Reflections on a New Term
The new term is starting for our European universities, and it’s not like any academic year we’ve seen so far. During these times, community and sharing best practice is more important than ever.
We wanted to share some thoughts from some of our colleagues in universities in their UK on how they are starting their academic year 2020/21.
Georgina Dimmock, Head of Academic Services at the University of Northampton
How will the start of this semester be different from September 2019?
We seem busy but in a different way; much bigger focus on the complexity of delivering affordable online resources, less focus on the induction, which we’re doing online and have sorted.
How have you shifted your goals or your focus for this semester?
Budgets need rebalancing: we spend too much on journals and not enough on books.
Have you adopted new processes or new tools to help support more online teaching and learning?
No, we already used ABL (active blended learning).
What are you looking forward to most?
This term being over and my team getting a break.
What was your biggest challenge?
Whittling down what’s really needed, so we’re buying what is essential.
Ian Snowley, Dean of Student Learning Development & University Librarian at the University of Lincoln
How will the start of this semester be different from September 2019?
It’ll be a few weeks later, in October and we’ll be offering new and returning students a much more blended support and information resources offering. This means no ‘stunts’ to attract students into the Library, but much more emphasis on promoting our online offer, and trying to get the message out to all students, that the support they need is still available, its just much more focused on online access.
How have you shifted your goals or your focus for this semester?
We’re much more focused on making sure e-books and e-resources are available and accessible, and towards making sure that all students know where and how they can get help, without necessarily having to come into the Library.
Have you adopted new processes or new tools to help support more online teaching and learning?
In order to simplify the experience for students and staff we’ve mainly focused on existing tools and resources, and maximising their use – so, for example, academic staff use Talis Aspire and Talis Elevate in an integrated way, that helps them use our resources to guide and support their students through their studies.
What are you looking forward to most?
Christmas!… and seeing and hearing that new students are able to get the benefit of all the resources and support that we have available, despite the challenges.
What was your biggest challenge?
Ensuring that we have access to the e-resources that we need, and the means to explain and promote these to students. Keeping staff informed and motivated during a period of uncertainty and complexity.
Suzanne Tatham, Associate Director of the Library, University of Sussex
How will the start of this semester be different from September 2019?
We’ll know for sure once we’re a few weeks in and have had a chance to reflect. In terms of preparations, this summer has been like no other. The notion of ‘summer projects’ feels like a distant memory. As a Library team, we’ve had to be agile and flexible, pulling together to meet the challenge head-on. More than ever, we’ve had to think about the user experience and really focus on what our digital presence looks like from a student perspective.
We will be welcoming students back into the Library building but for returning students, it’s going to feel very different. We’ve been doing some Instagram stories to prepare them for the changes and those seem to have gone down well.
How have you shifted your goals or your focus for this semester?
We’ve orchestrated a huge shift to digital, fast-tracking new approaches to work which we had previously been thinking of as ‘nice to haves’ or things that we would get round to one day. Not surprisingly, the University’s focus has been on getting online teaching set up for the Autumn and also, on making the campus as safe as possible for students and staff.
A blended approach has been adopted for teaching and learning with the aim of providing a mix of in-person teaching and different types of online learning delivered primarily via Canvas and Panopto. For our Aspire reading lists, we’ve asked all module leaders to go e-only for all essential reading.
We took this decision early on to put ourselves in a stronger position to deal with a second lock-down if it were to happen and also because it became clear that many students would not be returning to campus at all. This hasn’t been easy to achieve. It has shed light on the poor availability of ebooks, particularly for older material. We’ve also been astounded by the price rises we’ve encountered for many ebooks and the restrictive licences that are frequently being applied. With a stretched budget, it’s made the difficult job of resourcing the reading lists even harder this year.
Have you adopted new processes or new tools to help support more online teaching and learning?
We used our Library management system to set up a Click & Collect service for students to request books. This proved really popular over the summer with our postgraduates and we’re hoping it will scale up sufficiently for all the undergraduates. We have just set up a Click & Study service using Springshare’s LibCal Seats. This study space booking system will help us to manage study space across campus.
