As a chartered librarian and tutor in the largest further education college in Wales, I will be highlighting how our professional library qualifications have changed over the past number of years and how the content reflects the challenges that the information sector is facing. We seek to guide, support and future-proof our candidates, but what does this actually mean in practice? Digital literacy is now being treated as a core basic skill in Wales, sitting alongside English and mathematics at the heart of the educational journey. What are the implications for information sector skills to support this new approach? What skills do we expect our current staff to develop and are these in line with the basic skills we expect of new professionals? Who decides on what the baseline skills for an information professional are and are these internationally transferable? What does that mean for our stakeholders, colleagues and ourselves? How has our involvement with national information literacy projects informed our approach? Is there such a thing as too much continuing professional development? I will be focusing on the digital literacy aspect of our provision, as the new digital literacy frameworks being embedded in practice in Wales are already having significant influence on the training we provide – for our sector, staff, library course candidates and the wider college population.
Presenter Biography:
Síona Murray
Síona Murray is an Information Officer in the Library and Learning Technology Service at Grwp Llandrillo Menai and has worked in the library and information sector for the past 15 years. Síona has experience of government, health, HE and FE library services both in Ireland the UK. In her present post, she has been able to combine an interest in information literacy,digital literacy and learning technologies to support providing access to student resources in new ways. She provides training for staff and students to demonstrate ways of using social media for teaching and learning and delivers information society and digital culture modules for the Coleg Llandrillo Library Foundation Degree and ICTL qualifications. Síona has been involved inresearch and analysis projects for MALD, JISC and the HEA, has achieved chartership and has been awarded the FHEA teaching fellowship.
This joint presentation will address some of the challenges and successes of developing geospatial services in UCD Library. The reasons for establishing such services will be outlined, as well as the importance of such services in the context of enhancing user engagement and experiences.
The presentation will briefly explain how Geographic Information Systems (GIS) facilitates the analysis of data through visualisation and also provides an accessible way of disseminating research findings. It will next outline how the Library has developed its GIS services since 2012, identifying and engaging with new users, particularly those who may not have considered the use of GIS before. Allied to this has been the process of communicating the relevance and impact of GIS, and working towards building a community of practice, in partnership with other key campus stakeholders.
Specific services developed within the Library following an initial GIS survey in 2012 will be outlined. These include: the introduction and development of a suite of new workshops and the provision of free GIS drop-in clinics ; the creation of a LibGuide which both provides a one-stop shop for finding GIS-related resources and helps position the Library as a central and key co-ordinator of GIS information.
The recent introduction of the Government ‘s National Mapping Agreement (NMA) allows Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSi) to provide free mapping products to third level educational institutions in Ireland. The presentation will describe how the Library is implementing this service on behalf of OSI. This initiative will help to transform the mapping and geospatial services for students and staff in XXX.
Julia Barrett has worked in a range of roles across library services in Ireland. Prior to 2012 she worked mainly in UCD’s Architecture & Planning Library as the Branch Librarian. While there she negotiated with Ordnance Survey Ireland agency status which facilitated the provision of mapping to a variety of customers. In 2012 Julia was appointed to the position of Research Services Manager , of UCD’s Library’s Research Services Unit and Head of Research Services in 2016. The Research Services Unit is responsible for developing and delivering specialist and innovative services to researchers – including the development of geospatial services; open science services (e.g. Research Repository UCD; RDM and scholarly communications); and the UCD Digital Library.
Presenter Biography:
Julia Barrett
Julia Barrett has worked in a range of roles across library services in Ireland. Prior to 2012 she worked mainly in UCD’s Architecture & Planning Library as the Branch Librarian. While there she negotiated with Ordnance Survey Ireland agency status which facilitated the provision of mapping to a variety of customers. In 2012 Julia was appointed to the position of Research Services Manager , of UCD’s Library’s Research Services Unit and Head of Research Services in 2016. The Research Services Unit is responsible for developing and delivering specialist and innovative services to researchers – including the development of geospatial services; open science services (e.g. Research Repository UCD; RDM and scholarly communications); and the UCD Digital Library.
Jane Nolan
Jane Nolan joined UCD Library in the early 1990s where she worked in Archinfo – an information service for architectural practices based in UCD’s Architecture & Planning Library. A large part of the services delivered by Archinfo were maps-based. Jane managed and developed this service until 2010 when she became the Liaison Librarian for the School of Architecture, Landscape and Civil Engineering. Following re-structuring in 2012 Jane moved to her current role as Maps & GIS Librarian.
As part of our 2017 children’s summer programme the Education and Outreach team ran a two day workshop called ‘Hands on History’. This was a camp for teenagers with an interest in history and was open to all post-primary students. Participants didn’t have to be studying history in school in order to take part. The aim was to familiarise the participants with research tools the institution has to offer and encourage independent historical research as a fun and enjoyable experience. Day One was led by the Education team and focused on how to use resources to learn about Irish history. The day was broken into a number of workshops on different collections, eg. newspapers, photographs, manuscripts. It also featured a guided tour of a WWI exhibition where students could see manuscript material. The exhibition was a great example of how historical research could be applied outside academia or textbook history to create public history. Day Two was a collaborative workshop run by The Nerve Centre which allowed participants to get hands on with interactive and digital technologies and find out how they can be used to creatively explore the past. In this paper I will discuss four elements of the project. Firstly, I will discuss how we marketed the event based on our experience with a similar workshop in July 2016 and who we decided our ‘target audience’ would be. Secondly, I will give an overview of how we engaged with the collections in the Day One workshops. Next I will discuss the collaboration with the Nerve Centre and the use of innovative digital technologies to engage with the library collections. Lastly, I will focus on the feedback we received from the participants and how this guided our evaluation of the project in line with our original aim and objectives.
Presenter Biography:
Maeve Casserly
Maeve Casserly has worked in the Education and Outreach Department of the National Library of Ireland since 2015. She completed a Master in Public History and Cultural Heritage in Trinity College Dublin in 2014 and is a PhD candidate in University College Dublin researching the 2016 commemorations of the Easter Rising and the Somme. She is the current Historian-in-Residence with Dublin City Council for the South-East Area. Her most recent academic publication was ‘Public History, Invisibility and Women in the Republic of Ireland’, The Public Historian (University California Press), May 2017.
In order to address the comprehensive structure of a distributed MD (Doctor of Medicine) program in the province of British Columbia, the objective of this project was to develop a thoughtful and adaptable assessment framework for the libraries that serve the MD program at the University of British Columbia. The framework will be implemented across many university and health system libraries, across a large geographic space, to assess broad service levels as well as quality of information provision.The assessment framework was developed by determining the unique needs of the undergraduate medical program and its highly varied libraries (e.g. distributed, with several hubs, managed through the arms of different universities and health systems), through teleconference meetings with members of the Undergraduate Medical Library Committee. The committee considered many aspects of library service including evidence-based pedagogical instruction; research and publication support; and contribution to research excellence vis-à-vis provisioning for systematic reviews. The committee also evaluated collection development methods. The transition to e-preferred decision making and the process of streamlining approval plans within the web-based acquisitions tool, GOBI Library Solutions, was assessed for its relevance to the unique service needs of a distributed medical program across four university campuses. Further consideration was made regarding the responsibilities and requirements of the libraries supporting the MD program. The committee reviewed input measurements such as instructional hours, length of e-book sessions, hours taught in formal curriculum and hours taught providing one-on-one consultations. Methodologies for quantifying experience were also considered. These included analysis of faculty focus groups and evaluations of assignments as measurable outputs that could potentially allow themes and categories of experience to emerge. Lastly, special consideration was made for health authority and hospital librarians engaging with students during their clerkship (third year) with respect to support for point-of-care and EBM information seeking needs.
Originally from Toronto and now residing in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia, I provide research support and reference services to all students in the MD Undergraduate Program. I also participate in the information literacy program that supports the development of evidence-based practice skills and ensure equity of access to information for the distributed medical program.
Presenter Biography:
Vanessa Kitchin
Originally from Toronto and now residing in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia, I provide research support and reference services to all students in the MD Undergraduate Program. I also participate in the information literacy program that supports the development of evidence-based practice skills and ensure equity of access to information for the distributed medical program.
With an upsurge in amateur and professional genealogists or family historians, reader demand on a large collection of heraldic manuscripts had resulted in extensive use of a fragile resource. There was a risk that continued physical use would result in irreversible damage and possible loss. Digitisation and digital access posed a better way of facilitating reader access, yet there were challenges in making the collection ‘camera ready’.
This talk will discuss how a conservation and preservation programme is helping transform a large collection of manuscipts into a digital resource. It will focus on how manuscripts were surveyed and prioritised for treatment, how funding was sucessfuly attained and how innovative solutions were developed to meet a skills gap and limited resources. It will also touch on how ethical and historical aspects of the collection influenced the approach taken to conserve composite manuscripts, which has been previously been heavily restored.
As a result of this ongoing programme, readers have free access to over 80 manuscripts online, 14 of which have undergone complex conservation treatment. In the last year alone, there were nearly 18,000 searches on the online catalogue for the digitised manuscripts.
The conservation treatments have spurred research into the manuscripts’ materials and produced new research in conservation methologies. Publicly sharing the project, through several social media platforms, has piqued the interest of international audiences. Family historians have responded favourly to the project, with one noted professional stating ‘three whole-hearted cheers. More please’. The impact of the programme has therefore been wide-ranging and beyond initial expectations.
Louise O’Connor joined the National Library of Ireland as a conservator in 2007. She previously worked as assistant paper conservator at the National Gallery of Ireland, following a conservation fellowship at the Chester Beatty Library. She received her Master’s degree in the Conservation of Fine Art from Northumbria University in 2005 and a BA International in Art History and Italian from University College Dublin in 2003. She is an accredited member of the Institute of Conservators-Restorers Ireland (ICRI).
Presenter Biography:
Louise O’Connor
Louise O’Connor joined the National Library of Ireland as a conservator in 2007. She previously worked as assistant paper conservator at the National Gallery of Ireland, following a conservation fellowship at the Chester Beatty Library. She received her Master’s degree in the Conservation of Fine Art from Northumbria University in 2005 and a BA International in Art History and Italian from University College Dublin in 2003. She is an accredited member of the Institute of Conservators-Restorers Ireland (ICRI).
The launch of Jisc’s Digital Capability Framework alongside a major internal Student and Academic Administration Transformation programme, provided the ideal opportunity to develop and deliver a coordinated and collaborative Digital Skills service.
With the service vision of “Empowering inclusive and critical engagement with digital technology”, the key element of the Digital Skills service has been to support all staff and students to develop their digital skills, and become confident and critical users of digital technologies to meet organisational, academic, professional and personal needs. We have done this by establishing a coordinated Digital Skills service, delivered collaboratively by a team with representation from the Library, Careers, Staff Development, IT Services and Technology Enhanced Learning. By providing a dedicated service, we have established clear points of contact, information and support for students and staff to enhance their digital skills. We have piloted a presence in the library for the provision of digital skills support, offering a central physical location for the service.To ensure student input into both the design and delivery of the service, we have expanded the role of our Library Student Ambassadors. Adding “digital skills support” to their repertoire, has enabled us to create a further space in which staff and students can learn from each other. The implementation of the Digital Skills service has given us an opportunity to bring about substantial change not only in what we deliver but also in how we deliver it. This presentation will focus on the way in which we have taken advantage of this opportunity to develop further the digital capabilities of library staff, enabling us to broaden the support that we offer at both our physical and virtual service points.
Suzanne is Academic Services Manager at the University of Sussex Library and leads a team dedicated to providing research support, collection development and teaching and learning support, across all subject areas. Suzanne is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education. She has a strong interest in user experience and has presented previously on a three-year collaboration with SAGE Publications to explore the student journey. Alongside the University’s Academic Skills Manager, Suzanne has developed the Sussex ‘Skills Hub’, a collaborative venture which provides cross-campus academic skills support for students. Before joining the University of Sussex, Suzanne held various positions at the University of Brighton.
