1. Customer Service and the Future Library at the
University of the West of England.
Presentation by
Jane Belger
Library Research Support
UWE Library Services
Thank you for inviting me. I am a research and open access librarian at the University of the West of England and work in the library research support team.
Our role is to support research postgraduates and academic staff with their research needs, in particular open access publishing and research data management.
Today I will be giving an overview of our library service’s approach to customer service and plans for the future to enhance the user experience.
20/06/2018

2. Introduction to UWE Bristol
The University of the West of England is located in and around Bristol.
Post 1992 University
20,468 students
4 campuses- City Campus, Glenside, Alexandra Warehouse and main campus in Frenchay on outskirts of the city
Recently ranked in the top 40 of the Guardian League table 2019
Gold award in TEF
Teaching led university with emphasis on undergraduate study but also has a developing research profile across all 4 faculties.
CC-BY 2.0 Emma Bishop on FLICKR. Photo taken 9/08/2013

3. Library Services and customer service
c. 135 members of staff (c. 106 FTE)
Now part of wider Student Success Services with Inclusivity and Employability
Four teams: Learning services, Collections and Research, Student Success Operations and Business Administration and Senior Management Team.
NSS consistently rated at 90% satisfaction with library services
24/7 Chat – very popular
24/7 Opening at Frenchay
Disability support and inclusive provision
Two most popular features 24/7 chat and extended opening.

4. Responding to feedback
Longer opening hours at Glenside and Bower Ashton
More bookable study rooms at Frenchay
Increased spend on user driven purchasing models
Development of academic skills support and peer assisted learning
Scrapped library fines on items that are not recalled.
Increased number of resources that can be borrowed from 13 to 25 and introduced a recall system on a 365 day loan
Introduced reading list software
As a result of feedback from the NSS and website usability testing, changes are made. These are advertised via a You said, we did campaign.
Students have directly selected 50% of our budget on ebooks
Glenside and Bower Ashton: Monday – Friday 07: :00 Staffed: 08: :3 0Saturday – Sunday 07: :00 Staff Not available

5. Refurbishments Ongoing refurbishment project across campuses
Responding to feedback and making more flexible spaces to accommodate a variety of needs
Library Lounge
Silent study
Group study
PGR study space
Aim for total replacement on Campus plan

6. Identifying gaps- Supporting Systematic Reviews
Project with subject librarian colleagues supporting health and applied sciences faculty
Need for support with systematic literature reviews – increasing demand from students and research centres
Library Staff training
Developing offer for staff and students
Identifying difference between systematic reviews and literature reviews carried out systematically.
As a research team, we have noticed an increase in requests for support with systematic literature reviews. This has also been witnessed by our colleagues who support students in health and applied sciences. They have also noticed an increased demand from third year undergraduates and masters students who we don’t support, Although not strictly systematic reviews they do require help carrying our literature reviews systematically.

7. Future Library Project
“We aspire to be a Library that is renowned for delivering outstanding resources and services that enable UWE Bristol students and staff to succeed in achieving their learning, teaching, research and professional goals through providing fantastic online resources, academic skills development and effective, inspiring spaces to learn and work.” - Jason Briddon, Director of UWE Bristol Library Services
Five Workstreams:
Print Collection
Learning Environments
Open Access
Inclusive Academic Skills
Technology
Working with academics and students to identify what the future library will look like via:
Workshops
Guerilla interviews
Whiteboards
Online Surveys
What’s next for the library? The future library project started last year and was divided into five workstreams
The work streams
The Print Collection work stream will look at defining the future role and scope of the print collections in supporting teaching, learning and research.
The Learning Environments work stream will look at how we can provide effective and inspiring places for students and staff to work and learn.
The Open Access work stream will look at how we might exploit the opportunities arising from open access.
The Inclusive Academic Skills work stream will look at how we mainstream study skills and mentoring provision, currently funded through the Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA), into the University's general academic skills offer, led by Library Services.
The Technology work stream will look at the systems we need to deliver and manage information, and the technology and services required to meet the needs of current and future users.
Now that the feedback has been analysed, the team members of each workstream are looking at the next steps e.g. an enquiries review is taking place and we, as a research support team, are working with associate deans for research to examine how we generate an open access culture.