I am delighted to report that the UC Senior Management Team has decided to move forward with planning for redeveloping the Central LIbrary. This will take place in conjunction with a redevelopment of the undercroft although the undercroft will be a separate project. A working group will be formed to manage the planning side of the project and will involve Central Library staff, Facilities Management, ICTS, student representatives, academic staff representatives, and Teaching and Learning Committee representatives. The details of the planning process have not yet been determined but further updates will be provided as the way forward becomes clearer.
This is a very exciting development that the Library has been seeking for some years now and it is an opportunity for Canterbury to provide state-of-the-art learning and study spaces that will meet students needs now and well into the future.
The applications for this award closed last week with none being received. As a consequence, I regret to inform you all that the celebratory function that accompanies the award will no longer be taking place on 6 August.
We will call for applications for the Rosalind Patrick Award again nearer the end of the year and hold the function then if an award is to be made.
The nominations received for the general Library Awards will be held over until the LIbrary Christmas 2009 function. Thank you to those who have submitted nominations.
The UC Library has planned for some years now to relocate the Physical Sciences Library to the Engineering Library to offer a combined service from the merged library to staff and students of the Colleges of Engineering and Science, in particular, the staff and students engaged in the physical sciences.
In order to meet operational funding constraints predicted for 2010 we are proposing to fast-track the long-intended merger.
The planning to date had identified changes that were needed to be made to the physical layout of the Engineering Library and a general refurbishment of the spaces in that library. Some of those changes have already occurred, eg. the installation of a new lift. However, the majority of those changes may not be possible before the merger takes place over the 2009/2010 summer period. As a consequence it may be necessary to revise the original strategy and relocate the book-stock of the Physical Sciences Library in whole or in part to the Central Library.
Full consultation will occur as these plans are developed in the months to come.
I shall be away from Thursday 28 May to Tuesday 23 June, returning to work on the 24th June. I will be attending the IATUL conference in Belgium, then visiting libraries in London and Paris, followed by a holiday. In my absence, the Acting University Librarian will be Philip Jane (ext.8424) from 28 May to 5 June and Heather Jenks (ext. 8720) from 8 June to 23 June.
Staff are invited to one or other of two ‘State of the nation’ meetings held on the 23rd March at 11am and the 25th March at 2pm in the Central Library Staff Room (Level 5). The meetings will cover the same information at each including a library budget/finance update (Gail Pattie) and reports on activities over the last twelve months and, in particular, over the summer period, such as the Warehouse project (Cynthia Bishell), the Central LIbrary book-stock moves (Kerry Gilmour), and the School of FIne Arts Reference Room changes (Max Podstolski) as they have impacted on the Library.
An item in the Diary last week offering free labour (shelving) in return for tuition in library assistant work should not be acted upon by any member of the UC Library staff. While it seems like a good idea to have an arrangement without any money having to change hands there are various difficulties, particularly in relation to ACC cover and the university’s insurance, that mean that the University will not support such arrangements.
Thank you.
I want to thank all those staff who have sweated (literally and figuratively) through this first week back at work. Extremes of temperatures are always hard to cope with, whether it be hot or cold, and temperatures recently have certainly been extreme. Our summers are so often cool and the library workspaces equally are cool or even cold so the heat, while welcome in summer, has been very trying.
So thank you to everyone who persisted through these hot days and I hope the rest of summer is warm but more moderate for us all.