Within the Library team, Zoom and Teams have become the norm, as has the use of Box for file management and sharing. In previous years, we’ve expended energy on producing printed guides and newsletters but this Autumn, everything has shifted to digital.
What are you looking forward to most?
I’m looking forward to being several weeks into term with the relief of knowing that our plans have worked.
What was your biggest challenge?
There have been quite a few challenges this summer, but one of the biggest for me was getting staff kitted out with computing equipment to enable home-working. The majority of Library staff had never worked remotely so this was a massive challenge, not just in terms of the IT but also the cultural shift in working practices. Some loved it and some hated it but one way or another, I think we’ve managed to make it work.
Clare French, Assistant Director of Library Services at the University of Essex
How will the start of this semester be different from September 2019?
October 2020 will be very different from last year in so many ways – many of our staff will still be working from home and we don’t yet know how many students will be returning to campus.
How have you shifted your goals or your focus for this semester?
We are always committed to ensuring that reading lists are well resourced but the shift in focus to online-only this year is a big change for us.
Have you adopted new processes or new tools to help support more online teaching and learning?
Our academics are adopting new tools which will help them deliver online teaching and learning and the Library Service has played a big part in this. The biggest shift for the Library will be the provision of etextbooks, including the one to one model and built-in teaching and learning resources.
What are you looking forward to most?
A better student experience, resulting in greater student satisfaction with the online offering from the Library.
What was your biggest challenge?
Compressing the time for checking and reviewing reading lists.
Judith Keene, University Librarian, University of Worcester
How will the start of this semester be different from September 2019?
The main difference is in the facilities in the physical building, with a requirement for students to pre-book study spaces and reduced opening hours as managing the building under current conditions is more staff intensive.
We’re lucky that as a public library we’ve been open since early August, with time to phase in and adapt our approach. For instance, we are allowing students to browse the shelves, which I think many institutions are not yet doing. Much of our induction is online as is some of our teaching and the enquiries service for the time being. But what hasn’t changed is the commitment to offer the best services and support that we can to our students and staff.
How have you shifted your goals or your focus for this semester?
We’re being more focused and careful in what we do, trying not to take on too much or introduce too many innovations at a time when staff are pushed and we don’t know what is around the corner. The immediate focus, as always, has to be on a successful start to the year, but like everyone else, we’re doing that differently to usual. As the TEL team sits in library services, there’s a particular emphasis on continuing the training to build the confidence of all academics to teach online which was new to many of them back in March.
Have you adopted new processes or new tools to help support more online teaching and learning?
What became clear back in March was that the library team were already pretty good at using the tools we had and that we had good online resources, chat services etc. We’ve all become Teams aficionados for day-to-day work and meetings, and have introduced LibCal to manage appointments with the liaison librarians and for booking study spaces.
The University also implemented Panopto in record time over the summer and we’re getting to grips with that and supporting early adopters to use it. I’d add that our IT team have been outstanding in their support for rolling out new technologies and smoothing the transition to home working.
What are you looking forward to most?
Seeing the students returning and getting back to what we’re best at – working together to help them succeed. And just being physically together as a team again, preferably sharing some home bakes.
What was your biggest challenge?
I suspect I won’t be alone when I say that it was and is the constant uncertainty and shifting parameters – just keeping up with the university guidance for managers is time-consuming. And as a leader, there was a real sense of ‘what if I’m not up to the challenge?’, particularly given the speed of the run-up to lockdown. But the sector-wide communications, webinars and support were a great boost and not only did the team here pull together and prove what a great bunch they are, but we’ve become more valued by the university community as a result, which can’t be a bad thing!
We wish you all the best of luck during this busy and challenging time. Of course, if we can provide you with any help or support with your Talis Aspire or Talis Elevate projects, please reach out to us.
This post was created exclusively for the Talis Informer, a quarterly newsletter from Talis aimed at those leading and influencing Higher Education libraries. If you’d like to receive the newsletter, please get in touch at info@talis.com. For even more content and discussion, join the Talis Informer mailing group here.
