The Robotic Process Automation team have been based on Level 5 since June 2019. The team were brought to UC by Finance. Their role is to help the University in its desire to use technology to become more efficient and effective. The team have been working with different teams from across UC and looking at processes which could be automated. We have seen their work be beneficial to other areas, e.g. reducing the time the Finance team have to spend on payment reconciliation.

In August, the team discussed their work with Lyndsay and I. We thought there could be areas in the Library where their automation might free us up from repetitive tasks so we could focus on more rewarding and valuable work. The RPA team have now come back to us with some areas they think would be worth having a look at. We think this investigation would be useful to see whether the team could help with our work.

The RPA team will now contact Library managers to agree times to look at those processes. The intention of this engagement is an initial scoping exercise. The Library continuously reviews its processes to become more efficient and that this is the aim of this work, reducing our workload of tasks which could be computer automated.

Yesterday, a small team of intrepid web editors entered the jungle of the UC Library website. With their machetes (keyboards) they hacked through the undergrowth (T4 folder structure).  As a result, now when you follow your usual paths through the jungle, you may encounter some new vistas (photos).

Metaphor stretched as far as possible… For our next mission (meeting), we’ll be having a look at the maps of the jungle (left-hand navigation menu) so please make your suggestions to your local Library website rep.

Library managers have documented our activities against each of the objectives on our 2016-2020 Strategy and against the Ngā Awa e Rua objectives.

The aim of this review was to show what we’ve achieved. This version is for ourselves. But we will also be creating a document to show others outside the Library. We have also used this to look at our areas of achievement and gaps. This is so we better understand where to focus our energies in the coming years.

As four years is a long time, we are likely to have missed things. Apologies for this. Please pass on any additions to your manager for inclusion or any items you want highlighted.

Over the last few months, you may have heard librarians muttering weird and wonderful terms like “PID”, “project charter” and “prioritisation criteria”.

The reason for the muttering was the development of project management tools and support.

As part of developing our new Library Strategy, we decided to review the work completed over the last 4 years. We particularly looked at projects and saw that there was some room for improvement (thanks to all who came along to the workshops and fedback on the projects they’d been involved in).

As a result of this review, we now have a new framework for managing projects which should lead to an improvement in the effectiveness of project management across the Library.

More info and training to follow but if you’re super keen and want to see the gory details of what’s happened so far… the project files are here: K:\LIBR-Library\Projects\Review of Projects

The latest minutes are available on the K drive at: K:\LIBR-Library\Management\Meetings\Minutes\H&S-Libr-2019-07-10.docx

To help the Library be the innovative heart of UC, and a strategic part of its future. we’ve made a change.

We have been reviewing our teams regularly but have not looked directly at our senior management structure since the 2014.

What we want to achieve
• Library management is aligned with the delivery of UC core activities and future trends.
• The AUL position titles focus on the specific areas that align with future trends and the university’s direction.
• It is clearer from outside the Library who to contact to make things happen if it is new or multi-functional.

What has changed?
• Lyndsay’s role has changed to AUL: Learning & Teaching
• Helen’s role has changed to AUL: Research

How do these changes affect you?
• Managers and team leaders continue to be responsible for leading their existing teams, services, specialities, culture and innovation inside and outside the Library.
• Reporting lines do not change.
• The relationship between AUL Research and Macmillan Brown will strengthen
• The relationship between AUL Learning & Teaching and eLearning Support will strengthen

For a full breakdown of the changes, including how they affect the Strategic Plan and Ngā Awa e Rua, see  AUL-changes-2018 , which was developed at the start of this change in 2018.

Our next Library H&S committee meeting takes place next Thursday. If you’ve got questions or issues to raise, please talk to your rep or comment below.

The last H&S minutes are available here – K:\LIBR-Library\Management\Meetings\Minutes and the H&S plan is available here – K:\LIBR-Library\Health-Safety\Health-Safety-Plans. The latter explains our objectives for the year.

As H&S now includes wellbeing, I’ve included a photo of me on my recent hols as a reminder of the importance of taking time away from work.

Since our Library Strategy has been in place since 2016 and is scheduled to end in 2020, we have been looking at what next! Our current strategy helped us to communicate our work to others and raise the profile of the Library. The aim of the new strategy is to continue to do this, allow us to focus our work and align with the University’s aims.

Library managers initial work has been to complete an environmental scan on the trends and priorities in several core areas. These are

• Culture and Heritage
• Information
• Learners
• Our People
• Researchers
• Teachers

Our next steps will be to draft goals for each of these areas. As your input is vital to this process, two sessions on 23rd and 25th July where you can get involved. Invites to these will follow shortly.