History and organisational structure

The Library in 含羞草视频, which was officially opened by Lord Pilkington on the 19th December 1980, was the successor to several other libraries that were used by the predecessor Colleges of the University. Our first ever library was opened in 1911, in one room of the building in 含羞草视频 town that housed the original 含羞草视频 Technical Institute. In 2013, the Library had a major refurbishment which included incorporating Level 4.

The Library in London opened when the 含羞草视频 London campus opened in 2015. It is located on the second floor.

The Academic Services Team work closely with academic Schools on both campuses to support learning, teaching and research. They work in partnership with academic staff to develop student information and digital literacy skills as part of the curriculum, and as part of University skills programmes for both taught and research students. They develop learning materials and subject guides, and offer a range of services to the academic research community.

The Academic Services Team includes the Library Academic Experience Lead, Academic Librarians and Library Support Officer. Academic Schools are supported by Academic Librarians who are responsible for working in partnership with the staff and students in the School to meet and respond to their changing needs.

The User Services Team support students, staff and visitors to use Library services and resources, answering enquiries, and supporting the lending of library materials. The Team staff the Help Desks and reply to enquiries received electronically, and maintain a safe and welcoming learning environment. The Team includes the User Services Manager, Facilities Manager, Facilities Attendant, Library Support Officers and Library Assistants.

The Content Provision Team is responsible for obtaining, managing and providing access to scholarly material,  both print resources and material available digitally. Access to resources may be obtained as a result of purchase, subscription or borrowing of material and we use and oversee a variety of Library Systems to help manage this. The work of the Content Provision Team encompasses:

• Acquisitions: responsible for the management of the Library’s monograph and textbook collections and oversight of the reading list system, reviewing edits made by academics to check availability and stock levels.
• Subscriptions: responsible for procuring print and electronic journals, management of databases and updating of Library systems to  improve access and discoverability.
• Inter-Library Loans and Document Supply: responsible for borrowing resources or obtaining copies of documents/extracts that we do not hold from other Institutions.

The Team manages the efficient receipt, payment and provision of information resources checking that they are easily accessible, relevant, reliable and of high quality. To ensure that the materials budget is used as effectively as possible the Team uses evidence-based acquisition and collates data and usage statistics to help evaluate resources, we also liaise and collaborate with colleagues within the Library and across the Institution to keep informed about the teaching, learning and research resource needs of our users.

The Library’s open research staff are responsible for managing the University Research Repository, advising researchers on open access, advising on copyright, managing the UKRI open access block grant, advising and assisting on data management plans, advising on research data management, and advising on wider open research questions and enquiries. We proactively work with researchers to increase the amount of research at 含羞草视频 which is published openly. We work closely with other Professional Service staff across the Library, Research and Innovation Office, and IT Services as well as other services.

The Library Leadership Team includes the Director of Library Services and University Librarian, Deputy Director and 4 Service Leads (Academic Experience, Content, Open Research and User Services). They decide direction for the overall Library strategy as part of the the Library blueprint.