Hello everyone

In response to requests from students SMT has decided that it would be a gesture of goodwill for the libraries to extend their opening hours until 10.00 p.m. each night (this includes Friday, Saturday and Sunday).

In the first instance, the Library is calling for volunteers to cover the extended hours for the Education library for this week.
Depending on the demand from students it is proposed that from next Monday, both the Education and Law libraries could be open for the extended hours until the end of term four.

If there are any library staff who would like to change or extend their hours of work in order to cover these hours could they please let either Joan Simpson or me know by noon on Friday 17th September. The provision for payment for working additional hours and / working on the weekend will be outlined in your employment agreement. Members of the TEU are welcome to contact them if they have any questions about this, alternatively your HR Advisor may also be able to assist you.

View the UC General Staff Collective Agreement here.

If we are unable to fill these timeslots with existing staff we will recruit, however both Joan and I would like existing staff to have the opportunity to work the additional hours.

Thank you to all of those who have replied and volunteered already, the response has been very heartening.

Heather Jenks

Helen Doidge has been appointed as the Acting Manager, Education Library. Officially Helen took up the role on the 10th September.
I look forward to working with Helen and welcome her to the Branch Leadership Team.

Heather.

Access to the publicly avaialble statistics online is through the Library web pages in the database list at Statistics for Universities. Here is a brief overview of some of the components of the agreement:

1. Continued access to NZ and Australian CURFs
An allowance has been made for 10 CURFs from NZ and 10 CURFs from Australia to be accessed. This is across all 8 universities included in the CONZUL agreement. There will be no extra charge if more CURFs are accessed over the year.

2. Data Packages
Household Labour Force Statistics – up to 10 tables
NZ Income Survey – up to 5 tables
Household Economic Statistics – up to 5 tables

I am consulting with that analysts who prepare this data to determine timing for these tables to be ready to go on the Statistics for Universities part of the website.

3. Customised Data
University Requested Hours

Canterbury 20

These hours will be administered by the contact officers which at the University of Canterbury is Heather Jenks.

4. Official Statistics for Universities brochures
I will send some to each Library. Please make them available to as many people as possible. We can ask for more if we need them.

If there are any queries re the agreement , please contact me on extension 8720.
Heather Jenks

CONZUL and Statistics NZ have resigned their agreement for another year. This means that staff and students from the University of Canterbury can gain access to New Zealand statistics and have these statistics presented in different ways to help them with their studies and their research. As the University Contact Officer, I have not seen the final allocation for the University of Canterbury for this agreement, however I requested between 20 and 25 hours, in the previous agreement UC had 19 hours which we over used in the end by aout 4 hours, making it a total for the year of 24 hours.

Information about this agreement can be found on the Library web pages by clicikng on databases and finding the database listed as Statistics for Universities.
If you have any questions about this agreement, who should use it or how to go about gaining access to the allocated hours for the University of Canterbury, please contact me either on ext 8720 or by email

Heather Jenks

At a meeting called by the PVC Learning Resources today (Monday) it was decided not to proceed with this co-location project at this time. Sue McKnight, Peter Moloney, Peter Jackson (Campus Master Plan Project), Joan Simpson, Margaret Greville, Gail Pattie (on sick leave) and Heather Jenks were called together to discuss the proposed project.

A number of factors were taken into consideration throughout the discussion including-
short timeframe to achieve the outcome
without expanding the existing footprint of the Law Library we were not achieving a wold class learning space
cost of the project, initial costing were around $3.6 million
no allowance made for this project in the 2010 capital budget
and the impact of the Campus Master Plan

There will be further discussion around how the James Hight Building is to be utilised and the urgent work needed to the maintain the fabric of the Law School building. The PVC Learning Resources will call these meetings.

Thank you to all staff who have been working on this project, your input was greatly appreciated. A special thank you to Joan and her team for working with great speed to achieve the collections work that has been carried out to date.

Heather Jenks

My apologies, I wrote the item on the EPS Library using a term that has obviously caused some disquiet.
By saying that the plans for EPS Library Stage 2 have been frozen is a good thing, this means that the plans have been discussed, the input from the EPS Libray staff taken into account and the plans agreed to by the Project Control Group for go ahead. The plans are now with the Quantity Surveyor to be costed. Being frozen doesn’t mean that the project has stopped or is facing a delay, it is full steam ahead.

Plans for Stage 2 of the EPS Library have now been frozen. The original footprint of the old Engineering Library has been extended slightly and pushes out into the Mushroom. The main entrance into the new Library will be shfited into the the middle of the area now occupied by the foyer and E4. This will contain a variety of study and seating options as well as computer worksations and will be able to be secured as a 24/7 study space if so desired.

Regular fortnigthly meetings are being held and the project is on target for the work to begin at Show Weekend in November 2010 and to be finished in time for Semester 1 2011. The funding for the Stage 2 part of this project was agreed to by Council in 2009. Members of the Project Control Group (PCG) are Nick Courtney (Architect), David Lang and Peter Molony(Facilities Management), Bruce White (College Manager, Engineering), Peter Steel (Academic representative for the Science Faculty), Gail Pattie, Heather Jenks and Dawn McMillan (Library).

Heather Jenks

A co-location group consisting of Architects (Iain Nicholls and Kate Ginder), Facilities Management (David Lang and Peter Molony who is presently on leave) and Library staff (Gail Pattie, Heather Jenks, Joan Simpson and Margaret Greville, while Margaret is on leave either John Arnold, Sue Johnston and/or Sara Roberts have attended the meetings) have been working on the feasibility of co-locating the law and commerce library resources and services within the exisiting Laww Library footprint. This has involved library staff working out how many shelves would need to be housed within this space, how many study seats would be needed, and has included getting the Architect to sketch in group study areas.

The Architects have developed drawings that can accommodate the basic requirements put forward in Stage 1 of this feasibility study, and those of us in the meeting this morning were able to see that the print book stock could be accommodated and that study spaces were increased. However being constrained by staying within the original footprint of the Law Librray has not enhanced the learning space.

The next stage of the process will take place when Peter Molony, Director of Facilities Management, returns from leave next week. There are a number of issues that still need to be fully explored and one of those is the vision of the Campus Master Plan project team who are keen to see active edges, like the Library spaces, accessible from the ground floor. For this co-location project, this would mean creating a Level 1 entrance to the Law Library. Therefore further discussions need to take place at various levels within the University. I will report back to Library staff after the proposed meeting of the co-location group and the Campus Master Plan project team.

Heather Jenks

The Branch Managers, Supervisors, Collection Services Manager, Library IT Manager, and other interested staff attended a meeting to discuss existing system parameters which was led by Donna Barber. From the discussion grew a number of ideas about how to improve the existing Lending Policies and our services to our customers.
A wiki has been set up for people to utilise and work through various ideas. If you have any ideas you would like to share please logon to –

and also in the University Policy Guide

or in the Distance Policy

There will be a further meeting on the 4th May to discuss and progress ideas that have been discussed on the wiki.

Heather Jenks

The Project Control Group meet on Tuesday to discuss progress being made towards completion of this project. This group will only meet once more on Tuesday 9th March, to discuss any outstanding matters that arise from the project. On Friday Dawn, Gail and Heather were shown a prototype of the stack end that has been developed. These will be manufactured and installed in the coming weeks. Dawn is in contact with the Architect about some missing desks. Other furniture has been delivered and is being placed throughout the Library.

Soon after Easter the Stage 2 Project Control Group will be established, this will group will be working on the project to complete the refurbishment of Level 1, as well as some of the heating replacement that was agreed could not be completed in the timeframe for Stage 1 plus the redesigning of the entrance to the Library.

For those of you who have not been over to the EPS Library you will be able to enjoy the refurbished building and admire the spaces that have been created. The EPS Library will be open for business on Monday 1st March, as Dawn was informed late this afternoon that the certificate of compliance has been signed off.

Well done to Dawn and her team for the huge effort that they put in during this very hot week, and all the previous weeks as well. Thanks go to the Hugh, Jeremy, Angela and Ken who were employed to help out this week. Check out the Library FaceBook page for the latest photos,thanks to Deborah the photographer.

With this rather hurried end to the project, the farewell party to the Physical Sciences Library building has been delayed, however there will be one.