In the town of Canterbury, at a grand affair,
Celebrating a milestone, joy was in the air.
Monty and Pepper, two mischievous hounds,
Were the talk of the party in the festive surrounds.

It was the 150th year of the university’s might,
A Christmas bash to remember, under the starry night.
Monty and Pepper, with a twinkle in their eyes,
Plotted together for a canine surprise.

As the guests gathered ‘neath the twinkling lights,
Monty and Pepper slipped out of sight.
They found the buffet, a feast laid so fine,
Stole treats from the table, a delicious canine crime.

Monty, the rascal, with a mischievous grin,
Decided a librarian leg was the perfect tree limb.
He lifted his leg, a festive faux pas,
The librarian startled, “Oh dear, oh my stars!”

Pepper, not one to be left behind,
Chewed on a book, a literary find.
Pages torn, scattered like snow,
The chaos of knowledge, a canine cameo.

Amidst the mayhem, a yelp of surprise,
Father Christmas stuck, chimney-wise.
Tangled in tinsel, his sleigh in a plight,
Monty and Pepper, a heroic sight.

With determination, they tugged and they pulled,
Freeing St. Nick, his laughter echoed and rolled.
Applause from the guests, cheers loud and clear,
Monty and Pepper, Christmas heroes, no fear.

As the night wound down, their antics forgiven,
Monty and Pepper, under the starry heaven.
A toast to chaos, with a touch of glee,
Christmas joy, in Canterbury, for all to see.

Next week PSYC105 students have a lab which includes an activity to introduce them to key services and spaces on levels 2 and 3 in Central Library. There are three versions of the lab: one for on-campus students doing the lab in-person, another for on-campus students doing the lab online and the final version is for distance students. There are 30 lab groups with the first starting at 9am on Monday. A TA will come with each group and will run the activity.

Margaret

This week PSYC105 students are doing a lab which includes a library activity. There are three versions of the lab – one for on-campus students doing the lab in person, another for on-campus students doing the lab online and the final version for distance students. There are 30 lab groups with the first starting at 9am this morning. The TAs will be coming with each group and will run the activity.

Margaret

During the week of the 9th-13th of August, PSYC106 students will be doing a lab designed to familiarise them with the Library. The activity is a self-guided scavenger hunt, created by Donna from Future Learning, which guides students around different locations in Central Library: the Information desk, High Demand collection, Subject Librarian area, discussion rooms, Academic Skills and Maker Space (where they have a short activity created by Jessica.) There will be a PSYC106 poster at each location.

It’s a big group of students – nearly 1000. They will come in their lab groups, around 30 students per group, and 6 labs are scheduled each day (9-10am, 10-11am, 11-12noon, 1-2pm, 2-3pm and 3-4pm.) The lab demonstrator will come over to the library with each group. I’ll try to be around as much as possible. Hopefully there won’t be too many lost students wandering around!

Margaret

Systematic reviews are specialist literature reviews that aim to identify, appraise and synthesize all the evidence on a particular topic. Often a systematic review will have multiple authors, making the process of screening and extracting data from studies slow and laborious. Covidence aims to speed up this process by allowing multiple researchers to view and assess articles simultaneously.

This session will be a walk through, demonstrating how staff in the Rose Centre for Stroke Recovery and Research are using Covidence.

Please register if you would like to attend https://canterbury.libcal.com/event/5390603

Margaret

It’s Orientation Day on February 19th and we’re looking for volunteers to meet and greet students in Central Library. If you can help please sign up here: K:\Operations\Marketing\Events&Promotions\Herea tō waka 2021\Orientation-Meet-and-Greet-roster

We’re also looking for volunteers to help with the Library stall outside Beatrice Tinsley: K:\Operations\Marketing\Events&Promotions\Herea tō waka 2021\Orientation-day-stall-roster

Margaret

Access to the ebook version of the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition) recently reduced to a maximum of five minutes. The purchase model for the online version of the DSM-5 is very limited and we were only able to buy 300 uses. Several weeks ago we reached that limit and we are not permitted to buy access again until November, until that time it can be read online for a maximum of five minutes.

We have five print copies of the DSM-5 in the High Demand collection in Central Library. Four copies are 3-day loan and one copy is 3-hour loan.

Margaret

The Induction Group are working on a few activities prior to new-to-UC students arriving at the start of Semester 1.

• An email from the University is being sent to all future students in early February to encourage them to register for O Day. The email includes a short message from the Library with a link to a Learn course where students can find information about the Library.
• We will be connecting with new students through the Library’s social media accounts (Facebook and Instagram) and using the University Weibo account to connect with Chinese students. Some of the messages will be from Academic Skills.
• We are also partnering with Academic Skills to deliver a study skills session in the week before Semester 1 starts.
• Donna has arranged Learn training for Library staff – there are a couple of sessions coming up in February – keep an eye on Counterculture for details
• We’ve done a review of UC Skills on Learn and fixed up a number of issues. A more thorough review will take place at a later date.

Margaret

Over the summer Theresa, Janette, Brian and I undertook a project looking at how Subject Librarians engage with academic staff. We were asked to identify training opportunities and ways we could promote our services.

We did a detailed analysis of consultations we had with academics during 2016 (there’s a SharePoint page where we record pretty much every interaction we have with students or staff members). From this we could see the types of queries we get and our busy times of year.

Training: We noticed we get a lot of questions at the start of the year about linking to Library resources in Learn and decided to run a workshop for academic staff during Teaching Week in February. Quite a lot of library staff time went into preparing a session and we were disappointed no one came to the workshop. It drove home that academics seem to prefer one-to-one assistance at the time they need it.

Promotional material: A pamphlet, 7 things you need to know, was printed along with a postcard (featuring an artwork by Max from the UC collection). They outline the key services offered by Subject Librarians for academics. There are copies at the info desk in each library if you haven’t already seen them.

We also updated the ‘New Academic Staff Induction Checklist’ – it lists in detail Library services offered to academics. It’s a long list and a few of us realized there were things we’re a bit rusty on – so a number of these topics are going to be turned into PD sessions for Subject Librarians over the coming months.

– Margaret