Presenter Biography:
Suzanne Tatham
Suzanne is Academic Services Manager at the University of Sussex Library and leads a team dedicated to providing research support, collection development and teaching and learning support, across all subject areas. Suzanne is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education. She has a strong interest in user experience and has presented previously on a three-year collaboration with SAGE Publications to explore the student journey. Alongside the University’s Academic Skills Manager, Suzanne has developed the Sussex ‘Skills Hub’, a collaborative venture which provides cross-campus academic skills support for students. Before joining the University of Sussex, Suzanne held various positions at the University of Brighton.
Digital research skills are essential for undergraduate students, as they learn to think critically in the rapidly evolving digital research environment and to engage successfully in new and established research practices. Supporting the development of students’ digital literacy is increasingly a priority for academic, library, and technical support staff in third-level institutions, and the strategic importance of digital skills as an educational outcome was recently reflected in the All Aboard: Digital Skills in Higher Education collaborative initiative (NDLR, 2015), which aimed to build digital capacity in institutions, through facilitating the essential digital competencies that students need to study, work, and live in the 21st Century. Academic and library staff share a common goal of developing innovative standalone and blended learning experiences for students to facilitate this objective. This paper reports on a current digital research skills initiative, supported by UCD’s Learning through Research Seed Funding scheme, which explores students’ digital literacy and attitudes to digital forms of learning and uses their experience and feedback to develop and enhance their online learning experience. Embedding Digital Research Skills in the Undergraduate Curriculum also supports the university’s strategic priority of embedding research skills directly in the undergraduate curriculum.Using Articulate 360 software, we created six original e-tutorials to prepare undergraduate students for academic research, providing foundational digital research skills that can be scaffolded across all academic programmes. Embedded in the university’s VLE, the e-tutorials facilitate a self-paced, blended learning approach, since students can refer to and review e-tutorials at any time, enabling point-of-need instruction. As Open Educational Resources (OERs), the e-tutorials are available, under Creative Commons license, to UCD staff who wish to embed them in their modules. In this paper, we describe the development and implementation of the e-tutorials, and present the results of student evaluations gathered during the initial roll-out period.
Dr. Claire McGuinness is Assistant Professor and Director of Undergraduate Programmes in the School of Information and Communication Studies, UCD, Ireland, where she received her PhD in Library & Information Studies in 2005. A specialist in information and digital literacy and instructional theory and practice, Claire has published widely in this area; her most recent book, Digital Detectives: Solving Information Dilemmas in an online world, co-authored with with Crystal Fulton, was published in March 2016. Claire has extensive experience in working with undergraduate and graduate students, and has created multiple information & digital literacy modules over the past decade. She is a founder member of the Literacies Committee of the Library Association of Ireland, and has recently worked on the EU Tempus project, Developing information literacy for lifelong learning and knowledge economy in Western Balkan Countries (2012-2015). Claire’s current research interests concern online learning and students’ experience of digital literacy.
Presenter Biographies:
Claire McGuinness
Dr. Claire McGuinness is Assistant Professor and Director of Undergraduate Programmes in the School of Information and Communication Studies, UCD, Ireland, where she received her PhD in Library & Information Studies in 2005. A specialist in information and digital literacy and instructional theory and practice, Claire has published widely in this area; her most recent book, Digital Detectives: Solving Information Dilemmas in an online world, co-authored with with Crystal Fulton, was published in March 2016. Claire has extensive experience in working with undergraduate and graduate students, and has created multiple information & digital literacy modules over the past decade. She is a founder member of the Literacies Committee of the Library Association of Ireland, and has recently worked on the EU Tempus project, Developing information literacy for lifelong learning and knowledge economy in Western Balkan Countries (2012-2015). Claire’s current research interests concern online learning and students’ experience of digital literacy.
Crystal Fulton
Dr. Crystal Fulton is an Associate Professor in the School of Information and Communication Studies, UCD. Her teaching of information and digital literacies, and social behaviour and services takes a collaborative, problem-solving approach, aimed at promoting self-constructed learning practices to help students engage actively and critically in their learning. She has wide-ranging experience with blended and online teaching and learning, pioneering her school’s first course to be offered completely online. She won UCD’s prestigious President’s Teaching Award (2010–2012), through which she developed the university’s first doctoral module in teaching and learning. In addition to delivering papers in teaching and learning at international conferences, she has authored Information Pathways: A Problem-Solving Approach to Information Literacy (2010) and Digital Detectives: Solving Information Dilemmas in an Online World, co-authored with Claire McGuinness (2016). She continues to explore digital learning, currently collaborating with an international team to explore our digital resilience through digital literacies.
Digital curation, defined as “the management and preservation of digital material to ensure accessibility over the long term” has been prevalent in the library field since the early 2000s (Abbott, 2008). Since that time, conferences, scholarly literature and education have addressed this topic. However, much of the digital curation conversation has happened outside of Ireland. What do Irish information professionals know about digital curation, what do they need to know, and how does this translate to appropriate training and education offerings?
This oral presentation will review the findings from a two year case study on digital curation professional and education needs in Ireland. Results from the case study were used to develop the digital curation programme offerings at UCD to meet the unique needs of the Irish sector.
Data was collected in three intervals over a two year period: a web questionnaire about digital curation knowledge and skills and interest in continuing professional development (CPD); nine interviews with individuals who engaged in digital curation work about workplace challenges and CPD education; and a final online questionnaire about preferences for digital curation CPD education. Findings suggest that Ireland specific digital curation issues emerged, including the need to clarify what digital curation work includes, as well as the need to educate internal colleagues about the nature of digital curation work, as many individuals found themselves to be the only employee in their institution with digital curation responsibilities. Considering these findings, comprehensive postgraduate digital curation education in Ireland was developed, including a 90 credit Msc, a 60 credit graduate diploma, a 30 credit graduate certificate and a 15 credit online CPD certificate.
Presenter Biography:
Kalpana Shankar
Kalpana Shankar is Professor of Information and Communication Studies and Head of School at University College Dublin’s School of Information and Communication Studies. Her current research examines how data practices and systems reflect and reify the larger society, culture, and institutions where they are enacted. Her current research projects focus on the sustainability and longevity of data archive. Past projects include open data in Ireland and aging and technology for the home.
We wanted to improve student experience through the creation of a dedicated enquiries team, instead of a multi-tasking team, and to link enquiries with marketing & social media outputs in an attempt to forestall some queries and/or reinforce the message being given to enquirers. A new team of Enquiries & Social Media Assistants was created. People appointed to these roles had to demonstrate creativity, accuracy and relevance within communications, including use of social media, so the interview was very practical, involving composing tweets, emails and drafting printed notices. 2 colleagues transferred to the new team and 1 new person was recruited. Once the team was in place we used structured training and peer-to-peer training so that all of them were soon using Facebook, Twitter & Snapchat as well as email and live chat to communicate with students, and creating powerpoints for the screens in the Library. The team is managed by the Head of Enquiries & Communications, a job title which reinforces the way that we see these two elements as being closely linked. By monitoring the number and content of enquiries coming in via all routes, the team was quickly able to see that as issues were trending they would be able to use SM and put information on the screens in the Library in a proactive fashion to reach other students who might have (or might not have realised that they have!) the same enquiries. This has improved user experience (feedback has been very positive from both students and academic staff) and simultaneously been a rewarding developmental process for library staff. The Library’s communication outputs both physically and in the virtual world are always changing, so always worth looking at.
Angela Brady has been Director for Customer Service & Academic Liaison at Aston University Library, Birmingham, for 9 years, and has worked at a range of other university libraries in England. She is passionate about continuous improvement, about having processes that are intuitive and in line with customer expectations, and about staff development including peer-to-peer training. She has been a consultant to modernisation taking place at the library at the Russian Armenian University in Yerevan, Armenia.
Presenter Biography:
Angela Brady
Angela Brady has been Director for Customer Service & Academic Liaison at Aston University Library, Birmingham, for 9 years, and has worked at a range of other university libraries in England. She is passionate about continuous improvement, about having processes that are intuitive and in line with customer expectations, and about staff development including peer-to-peer training. She has been a consultant to modernisation taking place at the library at the Russian Armenian University in Yerevan, Armenia.
Embarking on a theses retrospective digitization project can bring many benefits to the library, university, authors and researchers; but there are pros and cons to consider. Is the project affordable? Will all theses be digitized and, if not, how will selection be made? How much time and work will the library team have to give the project? What approach should be taken to copyright and to author permission? Should the project be carried out in-house, or out-sourced? How will the digitized theses be disseminated? How will the impact of dissemination be measured and evaluated?
Austin McLean from ProQuest presents the experience of numerous universities in the UK and Europe who have digitized hard copy theses in recent years, either in part or entire collections.
Presenter Biography:
Austin McLean
Austin McLean is the Director of Scholarly Communication and Dissertation Publishing for ProQuest, Ann Arbor, Michigan. He oversees staff that manages PhD dissertations and master’s theses publishing and databases in all formats (digital, print, and microfilm). Austin also works in areas of scholarly communication and digital preservation at ProQuest. Austin is a frequent speaker at library conferences, having presented at ALA, ACURIL 2017, ETD 2017 / USETDA 2017. He serves at Treasurer of the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD), a non-profit group dedicated to sharing knowledge and best practices for Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs). Austin holds a Master’s Degree, Certificate in Telecommunications Economics Policy and Science from Northwestern University and a Bachelor’s Degree from DePauw University.
An opportunity arose to pilot an embedded librarian service at the Department of Engineering in 2017. The Research Support Librarian spent three days a week working as part of a research group, conducting research into information-related aspects of their project over a three-month period. She spent the remaining two days per week reflecting on her experience as an embedded librarian and considering the implications for the development of library research services for the department.
The embedded librarian pilot project was very much a step into the unknown. The starting point was the confidence of the Principal Investigator and library staff that the information and research skills of librarians could be beneficial to research projects in other disciplines. The Research Support Librarian had no prior expertise in the research group’s area of interest, the projects she took on were not fully defined, and additional valuable projects and activities were identified over the three months. It was essential that strong support was in place as she explored this new subject area and developed new skills.
This paper focuses on the staff development aspects of the embedded librarian project. It outlines the skills and attributes that were required to successfully embed within this research group and describes the measures that were put in place to ensure that the research support librarian was fully supported in this innovative situation. It also sets out the next steps for the development of embedded librarian services and considerations for others interested in conducting similar projects.
Niamh Tumelty is Head of STEM Libraries at the University of Cambridge. She is responsible for the strategic development of services to meet the needs of students and staff across the Schools of Biological Sciences, Physical Sciences, Clinical Medicine and Technology and works closely with faculty and department librarians across the University to achieve this.
Presenter Biography:
Niamh Tumelty
Niamh Tumelty is Head of STEM Libraries at the University of Cambridge. She is responsible for the strategic development of services to meet the needs of students and staff across the Schools of Biological Sciences, Physical Sciences, Clinical Medicine and Technology and works closely with faculty and department librarians across the University to achieve this.
In the summer of 2017, as part of a summer programme for children and families, a summer workshop was delivered to younger children, using the newspaper collection of the library involved. The proposed poster for CONUL 2018 will focus on how a new, younger audience engaged with this newspaper collection. The methods used to explore the newspapers will be displayed and described. The poster will relay the importance of the medium of digitised collections to the Outreach practitioner. Finally, it will display what the Outreach team learned as a result of the newspaper workshop, ‘Catchy Captions’.
Presenter Biography:
Niamh Ní Riain
Niamh Ní Riain is as an Education Assistant in the Outreach Department of the National Library of Ireland. She has a Masters in Landscape Archaeology and has a long history of working in the cultural and heritage sector. Previous roles include post-excavation archaeologist with the National Museum of Ireland,working on the Dublin Excavations Project; Manager at the Little Museum of Dublin and tour guide at GPO Witness History. Niamh is also a passionate Irish speaker.
