CILIP Cymru Wales – guest posting by Paul Jeorrett

Head over to the CILIP Cymru Wales blog for a very interesting guest posting on Bücherhalle Hamburg by WHELF member Paul Jeorrett:

http://cilipcymruwales.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/guest-posting-bucherhalle-hamburg.html

Paul has written a photo blog on his recent visit to the Bücherhalle Hamburg whilst on holiday. It is fascinating to visit other library services, never more so than when in another country.

Paul Jeorrett is University Librarian and Head of Student Services at Glyndŵr University. Paul is a WHELF Representative and is the WHELF Observer on the CILIP Cymru Wales Executive Committee.

Learning Spaces and the Student Experience conference at the Senedd – National Assembly For Wales: Monday, March 11, 2013

The conference aims to explore the impact of the learning environment on the student experience. The one day event, which is organised jointly by the University of Wales, Newport and IBI Nightingale, aims to draw together academics, support staff, colleagues from university estates management and architectural experts to share diverse perspectives on the learning environment.

The keynote presentation [which follows a Ministerial welcome from Leighton Andrews, Minister for Education and Skills] by Richard Mazuch will raise awareness of principles of sense sensitive design.

Part one of the event will feature presentations on new learning environments developed at the University of Birmingham, Bournemouth University and the University of Wales, Newport.

Part two will focus on learning spaces beyond the classroom.

For more details and to book a place, please click on the link below: http://learningspaces.eventbrite.com/

‘Exploring Spaces’ – understanding the learning spaces that libraries provide

A very interesting post on the CILIP Wales blog: http://cilipcymruwales.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/exploring-spaces-understanding-learning.html

Martin Edwards attended the Experiences of the International Higher Education Teaching and Learning Association (HETL) conference on ‘Exploring Spaces’ (Orlando, Florida, January 2013) with financial support from the Kathleen Cooks Fund. This is Martin’s overview of a project to review learning spaces at the University of Wales Newport and some of his experiences of attending and delivering a paper at the Conference.

Cardiff University’s Trevithick Library wins award for design

Library Design Awards show future of provision

The £32m David Wilson Library at Leicester University has won the prestigious SCONUL Library Design Award.  Cardiff University has taken the honours in the ‘smaller buildings’ category. 

The Award, presented by the Society of College National and University Libraries (SCONUL), rewards the best new or refurbished higher education libraries in national and university institutions. 

Ann Rossiter, Executive Director at SCONUL, said:
 
“There is a very real chance that students will be required to pay significantly more for higher education in the near future. Student demands therefore regarding quality of services are only going to increase.
 
“This Award shows the importance of providing these students with high quality design and comfort combined with state-of-the-art technologies. This quality of building and finish is going to become increasingly common.
 
“Libraries form an important part of a university’s offer and can be the difference between high and low levels of student satisfaction. Leicester’s building and student facilities have helped to significantly improve student satisfaction and offer a blueprint for how university’s can take advantage of the opportunities presented to them by their libraries.”

Sheila Cannell, chair of the judging panel said,

“Leicester’s Library is a benchmark and deserving winner, offering a beacon for quality design and scholarship in UK universities. The new space provides students with an exceptional learning environment. Importantly, it also recognises the changing demands of students.
 
“We have a robust judging process for the Design Award and the panel has travelled to the four corners of the UK and Ireland to examine the candidates. We have been extremely impressed by the overall quality of library design throughout.”

The ‘Smaller Buildings’ category won by Cardiff University is presented to developments of less than 2000 sq m.

The full list of Awards and winners includes:

Winner for Large Library Award:  Leicester University for the David Wilson Library

Winner for Small Library Award:  Cardiff University for Trevithick Library

Highly commended (3 libraries, all in Large Library Award category):  University College Cork for Postgraduate Research Library, University of Greenwich for Universities at Medway Drill Hall Library, University of Sheffield for Information Commons.

Learning in a Digital Wales

We would like to take this opportunity to invite you to attend our ‘Learning in a Digital Wales – Dysgu mewn Cymru Digidol’ event on 30 June 2010.

‘Learning in a Digital Wales – Dysgu mewn Cymru Digidol’ is a collaborative, cross sector event brought to you by JISC RSC Wales, with the support of LearnTech Wales, Moodle-Wales and Community eLearning Wales (CeLW) covering all educational sectors in Wales including Work Based Learning and Higher Education.

