Swinburne Library News

Swinburne Library 2009 - the story so far...

With semester 2 just underway it is time to provide a round-up of news for the Library in 2009.

Search and discovery system to launch in 2010

Swinburne University Library is pleased to announce that after a comprehensive selection process we have chosen the Ex Libris integrated library solutions: Aleph, Primo, Metalib/SFX, bX and Verde as the search and discovery system to take us into the future.

Ex Libris is a leading provider of library systems and our partnership will provide library users with state-of-the-art information access tools and thus enhance the findability of our resources.

We would like to thank everybody involved in the selection process for their valuable contributions. The next phase of the project will be exciting and hectic as we plan to go live early in 2010.

The Library will provide regular updates on the website and blog and we will also be seeking library users to provide feedback on user experience. The new system will enable the library to be more responsive to user needs.

The countdown begins…

Library week

Students and staff grabbed their passports for discovery and celebrated Library Week in May at Lilydale, Croydon and Wantirna libraries.

Balloons, streamers, competitions, art exhibitions, readings, morning teas, guest speakers, coffee baristas and librarians in funny hats; all just part of library week.

Celebrated with flair and style Library Week not only encouraged students to visit the library but also saw library staff go out and visit classes to remind students of the great services offered.

The whole week was a chance to showcase some of the great services of the library and to have some fun.

Additional funding to offset GFC

In semester 1 the library received additional funding of $0.5 million to make up for funds lost through the decline in the value of the dollar. The library has also had 85% of its materials budget linked to the value of the Australian dollar against the US$ which means we receive our funding in US$ at a conversion rate of US$0.78. We are watching this carefully, but it has been instrumental in alleviating financial concerns.

The library is also reviewing journal subscriptions. The initial review will be completed this month and subsequently they will be reviewed annually.

Student ambassadors

Meet our new Elsevier Student Ambassador, Shital Patel. Shital is employed by database company, Elsevier, to support and promote the use of its products, Scopus and ScienceDirect, at Swinburne.

We have been involved in the Student Ambassador Program since 2007 and were the first university in Victoria to do so. Shital is a postgraduate student in the Faculty of Life & Social Sciences, and will be kept busy on the Hawthorn campus helping staff and students make the most of these important databases. Look out for Student Ambassador activities.

Making space

Feedback from students kept Hawthorn library staff extremely busy during the semester break. The whole collection was respaced to combine the general and folio (large book) collections. Now that all of the books on the same topic are shelved together they are easier to find and to reshelve.

Ben Conyers, the Logistics and Customer Service Manager at the Hawthorn campus library stated, "The library is always grateful for feedback as it helps us to both plan for improvements and to respond directly to student needs."

Common themes in feedback included:

• Noise on quiet study level
• A need for more individual seats
• More power points and
• The state of the male toilets

Staff implemented the following to improve conditions:

Improvements to quiet study area (level 4)

• Replacing group study rooms with twenty individual study carrels
• Foyer closed in to limit noise and create a silent study room with powered tables
• Additional printer to reduce queuing times
• DVD and video collections relocated to level 3 - which provides the opportunity to put in more seats

Increasing individual seating and power points

• Levels 1 and 3 - added more tables and an extra 60 seats
• Added an extra 40 power points  

Male toilets

• Extra ventilation

Research Bank contributes to research success

Each year, Swinburne Research collects information about peer-reviewed Swinburne publications to report to the Government. At the same time, Swinburne Research Bank proactively seeks information about all Swinburne publications to maximise their potential to be discovered online.

It makes sense to reuse data that has been carefully collated by the Library. So this year, Swinburne Research Bank became the main source of publications information for the Higher Education Research Data Collection (HERDC). This process reduced data entry for Swinburne Research and faculty staff, and also meant researchers only needed to report their publications once---either to their faculties or to Swinburne Research Bank.

The new process worked well, contributing to a significant increase in the number of Swinburne publications reported for HERDC this year. This should mean a comparative boost in funding allocated to Swinburne for research in the future. This is fantastic news for Swinburne, and another way the Library is helping the University work towards the 2015 Vision.

To be eligible for submission to next year’s HERDC, all Swinburne publications must be recorded in Swinburne Research Bank. If you would like to contribute your work, please contact Swinburne Research Bank staff for more information.