Behind the scenes, inside the original book stacks of the National Library of Ireland, a quiet revolution has taken place. Ahead of an imminent building development project which will transform both the storage conditions and the public spaces within the library, the NLI’s collection of Irish related printed books and periodicals has undergone a radical overhaul. The material, which is currently stored over five floors of Victorian book stacks facing onto Dublin’s Kildare Street, forms the cornerstone of the vast printed collections held in the NLI. As part of the re-development of the NLI’s historic building, it will move to a modern high density high quality store at the rear of the building allowing the book stacks to be re-purposed as a variety of public spaces. Initially it was thought that a much needed stock check of the Irish collection was all that was required before the move. However, it quickly became apparent that a more ambitious approach was necessary. A decision was made to maximise precious on-site storage space by re-shelving all material by size. This resulted in the transformation of the Dewey classified collection, with its many idiosyncrasies into a re-sized, re-numbered, de-duplicated, rationalised collection of printed material, ready for transfer to the new storage space in another part of the NLI complex. It involved checking 135,000 catalogue records and matching them to physical items, correcting and creating records, identifying and removing duplicate copies, assigning each book to one of pre-determined six size bands and re-shelving every item. This work has resulted in significant space savings and has greatly enhanced online access to the collection for readers.
This talk will explain the reasons for this approach, the logistics and accompanying challenges of a project of this scale and the perceived benefits for the library and its readers.
I have worked in the National Library in a variety roles for a number of years. These include the areas of cataloguing, reader services, acquisitions and as curator of the National Photographic Archive. My current responsibility is for special projects in the printed collections area.
Presenter Biography:
Honora Faul
I have worked in the National Library for a number of years in areas such as new book acquisitions, reader services and communications. I have worked with visual collections in the National Photographic Archive and as curator of the Department of Prints and Drawings. My current role is managing the acquisition, cataloguing and processing of published collections and the delivery of services to readers in the Main Reading Room.
Gráinne MacLochlainn
I have worked in the National Library in a variety roles for a number of years. These include the areas of cataloguing, reader services, acquisitions and as curator of the National Photographic Archive. My current responsibility is for special projects in the printed collections area.
In response to the changes in student use of library reference services this project seeks to understand whether our services meet the information needs of our students. Through this research we hope to dispel assumptions on what is required of our services.
After surveying the literature we decided it would be of most use to take a step back from examining our services and instead focus on student experience. We chose to concentrate on the students’ actual experience when completing college essays, projects or other assignments. We also explore what academic staff expect of the student research process. By looking at actual behaviour we shall identify the gaps in this research process and develop services to meet student needs.
This approach is modelled on the seminal work by Foster and Gibbon at Rochester in 2007.
Our study employs a mixed methods approach from user experience, service design, and ethnography. Methods utilised are photo diaries, interviewing, and customer journey mapping. Our target populations are academic staff and students from both undergraduate and postgraduate cohorts. Students come from across stages, disciplines and categories. This will include mature, international, distance, and the traditional undergraduate student. Research teams will be made up of customer-facing library staff with collective analysis of data gathered. This is to ensure gaps and opportunities identified are acted upon.
Commenced in December 2017, it is envisaged that this project will run for one year.
Jenny Collery has worked in University College Dublin since 2008. For the majority of that time she has been College Liaison Librarian to both Medicine and Diagnostic Imaging and the College of Arts and Humanities. From 2013 – 2016 she was UCD Library Orientation and Welcome Leader which involved heading a team to create the yearly Library Orientation programme. Following on from this she has developed an interest in how students experience library services. A second part of her role is to lead on Plagiarism, Referencing and Citation. For these topics she provides resources, education and support to students, library colleagues and academic staff. As part of UCD Library’s eLearning initiatives Jenny has developed tutorials on plagiarism, critical thinking and online French media sources. Jenny currently supports the College of Arts and Humanities, offering both a liaison support service and an information skills training programme.
Presenter Biography:
Jenny Collery
Jenny Collery has worked in University College Dublin since 2008. For the majority of that time she has been College Liaison Librarian to both Medicine and Diagnostic Imaging and the College of Arts and Humanities. From 2013 – 2016 she was UCD Library Orientation and Welcome Leader which involved heading a team to create the yearly Library Orientation programme. Following on from this she has developed an interest in how students experience library services. A second part of her role is to lead on Plagiarism, Referencing and Citation. For these topics she provides resources, education and support to students, library colleagues and academic staff. As part of UCD Library’s eLearning initiatives Jenny has developed tutorials on plagiarism, critical thinking and online French media sources. Jenny currently supports the College of Arts and Humanities, offering both a liaison support service and an information skills training programme.
Marta Bustillo
Marta Bustillo has been College Liaison Librarian for the Social Sciences at University College Dublin since March 2017. Her role involves managing the library’s relationship with the schools in her college; teaching information skills; and helping develop library strategies to support the University’s teaching and learning agendas. Prior to her present role Marta was Visual Resources Librarian at both the National College of Art and Design in Dublin and the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island, as well as Metadata Cataloguer at the Library of Trinity College Dublin.
This presentation will give an over-view of a multi-faceted, infrastructure developed in recent years to harness academic engagement with archives at NUI Galway. This reflects the commitment in Library Strategy to encourage partnership, connectivity and collaboration in everything we do.
This paper will look at the role of the Archives Strategy Committee, which has representatives from key stakeholders throughout the university. NUI Galway also has an Exhibitions Group, which has been influential in developing dedicated exhibition space and major internal/external exhibitions programme. User Interest Groups are also being established for individual archive collections, to engage academics with them at earlier stages of acquisition and cataloguing. In a recent example, academics have developed an academic seminar series, – to launch a recently required archive.
Collaboration with the University’s Marketing and Communication Office, has resulted in developing an Archives Marketing Calendar, which stimulates involvement with a range of engagement opportunities throughout the year. We have also developed an Archives Seminar Series looking at key themes such as archives and publishing in a digital world.
The Library has developed it’s own Archives and Special Collections Literacy Module and are contributing to a range of other research modules across the campus. We are working in partnerships with a number of academics supporting digital cultures initiatives.
This paper will show these mutually beneficial partnerships have been impactful in many ways, and are being developed across many subject areas. Less traditional archives users, such as engineers are being engaged, by building on acquisition of collections of research interest in their discipline.
Niall McSweeney is currently working as Head of Research and Learning at James Hardiman Library in NUI Galway. He came to Galway in 2001 and joined the organisation as Head of Information Services. He is a member of the Digital Strategy Group and Archives Strategy Group. He is Chair of the CONUL Teaching and Learning Committee. Niall, worked previously in UCC, as their Health Sciences Librarian.
Presenter Biography:
Niall McSweeney
Niall McSweeney is currently working as Head of Research and Learning at James Hardiman Library in NUI Galway. He came to Galway in 2001 and joined the organisation as Head of Information Services. He is a member of the Digital Strategy Group and Archives Strategy Group. He is Chair of the CONUL Teaching and Learning Committee. Niall, worked previously in UCC, as their Health Sciences Librarian.
The paper will report on the first use of the GreenGlass tool in an Irish academic library. Like many libraries, we are suffering from an overabundance of unused, outdated stock and a lack of space for new stock, library services and student activities. A serious change is required if we are to continue to provide collections and services that are appropriate to the university’s research and teaching mission and that meet the expectations of today’s students. GreenGlass is a decision support tool designed to help libraries with deselection and print management. We expect this technology to transform our collections and meet our strategic goals of inspiring engagement and learning and promoting research and innovation.
The paper will discuss the reasons behind the decision to run with GreenGlass. It will also detail the initial set-up of GreenGlass, the scoping of the collections and our assumptions, as well as the extraction of relevant data from the library management system, including data requirements and the extraction process, what worked better than expected and what reduced the effectiveness of the tool. The paper will also discuss the development and iteration of retention and withdrawal criteria to be used within the GreenGlass tool. As part of the project we hope to identify why so much of our print collection is unused and to develop a consensus around what is critical to our collection quality. Combining these insights with criteria from the deselection literature, we hope to leverage the tool to improve our collections in ways not previously, or as easily, possible. The benefits and limitations of these technologies and our approach will be noted. GreenGlass also has possibilities for collaborative collection management on a national level and these will be noted in the paper.
Presenter Biography:
Catherine Ryan
Catherine Ryan is the Collections Support Librarian in UCD Library. Her role takes in cataloguing and collection management for several subject areas. She is also responsible for reporting and analysis on the collection and the work of the Collection Services Unit, using data to support effective decision making. She is also works extensively with the library management system, Sierra. Catherine previously worked in the National Library of Ireland, the Digital Repository of Ireland, and the Library of Trinity College, Dublin.
The value of academic libraries to University learning and research is becoming ever more critical. Unique archival collections within libraries offer opportunity for innovative teaching, learning and the development of new partnerships within a transformative student/user experience. The dissemination, distortion and analysis of information, in multiple formats and through multiple fora, presents challenges on how to critically judge and analyse information. It moves beyond what is accurate or even ‘scholarly’, but rather to questioning what does evidence mean and how do users encounter and judge that information – trustworthy or not. A myth of archival infallibility is important to question. Gaps in the archive are routine. Records may not have been kept or were destroyed, inadvertently or not. A lack of evidence does not mean a lack of truth or that answers can’t be found. Close evaluation of the records within a learning environment can reveal new understandings and presents a musty-sensory learning opportunity.This necessitates a dialogue between user and archive, creating an important space for the archivist as mediator and teacher. Through online and print/material sources, there is instant access to endless information. The archive records, retains and re-disseminates this information to new audiences across generations. Whether this re-transmission of information happens objectively and passively bears the responsibility of mediation – a responsibility to encounter the archive through critical thought. A blended learning approach, combining pedagogical pillars – digital search skills and metadata, source identification, critical evaluation and academic writing – allied with collaborative academic partnerships, enabled progress in creating positive user engagement and learning through encountering – all the while questioning the evidence, sources and truth of the archive. This paper will address recent case-studies in devising bespoke academic programmes, structured archives literacy and pedagogy with key impacts for libraries, engagement of new audiences and transformative learning.
Presenter Biography:
Barry Houlihan
Barry Houlihan is an archivist at the James Hardiman Library, NUI Galway. Barry has worked primarily on collections of theatre and literature and law, conflict and human rights and is a project board member of the Abbey and Gate Theatre Digital Archive Projects. Barry teaches on a number of modules in disciplines including Drama, History and Children’s Studies and has co-curated exhibitions including Judging Shaw (2017) and Yeats and the West (2015) He is the editor of the book “Navigating Ireland’s Theatre Archive: Theory, Practice, Performance” (Peter Lang Press, 2018) and was co-recipient of the CONUL Teaching and Learning Award, with Dr. Paul Flynn, 2016.
Maynooth University (MU) is a young Irish university that has grown rapidly in recent years with years of expansion ahead. Student numbers are increasing rapidly, bringing with them widespread change in MU. The Teaching, and Research Development (TRD) team in MU Library is facing these changes, alongside some of their own. The team followed a pilot of the functional model for a one-year period between May 2017- May 2018. This article examines some of the reasons for the change and their context, and discusses the challenges and opportunities that this presented the TRD team, academics and departments. It was the perfect time to investigate and scrutinise the relationships that existed between different faculties and departments and the TRD team, and this study briefly examines the results from a faculty-wide survey run at the changeover from subject to functional. The survey will be run again in June 2018 and this study examines and analyses the survey, user-perceptions and relationships between the team and academics in MU. It identifies mutually-beneficial opportunities that have been identified in this period for both faculty and library, as well as noting areas for further work.
Presenter Biography:
Helen Farrell
Helen Farrell is the Academic Engagement Librarian on the Teaching and Research Team, MU Library, Maynooth University. She works strategically with faculty and library teams to increase engagement with the academic departments. Previously she has worked in e-publishing, web-design and mark-up languages (including XML), and as the Librarian/Webmaster for various NGO’s and State Agencies. She has interests in systematic reviews, social media, copyright, accessibility issues, universal design (UD), user experience (UX), mark-up languages, and information literacy.
