Kia ora koutou

Some calendars mark today as the first day of spring. Be that the case or not, the weather is certainly behaving as if spring is truly here. It’s so uplifting to see big doses of sunshine! And here’s hoping the weather plays ball in similar fashion next Friday, when UC celebrates Rā Tōmene and welcomes prospective 2024 students and their whānau to our campus and community. Thanks to all in the team for great ideas and initiatives in the pipeline for this special day!

Thanks also to all who came along and participated in the Staff Forum (held twice) this week. The buzz and enthusiasm in the room was palpable, and I know Tracey, our Wellbeing Lead and guest facilitator, appreciated all the great thinking on staff benefits and what we’d like to see in this space. Tracey will be collating the feedback and sharing it back with us in the next few days.

I personally found it a really valuable chance to take some time out together, to catch up, share kai, and consider how best to support each other and ourselves, as we navigate exciting and transformational changes ahead.

On which note, we are now officially moving into “Execution Phase” on our Modern Library Management Project. While this may sound slightly ominous, Execution Phase in fact means we are now formally working with EBSCO to kick off proceedings and rip into the mahi!  A few of us will be meeting with our EBSCO Implementation Manager next Monday, to start this ball rolling and get our project planning, style, tools and comms channels shaped up and confirmed.

What does this mean for you?
We’ll be taking the opportunity in upcoming weeks to review a number of aspects, from the way we use Horizon currently to the user experience of our discovery services. You may find that you are called on to provide insight/advice on certain topics from time to time over the coming few weeks.
For our Functional Co-Leads they will become busier as they represent the different aspects of the UC Library in workshops with EBSCO and work through solution design.

How do I find out more?
We will continue to use the MLM Project Teams & Sharepoint site to capture and circulate information. You can find all you need to know in these pages. If you have any questions or feedback, log it here by clicking on the “New” button and we will endeavour to get back to you within the week.

Mā te wā,
Kat