Dual-sector plan to revitalise regional education

“For years, the co-existence of universities and colleges meant that education establishments used to run alongside each other to serve a local area’s needs, but what happens when major players in the sector join forces and work together to create a new concept which looks at the educational needs of an entire region, in an innovative way?

This radical thinking has led to the creation of dual sector university, developed by the University of Wales Trinity Saint David and its further education partners, where the primary aim is to respond to the educational, social and economic needs of the region.”

“The dual-sector university partnership is a working concept which includes Coleg Sir Gâr, the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Pembrokeshire College, Coleg Ceredigion with Swansea Metropolitan University joining next year.”

“The financial benefits include shared services. For example, since the partnership, Trinity Saint David is working with Coleg Sir Gâr to deliver degree courses in art and design at the college and at the university which means that students are able to share library, learning and social facilities associated with a university experience.”

For more detail, link to news item: News from Coleg Sirgar

(Thanks to Alison Harding for the link)

Tendering for RFID Systems

Book Industry Communication (BIC) and the National Acquisitions Group (NAG) are pleased to announce the publication on their respective web sites today of Tendering for RFID Systems: A Core Specification for Libraries by Mick Fortune of Library RFID and Mark Hughes of Swansea University.

This document provides libraries intending to issue tender documents for radio frequency ID systems with a comprehensive checklist of questions they should ask themselves and their suppliers in order to ensure that they will get the functionality and levels of interoperability they require.

Mark’s varied career in Libraries has encompassed work at many different levels, mainly in the systems and service management fields, across both public and academic sectors. He has managed two successful large scale RFID implementations: the first for Swansea Public Libraries; then on a second occasion for a consortium project for the 3 Universities in the South West Wales Higher Education Partnership, and was one of the original authors of the Open RFID in Libraries Specification.

Mark has been in post as Head of Collections at Swansea University since March 2009. His current duties include management of finance, collections and library systems. He remains strongly involved in RFID development, and is an active member of the BIC/CILIP RFID in Libraries Group.

The publication is available for free download at http://www.bic.org.uk/e4librariesfiles/pdfs/110613%20Tendering%20for%20RFID%20Systems%20final.pdf.

WHELF update: May 2011

WHELF: Wales Higher Education Libraries Forum

May 2011: an update

WHELF actively promotes the work of higher education libraries in Wales and provides a focus for the development of new ideas and services.

At our recent meeting in May, these were some of the topics under discussion: 

Budget reductions

Across the board, WHELF members are identifying core services and those which will need to be cut altogether or reduced as overall funding levels decline. The cost of published resources continues to rise at above the rate of retail inflation, adding further pressure to our ability as libraries to meet the needs of our students, and to support our researchers adequately. Within our universities, we are working hard to ensure that the value of libraries and information resources to the academic community is fully recognised. 

A new deal with OUP … the WHEEL continues to roll

Working with JISC Collections, WHELF has negotiated a groundbreaking deal with OUP – all WHELF libraries will have access to OUP journals online. This deal is a further development of the Wales Higher Education Electronic Library – which already includes access to a shared e-books collection. 

Demand Driven Acquisition of e-books

Bangor are trialling Demand Driven Acquisition (DDA) of e-books. In this model, the library offers access to a huge menu of content but only pays for material actually used by staff and students.                                      

The Welsh Information Literacy Project is funded for a second year

This project, led by WHELF and hosted at Cardiff University, ended its first year with all objectives successfully completed. Funding has been secured from CyMAL: Museums Archives Libraries Wales for the second year of the project. To be information literate, a student must be able to recognise when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate and use it effectively.

Find out more at: http://www.library.wales.org/informationliteracy/

Libraries Inspire: draft strategic development framework for Welsh libraries 2012-15

Public, educational, and workplace libraries are at the heart of their communities. The very reason for their existence is to inspire and assist people to make a positive difference to their lives. WHELF has an important role to play in this new strategy for Wales and we are taking an active part in all the consultations. 

Find out more at: http://wales.gov.uk/consultations/cultureandsport/librariesinspire/?lang=en

Shaping the future – for heritage, for everyone: consultation on the Heritage Lottery Fund’s strategic framework for 2013–2019

WHELF responded to this consultation in order to stress the value of the documentary heritage, much of which is held in archives and library collections in national libraries and universities. These special collections are of enduring historical value, but action is needed to preserve and make them accessible for future generations.

Find out more at: http://www.hlf.org.uk/aboutus/whatwedo/Documents/Consultation_17.02.2011.pdf

WHELF/HEWIT Colloquium 2011

An excellent programme for this year’s WHELF/HEWIT Colloquium taking place at Gregynog from 13-17 June. As ever, it is a varied mix of library and IT topics ranging from the strategic to the operational.

Find out more at: http://gregynog.glam.ac.uk/

SCONUL Conference coming to Cardiff

SCONUL promotes excellence in library services in higher education and national libraries across the UK and Ireland. Its 2011 Conference is coming to Cardiff – from 8-10 June.

Find out more at: http://www.sconul.ac.uk/events/agm2011 

Hug the National Library of Wales! 

If you happen to be in Aberystwyth on 15 July come and help us ‘cwtcho’r Llyfrgell’ by creating a human chain flung around the building to celebrate its 100th birthday.

Find out more about the centenary celebrations

The Library’s new three-year Strategy, ‘The agile library’, is now available at:
http://www.llgc.org.uk/fileadmin/documents/pdf/Strategy2011-12_2013-14.pdf

… and its new ICT strategy, at:
http://www.llgc.org.uk/fileadmin/documents/pdf/ICT_strategy_11-14_s.pdf

WHELF News

We welcome back Leigh Abbott, now returned from maternity leave to her post as Librarian of the University of Wales Online Library. Congratulations to Bronwen Blatchford who has been appointed to the new post of full-time librarian for the Online Library, working with Leigh. Congratulations to Rebecca Davies on her new post as Pro Vice-Chancellor at Aberystwyth University and to Julie Hart, appointed to take the lead on Library Services as Assistant Director: Built and Staffing Resources.

We reluctantly say goodbye to Lesley May, Head of Library Services at University of Wales, Newport. Her contribution to WHELF and to libraries in Wales will be much missed.

For more information please contact:

Sue Mace
Development Officer
WHELF: Wales Higher Education Libraries Forum
http://whelf.ac.uk/
http://whelf.wordpress.com/