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

Kia ora koutou

It’s been a while since my last update, and there is plenty to share and celebrate!
Let’s start with some milestones and key achievements:
* The FOLIO contract with EBSCO has been finalised, and we’re now moving into the project kick-off phase – yay!
*Henry Field Store has now been fully emptied of library items. What a great achievement – ka pai!
* We have a new addition to the library team – a Siamese Fighting Fish (Betta Splendens) now ensconced on Level 2 of PJH, who needs and prefers to live alone (see Dale’s post and pic from Wednesday this week). There’ll be a pet naming competition for this piscine pugilist in due course!
* The Research Student Showcase held on Tuesday night this week, featuring the Visualise Your Thesis (VYT) Award Ceremony.  It’s such an uplifting testament to the breadth, depth, quality and talent in place across our postgraduate student research cohorts.  And felt very much like the Oscars!  Such fabulous mahi from Rachel and the VYT Library Team – on behalf of us all, ngā mihi nui for your sterling efforts! And the winner is:

Finally, just bringing the Library External Peer Review back to mind, following the panel’s very successful and engaging site visit back in June.  The panel are currently working away at the review report, and have been in contact with a few managers this week to fact-check and request additional information, about some sections. We expect the report to be delivered by the end of this month, for sharing with SLT, the Library Committee, and us all throughout the Library team. It is due to be tabled at Academic Board before their November meeting, so we are well ahead on the timeline here.

Just an assurance and reminder that the report will comprise findings and recommendations. The recommendations will likely include some commendations for great work underway, as well as areas for us to develop further.  These recommendations will also give us a unique opportunity to shape our future direction through next year and beyond.  It’s an exciting time, but I appreciate it can be somewhat unsettling as we sit on the cusp and wait for the report to arrive.

On this note, a heads-up that we’ll be focussing our August Staff Forum on change and wellbeing, with Tracey Robinson joining us from P&C Wellbeing as well as our MLM Project Change Manager (Nicola Adams) from Digital Services.  We’re also wanting to focus on the chance to come together, share kai and have some breakout/group kōrero. More details to come!

For now, stay warm!  Happy and safe weekend,
Kat

Kia ora koutou

An action-packed week, a highlight of which was the managers’ field trip to Rolleston to visit Te Ara Ātea, following recommendations from the ELS team who visited recently as well. 

This is a simply beautiful space, and it was so uplifting to see how many people (library kaimahi included) were using, treasuring and enjoying all that was on offer.  I took a screed of photos, and will be sharing an approved selection through IFLA Library Building channels in due course.  We’ll look forward to the chance to share some of these images and our experience of this visit, at the next Staff Forum, as well.

Library managers also engaged in a TMP (Team Management Profile) workshop, facilitated by People & Culture colleagues.  This was a great chance to come together to understand more deeply each other’s preferences and styles, and to see how and where we complement each other across the team.  We’re keen for P & C to undertake further TMP workshops with all staff, so stay tuned for developments!

My week was also filled with a number of very positive meetings, with regards to finance and 2024-2026 budgets, Facilities Management planning for future maintenance and upgrade works in our physical libraries, and the Library Committee with its updated Terms of Reference and new Chair (Arindam Basu, as announced in last week’s update).  Great progress on all counts!

For now, happy and safe weekend all,
Kat

Kia ora koutou

My gratitude for some wonderful food-focussed celebrations this (short) week.  We had the fudge extravaganza on Tuesday – so delicious!!  And then the Matariki shared kai earlier today.  This was a special moment to come together, contemplate the past and look ahead to what the next and new year will bring.

On which note, various initiatives continue at pace!  We’ve had a focus on collection and shelving moves over the last few weeks, in all libraries and all locations (Meremere basement, Henry Field Store and the Annex, PJH Central Library and Archives as part of the Shelving Replacement Project).  Thank you Jenny for a tour of the Dovedale campus yesterday as well – great to see things firsthand!

Our Library Committee has a new confirmed Chair, with Associate Professor Arindam Basu stepping into the role.  Arin’s tenure as Chair commences at the next Library Committee meeting (Friday 21 July) and will provide the opportunity to set the scene for the year/s ahead, particularly in light of opportunities emerging from the review panel’s findings and recommendations.

Just a reminder that there is the ongoing opportunity to provide your thoughts or feedback to the panel, and I know groups of staff are preparing this now – thank you! We also have the project room and Padlet available for anonymous ideas sharing, too.  The panel are working to an end-of-August timeline, to have a first draft of their report ready for us to receive.

You may have picked up that I am currently reporting direct to the VC, with Ian being on medical leave for the next couple of months. I had my first one-on-one with Cheryl earlier this week and found her interested in and engaged with both the Library and the review process.  Great to see!

I hope you all have a safe, happy and very restful day tomorrow, and weekend ahead.
Mānawatia a Matariki!
Kat

Kia ora koutou

Not really sure where the week has gone!  We’ve had some sparkly winter days and frosts this week, which have been ‘invigorating’ to say the least!  And I realise a number of you are on leave, going on leave soon, or doing battle with winter and other illnesses.  Do take care, one and all.

Academic Board meets soon, so I’ll post this in advance as the meeting can take a couple of hours.  By the way, our move to Folio gets a mention in the most recent VC report to Council, which is quite exciting!

A reminder that ongoing feedback to the review panel is invited and welcomed.  The project room on Level 5 PJH is still set up with post-its galore, and has a dedicated space for us all to share Challenges, Opportunities and Ideas.
We also have the anonymous Padlet available and a couple of virtual post-its have appeared already. You may otherwise/also like to submit some written feedback, individually or as a group, which can be on-shared with the panel.

It was lovely to join the Te Rua MakerSpace Mingle this morning.  Thank you team for hosting this welcome and having a range of fun activities available to try out. As noted in the invitation, this event gave us all the opportunity to learn more about what Te Rua has to offer, so we can give recommendations to library users and make use of the space ourselves!

Thanks also to Roman and Ryan for their rove reporting skills earlier this week. Looking forward (with a considerable measure of trepidation about my interview, I admit) to seeing the interviews with staff go live on our social media feeds sometime soon….!

Happy and safe weekend all,
Kat

Kia ora koutou
The LIANZA Climate Action Group met in December 2022 and concluded that given the scale of the crisis and degree of urgency required by our profession, a LIANZA Standing Committee on Climate Change was needed to demonstrate leadership and provide guidance to the sector. LIANZA Council have recently approved the formation of this new standing committee and the terms of reference.

Expressions of interest now are called for LIANZA personal members or staff at institutional members (that includes UC Library) to join the LIANZA Standing Committee on Climate Action.
If you are keen to join Rob Cruickshank, University of Canterbury; Jane Clark, Massey University and Alexis McCullough, Auckland Libraries to form this standing committee please submit your expression of interest by Thursday July 20, 2023.

The terms of reference for this standing committee is here>

The committee seeks up to five additional members to reflect a range of the sectors represented by LIANZA. Some members will be chosen because of their recognised expertise and interest in aspects of climate change and action, but the committee also welcomes members who have an interest in this area and are keen to develop their knowledge and understanding.

If keen, please discuss with your manager.

Kia ora koutou

It’s been a massive week!
As mentioned in my Library All Staff Teams post on Wednesday, I’d like to thank everyone for taking time to welcome, meet, guide and kōrero with the external review panel during their visit here.

Margie, Paula and Andy invite our ongoing feedback, as well.  Sometimes ideas percolate with time, and sometimes writing things down can be a really effective way of collating thoughts and perspectives.

There are quite a few options available for you to share any thoughts and feedback you may like to offer to the panel:

• The Challenges, Opportunities and Ideas board is still on the wall in the project room on Level 5 PJH
• You may like to hold a wānanga/talanoa, meet together with colleagues, and share a write-up of the discussion
• And/or you could do your own individual write-up and send this through to the panel directly (they are happy for this). Or share with your/a manager to on-share
• And/or we have also set up a Library Feedback Padlet, which the panel have access to as well
  This updates dynamically and is entirely anonymous.
  It’s a great tool for gathering and sharing user feedback too.

On which note, thank you to all who participated with such energy and enthusiasm in the UX (user experience) workshop Andy ran with us, and guests from Christchurch City Libraries and Lincoln University, this week.  We have a wealth of rich user feedback and some cool prototypes to take forwards, keep in place, and iterate on further!  Ka pai!

For now, a period of well-deserved rest for us all I hope!  Stay well, and enjoy the weekend 😊
Kat

As noted in my Library All Staff Teams post earlier today, I’d like to thank everyone for taking time to welcome, meet, guide and kōrero with the external review panel so far during their visit.  They have visited all libraries, seen a fair bit of the wider campus, and will have an all-staff morning tea with you next Tuesday 27th June at 9am (210 in PJH).

The panel also invite all of us to provide additional thoughts and input in the project room (PJH 524A, next to Helen), via anonymous post-it notes. Please feel welcome to pop by anytime (the door is open when the panel is not based there) and share your post-it note thoughts for Challenges, Opportunities and Ideas.  Just had a quick look and can see things have been taking shape through the course of the day – fab!

Some updates to share from the Macmillan Brown Library, and ka pai to the team!

As part of the Archival Shelving Replacement Project, 300 linear metres of archives have been relocated to offsite store this week.  These collections remain discoverable on Kā Kohika with a note that the items are offsite but still retrievable. (There will be a slight delay in fulfilling requests as we need to give Archives NZ 24 hours’ notice.)

And amongst much ongoing mahi, the team has also been focussed on preparing collection items for loan to the Teece Museum for the UC150 exhibition at the Arts Centre (Whiria te tāngata: Weaving the people together – 150 years of College and Community’, Pūmanawa Community Gallery at the Arts Centre, 20 July-10 September 2023).  Archives, published works and artworks have all been requested for the exhibition, including the Apirana Ngāta bust that is located in Aotahi.

In other news, the winter solstice passed this week, which means we’re officially on the countdown to summer!  Take care all – there are still a raft of nasty illnesses doing the rounds.
Kat

Kia ora koutou

Happy 150^th birthday to UC today!  I’ll try to keep this brief, as you may be off shortly to join in festive celebrations!

This week has been focussed on a few important themes.  We’ve seen semester 1 exam period kick off, and a ‘flash mob’ of eager students crowding around our library doors just before 8am each morning!

Many of us are working on preparing our Library CAPEX (capital) and OPEX (operational) budgets for 2024 – 2026.  Our information resources budget line is a particularly complex beast to wrangle, and I applaud the sterling efforts of the team to bring this to bear!

The revised and updated Terms of Reference for the Library Committee were approved at Academic Board last Friday, and so this morning’s Library Committee monthly meeting signalled the end of Assoc Prof Mike Grimshaw’s notable tenure as Library Committee Chair. Mike’s tireless advocacy and support for our Library over many years has been immense, and we thank and value his significant contribution.

And we are, of course, gearing up for the Library external peer review panel visit next week. There is a lot of organisation going on behind the scenes (or indeed, front and centre, in some cases!).  I appreciate all the efforts and energy afoot, and your collective patience as we bring it all together. Once finalised, and as mentioned in last week’s update, I’ll share with you the schedule of interviewees, who’ll be meeting with the panel members at some point during their visit.

Also as discussed at our recent Staff Forums, a reminder that this is such a rare chance to get our aspirations aired in front of an expert and receptive audience, to help them help us shape our way forward.

I thank you all for engaging with this opportunity, and know you’ll join me in in providing manaaki and a warm welcome to our wonderful panel, when they arrive onsite next Wednesday morning!  They’ll be visiting all libraries, and there is the all-staff morning tea on Tuesday 27 June, so I do hope each and every one of us has the chance to say “kia ora” and engage with them, at some point during their time with us.

For now, a safe and restful weekend all. There are a lot of winter illnesses doing their rounds just now, so do take care.
Kat

Kia ora koutou

Firstly, thanks to all who came along to either (or both!) of the two Staff Forums over the last fortnight. I appreciated the levels of attendance, and the flexibility for short-notice rescheduling when I was absent for a week due to sickness. We have attempted to record this week’s session, but in any case, we’ll collate a potted summary of the great questions from the floor and those received through Slido in advance, along with the answers provided and follow-up discussions that have taken place.  I really appreciated the energy and openness of our kōrero together and welcome such interactivity at all times!  It’s such a great way to air issues, share insights and collectively broaden our understanding on key matters. Ka pai!

I’m attending the monthly Academic Board meeting this afternoon and am hoping the revised and updated Terms of Reference (TOR) for our Library Committee will be approved there today. The former TOR dated to 2016, so were well (over)due a review.  The main difference and improvement, I believe, is the expansion of the membership from 16 academic and professional staff, to a total of 24.  In my view and as mentioned as this week’s Staff Forum, the UC Library Committee is a real gift, in terms of the commitment, energy, advocacy and support all members provide. The fact the Library Committee is a subcommittee of Academic Board is another notable positive – we are so often helpfully in the spotlight of Academic Board discussions, in relation to a range of issues (e.g. Open Access, space constraints due to increased student numbers, and how popular all our libraries are to visit). Such regular, enthusiastic and high-profile engagement is a real asset!

Also this week, we’ve been focussing on preparing a pack of key documents to share with our external peer review panel. As mentioned at this week’s Staff Forum, I’ll share the Document Index with you all, early next week.  Almost all the documents contained in the pack are available to us all to refer to and read at any stage, with just a few exceptions which are commercially sensitive and will shared directly with panel members (who have signed a non-disclosure agreement).

Once finalised, I’ll also share with you all the schedule of interviewees, who’ll be meeting with panel members when they’re here for their site visit later this month.

For now, a safe and restful weekend all,
Kat