Kia ora koutou

Such a buzz seeing so many students here on campus!  I’m told this is back to pre-Covid levels of presence and energy – how wonderful to be kanohi ki te kanohi again after so long.

A big shout out to all our kaimahi who contributed to wonderful Eke Panuku celebrations on Monday, and who have staffed our Orientation stall, and our floating “meet & greet” presence at the Central Library.  We’ve always known, but how great to see first-hand, the positive power of a smile and “kia ora”. This week has presented such a great opportunity for us to be visible, make connections and share proudly the range of valuable services and support we offer!  Thank you all for embracing this opportunity 😊

Simon, Fiona and Juliet welcoming new students (and me!) on our Library Orientation stall

On a more sobering note, this week has brought true devastation to a number of communities further north, and I send my aroha to them and to you, particularly if you have whānau and loved ones affected in any way by these events.

Seems an appropriate moment to promote a Wellbeing webinar that has recently been posted, and which many of you attended a few weeks ago.  Check out this Unleash Your Wellbeing Potential Webinar  for guidance on how to equip ourselves with skills and capabilities to sustain a wellbeing culture.  I’ve had a quick dip and will definitely be carving out some time to ingest these insights more fully!

Finally this week, I attended a CONZUL briefing session with Sue Roberts and Kim Tairi (University Librarians at University of Auckland and AUT respectively), ahead of my first CONZUL meeting next Monday.  I was pleased to learn that CONZUL are currently exploring a re-name from “Council of New Zealand University Librarians” to “Council of Aotearoa New Zealand University Libraries”, to articulate how much more inclusive, and relevant to ‘whole-of-library’, the team intends to be.

Have a great weekend all.  The weather looks as though it’s going to go back to “full on summer” again!

It’s coming up next week! Wednesday July 31st. Bring in your zaniest slippers and wear them all day, or for as long as your feet can cope. A roving photographer will be on site during the day to capture the variety of footwear.

Slippers need an upgrade? Feeling the pressure to be the best you can be? Maybe a shopping expedition this weekend to Number One shoes or a similar establishment could be included on your ‘to do’ list…

The UC Law Clinic, in association with Community Law Canterbury (CLC), is offering a free legal advice service to students and staff on any issue, including flatting, tenancy and general problems.*

The UC Law Clinic is located in Room 151A on the ground floor of Meremere (Business and Law) Building, University Drive.

Please email you preferred appointment day and time to:

law-clinic@canterbury.ac.nz

We have received this lovely handwritten letter for a UC book had sent out through Interloans. We assume it is a thank you letter …  could anyone please transcript this?

The second Open Access Fund (OAF) committee meeting of 2017 was held on 9 June.

We discussed:

1. Actions from the previous meeting
2. The draft Terms of Reference
   • This document was tabled, discussed and accepted.
3. The size of the fund, and that we have requested it be increased for next year, because of the number and size of applications
4. Ways of publicising the fund better. We noted that currently the fund is publicised through the R&I newsletter, the Postgraduate Office newsletter and the PGSA email group. Suggestions included:
   • Promoting in college and school newsletters
   • Educating staff about OA and the fund by conducting a session in HR’s Personal Development offerings
   • Including a question in the Academic Promotions form Research section about whether the academic has published in OA journals
   • We should produce an end of year report about the fund, linking it to PBRF measures etc.

We made decisions:

We funded three out of three applications, one fully and two partially:

1. Amount requested: NZ$1,575; Amount funded: NZ$1,575.
2. Amount requested: NZ$2,000; Amount funded: NZ$1,500 (3/4).
3. Amount requested: NZ$2,700; Amount funded: NZ$1,800 (2/3)

This morning IT announced via an email to the library lending account that UC will be offering Wifi access to visitors.

The email is as follows:

Hi All

As of Monday the UCvisitor network is now open for self-registration for internet access.

A customer is  required to have a mobile number to register. This is used to send the username and password to.

The account is active for 12 hours of use and can be used on up to 3 devices at any one time.

An example is below for your reference.

1. When a customer selects the UCvisitor network a webpage will open asking them to either register or use an existing UC IT account for access

2. Register for a new account

3. Once the details have been enter and the terms of user accepted the mobile number entered will receive a SMS message containing the username and password. Please note the username is the customers password.

If you have any questions please let me know.

Thank you.

Shona van Ee

IT Service Desk Team Leader

Information and Technology Services

Learning Resources

University of Canterbury

IT Service Desk – your first point of contact for IT Services

Self Service Portal – https://assist.canterbury.ac.nz/

DDI Phone: 369 3608

Phone: 03 364 2060 or Extn 6060 (8am-5pm Mon-Fri)

_________

Tim O’Sullivan