All posts by bgm39

Visualise Your Thesis Competition

This year, UC Library is going to participate in the Visualise your Thesis competition, which is run out of the University of Melbourne. Postgraduates create and submit short videos that describe what they’re working on, brushing up on their communication skills and creating a wider audience for their work into the bargain. You can see some pretty awesome examples here:

https://sites.research.unimelb.edu.au/visualise-your-thesis/home#about

UC’s competition opens on 1st June 2020, and we’d (Fiona T, Kiera and myself) like to encourage as many applicants as possible, so please help spread the word among your contacts. With a total prize fun for our competition of NZD 1,750, and a shot at the international competition worth AUD 5,000, there are some very good reasons to participate!

Full details, and a link to the registration page can be found here:

https://bit.ly/2X7lvlX

Log out of PCs today

We’ve had a message from ITS suggesting that some updates are to install over the weekend, so we should log out of our PCs at the end of the day today. I’m not 100% certain that this will affect all of our computers, but better safe than sorry. Here’s their message:

To Lecture Theatre and Workroom with Windows PCs using SCCM updates will install automatically on Saturday 24 November@ 10pm and a restart will be enforced during the update process.

In order to ensure Windows computers patch smoothly, we are recommending staff and postgraduates start installing updates and log out of their computers when they finish work for the week. If a computer is off or in sleep mode overnight, updates will be installed the next time the computer is powered on.

FedEx Day 20 November 2019!

FedEx Day is here again, and with it comes the opportunity to spend a day doing something creative (and with any luck, fun) outside your normal role.

Here’s what’s involved:

Ideas hour: We’ll meet up for an hour to brainstorm ideas for our FedEx day. We’ll pick a time for this once we have a team.

FedEx Day (20-November): We’ll spend the day from 9am until 4pm working to implement something that can be done in a single day that will have a positive impact on the library or our learners.

So, if you have an idea for a way that the library could be improved, if only there was a few hours to set aside and get it done; if you want to flex your creative muscles; or if you just fancy spending a day a different way, here’s what to do:

1 . Talk to your manager to ensure you can attend. You’ll need to be free on 20th November.

2. Contact me by Friday 13th September (spooky!) to express your interest in attending.

If you have any questions, let me know!

 

 

Research Data Management and Structured Metadata

It’s looking like the library might be involved in curating and sharing research data associated with UC’s research outputs. It’s complicated and messy, which is why the report on structured metadata, produced by the Resource Discovery Librarians is so valuable. It lays out some of the options for how we might structure the metadata describing research data, and makes some recommendations for how we proceed. You can take a look yourself, here:

K:\LIBR-Library\Info-Resources\Resource-Discovery\UCResearchData_RDL report on structured metadata.pdf

 

THETA Conference report-back with Sara and Brian

In May, Sara & Brian traveled to Wollongong for the THETA conference (program here: https://theta.edu.au/program/). We thought that it’d be best to do our reporting back before we get too much rustier on the details, so we’ll be holding a session to do just that.

Where: Poutama 388
When: Wednesday 14 August, 2pm
Will there be refreshments?: Only our refreshingly mellifluous voices.
How do I sign up?!: https://canterbury.libcal.com/calendar/staff-development/THETA

Come along to find (partial) answers to questions like:

How is AI being used in other institutions?
What skills are be useful in a technology-rich future?
Why might other people’s clouds rain on our parade?
Do the police suspect fowl play in the disappearance and presumed death of the Evil Duck of Wollongong?

 

Calling Christmas Party Planners

The Christmas party planning team is starting early this year! Theresa is already threatening to play Christmas music. We’re badgering UCSA about holding the party in Haere-roa. All of this is evidence that we are in need of help.

So this year, we’re keen to involve you. Have any feedback from the last party, positive or negative? Send it across to me. Feel like getting festive early this year? Want to maximise your chances of getting two desserts? Get in touch and join the team- being on the organising committee hath its privileges, and it’s not too much work.

We’ll be accepting feedback on last year or suggestions for this year until Friday 15 March. Anything after that will have to wait until 2020!

-Brian

Microform move is finished!

The move of the microfilm and microfiche has been completed, and the cabinets are now housed in the Henry Field store. Look how much extra room there is on Level 2!

I’d like to thank everyone who helped out, with a special mention for Tim O’Sullivan who did a wonderful and proactive job of preparing for and helping with the move.

Advocacy Plan: Call for feedback

A first draft of the UC Library Message house
The text in the core messages is indicative, not prescriptive.

The advocacy group is eager to hear what you think of the work we’ve done so far. You can review our slides here, to refresh yourself on the messages:

K:\LIBR-Library\Projects\Advocacy-Plan\Advocacy-staff-forum.pptx

We’ve created a short Surveymonkey form, so that you can give us your opinions in glorious anonymity. We do give you the option to add your email address, if you’d like to talk to us about your ideas. Find the survey here:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/R9R2XTH