Crowdsourced transcription platforms, as collaborative technology, are well-established, and offer an opportunity to exploit and expose OCR-resistant texts. However, these transcription services usually exist outside of digital library platforms. This poses a challenge for digital libraries attempting to manage added value services, such as user annotations, OCR (Optical Character Recognition), and crowdsourced transcription, and often results in innovative workflows to capture and reuse the resulting output. This output is extremely valuable, however, enabling enhanced visibility, findability and accessibility of digital content, and engaging users in digital scholarship by offering digital content beyond static images. One such project to benefit from these services is “The Collected Letters of Nano Nagle”.Nano Nagle, Mother Foundress of the Union of Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1775, was voted Ireland’s “greatest woman” in a poll conducted by the Irish Times (2005). The tercentenary of her birth will be marked in June 2018, and will include the online publication of 17 of her letters. While the physical letters are curated in Dublin, Cork, San Francisco and New York, this project facilitates the virtual reunification of such geographically dispersed material, which will be published together online this year for the first time. Online publication of disparate cultural heritage material is nothing new, but by leveraging evolving infrastructures, such as transcription platforms, for digital scholarship and engaging scholarly users, digital collections can be greatly enhanced. This paper will look at the challenges of creating a digital collection from transatlantic archives; augmenting the images by using one such collaborative transcription service (FromThePage) and utilising the expertise of scholarly users on this transcription platform to create searchable data; and ingesting the transcribed data into a trusted digital library platform to ensure greater findability and accessibility of 18th century handwritten letters.
Presenter Biography:
Audrey Drohan
Audrey Drohan is the Senior Library Assistant – Digital Initiatives for UCD Library, and works with the UCD Digital Library. Prior to this, she worked on the Irish Virtual Research Library and Archive (IVRLA), and has been involved with digital libraries for over twelve years, with particular interest in cultural heritage collections, and copyright. Audrey holds a Graduate Diploma in Computing from Griffith College Dublin, and an MLIS in Digital Libraries and Information Services from Borås University, Sweden.
This paper examines the challenges and opportunities in developing a teaching programme within a one-year pilot move from a Subject-based model of library support to a Functional model. Since 2014, the University has engaged in a re-design of the undergraduate curriculum, with a clear focus on the attainment of critical skills, an opportunity to engage in experiential learning, and providing a multi-disciplinary focus to student module choices. MU Library developed a IL Framework in 2015, and teaching activities must be mapped to this Framework in order to meet the University’s Strategic and Teaching Goals. In tandem with the new curriculum, as well as the impact of staff changes and changes in the wider field of librarianship, in September 2017, MU Library moved from a Subject to a Functional Model within our Teaching, Research & Development (TRD) team.
I propose to examine how the pilot has worked, focusing on the following areas:
Key questions posed include: How can academic librarians most meaningfully contribute to information literacy skill provision at all levels of teaching? How can class delivery, in conjunction with online learning, be focused at higher-level provision of IL and critical skills? What is a proposed model for such teaching, that can be communicated effectively to our academic colleagues? I will look at the ways in which we are answering these questions in MU Library, and suggest how we can increase the value of our teaching within a Functional Model.
Presenter Biography:
Áine Carey
A librarian and information professional with 18 years experience, Áine has worked in a range of academic, specialist corporate information environments. Currently, Áine works as Teaching & Learning librarian within the Teaching & Research Development team in Maynooth University Library. Key professional interests include integrating information literacy and critical skills into the academic curriculum, developing innovative and responsive teaching approaches, and collaborating within the workplace to achieve wider strategic goals. Áine tweets at @aine_carey; LinkedIn profile www.linkedin.com/in/ainecareymulibrary
MU Library has an impressive array of collections, across a breadth of subjects and formats. As the role of the academic library has developed and the strategy which governs our priorities evolves, it has been incumbent on ‘curators’ to re-evaluate our roles and to work to ensure our remarkable collections are known, discoverable, valued and critically, used.For Maynooth this meant a complete root and branch reappraisal of our collection development policy to create a new foundation for our work. This has then allowed us to both develop, but also use the library collections in new ways to ensure that whether it be print or manuscript, archive or e-book it can work in concert with the library strategy. This talk will discuss the rationale and development for the collection development policy and detail how it subsequently allowed us undertake several key initiatives. These initiatives are illustrative of the opportunities which we can now avail of, but also highlight the challenges which we need to be aware of in their execution
Presenter Biography:
Hugh Murphy
Hugh has worked in Maynooth University Library since October 2010, having worked previously in University College Dublin Library and in the National Library of Ireland. His current role involves leading the new Collections and Content Department, which takes responsibility for all library collections as well as associated process such as collection management. Since 2005 he has acted as an occasional lecturer in the School of Information and Library Studies in UCD. He also lectures on Maynooth University’s MA in Historical Archives and is currently pursuing doctoral studies in early 19th century history. Hugh’s main professional interests lie in the areas of collection development, library buildings, and resource description.
Coding no longer has to be the preserve of IT specialists only. At the basic level it involves applying formal logic to routine procedures, a mode of thinking that comes quite naturally to many people who work in technical services roles. Creative thinking in this area offers lots of potential for small improvements to workflows: the kind of minor tweaks that may not be critical, but that make work smoother and more pleasurable. Recent examples from our own practice include the following:
These are obviously not elaborate standalone apps; instead they augment our current software. They give us functionality that is absent from the LMS (e.g. the printed slips), automate laborious data wrangling (vendor review), or simply save us from boring work.
In my 5-minute presentation, rather than giving technical details of these projects, I will set out what can be gained by approaching problems this way and how it has changed acquisitions routines in our library, freeing us from certain tedious and repetitive tasks. (It has also been fun and given us increased agency in our work.)
In the one-to-one element I’ll have a few examples of these hacks on a laptop to demonstrate to interested audience members.
Presenter Biography:
Joe Nankivell
A senior library assistant in UCD Library Collection Services, Joe manages monograph acquisitions, including print and e-books, legal deposit, and donations.
Biodiversity scientists work across institutions, countries and disciplines. Unusually within science and technology, they rely equally on access to biodiversity data in current and historical content for their research. Much of this content is distributed in specialised libraries across the world. The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) has been developed since 2006 to address this need. BHL is a global collaborative digital library with a mission to improve research methodology by making biodiversity literature openly available. Through collaboration, libraries and archives involved are applying digital technologies, open access and open science principles to unlock their collections for scientific and wider public use. Applying common standards, digital collections development policies, contributing to a single repository that allows content to be curated, developing innovative tools and services that ease data and text mining, all combine to provide an open science resource that advances scientific progress through linking, use and reuse.Through common strategies and approaches, BHL partners have created an effective, multi-institutional virtual organization that encourages innovation, user engagement in a global network and is transforming traditional natural history collections. BHL depends on user engagement, as evidenced by effective direct interactions and use of social media tools for collecting, managing and responding to user feedback. BHL links out to related initiatives providing extensive exposure to scientists and other scholars world-wide as well the public. Examples include delivering literature to the Encyclopedia of Life and linking to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Now beginning the next phase of development, BHL seeks new partners and to add further content and tools.This paper describes the benefits of BHL’s collaborative, focused approach for end users and for the participating libraries and archives in how they develop and manage their physical collections and meet the ongoing challenges of delivering relevant services to scientists and other audiences locally.
Jane Smith
Jane joined the Natural History Museum in 2006 as Head of Library Collections and Services and has been Head of the Department of Library and Archives since September 2012. She oversees the Library and Archive programme to digitise collections and this including leading the NHM’s contribution to the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL). She is currently Vice Chair of the BHL Executive Committee. Most of her career has been spent in medical and scientific research libraries where her roles have focussed on developing services that widen access to collections, including digitisation, and where providing new ways to support researchers has underpinned all the Library projects she has been involved in.
Martin Kalfatovic
UCC is one of the first campuses in Ireland to gain a Green Flag, from the Foundation for Environmental Education. The library was approached by the UCC Energy Manager to see if we would be interested in helping to grow the green agenda. As one of the biggest users of energy on campus we were eager to be involved. Money saved on energy could be reinvested in further energy or green initiatives. The library as a building and a space has a huge impact on the environment of the university. We felt that it was our responsibility to create awareness among staff and students and to create a positive influence in relation to sustainability. As well as educating students within their chosen disciplines, it is recognised that universities have a duty to instil a sense of global citizenship ensuring that students are prepared to tackle the major challenges of our time. This can be achieved through both formal and informal learning experiences. The library campaign is an example of the latter. A team of staff from all areas in the library was set up to help create awareness in all sections. The campaign has led to a number of notable accomplishments in energy conservation. During the process of energy saving we began to look at other impacts of our building – in particular the amount of waste generated by staff and students and the number of plastic bottles and paper cups which were dumped each day. Awareness raising has been key to the work we are doing in the hope to eventually make our building as close to “Zero Waste” as possible. The success of the campaign has led to the library receiving the Public Sector Award from the Cork Environmental Forum, recognising the work of the team.
Presenter Biographies:
Ann Byrne
Ann Byrne is liaison librarian for Library Services and Environment. This role involves managing the Library/IT Desk. Ann’s role involves working and collaborating with users of the library and building effective relationships with faculty and academic partners through ongoing outreach and engagement.
Grace McGlynn
Grace McGlynn is administrative assistant for the Directorate of Information Services This involves supporting the work of the Director of Information Services & University Librarian, the Director of Library Services and the Director of IT Services and responsibility for managing the IS administrative function, co-ordination of Directorate functions including Finance, Human Resources, Health & Safety and related University functions.
Special collection librarians, or heritage librarians, are information professionals who curate, preserve and provide access to materials in special collection departments, often catering for collections of priceless value and historical importance. In addition to traditional collection development and preservation skills, they are expected to possess a detailed subject knowledge. A unique set of skills required by special collections librarians have been defined by RBMS Core Competencies for Special Collection Professionals (2008). These guidelines have been developed to prove that special collections librarians require specialized education.
Formal masters-level education for information professionals in Ireland does not currently offer any specific training for special collection librarians. Individuals wishing to develop careers in the area must instead avail of unpaid internships and undertake significant self-directed learning. However, this development stands in stark contrast with practices in Europe and the US, where special collection librarianship education has a long tradition.
The purpose of this talk is to examine education for special collection librarians in the Republic of Ireland, to explore issues behind the lack of specialized training opportunities, to assess the impact of the situation on the profession, and to compare to developments and state-of-the-art practice abroad.
This presentation is based on the research carried out for my Capstone paper supervised by Dr Claire McGuinness, submitted for the UCD MLIS 2016/2017.
This research involved an environmental scan of the current situation as well as research on state-of-the-art practices abroad, particularly in Europe.
This paper discovered a lack of awareness of research in special collections education and training carried out by non-English speaking researchers, extensive lack of awareness of developments abroad and not meeting industry-standard RBMS Guidelines (2008).
The author has experience of studying postgraduate courses in Special Collection Librarianship and Library and Information Studies in the Czech Republic and in the Republic of Ireland.
Presenter Biography:
Eliška Komárková
Eliška Komárková is Content & Metadata Management Librarian, RCSI. Eliska holds a Bc. (Hons) in Library and Information Studies from the Charles University, Prague Czech Republic and a MLIS in Library and Information Studies from UCD. Eliška studied postgraduate degree in Special Collection Librarianship at Charles University, Prague. She has been working in academic and special collection libraries in the Czech Republic and in the Republic of Ireland over the past ten years. Her previous experience involves working as a Cataloguer at Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the Charles University, Subject Cataloguer at Military History Institute in Prague, Special Collection Cataloguer for the National Museum of the Czech Republic and Assistant Librarian at Maynooth University. Her main research interests are education for special collection librarians, book history and collection management.
This show &tell will elaborate on transformations in our pedagogical offerings through engagement with technology trends in education at two different levels: at the level of the classroom experience and at the level of the curricular offering.
At the classroom level, the show and tell will discuss ways that technology has been integrated both within and outside of the classroom in order to develop a more student-centered approach to the classroom experience. In workshops focusing on traditional areas of information literacy – critical thinking, citation and plagiarism, among others – technologies including document cameras, interactive quizzes, wiki-tools have been deployed as a means of getting students to ‘learn by doing’, rather than relying solely on lecture materials or following along with demonstrations.
At the level of curriculum, workshops and online resources are being developed that push critical and reflective teaching into broader and deeper reaches of technological practice. In other words, we are engaged with the development of an approach to digital literacies instruction. Elements of this development has included workshops and online resources related to social networking for research, blogging in diverse lifetime contexts and alt/metrics. These workshops and resources respond to a range of emerging needs emerging within universities and elsewhere, including the constant emergence of new information technologies for work and study, their adoption across education as learning tools and the impact to publication and research of social media and other collaborative tools.
The presentation of the show and tell will elaborate on the two threads identified above. The display portion will include images of technologies in-use as well as examples of learning outcomes, methodologies, classroom materials, as well as notes about the reception among the learning communities we are engaged with.
Presenter Biography:
Kristopher Meen
Kris has been in his current role in Galway since 2015. He has also worked at the Suna Kıraç Library, Koç University in Istanbul, and the Library and Knowledge Centre at Industry Canada, Ottawa, since qualifying for his MLIS in 2010 at the University of Western Ontario.
The RCSI Research Summer School Programme provides RCSI undergraduate students an opportunity to become involved in research projects during the summer months. Students selected spend 8 weeks, usually in a laboratory or clinical setting but for the first time in the programmes history students were offered to carry out the program in the Heritage Collections section of RCSI’s library under the supervision of myself, Archivist and an Assistant Librarian.For this project, the main objective and brief given to the students was to investigate ’10 Irish medical instruments/procedures that changed the medical/surgical world’ in which they were to research how they have contributed to healthcare and scientific thinking. At the end of their eight week project, students submitted an abstract, a poster and powerpoint presentation of their research findings. Their research findings culminated in the creation of a promotional RCSI Heritage Collections catalogue booklet.
Archivist at the Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland since May 2017 where I take responsibility of the Heritage Collections of the college which include archives, manuscripts, antiquarian printed materials, medical artefacts and portraiture. Gained previous experience working as Archivist for St Patricks College, Maynooth where I catalogued the extensive papers of the Irish College, Salamanca.
Presenter Biography:
Susan Leyden
Archivist at the Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland since May 2017 where I take responsibility of the Heritage Collections of the college which include archives, manuscripts, antiquarian printed materials, medical artefacts and portraiture. Gained previous experience working as Archivist for St Patricks College, Maynooth where I catalogued the extensive papers of the Irish College, Salamanca.
Higher education institutions have changed substantially in recent times. Many operate more like businesses, shaped by multiple drivers such as greater accountability, stronger competition for students and research funding, higher student expectations, internationalisation and challenging economic conditions. Some key areas of institutional focus have emerged. These include student success, internationally recognised research, community engagement, global reputation and maximisation of metrics to demonstrate impact. Libraries in higher education have transformed too. There is a shift of emphasis from collections to users; library space looks very different as a facilitator of new modes of learning; engagement with digital literacy represents a significant expansion beyond information literacy alone; changes in scholarly communications have generated new services around research data management, publishing and digital scholarship. Libraries promote themselves as partners rather than supporters. What does this mean for perceptions of academic libraries by institutional leadership and other stakeholders? Surely transformed libraries are now viewed very differently within changing parent institutions as vital strategic players? Unfortunately, as the international literature evidences, this seems often not to be the case. Institutional leadership often holds very traditional views of library roles and, worse still, may exhibit indifference, seeing the library as a largely unchanged entity whose contribution does not warrant strategic attention. Relations between library directors and those to whom they report appear to be less positive than before and to differ in focus. A similar mismatch of priorities is evident for academics who tend to see libraries as collectors rather than participants and may look elsewhere to meet their research needs. These perceptions have serious implications for academic libraries and their institutional positioning, despite their transformational investments. Some of the wounds are self-inflicted and require corrective action. This paper will examine why libraries find themselves in this situation and what they can do to address it.
Presenter Biography:
John Cox
John Cox is University Librarian at National University of Ireland Galway and has also worked at University College Cork, the Wellcome Trust, Royal Free Hospital and Aston University. He has a particular interest in digital libraries, both through initiatives such as the digitization of the Abbey and Gate Theatre archives at NUI Galway and writings on library roles in digital scholarship. These include publications on communicating new library roles to enable digital scholarship and developments in library staffing for research, incorporating a case study at NUI Galway Library. He is currently writing a literature review on positioning the academic library in the institution for an upcoming issue of the New Review of Academic Librarianship on that theme.
In 2016, NUI Galway Library were donated an archive of a distinguished graduate of the University from the 19th century, the engineer Michael Maurice O’Shaughnessy.O’Shaughnessy was a Limerick man who emigrated to California in 1885 after completing an engineering degree at Queen’s College Galway. In 1912, he was appointed the City Engineer of San Francisco, a position he held until 1932. His legacy to San Francisco remains visible to this day, having overseen the city’s street railway system, water supply projects, hydro-electric power projects, bridges, tunnels and boulevards that survive, fully functioning to this day. The Library partnered with the University’s College of Engineering and Informatics to deliver a suite of engaging and inclusive resources to access the archive. The Library digitised the entire archive, and as it was out of copyright, were able to publish it online. This makes the archive available to a trans-Atlantic audience, and has created a partnership opportunity with the University of Berkeley who hold a vast O’Shaughnessy archive. Our partners in Engineering also wanted to create a unique digital resource, and using the remaining funds, we leveraged IIIF as a platform to allow an online visitor to explore the archive using O’Shaughnessy’s own distinctive voice as expressed in his un-published Memoir. The Academic and Library partners also co-curated an exhibition telling the story of O’Shaughnessy’s life, on display in the Library’s dedicated exhibition space at the time of writing. In Spring 2018, the exhibition will be move to the University’s Engineering Building where it will be on long-term display. The project has forged closer links between the Library and Engineering department and has opened up archives to a new disciplinary cohort. Moving the exhibition to the Engineering Building is an example of utilising a new space to create new dialogue.
Presenter Biography:
Aisling Keane
Aisling Keane is the Digital Archivist at NUI Galway, and works as part of the Library’s Digital Publishing and Innovation Team to manage digital collections and promote digital scholarship. She is a professional archivist with an academic background in the humanities, and has previously worked at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and Met Eireann.
The Digital Repository of Ireland is a trusted national infrastructure for the preservation, curation and dissemination of Ireland’s humanities, social sciences, and cultural heritage data. Ours is a repository system flexible enough to handle the four most commonly-used metadata standards in use within the designated community.Our metadata guidelines[1] are developed with a view to making multiple, sometimes very different and inconsistent, metadata formats appear consistently and be cross-referenceable in the DRI repository. DRI recently published MARC metadata guidelines: MARC21 encoded as MARCXML and the Digital Repository of Ireland.[2] As MARCXML facilitates the sharing of, and networked access to, bibliographic information worldwide, accurate guidelines on its effective use are very important to the operations of modern, innovative libraries. In this short talk, we aim to give an overview of the process of selecting metadata standards for guideline publications, and the relevant factors involved in developing the MARCXML guidelines.DRI’s ingest process selects a minimum set of required fields and recommended fields. It is necessary to give some indication of which fields are mandatory, recommended, etc. within DRI. It is also important that users have some understanding of how their metadata displays within the DRI front-end.Taking this into consideration, the particular factors considered in the development and review of MARCXML guidelines were:
This talk should be of interest to librarians and anyone working with bibliographic data.[1] http://dri.ie/publications#guidelines[2] Digital Repository of Ireland, & O’Neill, Jenny. MARC21 encoded as MARCXML and the Digital Repository of Ireland, Digital Repository of Ireland [Distributor], Digital Repository of Ireland [Depositing Institution], https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.1831s091f
Presenter Biography:
Clare Lanigan
Clare Lanigan is Education and Outreach Manager for the Digital Repository of Ireland.
In preparation for the service model envisaged for the new Glucksman Library opening in 2018 the University of Limerick introduced a Single Service Desk at the beginning of this academic year. Reorganisation and centralisation of all desk services began in 2008. Desk services were on three floors of the library in 2008, two desks performing circulation functions, and another desk providing reference and information support. In 2011 information and circulation functions were merged and this reduced the number of desks from three to two. In 2017 services were re-assessed and the library moved to a single desk model. Transforming our services from a three-desk library to a single service desk meant that a reduced number of staff were required at the desk. The student experience has been greatly enhanced by this streamlined library service. This paper will explore the many opportunities that released staff have seized and the types of varied activities that now occupy them. It will also show how students have benefited from a pared back, but more efficient, service model. It will also touch upon plans for the future of the service.
Presenter Biography:
Helen Enright
Helen Enright is a Senior Library Assistant at the University of Limerick. Helen manages the library’s Information Desk and the Inter Library Loans Department. Helen completed her degree in Information and Library Studies with Aberystwyth University, Wales.
edShare@GCU is a learning and teaching repository for Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) designed around the key themes of storing, sharing and preserving the University’s learning and teaching output. The repository accepts permanent learning and teaching resources created by GCU staff and provides a point of contact for copyright and intellectual property rights (IPR) advice. Staff can upload and manage their own resources and have the option to share them openly on the internet, with all members of the University, or with a select group of students or staff.Glasgow Caledonian University was the first Higher Education institution in Scotland (and one of the very few in the UK) to approve an Open Educational Resources Policy and launch an Open Educational Resources (OER) repository, edShare, to support this open collection policy. “For the common good” is the motto of Glasgow Caledonian University and edShare fully supports and enables this core belief of the University. The preferred option for edShare is to create and share resources as open under a CC licence and the first two years of operation have seen continued training and advocacy to convince the teaching staff, who create the resources, of the benefits and advantages of open collections and open resources. This presentation will describe the software, institutional policy, and cultural changes that were required for the successful launch of edShare@GCU.
Presenter Biography:
Gary Steele
Gary joined Glasgow Caledonian University in 2011 as Library Systems Manager and is now a member of the Library’s senior management team and holds the post of Senior Librarian, Collections and Development. This team is responsible for library resource management and description, content management, systems management, and research systems and repository management. Gary is particularly interested in open collections, technology in libraries, research data management, digital collections, user experience, and agile team management. He is also currently chair of the newly formed SHEDL (Scottish Higher Education Digital Library) Learning Content Group.
This talk will present the first phase of a major project which aims to brings together natural scientists, historians, classicists, conservators, papyrologists and Egyptologists to investigate one of the Library’s significant, but underexploited, research collections: 28 large framed Egyptian Books of the Dead and Mythological papyri from the Kingsborough gift, (TCD MSS 1658-1676). This collection, dating from the 1700 BCE to 300 BCE, represents an outstanding resource on ancient Egypt, but it has remained virtually untouched since its acquisition in 1838.
Our research interests are multifaceted and aim to make a collection, which currently has little significance to research and teaching priorities, relevant. In so doing we hope to attract the interest and support of our fundraisers to enable us to conserve and provide access to the works.
Key strands include:
In this illustrated talk, we will describe the collection, our treatment approach and our discoveries. Then we will outline the project concepts, a model that promotes skills development and collaboration, and the visibility and relevance of strange and wonderful collections.
Presenter Biography:
Clodagh Neligan
Clodagh Neligan is Senior Paper Conservator at Trinity College Library. She has a Masters in the Conservation of Works of Art on Paper from Northumbria University at Newcastle, England. Following graduation she was awarded a Kress internship at the New York Botanical Garden Library, followed by a placement at the Municipal Archives in New York City. She has been an accredited member of the Institute of Conservator-Restorers in Ireland, ICRI since 2006.
The Marketing and Engagement team was established in 2017 and part of this new team’s remit focused on developing new methods of communication and new marketing strategies that would fully engage our audiences. With so many communication channels out there, getting users attention is often difficult so it was essential that the different modes of communication targeted the right audiences at the right time and in the right way. During this Show and Tell session we will demonstrate the various tools used to communicate to our various user groups, how we went about selecting the tools, what worked and didn’t work and what we have learned over the last year. During the Show part of the session we will have on display outputs from our various campaigns, some of which are in print format and others online. We will give information on the online tools used, comparing one tool against the other. We hope by the end of the session the audience will go away with new ideas around communication and the tools available for engaging with users.
Presenter Biography:
Evelyn Bohan
Evelyn Bohan is the Head of Marketing and Engagement in the Library at the National University of Ireland, Galway.
Sylvia Nutley
Sylvia Nutley works with the Library’s Marketing and Engagement team and the Digital Publishing and Innovation team. Sylvia returned to work in the Library last year after spending the previous two years working as the Assistive Technology Officer.
In 2016 SCONUL set up a Task and Finish Group to look at initiatives to enhance the collective leadership capacity of the higher education library sector. This was in response to a perception that librarians no longer sat at the ‘top table’ within organisations and that senior managers often had outdated perceptions and ignorance about the library. Library directors were finding it harder to demonstrate the value of the library. The Group commissioned two pieces of research: The View from Above which looked at the views of senior managers in universities regarding library directors. It also asked for ways to get the library voice heard and advice for library directors who wish to move into more senior roles. This will be discussed in the context of the literature, which is sparse and mainly US based. This provides a unique view of how we are seen by our institutional leaders. The second piece of research – The View from Beyond – looked at the views of those who had either moved abroad from the UK to work in senior library posts, or who had moved from abroad to the UK. Moving between countries for career enhancement is becoming more usual across the sector and this is an interesting insight into the particular advantages and issues. This session will look at the advice gleaned from these reports on what existing and future library leaders need to do to enhance their position within the organisation.
Roisin is University Librarian at the University of Portsmouth where she leads a stand-alone service, and is currently leading an institution wide project to develop a digital and physical student hub. Prior to working at Portsmouth she worked at the University of Chichester, local government and the NHS. She has published a number of articles and is on the Editorial Board of the New Review of Academic Librarianship. Roisin is a Fellow of CILIP and a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Presenter Biography:
Roisin Gwyer
Roisin is University Librarian at the University of Portsmouth where she leads a stand-alone service, and is currently leading an institution wide project to develop a digital and physical student hub. Prior to working at Portsmouth she worked at the University of Chichester, local government and the NHS. She has published a number of articles and is on the Editorial Board of the New Review of Academic Librarianship. Roisin is a Fellow of CILIP and a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
For the last 2 years DCU has been going through an Incorporation process involving the coming together of St Patrick’s College Drumcondra, Mater Dei Institute of Education, and Church of Ireland College of Education with Dublin City University to form the New DCU. The DCU Incorporation Programme has established a new Institute of Education, and brought together all the Humanities and Social Science disciplines at DCU, St Patrick’s College and Mater Dei Institute in an enlarged Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.From a Library perspective incorporation has involved four distinct academic libraries becoming one “DCU Library” service with libraries on two campuses. Integrating four libraries into two has been a hugely complex process that has impacted on almost all aspects of Library Services. During the summer of 2017 DCU teaching and research print collections grew by almost 50% and, in order to create one DCU Library collection, four main lending collections needed to be integrated into just two library spaces. To facilitate such a huge increase in printed material a new Request Collection was created.The Incorporation process has been challenging but rewarding. We have had to work on multiple projects simultaneously, including collection analysis and targeted weed of collections across both sites, the reconfiguration of the LMS, metadata migration and upload to LMS, the physical relocation and integration of whole library collections, and the installation of new access and self-issue technologies and equipment.Our lightning talk will present an insight from the Systems Department and Collections Department into one specific project: the creation of a new Request Collection. We will outline how this project was delivered and explore the key processes, challenges and benefits involved. It will demonstrate the multifaceted and collaborative nature of the project and show that cross departmental involvement was essential for a successful outcome.
Presenter Biography:
Michaela Hollywood
Michaela Hollywood is the Systems Librarian at Dublin City University. Michaela has been in this role since 2000 and during this time has significantly contributed to the development and exploitation of information systems within the library and to the overall strategic development of DCU Library. Her responsibilities include the management and ongoing development of the integrated Library Management System for a multi-campus DCU, the management of the Systems team, the management of the Library’s Management Information Systems (MIS), the technical administration of EZproxy and the management of identity and authentication requirements. She is also responsible for the library’s discovery services, including the Catalogue. Throughout her career she has built and managed effective relationships with colleagues across the University and has worked in collaboration with other University departments on a number of successful projects.
Mary Kiely
Mary Kiely works as Cataloguing and Acquisitions Librarian in the Collection, Systems & Administration section at DCU Library. Mary has several years of experience in this role and has been directly involved in the management and integration of new collections into DCU library, post incorporation. Mary is a member of the Acquisitions Group of Ireland and in recent years has served on the committee and presented at AGI events on the subject of eBook Collection Management and Patron Driven Acquisition.
The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) disposed of part of its antiquarian library in 2011. This paper outlines the processes leading to this decision, its execution and the benefits deriving from it. Processes such as evidence-based decision making and presenting the business case to the RCSI governing body led to the informed decision in 2010 to dispose of particular antiquarian books by sale and gift. Most importantly it was agreed from the outset that funds from the sale of books would be ring fenced by the College for the purpose of preserving and exploiting the RCSI archives and remaining books. The disposal of library collections, especially by sale, is a sensitive topic within the library profession and academic research communities. At the time the decision provoked reactions ranging from outrage to magnanimous approbation. The disposal took from May 2011 to January 2015 to complete. Now, seven years on, the short, medium and long-term outcomes are evident. Specifically, this paper will provide context for decision making; discuss the mechanics and logistics of getting auction ready; the transformation and development of what were severely neglected unique and distinct archives into the RCSI Heritage Collections as a brand, and the provision of associated services to support the visibility, findability and accessibility of the collections. The paper also reflects on the value of the newly branded Heritage Collections to institutional endeavours e.g. equality and diversity, reputational enhancement, and public outreach. It also seeks to provoke reflection on the professional issues of behaviour, ethics and standards, which were encountered on this journey of divestment and transformation.
Mary O’Doherty
Mary O’Doherty, Special Collections Librarian, has witnessed with wonderment and been part of the transformation of RCSI Library over the past three decades. She has dealt with all aspects of RCSI antiquarian books: their provenance, preservation, arrangement and exploitation. She publishes on historical bibliography, Irish medical history, with particular interest in the historical geography of medical Dublin. On the Editorial Advisory Board of the Irish Journal of Medical Science, she is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland (RAMI), active in its Section of the History of Medicine, president 2012-14. Consultant Contributor to The Encyclopaedia of Ireland, 2003 and Contributor to the Dictionary of Irish Biography, 2009. Formerly a member 1986- of the Rare Books Group LAI, secretary 1989-91, chairperson 1991-93, she is on the CONUL subcommittee on UDCs and previously, preservation and collaborative storage. She also serves on the Library and Heritage Committee of RCPI.
Kate Kelly
Kate Kelly is Director of Library Services at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and has spent most of her career in health science libraries. She has worked variously in rehab, hospital and academic health science settings in the USA and Ireland and has also worked as a consultant for government and public service agencies in Ireland. Prior to a career in libraries she worked with emigrants and homeless agencies in the non-profit sector. She is a fellow of the Library Association of Ireland (LAI), Chair of the LAI Professional Standards Committee, a member of the An Leabharlann editorial board, Secretary to the EAHIL Training and Education Special Interest Group and a distinguished member of the US Academy of Health Information Professionals (AHIP). She also serves on the Library and Archives Committee of the RDS.
The SCONUL report Mapping the Future of Academic Libraries (Nov 2017) identifies five nexuses of trends one of which is “service-oriented libraries – libraries shifting their strategic emphasis from collections to services”. Using a combination of review of the literature and a case study of RCSI Library this paper will describe the shifts academic health sciences libraries have made over the last decade or more in response to persistent challenges to the need for physical libraries when the literature of healthcare is largely online. It will illustrate how a new building was used as a catalyst for introducing new roles via a formal restructuring and for changing the conversation about the purpose of the library and librarians within the organisation. Specifically, the paper outlines research from the medical and inter-professional education literature that explores the impact of space on learning and the desirability of aligning space with curricula; reflects on of where and how library spaces fit in emerging theoretical frameworks; and reviews the literature on health libraries design and how changing spaces supported redefining roles in academic health sciences libraries. Additionally it will position the new RCSI library space and restructuring in the context of these trends and as one of several recent examples of building design shaping new services and new roles. RCSI Library has focused on changing the conversation about the library from being about the library as a place to one about the library as service with space as one service among many provided by an institutional library service. In focusing on the service and the skill sets to deliver those services RCSI Library is an example of a “service-oriented” library born of conversations about design.
Presenter Biography:
Kate Kelly
Kate Kelly is Director of Library Services at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and has spent most of her career in health science libraries. She has worked variously in rehab, hospital and academic health science settings in the USA and Ireland and has also worked as a consultant for government and public service agencies in Ireland. Prior to a career in libraries she worked with emigrants and homeless agencies in the non-profit sector. She is a fellow of the Library Association of Ireland (LAI), Chair of the LAI Professional Standards Committee, a member of the An Leabharlann editorial board, Secretary to the EAHIL Training and Education Special Interest Group and a distinguished member of the US Academy of Health Information Professionals (AHIP). She also serves on the Library and Archives Committee of the RDS.
SCONUL launched its “Leading Libraries” programme in October 2017. This was the culmination of an 18-month project led by a Task Group of academic library directors whose work was stimulated by the following key questions: What skills and attributes do the leaders of academic libraries need to succeed in this period of change and uncertainty? How do we develop ourselves to extend our strategic influence? The leadership support offer is tailored to the needs of different groups within the SCONUL community: aspiring, emerging, newly appointed and established leaders. As part of the research base for the leading libraries work, SCONUL surveyed those working in senior teams within member libraries to establish the kinds of interventions and support that they would find useful in their leadership journey. This feedback from almost 200 deputies and emerging leaders and a parallel survey of almost 100 directors of service informed the work of the Task Group.This session will discuss the results of these surveys and provide an overview of the suite of practical initiatives designed to build leadership capacity across the sector and to support library leaders in their own leadership development. For new and emerging leaders, this includes a new mentoring scheme, a directory of leadership courses, a literature review on leading libraries in challenging times and briefing papers on coaching and mentoring and on action learning sets. As Chair of the SCONUL Leadership Task Group, Alison Baud will seek to extrapolate from these outcomes and the various pieces of underpinning research and to share some “tips for the top”.
Presenter Biography:
Alison Baud
Alison Baud is Director of Library & Learning Services at Bath Spa University, a role she has held since 2008. Previously she was a member of the Library Management Team at the University of Bath and before that was involved in the establishment of the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, leading particularly on the design of the library and learning spaces. Her career began in corporate libraries, including seven years at British Aerospace. Central to her commitment to libraries is a firm belief in their inherent value in education and to society. Alison has a strong track-record of cross-sectoral and collaborative initiatives working with libraries, museums and art galleries to raise awareness of their collections. A graduate of the University of Aberdeen, Alison has been a chartered librarian for thirty years and as a member of the Executive Board of SCONUL chairs the SCONUL Leadership Task Group.
The Glucksman Library has a long association with innovation and technological change. Over 75 university libraries across the USA, Australia and Japan have installed Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems. The University of Limerick will be the first academic library in the British Isles to have this high density storage solution. In the new UL library, due to open in 2018, an Automated Retrieval Collection system (ARC) will be installed. This ARC will provide enough storage to accommodate the library’s needs for many decades into the future. The ARC will improve the user experience through the creation of additional desk space and collaborative working areas, whilst allowing the most heavily used collections to remain accessible on open library shelves. The need for offsite storage will be removed as all library material will now be held onsite. This talk will introduce Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems and explain why the University of Limerick has chosen to implement this storage method. We will discuss the methodology by which material was selected for relocation to the ARC, the preparation of this material and the logistical challenges faced by both staff and students in the loading of the material. Implementation of the ARC has necessitated the introduction of a new service model. This service model will be explored in addition to the impact of the new service on staff roles and existing workflows. The introduction of Ireland’s first ARC represents a major move forward in terms of collection access and storage in libraries. The experience of the project team in visiting working ARCs will be recounted and plans for measuring the impact of this new technology on our library service will be discussed.
Louise O’Shea
Louise O’Shea, MCLIP, is the Senior Library Assistant – Operations, Reader Services.
Louise is the Buildings & Maintenance point of contact in the Library and is the Glucksman Library Health & Safety representative in UL. Louise supervises the Library Attendant team and has responsibilty for employing students. Louise previously worked in Public Libraries, working for the City of London Libraries for 15 years and achieved CILIP Chartership in 2004
Cora Gleeson
Cora Gleeson is the Librarian for Collections Services in the Glucksman Library at the University of Limerick. Cora has responsibility for the acquisition of material through purchase, legal deposit and donation. She is the UL representative on the IReL Steering Group and was a member of the Evaluation team for the first national book tender.
Effective enhancement of library user engagement and experience hinges on deep understanding of users and their needs. This commitment to understanding and meeting the needs of users must be embedded holistically within a library’s culture. In recognition of this, a major research library in Ireland is developing an evidence-based approach to user-centred library services that cuts across the activities of the organization as a whole. The library worked with a not-for-profit organization specializing in library research in order to design and train library staff in evidence-based approaches to user-centric services.This paper focuses on the library’s user-centred approach as a case study for how the library workforce can be developed to effectively participate in evidence-based efforts to enhance user engagement and experience. The paper will begin by contextualizing the library’s evidence-based mandate within the spectrum of user-centred library approaches, including incorporating both assessment (measuring the impact and effectiveness of library services) and user experience methods. The paper will then detail how the library designed and enacted their evidence-based user-centric mandate, including working with the not-for-profit to create a research program to more effectively understand users and their needs over the next five years, and, to include staff throughout the library in these efforts. The paper will also explore the library’s process for training staff in user-centred library approaches, including an intensive two-day workshop delivered by the not-for-profit. The paper will culminate with an update on how the library’s user-centred program is proceeding and reflections on the applicability of this approach to research libraries across Ireland.
Danielle Cooper
Danielle Cooper is a Senior Researcher in Libraries and Scholarly Communications at Ithaka S+R, a not-for-profit organization specializing in technological innovation in higher education. She utilizes her combined expertise as a professional librarian and library ethnographer towards helping organizations understand and improve their information-based spaces and services. Prior to joining Ithaka S+R Danielle worked as a librarian at Ryerson University Library and Archives and at George Brown College Library and Learning Commons.
Siobhan Dunne
Siobhán Dunne is Head of Teaching, Research and User Experience at Trinity College Dublin. Prior to this she held several research support positions at Dublin City University and was Library Manager at the National Disability Authority.Siobhán has been actively researching the research journeys of students both inside and outside the library walls. Other research interests include bibliometrics for the humanities, academic e book design and the role of higher education libraries in public engagement. She is a member of the Pedagogy Steering Group for the Trinity Education Project and represents the library on the Undergraduate and Graduate Study Committees. She recently completed an MSc in Education and Training Leadership at DCU.
This paper describes the technology and functionality of a new generic online book viewer with an integrated innovative timeline navigation interface. In the context of our implementation of the viewer, we currently use it to visually explore archival (or any content) that is time based by using the timeline (at the top) or by paging (next or previous). Correspondingly, pages have links that display additional contextual information from the digital archive. The timeline is categorised by key sections of archival content. We have used the viewer for memoirs from archival content. This application allows and encourages users to explore content through its own distinctive voice.
The viewer is implemented using International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) technology. The IIIF suite of specifications facilitates interoperability between applications that serve, display, and manipulate images. IIIF supports further sharing of images between cultural heritage institutions, providing access to complementary digital resources. Our new IIIF enabled viewer can be used for inter-item, collection, and institutional interoperability of digital resources. In this work, with our partners Digirati, we created the viewer using IIIF, JSON, JavaScript, Node.js, CSS, and HTML. While using approaches such as usability testing, iterative development cycles, and Github for project management and technical deployment. Also discussed is how IIIF technology sits with existing digital library infrastructures. IIIF is still an emerging technology with growing but not yet ubiquitous adoption. Implementing IIIF with popular open source digital repository systems, such as Islandora, is challenging because they currently do not integrate cleanly and rather more sit side by side. Therefore, we need to consider how to optimise technical effort and at the same time be cost effective in the delivery of technical solutions.
This paper will introduce and demonstration the viewer while also providing an overview of the creation process, technical design, and lessons learnt.
Presenter Biography:
Cillian Joy
Cillian Joy works in the NUI Galway Library on Digital Publishing and Innovation. His primary focus is the digital library strategy and programme of work to enable digital scholarship. Key areas for Cillian are project management, solutions to deliver new digital initiatives, integration, and interoperability. Cillian has a primary degree in Experimental Physics and a Masters in Information Systems and Computer Science. In the past Cillian worked as a Project Manager, Principal Technical Specialist, and for Web development and hosting companies.
The subject of meaningful library engagement for students with intellectual disability is described in this collaborative project between a university Library and it’s Centre for People with Intellectual Disabilities. Feedback from a new certificate course for students with ID (some of whom have autism) suggested that their experience of engaging with the Library was not as optimal as it could be. In an effort to understand the particular needs of this cohort, the Library actively partnered with the Centre to identify barriers and anxieties preventing this group from making the most of their Library experience. A series of focus groups with the students clarified the need for more visual and accessible learning supports. Armed with this feedback and supported with funding from the University’s Equality Office, the Library set about creating a series of support resources to address their learning needs. This paper will discuss how the active participation of students with ID throughout all stages of this project – from classroom activities reflecting on their library experience through to creating the scripts for and acting in awareness videos – has empowered the students to advocate for improved library experiences for themselves and all students with ID. It will outline how Library staff have also reaped rewards. Working closely with academic colleagues in the Centre has enabled a meaningful research collaboration challenging us to consider the ethical implications of our involvement. It will also discuss how interventions and improved supports, based on sound universal design will ultimately benefit the entire student population.
Geraldine Fitzgerald
Geraldine Fitzgerald is Subject Librarian for the School of Education and the School of Psychology in Trinity College Dublin. Prior to working in TCD, Geraldine worked in a number of special, corporate and academic libraries in Ireland and Sweden. Geraldine is passionate about improving the user experience of students and has developed a number of digital resources including tutorials and floor plans to aid wayfinding. She is presently collaborating with a colleague in the School of Education to establish a new online journal in the area of Inclusive Education.
Siobhán Dunne
Siobhán Dunne is Head of Teaching, Research and User Experience at Trinity College Dublin. Prior to this she held several research support positions at Dublin City University and was Library Manager at the National Disability Authority. Siobhán has been actively researching the research journeys of students both inside and outside the library walls. Other research interests include bibliometrics for the humanities, academic e book design and the role of higher education libraries in public engagement. She is a member of the Pedagogy Steering Group for the Trinity Education Project and represents the library on the Undergraduate and Graduate Study Committees. She recently completed an MSc in Education and Training Leadership at DCU.
The recent report for SCONUL, “Mapping the Future of Academic Libraries” [i] made a number of pertinent recommendations including the need to “Consider how best to achieve the roles of service-provider, partner and leader, and get the emphasis right between them in the institutional context” and “Consider how a compelling vision of the library can be created for communication to the wider institution”. This talk will review these points exploring specific examples and suggest how libraries can maximise their institutional impact. At Southampton we have seen an extension of the Librarian’s role to include leadership of Arts and now in addition as acting Director of Student Experience. Many other leadership and service roles are emerging, involving new partnerships, often working in new ways beyond traditional library boundaries. This will draw on experience at Southampton and wider sector examples across research, education, international and enterprise activity, to investigate how: role “enlargement” can provide opportunities to influence and monitor institutional strategy; novel partnerships with academics and other experts can provide new pathways for libraries to develop services; libraries can leverage expertise in digital literacy and scholarly communication to become expert communicators of ideas and policy as well as services. Some examples will be drawn from editorship of the most recent special issue of New Review of Academic Librarianship, “Supporting Researchers: Sustainable Innovation in Strategy and Services”[ii] including case studies, as well as sector reports from international organizations, Government reports on issues such as Digital Skills and Industrial Strategy and current update reports from other National bodies such as the American Library Association. [i] Pinfield, S, Cox, Mark M. and Rutter, S. (2017) “Mapping the Future of Academic Libraries a Report for SCONUL”. https://sconul.ac.uk/publication/mapping-the-future-of-academic-libraries [ii] White, W. ed. (2017) “Supporting researchers: sustainable innovation in strategy and services”, New Review of Academic Librarianship.
Presenter Biography:
Wendy White
Wendy White is Associate Director Research Engagement at University of Southampton Libraries. She has a thematic lead engaging with a range of policy, strategy and service initiatives to support research activity. This includes open research and impact, research evaluation and metrics and doctoral training. Working in partnership with experts from other services, researchers and students is an important part of her role. She has a particular interest in issues relating to data privacy and open data, ethnographic research, storytelling and cultural change.She has regularly contributed to national committees e.g. REF Data Collection Steering Group (HEFCE), Information Literacy (SCONUL), Research Information and Digital Literacies Coalition (for RLUK); project advisory boards e.g. Restore (ESRC funded) and sector networks e.g. IT as a Utility (EPSRC funded). She was Principle Investigator of the institutional DataPool project and on the steering group for the arts KULTUR project (both Jisc funded).
The Linked Irish Traditional Music (LITMUS) project seeks to improve searching and access to web-based Irish traditional music, song and dance resources through the development of a linked data ontology, and eventual framework. The LITMUS project must overcome challenges related to documenting traditional Irish music and dance practice, namely relationships and terminology made more difficult due to the informal nature of oral transmission. This paper will focus on the LITMUS project’s overall approach: defining users and information needs; creating competency questions to outline end goals of the ontology; and, deriving and representing personal, music, and dance relationships within the ontology. Linked open data (LOD) has shown great promise in cultural heritage and digital humanities applications, making cultural heritage materials accessible to wider audiences. Pattuelli, Provo, and Thorsen (2015) note the particular challenges of representing digital cultural heritage materials within ontologies, with Stuart (2016) emphasizing how ontology development necessitates “double experts” in both ontology design and subject domains. An ontology based upon the considerations of oral transmission will allow items to be described and related to one another using terms musicians and dancers themselves use, reflecting more accurate relationships than current music ontologies allow. While tailored to Irish traditional music, it is hoped that this project will provide a working model for other European and non-European traditional musics with similar considerations. The LITMUS ontology will facilitate research in a variety of disciplines–including ethnomusicology/ethnochoreology, digital humanities, and library and information science–as well as enable discovery of new resources for students and performers of Irish music and dance worldwide.
Pattuelli, M. C., Provo, A., & Thorsen, H. (2015). Ontology building for linked open data: A pragmatic perspective. Journal of Library Metadata, 15 (3-4), 265-294. Stuart, D. (2016). Practical ontologies for information professionals. London, UK: Facet Publishing.
Presenter Biography:
Lynnsey Weissenberger
Lynnsey Weissenberger holds a Ph.D. in Library and Information Studies from Florida State University, where she directed the Irish Music Ensemble from 2010-2015. A former apprentice to world-renowned Irish fiddler James Kelly, her information research brings the understanding of oral traditions and embodied socio-cultural knowledge to the challenges of representing, describing, organizing, and accessing all types of music within knowledge organisation frameworks and information systems. Currently, Lynnsey leads the EU-funded LITMUS (Linked Irish Traditional Music) project at the Irish Traditional Music Archive, where she is developing a linked data ontology for Irish traditional music and dance.
A university in Ireland has the privilege and responsibility of curating a major, diverse, European collection which was purchased in 1802 from a source in the Netherlands. A unique library of over 20,000 books, maps and pamphlets, ranging over a wide spectrum of subjects, it was collected over the course of a century and a half by a family of senior politicians in the Hague. A unique example of a working library of the early modern period, this special collection has an intriguing, historical story spanning five centuries. Building on previous scholarly initiatives, the current initiative for the Collection begins with the creation in 2017 of a full-time role for a librarian dedicated to supporting and helping to create a new surge in opportunity to advance the visibility and discovery of the Collection. A major inter-disciplinary project is planned to exploit current innovations, technologies and opportunities, such as hyperspectral imaging, geospatial referencing and linked open data. A recent online exhibition based on material in the Collection was created as the first visible output of the current project, now also hosted by the Google Cultural Institute which shares visual resources and metadata among Google partners. Possibly the only library in Ireland to engage with bibliographical fingerprinting, we can identify precisely holdings in common with related libraries and databases. The Collection has great potential to engage with new approaches integrating unique and distinctive collections into the wider academic curriculum, such as the use of primary source material by undergraduates for their capstone research projects. Open access initiatives will be part of the programme, collaborating with local and national institutions, and with international national memory organisations and sister LERU universities. Ultimately there is an ambitious overall plan to create a virtual reconstruction of this library, encompassing scholarly research, digitisation, and accessibility for all.
Presenter Biography:
Regina Richardson
Regina Whelan Richardson is an assistant librarian in the Department of Early Printed Books and Special Collections at the Library of Trinity College Dublin. She has published on the history of the Irish Colleges in Spain and her research interests also include the history of the book in the era of the Dutch Republic. She is a Fellow of the Library Association of Ireland.
In 2017 the Library carried out an audit of Library signage. In line with graphic design best practice, institute guidelines, the Official Languages Act 2003, branding and design guidelines were developed. Design guidelines for people with a disability were also incorporated. A team was established to look after all signage design, marketing, and social media. Over the last year, the team has developed a cohesive Library visual identity that promotes our services and resources across a range of Library and college-wide communication channels. All members of this team are self-taught in graphic design.Wakimoto (2015) surveyed librarians who had some responsibility for graphic design and found that 64% of respondents (primarily academic librarians) described themselves as self-taught (Lehnen & Artemchik, 2016). Librarians often become de facto graphic designers for their libraries, taking responsibility for designing signage, handouts, brochures, web pages, and many other promotional, instructional, and wayfinding documents. However, the majority of librarians with graphic design responsibilities are not trained as graphic designers (Wakimoto, 2015, p.171). Graphic design is often seen as an add-on to a successful promotion when it is actually integral to engaging the end user. Preconscious judgments take place based on just aesthetics and this occurs before any reading or other cognitive processes take place (Furman, 2009). Visual literacy, marketing and outreach, web design and UX are well represented in LIS literature in comparison to the dearth of literature concerning Librarians as graphic designers.Graphic design skills are essential if Library staff who are engaged in communication and outreach are to succeed in creating user resources and promotional material that meets best practice. I argue that graphic design should become part of the curricula of LIS courses and that formal graphic design training should be offered to any Library staff engaged in communication and outreach.
Sarah-Anne holds a BA (Hons) from the National University of Ireland Maynooth (MU) in English and History and a Masters of Library and Information Science from University College Dublin (UCD). She has been with the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) since 2006 and is currently supporting the College of Business, the School of Media and the School of Law. Sarah is interested in engaging and supporting students through blended learning and looking at new ways of bringing the Library to the student. One of her roles is communication and outreach for the Library. She is also the Communications Officer for the CONUL Communication and Outreach Committee.
Presenter Biography:
Sarah-Anne Kennedy
Sarah-Anne holds a BA (Hons) from the National University of Ireland Maynooth (MU) in English and History and a Masters of Library and Information Science from University College Dublin (UCD). She has been with the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) since 2006 and is currently supporting the College of Business, the School of Media and the School of Law. Sarah is interested in engaging and supporting students through blended learning and looking at new ways of bringing the Library to the student. One of her roles is communication and outreach for the Library. She is also the Communications Officer for the CONUL Communication and Outreach Committee.
Academic libraries are experiencing an exciting period of innovation and change. Modes of learning, teaching and conducting research are changing and the best university libraries are evolving to meet new opportunities and new demands. Libraries seek to foster a vibrant learning community with spaces for academic and cultural and interdisciplinary engagement. They provide technology–rich spaces with advanced computing, collaboration and communication tools as well as quiet and silent space for reflective study. These innovations extend the library’s traditional role as a hub of research and learning with facilities for creative digitally enabled scholarship while making our unique and distinct collections more visible to the community and more easily accessible for research and research led teaching. This session, a road trip of inspiring peer libraries, will examine this evolving landscape from the perspective of developing responsive spaces, expertise, partnerships and services. Identifying how they embed the library more closely in the research, and learning initiatives of the university with more nuanced response to the changing needs of research and learning. The session will also explore the challenges and opportunities of space and service design and learning needs in the development of the new Glucksman Library
Presenter Biography:
Gobnait O’Riordan
Gobnait O’ Riordan: B.A. M. A. D.L.I.S. is Director, Library and Information Services and Librarian at the University of Limerick. She previously held a number of senior posts at the University of Limerick Library and was the University’s first Web Editor. She was Manager of the National Sports Information Service and Irish representative on the International Association for Sports Information. Gobnait is a member of the IUA Librarians Group, a member of CONUL and Chair of the IReL Steering Group 2011. She is a current member of the SCONUL Executive Board and chair of RIAN. She served as president of the Library Association of Ireland and is Fellow of the Frye Leadership Institute (2004). Gobnait developed a deep interest in library design as Project Manager for the construction of the Glucksman Library in 1998 and is leading the development of a new €30 million library at UL.
Communication, representation and advocacy at national and international levels are identified in two of the five core themes within the CONUL Strategy 2016-2019. These activities represent a significant outward-looking CONUL, alongside and integral to delivering collaboration, innovation and best practice across all member organisations.This research aims to investigate how CONUL could best meet these strategic goals by assessing how our international peer-organisations address issues such as press engagement, shared agenda building on major issues, stakeholder lobbying, representation at key national and international fora and the development of position papers. Research questions specifically look at how organisations support these functions and activities and how they craft outward facing messaging from their collective membership on key issues. For the purpose of this research our ‘peer organisations’ are drawn from the work of the CONUL SIG to include RLUK Research Libraries UK; SCONUL Society of College, National & University Libraries; LIBER Association of European Research Libraries; SCURL Scottish Consortium of University and Research Libraries; WHELF Welsh Higher Education Library Federation; and CILIP Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals whose methods in advocacy, influencing and engagement is of relevance to CONUL’s contexts. The main primary source data for this research comes from semi-structured interviews with representatives from the peer-organisations which were text-coded to help identify common themes related to questions asked while also allowing for unique perspectives from interviewees on interrelated concepts to be surfaced. This paper will provide an overview of the research methodologies employed and analysis using grounded theory and present findings from the project to support the implementation of CONUL’s strategy.
Presenter Biography:
Johanna Archbold
Johanna Archbold is the Customer Services & Communications Coordinator at RCSI Library, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. She manages the Customer Service team and frontline operations and coordinates internal and external communications for the Library. As a book historian she has published and presented research on Atlantic Print Culture nationally and internationally. Library research interests include Service Design, UX in Libraries and Outreach.
Michelle Breen
Michelle Breen is a librarian at the University of Limerick. Michelle manages the library’s communications, conducts a range of assessment activities and performs research linked to customer service and quality initiatives in an academic library. Michelle has presented widely on information management and assessment topics and has had her work published in peer reviewed journals, conference proceedings and LIS practitioner literature.
This presentation focuses on the work of three libraries i.e. Institute of Technology Carlow, Dundalk Institute of Technology and Dublin Institute of Technology who came together to carry out a project funded by the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning. Acknowledging the fast- paced dynamic environment in which we operate this project provides an opportunity to examine how we could adopt the framework designed by the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning i.e. National Professional Development Framework for all staff who teach in Higher Education, to review our work practices and our continued professional development (CPD). The framework provides guidance for the professional development (PD) of individuals and gives direction to other stakeholders (e.g. institutions, higher education networks, educational/academic developers, policy makers and student body representatives) for planning, developing and engaging in professional development activities (1). By engaging with this document we hope to further align with other professions in Higher Education and to contribute to library staff CPD.
This presentation will outline ongoing work in this two year project as we focus on five domains i.e. The Self, Professional Identity, Values and Development, Professional Communication and Personal and Professional Digital Capacity. These domains and their elements provide a potential framework for all library staff to review their current knowledge, skills and competencies.
Key outputs from this project are expected to include (1) Production of book, (2) Development of a website with CPD tools and reusable learning objects (3) Seminar Series (4) Recommendations to the Library Association of Ireland and to the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning on further CPD opportunities for library staff. National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning, 2016, National Professional Development Framework for all staff who teach in Higher Education, available at www.teachingandlearning.ie/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/PD-Framework-FINAL.pdf
Presenter Biography:
Mary Delaney
Mary currently works in the Library at the Institute of Technology Carlow which she joined in 2014. Before joining IT Carlow Mary worked at Maynooth University as Senior Librarian for Learning, Teaching and Research Development. She has extensive experience in supporting teaching, learning and research activities.
Information professionals are not renowned for being loud and proud. So many innovative library projects are happening every day but do we shout about it? Not so much. So what would happen if we empowered librarians to get out there and look for opportunities to get involved in publishing, presenting and embracing social media?
This presentation tells the story of a new collaboration between university libraries across the UK which aims to do just that. Like all superhero stories it starts with humble beginnings and goes on to great things. What began as a single presentation has morphed into The Superhero Librarian Roadshow – an interactive session covering everything the superhero librarian needs in their professional toolkit. Practical activities encourage participants to try things such as writing a pitch for a conference and producing an author biography, often for the first time in their career. As we move through the session attendees reflect on the scale of pride they feel in their profession from Antman to The Hulk and are equipped with the skills necessary to raise their professional profile.
The impact of the Roadshow is already zero to hero. Extra presenters have been recruited at several of the libraries visited so far and there is real evidence of subsequent action with feedback from would-be superheroes showing an increase in confidence to speak, get professionally published and consider their future leadership potential.
Leo Appleton is the Director of Library Services at Goldsmiths, University of London. He has a keen interest in several aspects of library leadership and management including: library technology; performance measurement and quality assurance; customer services; student engagement; and library and information staff training and development and he has published and presented widely in these areas. Leo is the editor of the UKSG newsletter eNews and of the Cilip journal Multi-media, Information and Technology, as well as being associate editor of the New Review of Academic Librarianship. He also has an interest in public libraries and is currently undertaking research in this area.
Presenter Biographies:
Leo Appleton
Leo Appleton is the Director of Library Services at Goldsmiths, University of London. He has a keen interest in several aspects of library leadership and management including: library technology; performance measurement and quality assurance; customer services; student engagement; and library and information staff training and development and he has published and presented widely in these areas. Leo is the editor of the UKSG newsletter eNews and of the Cilip journal Multi-media, Information and Technology, as well as being associate editor of the New Review of Academic Librarianship. He also has an interest in public libraries and is currently undertaking research in this area.
Library management systems provide the foundation of most of the operations of a library and impact on the daily working lives of almost all library staff. Therefore implementing a new library system will always have a big impact on the work of library staff. However, the impact of implementing a so-called ‘Next Generation’ Library System is truly transformational. Where traditional library management systems were designed in an era where the vast majority (if not all) of a library’s work revolved around print collections, Next Generation library systems are designed from a blank slate to reflect the reality of modern library work and the multiplicity of formats and material types that libraries now deal with. In addition, these new systems avail of every level of automation that is possible with modern technology and attempt to reduce the amount of manual keying and duplicate steps, thereby increasing productivity and efficiency. This lightning talk will present the transformative experience of implementing a next generation Library System in a University Library. Shining a light on our data in preparation for migrating to a new system revealed twenty years of errors and provided an opportunity to spring-clean, thereby improving the visibility and findability of our collections! Shining a light on our workflows provided an opportunity to transform workflows and processes to maximise efficiency and productivity. During implementation and afterwards, the introduction of such a radically different system involved a significant amount of staff development and has transformed the working life of many library staff. This lightning talk will present a warts and all account of the experiences of one library implementing a Next Generation system.
Presenter Biography:
Monica Crump
Monica Crump is Head of Collections at the National University of Ireland, Galway. In this role she has responsibility for collection development and management and for ensuring seamless discoverability and accessibility of library collections in all formats. In previous posts in NUI Galway, Monica has been Head of Information Access and Learning Services, Head of Bibliographic Services and Collection Management Librarian. Prior to that she had various library and non-library related posts, including researcher on EU Funded projects, web editor and project manager for a software development company. Outside of work, when not juggling the social lives of three teenage boys, Monica loves to travel and is studying French. She enjoys good food and wine, which she offsets by occasional running.