Sustainable living library

Wantirna library recently held its third Living Library. It focused on sustainability and horticulture to compliment courses taught on campus. The books available for “loan” ranged from passionate vegetable and nursery growers to experts in landscape design and sustainable education.

The concept of a living library involves being able to borrow a person who is willing to share their story with borrowers. Horticultural students took full advantage of the chance to talk experts in their area and foundation studies students were provided with many opportunities to practice their conversational English.

Kathy Thompson, one of the books and a backyard veggie grower, bought in tasty morsels from her own garden to share with borrowers. The morning was declared a resounding success by books, borrowers and library staff.,

Going green

The Library endorsed a statement committing the Library to sustainable work practices. Tips for anyone working in similar environments include:

• Use recycled paper
• Use power save options on computer monitors
• Turn lights off when leaving the room
• Turn photocopiers and printers off overnight
• Shut down computers and monitors overnight
• Print only when necessary
• Print double sided where possible
• Recycle glass, plastic & cans
• Recycle toner cartridges
• Use reusable mugs and crockery
• Purchase of recycled or reusable stationery where possible
• Support staff to use public transport or cycling
• Be open to adopting additional sustainable practices

We are also encouraging students to adopt sustainable practices by providing extra recycling services (mobile phones) alongside more traditional recycling services.

Swinburne in the picture

Swinburne Image Bank is a collection of over 4000 digital images illustrating Swinburne's rich history of learning and teaching. In April, Vice Chancellor, Professor Ian Young officially launched the collection. Guests were treated to a visual feast featuring archival footage and a selection of images highlighting milestones in Swinburne's history, in which some of the guests starred.

Images in the Swinburne Image Bank are also harvested by Picture Australia whose mandate is to provide access to images that represent different aspects of Australiana.

Where Swinburne University owns the copyright the images are available for use under an Australian Creative Commons licence.

 

Croydon gets a make-over

The official opening of the $2 million dollar make-over of Croydon campus library was a celebration for all involved. Helen Reid, Manager TAFE Library and Information Resources congratulated library staff who continued to provide services through-out the renovation in difficult circumstances.

Louise Palmer, Executive Director, VET Programs and Services who opened the library on 24th of March welcomed the transformation. The revamped space is open, light and students feel right at home. The Library increased in size to allow for more computers, tables, group study rooms, quiet study areas, a recreational reading area and a training room.

Croydon Campus has a youth focus and the library has introduced services not usually available in academic libraries. Matt Revert, Croydon Library Operations Coordinator says the Wii lounge and Guitar Hero are very popular and they have plans for screening comedies in Semester 2.

Copyright and repository support

In March 2009 a new service to support institutional repositories was launched by the Council of Australian University Libraries (CAUL). CAIRSS (the CAUL Australia Institutional Repository Support Service) has been funded for two years by the Commonwealth Government. The service will provide advice and support to CAUL members with repositories (all of them do). A key component of the service is to provide advice, toolkits, news and web-based information about copyright as it relates to repositories. Swinburne’s Copyright Office will provide the copyright component of this service. There is more information about CAIRSS on its website, and of course Swinburne Research Bank is a repository exemplar.

Closing remarks

Last semester was busy, and the next one looks likely to be busier. In semester 1 we had a big increase (38%) in equipment loans - laptops in particular - especially at Hawthorn (where the increase was 66%). In fact we passed a critical point in early 2009 - book loans dropped to slightly under half of all loans, certainly at Hawthorn and probably across the library as a whole. We had big increases in loans of DVDs and videos too, especially at Hawthorn (82%) and Prahran. However, book borrowing resumed its slow decline.

So what are library users doing? - we know that we are busier than ever. Computer use is flourishing (we have over 1000 laptops and desktops in the library) and we know that the great majority of accesses to information through the library are online journal articles, ebooks, and Subject Materials Online. How much? Probably 80% or more. We get lots of questions - semester 1 2009 saw an increase of over 50% in the number of questions asked - 223,000 questions projected for 2009 on the basis of our surveys.

Books are easy to lend out - most borrowers check them out themselves. Equipment takes longer to lend, and we need to check it when it comes back in. In fact, over the summer semester break, we tested and checked all loan equipment (and found it overwhelmingly in good condition). Changes in patterns of use create new demands on staff . Right now, our top priority is the implementation of our new library systems, and we know that better systems will also bring more issues for us. We're looking forward to it immensely.

Best wishes,

Derek Whitehead
Director, Information Resources