The lunchtime walk today at 12pm (departing from by the returns bins on Level 1 PJH) will go ahead.  There is what looks like a gap on the Metservice rain radar at present but bring a jacket in case.

The Information Resources Working Group (IRWG) met last Friday.  Notes are available.  IRWG also ranked the new subscription recommendations.  IRWG’s rankings will go forward to the Information Resources Advisory Group (IRAG).  IRAG meets on the 6th October.  IRAG’s role is to provide the Library with comments and advice on the new subscriptions recommendations.  Anne and Helen are the final decision makers and we will advise recommenders of the outcome.

Mōrena everyone.  Library Managers have been reflecting this week and we just wanted to pause and take a moment to acknowledge the year it has been.  It has been a succession of rolling stressful, sad and scary events.  The layering impact of these affects us all in different ways and at different times.  If you’re feeling the strain of it all particularly right now, we encourage you to reach out to your manager or someone else and have a chat.   If you’re feeling good about things in general, it’s good to be aware that others might not be.  Support from EAP is always available 24×7.   Their phone number is 0800 327 669.  You can approach EAP directly and confidentially.  You don’t need to ask your manager for permission to access the EAP service.  The university will pay for any initial counselling sessions.  Not only is EAP available for UC staff but also for their immediate family members.  More information is here.  Please look out for each other, build some some flexibility into your work day to take breaks, talk to each other or go out for a walk or a coffee.  Kia kaha.

EBSCO GOBI – Library holdings
Unfortunately the latest batch of holdings we sent through to GOBI includes a number of gratis Covid resources which are expiring progressively throughout  2020.  We have contacted EBSCO to arrange for another load of our holdings minus the gratis resources.  What does this mean in the interim for subject librarians searching GOBI?  It means that some resources may not be held/owned by the Library even though GOBI says we do.

1 user eBooks
Generally speaking, we avoid buying 1 user eBooks.  Here is a guide on what eBooks we prefer to buy.  This form of access is next to useless for a class that all wants to use the same eBook.  3 user options aren’t great either, but better than nothing especially if we buy a few copies.  Occasionally, buying a 1 user eBook is a good option.  For example to meet an interloan request for one user for something that cannot be sourced any other way.

Thesis scanning requests
Just a reminder to send all thesis scanning requests to collections@libr.canterbury.ac.nz.  More information is available on this wiki page.

Yesterday a number of us joined in the CAUL webinar “Transition to Open: Jeff MacKie-Mason on Shared Goals, Stakeholder Communication and Collaboration in Publisher Negotiations.”  This was a very interesting, thought-provoking and meaty presentation from Jeff MacKie-Mason (University Librarian and Professor of Economics and Information at UC Berkeley).  A few of us thought it would be good to replay the session recording and allow time for us to discuss it as a group at UC.

Jeff’s presentation was just under 1 hour but I have set up two one hour Zoom sessions (will be recorded) as follows.  This will allow us time to pause yesterday’s recording periodically and have a group discussion as well as spend sometime reviewing the Q&A.  To see the questions that were asked visit Sli.do and use the event code 26899.

Session 1: Wednesday August 5th 9:30-10:30 – Link to Zoom session
Session 2: Wednesday August 19th 9:30-10:30 – Link to Zoom session

Blurb for the session yesterday:

With a transformative agreement just signed with Springer Nature, plus existing agreements with Cambridge University Press, ACM, JMIR and PLOS, Jeff MacKie-Mason (University Librarian and Professor of Economics and Information at UC Berkeley) has been instrumental in driving change for Open Access.  Jeff will share his experience on optimising partnerships and advocacy to strategic levels while gaining broad support across the academic community. 

Topics to be covered during the Webinar include:

• Arriving at shared goals
• Communications (with faculty and students, administrators, the public via media)
• Role of data analytics
• Alternative access planning

Following on from the share in Pānui (thanks editors!) noting Felicity’s upcoming retirement, please join us for morning tea to celebrate Felicity’s service at UC and to wish her well for the future – Thursday 6th August at 10am (L5 staffroom PJH).