Kia ora koutou

A busy week with the first draft of 2024-2026 UC budgets coming to spotlight, Chatbot UAT (User Acceptance Testing) and Library Committee, amongst other matters.  And that’s just the parts I’ve seen or been involved with!  So much more on than this – both ongoing services and signature projects.

Library Committee was particularly valuable this month – some important themes were raised, discussed and shared, e.g. ‘nefarious’ publishing models, Read & Publish agreement structures, options for sector-wide collection management decisions and what this means for access, OER and OA developments such as the CAUL Collective, the success of the Visualise Your Thesis (VYT) competition and the incredible depth, breadth and quality of postgraduate research mahi underway here, and campaign issues under the spotlight in the UCSA elections (results announced tonight) – including the need for more study spaces, both in the library and across campus.

I’d like to commend the many of you undertaking UAT for the Chatbot this week as well, as the results I’ve seen were unsettling and illuminating, in equal measure.  Sara has shared adjusted timelines with our staff via Teams, which have been pushed out while the various wrinkles are subjected to a hot iron!  We’ll stay tuned, and keep sharing our constructive feedback to the project team.

Finally, Library Managers are keen to get a sense of your communications preferences as we have a proliferation of channels and would like to know what rows your boat best! Jaz will be sharing a quick communications poll, along with some key updates about the Staff Forum, the Digital Information Project, Mental Health First Aid courses, and the Rosalind Patrick Awards process, on Monday.

For now, happy and safe weekend all.  Great to see some sunshine out there today!
Kat