Wednesday morning! They’ll be visiting all libraries, and there is the all-staff morning tea on Tuesday 27 June, so I do hope each and every one of us has the chance to say “kia ora” and engage with them, at some point during their time with us.
For now, a safe and restful weekend all. There are a lot of winter illnesses doing their rounds just now, so do take care.
Kat