Senior Administrators’ Forum: University Information Services. Summer AGM and Forum, June Welcome to the University of Sheffield Library. Keith Dean, Assistant Director and Head of Corporate Services

Workforce Development Planning at Sheffield Keith Dean, Assistant Director and Head of Corporate Services, University of Sheffield Library.

Workforce Development Planning What are the issues, why do we need to do it? What will it achieve? What is it? How do we do it?

What are the issues? We don’t have the ideal workforce Size Costs Skill sets

What will it achieve? A workforce fit for purpose for 2015; to meet our key objectives and allow further development into the next planning period More appropriate balance of expenditure A more flexible and dynamic workforce to match the service we want to provide. It could be VERY different to what we have now

What is it? ‘having the right people with the right skills in the right place’

How did we start? Recognition of the problem; first WDP 2011 Mainly a financial exercise with an ambitious target. VSS ‘resolved’ a big proportion of it. Phase 2; Workforce 2015; re-focusing (the Library in 2015), and crucial consultation Alignment with Strategic Planning There will be some easy solutions!

And then A presentation to all Library staff with: The right context Clear aims, examples and outcomes. Followed by; Continuous rounds of consultation Retaining a tight grip on reinvestment Resolving the more difficult issues

The University Library Workforce 2015

The planning context New services, new roles, new skills The financial context

HE White paper delayed Uncertainty around fees and funding of teaching after 2012 Competition for students and for research income University mission, vision, identity Professional Services values and vision University Strategic Plan Project 2012 Space planning The planning context

New services, new roles, new skills

Extending self-service New customer service roles Learning & teaching Research support skills New systems and digital architecture Working smarter New services, new roles, new skills

Self service We will have a much richer self service offer to customers on campus and remotely, and through mobile devices Making new areas of services available on a self-service basis We will have better systems to support self service

Customer services Fewer staff handling face to face transactions CS roles will be different –Logistics –Welcome –Customer account help –Learner support

Learning & teaching Closer engagement with students and other L&T colleagues More staff have educational qualifications A better offer for our postgraduates Better use of our learning spaces (inc IC) to support new approaches to L&T Information skills remain a key area Resource lists: more academic input, less in- Library processing

Supporting research Better understanding of research Content still central to our offer Better skills to support researchers with research planning and management Open access: continued development New skills for data management and digital preservation Digitising our distinctive (special) collections

Better systems Open Integrated Interoperable Resilient Less bespoke Shared/remote (“cloud”) not local

Working smarter Better at academic policy engagement Winning respect at Faculty level More agile and responsive Collaboration to share services Encouraging professionalism Work across boundaries Faster, better, cheaper

The financial context

Reduction in state funding of teaching Undergraduate fees Increasing Govt pressure not to charge maximum £9000 fee Uncertainty about teaching funding from 2012 –reduction of up to 80% Mechanism for controlling student numbers unclear Rising energy costs Loss of capital funding The financial context

Library factors Continuing inflation in journals costs Increasing demand for open access publication Sector library data (benchmarking) show that we spend a low proportion of our budget on collections and information services

Information & staffing spend University of Aaaaa SCONUL 2008/09data staffing information/content Key excludes operating costs

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Information & staffing spend University of Sheffield SCONUL 2008/09data

Library factors contd We need to balance our staffing and information/content spend Recurrent IT spend will increase to support more advanced systems and services Increasing need to demonstrate our value

What this means for us We need to try and avoid the uncertainty of annual savings targets Our recurrent staffing spend in real terms will be about 15% lower by July 2015 Greater investment in information/content by 2015 We will all experience further change in our jobs through to 2015

Looking forward libraries will remain central to the academic endeavour for a long time Our University Library and its people are among the best in the UK The Library is very well regarded by the University The University of Sheffield is a highly successful university (top 100 in this month’s THE survey of global university reputation)

Questions How will we manage with a 15% reduction in staff by 2015? –Advanced systems –Investment in self service –Streamlining procedures & processes –Eliminating duplicated effort –Support for staff in new roles Will there be another VSS scheme? If the University can charge £9000/year in fees won’t it be better off? Will there be a recruitment freeze?