This is a topic I’ve discussed with a number of you already, but I wanted to make sure I hadn’t missed anyone.

I am proposing we do a ‘flat fee’ replacement price of $50 for pricing lost books and serials.  Horizon provides a default figure of $999.99 that appears when there is no price.  Instead of that we could change every instance of this to $50.

At the moment Access and Collections staff use a variety of methods to find suitable replacement prices (example).  There are some problems with this.  We may not know the total replacement cost until the item is actually ordered and this may or may not include freight costs.  We prefer electronic access nowadays which normally comes at a different price point.  We may not order a replacement at all, for example if the item is no longer in print, not available for purchase, available electronically, or not required.  The Library may lose some money eg when really expensive items are lost however there is money provided by the information resources budget to fund replacements.

The $50 flat fee would also apply to any lost items in Horizon where there is a price.  The price we paid in many cases years ago is not necessarily an accurate guide of what the true replacement cost is at today’s prices.

There will be lost items that are clearly not worth $50.  In these cases, individual staff would have the discretion to go to a minimum replacement charge of $20.

Comments on this proposal most welcome.  Likely implementation by mid July.

Further to my post on 7^th May, LAC staff are removing scans that sit outside our ‘normal’ limit with CLNZ (up to 10%). Our understanding is that CLNZ will no longer offer universities a licence to copy up to 50% and we would need to approach the publishers directly.  From a publisher perspective if we make 50% available it will affect textbook sales, with students less likely to buy textbooks. Should over 10% still be needed, we have the option to use transactional licences.

It’s that time of year when we review our subscriptions and call for recommendations for new subscriptions.  This year we will focus on reviewing our remaining print subscriptions.  We plan to review New Zealand, Māori and Pacific titles in consultation with MB and specialist staff later this year, when MB and LAC staff have more time to check that we have got our collecting settings right in these areas.

This review supports the ‘from physical collections to learning spaces’ project, helps with reducing costs, meeting budget challenges and will free up money to fund new subscriptions to meet new needs across the University.  This year we are including in the review print serials we receive by way of donation as well as print subscriptions we pay for.

For these reasons and as the University/Library becomes more online and digital in focus we will be looking more critically at our print subs than we have in previous years as our capacity grows to provide alternate access.

We hope to release the list for consultation with the academics in late June/early July.   A preview of the list is available although please note that some fields have not yet been updated (interloans availability/electronic access availability) as this is still a work in progress by LAC staff checking these details.

Consultation will run till the end of July.  As per our usual practice, cancellation proposals will go to IRAG and Library Committee for comments before final decisions are made, normally by Anne and Helen.

Just a reminder to please book into one of the two sessions if you are due for DPI refresher training this year.

Are now available.  Also if anyone has any interest/time to explore Unsub, please let me know 🙂 … (relevant agenda item)

The DPI Awareness team will be running DPI (Discomfort, Pain and Injury) refresher sessions for Library Staff at the following dates and times:

Tuesday 23rd June 11am
Thursday 2nd July 2pm

Click one of the links above to book in for a session.  This year we are going to try doing the presentations via Zoom!  And see how it goes…

• 23 June session Zoom link
• 2 July session Zoom link

Please attend via Zoom at one of the above dates/times if you are due for a refresher. As there is an interactive component that involves sharing group wisdom on DPI tips and tricks we would prefer that you attend one of the “live” sessions however if you cannot attend one of these dates/times we can provide a recording of one of the sessions later.

You can find out if you are due for a refresher – there’s a register here.

Since my post in April on scanning up to 50% of a print text for Learn, there has been discussion about scanning more than 50%.

CLNZ have endorsed scanning up to 50% and stated that this “will last for the duration of the emergency measures being taken to prevent the spread of COVID19 and must be taken down once the emergency is over and teaching returns to normal”.  This statement is not crystal clear in terms of each Covid-19 alert level and what “teaching returns to normal” will look like but the clear expectation is that this access is temporary.

Scanning more than 50% has not been explicitly agreed by CLNZ.  At UC we have gone over the 50% limit in some cases where we have needed to because of the exceptional circumstances being in Level 4 lockdown and now Level 3.  Scanning more than 50% is a risk the university is taking and so we wish to be fairly quiet about advertising it to minimize the uptake, are keen to ensure it is absolutely essential and that we have exhausted all other options.

Library managers have reviewed this and have agreed the following position.

Alert Level 4 – scan and provide up to 100% of physical items
Alert Level 3 – same as level 4
Alert Level 2 – scan and provide up to 50% of physical items. Scans over 50% provided at Levels 3 + 4 will be taken down from Learn by LAC staff
Alert Level 1 – same as level 2

If flexibility is required, scans over 50% may be provided at levels 2 and 1 but the circumstances will need to be exceptional and checks need to have been made, e.g.

1. No eBook option of any description can be purchased
2. Physical access to the item is severely restricted, e.g. there is only 1 copy in the Library and this is not enough for all students in the class
3. The lecturer has considered an alternative resource

We will continue to work with other parties including Information and Records Management and the universities Copyright Expert Working Group (CEWG), sharing what we are doing with them.  As the advice we receive, our understanding or our appetite for risk changes we will adjust this advice as necessary.

In the meantime CEWG are going back to CLNZ to get clarification about what can be done at each alert level.  CEWG have also asked us to provide details of what we have scanned under the Covid-19 restrictions.

Further to my post on Wednesday, here are links to the recording of the session and the wiki page notes.  The notes on the wiki page are linked from Camelot -> Help and How To -> SharePoint 2013 -> Zoom Session notes. Thanks to all for your participation and suggestions which I have noted and will follow up on.  Zoom’s text transcript of the recording is a bit amusing in places.

I’ve had a few questions recently about SharePoint and how we are using this in the Library so I thought I’d do an informal introductory/beginner session this Friday 17th April 9:30am via Zoom.  Will cover some of these questions and do a bit of a show and tell using some examples of different SharePoint lists and libraries we’ve been using – why, what are SharePoint lists and libraries, what are we using them for.  Will aim to record the session as well if this time doesn’t work.  Please feel free to drop any questions to me by email in advance or in the comments and we can look at those in the session.  This is probably my second time sharing screens in Zoom so it won’t be a polished performance but all part of the fun.

Kia ora koutou,

Further to our post on Friday.

Jo and Kim will begin working on the equipment requests from tomorrow to see what is possible so if you could please update your comments by the end of today Tuesday.  Thanks