WHELF update: October 2011

WHELF: Wales Higher Education Libraries Forum
October 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 October, these were some of the topics under discussion:

Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol
We welcome a new member of WHELF – Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol. The Coleg is a new national institution which will play a key role in planning, supporting and developing Welsh medium education and scholarship at universities in Wales. It began its first full academic year in September 2011 and we look forward to developing effective collaborative partnerships.
Find out more at: http://www.colegcymraeg.ac.uk/en/

Academic library consortia – sharing experience and expertise
We were joined for a half-day seminar by colleagues from other leading academic library consortia: Philip Cohen, Chair of CONUL, the consortium of Ireland’s main research libraries; John Tuck, Chair of the M25 Consortium of Academic Libraries; and Margaret Weaver, member of NOWAL, a consortium of academic libraries in the north-west of England and lead partner of the Northern Collaboration, a new partnership of academic libraries in the north of England. It was an excellent way to share experience on a wide range of initiatives which included shared library management systems, collaborative stores and e-books. We also explored the challenges and benefits of working together in a region/country to enhance our individual services.

Sharing services
A successful bid by WHELF to CyMAL: Museums Archives Libraries Wales has funded a feasibility study into shared library management systems. This is seen as a potential area to drive further collaboration and forms a key part of the WHELF Action Plan 2011-13. Our strategic vision for the “Sharing Library Services Programme” is to enable access to the collective resources and services of a virtual academic library for Wales.
Find out more at: http://whelf.wordpress.com/2011/10/18/sharing-services/

 A Cloud for Wales
WHELF contributed to A Cloud for Wales, a day of discussions and presentations at the National Library of Wales. It was an opportunity for leaders and senior staff from the sector to consider the potential use of cloud computing by their institutions as a way of sharing and improving services.

Libraries Inspire
We have written a response to CyMAL regarding the draft delivery plan for their new strategy Libraries Inspire. We have suggested areas where funding would allow WHELF to deliver on their strategic priorities – walk-in access to electronic resources (delivering digital inclusion), digitisation (creating new bilingual content), a shared library management system in HE – and possibly NHS – libraries (rolling out an all-Wales LMS) and implementing the Welsh Information Literacy Framework.
Find out more at: http://wales.gov.uk/consultations/cultureandsport/librariesinspire/?lang=en

Review of Digital Classroom Teaching: Task and Finish Group Education Minister, Leighton Andrews, has announced a task and finish group to review the use of digital classroom teaching. Andrew Green, Chair of WHELF, is a member of the new group and was able to report on the scope of the review.
Find out more at: Written Statement by the Welsh Government

WHELF News
The new 2011-2013 action plan for WHELF is complete and is now on the website.
Find out more at: http://whelf.ac.uk/mission.shtml  

We welcomed Bronwen Blatchford who will be representing the University of Wales at future meetings.

We bade a sad farewell to Leigh Abbott last month who, after more than five years with the University of Wales Online Library, is busy settling into a new life in Perth, Australia.

We look forward to welcoming Sue Hodges as a member of WHELF. Sue will join Bangor University as University Librarian from the start of December.
Find out more at: http://whelf.wordpress.com/2011/09/12/new-university-librarian-at-bangor/

For more information please contact:
Sue Mace
Development Officer
WHELF: Wales Higher Education Libraries Forum
http://whelf.ac.uk/
http://whelf.wordpress.com/

Welsh universities in the news

BBC Wales: After scandal, what happens now to University of Wales? 
27 October 2011 – Follow related stories links.

Wales Online: Hefcw are pushing an open door in asking Swansea University to work more with Cardiff
27 October 2011 – Follow related stories links.

Times Higher Education Supplement: We’re not dead, just ‘evolving’
27 October 2011 – University of Wales declares that reports of its demise are premature.

Libraries Inspire

The official launch of CyMAL’s new strategy is 7th November in Treorchy library, Rhondda Cynon Taf, with the Minister for Housing, Regeneration and Heritage.  There will be an online version of the strategy on the CyMAL website shortly.

Alyson Tyler has written a short blog post to explain current projects and programmes – see http://libalyson.wordpress.com/2011/10/25/your-guide-to-several-l-words/

Beloit College Mindset List 2012

Each August for the past 11 years, Beloit College in Beloit, Wis., has released the Beloit College Mindset List. It provides a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college. It is the creation of Beloit’s Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride and Public Affairs Director Ron Nief. The List is shared with faculty and with thousands who request it each year as the school year begins, as a reminder of the rapidly changing frame of reference for this new generation.

The class of 2012 has grown up in an era where computers and rapid communication are the norm, and colleges no longer trumpet the fact that residence halls are “wired” and equipped with the latest hardware. These students will hardly recognize the availability of telephones in their rooms since they have seldom utilized landlines during their adolescence. They will continue to live on their cell phones and communicate via texting. Roommates, few of whom have ever shared a bedroom, have already checked out each other on Facebook where they have shared their most personal thoughts with the whole world.

http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2012/

Sharing services

A successful bid by WHELF to CyMAL: Museums Archives Libraries Wales has funded a feasibility study into shared library management systems. This is seen as a potential area to drive further collaboration and forms a key part of the WHELF Action Plan 2011-13. Our strategic vision for the “Sharing Library Services Programme” is to enable access to the collective resources and services of a virtual academic library for Wales.

Our ambition is that the Programme will have direct impacts on individual learners and/or citizens, learning institutions and Wales as a vibrant knowledge economy;

• Individuals will be able to exploit the shared services delivered directly to them,
• learning institutions (across the sectoral boundaries) will find it easier to collaborate for learning, teaching and research and
• Wales will have a visible platform for access to knowledge within & to Welsh businesses as well as showcasing the knowledge created in Wales to economic and political partners.

Programme for Government and Draft Budget

In an address to Assembly Members in the Senedd, First Minister Carwyn Jones set out his Programme for Government for the current Assembly term.

The Programme includes actions Ministers will be taking, how progress will be measured and what outcomes we want to see for the people of Wales. It is a programme for all of Wales and sets out which organisations will be involved in delivering the programme with the Welsh Government. The Programme for Government will be updated annually and a progress report published every year.

http://wales.gov.uk/newsroom/firstminister/2011/pfg/?lang=en http://wales.gov.uk/about/programmeforgovernment/?lang=en

Draft Budget 2012-13
In preparing the Draft Budget for 2012-13 we have aligned our spending plans to deliver the vision for Wales set out in our Programme for Government. Our financial proposals reflect our commitment to protect and improve frontline services, protect the vulnerable and support economic recovery in Wales. Despite the tough financial climate, we have maximised our resources to deliver our priorities. We continue to place equality assessment at the heart of our budget in order to protect the most vulnerable in our communities. The amount of funding allocated to Welsh Government Departments for 2012-13 is £14.7 billion.
http://wales.gov.uk/funding/budget/draftbudget1213/?lang=en

University of Wales launches new academic strategy

The University of Wales is to launch a new academic strategy, which will see the institution only award degrees to students on courses designed and fully controlled by the University.

The announcement was made by Professor Medwin Hughes on his first day as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wales, which is in the process of transforming itself through a merger with Swansea Metropolitan University and the University of Wales: Trinity Saint David.

The transformed University will cease to be an accrediting body for other Universities in Wales. It will instigate discussions with these Universities to withdraw from awarding degrees to their students. The University will also bring to a close validated programmes offered at centres in the UK and overseas and introduce a new academic model.

Universities affected by the introduction of the new strategy will be offered a notice period of one year, before the changes come into effect at the start of the 2012 academic year.

Read the UW press release

Concerns over University of Wales degree changes – BBC news analysis

University of Wales to stop validating degrees from other institutions - Wales Online article