The aims of the event are:

• to share good practice and experiences in new and existing technologies from across the sectors
• to focus on key questions about the transformation agenda and the role of technology enhanced learning
• to look at the reasons for change in 21st Century education

The event will be a mix of presentations, hands on sessions, sharing of good practice, networking and discussion opportunities. The topics covered during the day include: personalised learning, accessibility and inclusion, effective use of digital media, portable free applications, assessment, Moodle, use of Web 2.0 and mobile technologies, eSafety/Safeguarding, the transformation agenda … and more.

For the full programme please visit http://docs.google.com/View?id=df7ss89s_49xc27mgc8

Further details and the booking form can be found here: http://admin.rsc-wales.ac.uk/events/event_details.asp?eid=550

The event will be hosted at the All Nations Centre in Cardiff and the cost is £50 per person.

BOOK NOW

We look forward to seeing you there.

Regards

The RSC Wales team.

2020: a prophecy

NLW has recently published on its website a paper entitled ’2020: a long view of the National Library of Wales’.

http://www.llgc.org.uk/fileadmin/documents/pdf/Vision.pdf

The paper tries to identify the most significant factors – economic, political, social and technological – that are likely to affect the Library over the next ten years.  It goes on to suggest how the Library itself will develop over the same period.  There will be major changes in collecting, many propelled by digital developments, and in the way users and collections interact.  A much more prominent role is proposed for the Library as an educational institution, and its relationship with local institutions in Wales may well change in radical ways.

This is not a consultation paper, but comments on it are very welcome.  It will be the subject of a talk and discussion at the Welsh Libraries Conference in Llandrindod Wells on 14 May.

UC&R Wales visit to Sheffield Information Commons

9th September 2009

Advance notice: an opportunity to visit the award-winning Information Commons. “Born out of completely fresh thinking about learning resources for the 21st century student, it contains a whole range of study spaces within a single spectacular building.”

There will be limited places available on this visit so please book soon to be sure of a place. 

For more information, contact Steve Lee at srlee@glam.ac.uk or phone 01443 483391.

Redesigned Trevithick Library opens

The redesigned Trevithick Library at Cardiff University has been declared officially open by Honorary Fellow Carol Vorderman.

At a special launch event held in the Library on 25 March 2009, speakers included Professor Malcolm Jones, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Estates, and Janet Peters, University Librarian.  Janet is pictured with Carol Vorderman.

Speaking at the event, Carol said: “It is fantastic to see investment in modern facilities which not only look stylish but are also practical and really cater for the needs of students and inspire research and learning.”

As part of Information Services’ Library Review, the Trevithick Library has been completely redesigned to enhance the student experience. It now offers a range of modern environments which meet changing technological and curriculum needs.

Key elements of the new design include a research lounge, open study spaces, group study rooms, wireless networks and a modern ‘computer bar’. To allow students total flexibility, self-service book issue and return units and an external 24 hour book return chute have also been installed.

More information in press release

UC&R Wales Event – Creating new learning spaces

UC&R Wales Event — Creating New Learning Spaces — Cardiff University Trevithick Library  29th April 2009

Ruth Thornton (the Trevithick Librarian) and Amanda Heal (Design Research Unit Wales, Cardiff School of Architecture) will be presenting the Trevithick Library – from Vision to Reality. The planning and implementation of the new learning space which is the Trevithick Library. The session will include a tour of the Library.

In the afternoon Professor Philippa Levy (Academic Director, CILASS – Centre for Inquiry-based Learning in the Arts and Social Sciences, University of Sheffield Information Commons) will be talking about The Development of new learning spaces at Sheffield University.

Ian Pearshouse (the Learning Research Systems Manager of The Learning Sciences Research Institute (LSRI) at The University of Nottingham) will be presenting The findings from the JISC funded study  “Effective Evaluation Models and Practices for Technology Supported Physical Learning Spaces” and taking a look at where we go from here…

Cost £30.00 per delegate including buffet lunch and refreshments

For more information or to reserve a place, contact Steve Lee at srlee@glam.ac.uk

Study Tour to Dublin

After an excellent study tour to Dublin in November, the photos of the various libraries we visited are now available on Flickr.  This is a photo from the start of the tour: