Welcome to Sue Hodges – new University Librarian at Bangor

A warm welcome to Sue Hodges in her new post as University Librarian at Bangor.

Sue was formerly Head of Learning and Research Support and part of the Library Leadership Team at the University of Salford. She had responsibility there for Library Academic Support, the ICT Training Team, Digital Developments, Collections and Archives. She has also worked in senior roles at Liverpool John Moores University as Head of Business and Information Systems and as Technical Services Manager, as well as at Oxford Brookes University as a subject librarian. Prior to that she held a variety of roles in information services in the FE sector.

She has a keen interest in information literacy, research support and institutional respositories, digital content and in enhancing the student experience.

Sue was born in North Wales in Clwyd and her family has lived in the North Wales region of Llanwrst and Colwyn Bay for many years.

Sir Alex admires Swansea University’s archive of American Civil War Books

Sir Alex Ferguson took time out of his busy schedule to visit Swansea University to see its extensive collection of over 3,000 books about the American Civil War, generously donated to the American Studies programme by a private collector, Alan Milne.

Jon Roper, Professor of American Studies, invited the famous Manchester United manager to the University when he discovered that Sir Alex has a long-standing fascination with the Civil War and a wide-ranging knowledge of American history.

Professor Roper said: “Sir Alex is extremely interested and knowledgeable about the War and the personalities involved in it, including President Abraham Lincoln, and Generals such as Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant. It was our privilege to have him visit this major research archive in American Studies”.

Sir Alex spent an hour at the University’s library and saw for himself the collection of precious books, including rare first editions. He talked about the subject with Dr. David Anderson, lecturer in American Studies and a specialist in this area. He also met a number of American Studies students at the University.

Sir Alex was particularly interested in a book that recounts the story of two brothers from Scotland who fought on opposing sides during the War. He also commented how impressed he was with the collection.

Unfortunately Sir Alex’s Manchester United team weren’t so kind to Swansea’s football team – they beat them 1-0!

E-books day in Wales – a review

Read Alyson Tyler’s comprehensive blog post to find out more about this event  in Aberystwyth on Friday 25th November. Three out of the five talks on the programme were related to public libraries and e-books, but there was a good mix of public and academic librarians.

Mieko Yamaguchi reported on the patron drive acquisition (PDA) pilot which Bangor University have been trialling with a small grant from CyMAL.

http://libalyson.wordpress.com/2011/12/01/e-books-day-in-wales-a-review/

HEFCW Annual Report 2010-2011

Every year HEFCWpublishes a report of their activities to show how successfully they have met their targets and how they have used public funding.

The Annual Report also includes information about HEFCW’s accounts, and a summary of developments in areas which have been given priority over the previous year.

http://www.hefcw.ac.uk/publications/corporate_documents/annual_report.aspx