New Libraries – New ChallengesCILIP West Midlands AGM & Member’s Day

30th march 2011

The Hive(aka Worcester Library & History Centre)

Roger Fairman M.Sc., P.G.Dip.Lib., B.Sc., MCLIP

Coming in this Presentation …….

• Introductions

• The Vision

• Staffing

• Questions

Library Services Development

Dept. of Information and Learning ServicesUniversity of Worcester.

Full time secondment to the Hive project

Roger Fairman M.Sc., P.G.Dip.Lib., B.Sc., MCLIP

The Partners …

The Partners:University of Worcester

Student population - 9454

80% - Undergraduate19% - Taught postgraduate 1% - Postgraduate research

70% - Female46% - Over 25 : 67% - over 21 9% - Some form of disability

2009/10 figures

34% - Institute of Education

25% - Institute of Health, Social Care & Psychology

13% - Institute of Humanities and Creative Arts

13% - Worcester Business School

8% - Institute of Sport and Exercise Science

6% - Institute of Science and the Environment

1% - Graduate Research School

  

The Partners:University of Worcester

The Partners:WCC – Libraries & Learning

Worcester Central Library

Wonderful piece of Civic architecture

Which is unfortunately totally unsuited to the demands of a modern library service

Provides only 25% of the IFLA recommended floor space for its catchment population (1,000 m2 vs 4,000 m2)

Cramped and unable to display some fascinating special collections.

Increasingly on the periphery of the changing urban landscape of Worcester

The Partners:Worcestershire Record Office

County Hall Campus (original documents)

• on the periphery of the city

• 20% (and growing) of original material held at two other locations up to 75 miles away due to lack of space.

History Centre (Local & Family History – mainly secondary & surrogate documents)

The new building will combine the two branches and allow all the collections to be stored in one place for the first time.

The Partners:Worcestershire Historic Environment & Archaeology Service

Currently located on University of Worcester Campus

Links with University through involvement in degree courses in Archaeology & the Historic Environment.

Opportunity to work more closely with the Record Office and the Customer service centre

Seeking higher public profile

The Partners:Worcestershire Hub

One stop shop service for information relating to Local Government Services.

Shared service between Worcestershire County Council, Worcester City Council and Surrounding District Councils.

Need for larger, custom built accommodation.

Already some experience of co-location within Libraries (e.g. Malvern)

Significantly different customer base from the university and public library.

The Vision …

…. create a cultural, learning and information centre of excellence promoting life-long learning, engendering social inclusion and raising aspirations in the broadest sense for the whole community, regardless of age, background or ability.

Project Initiation Document, March 2006

Transforming this…

Into this…

The Vision …“There are ten key principles that should underpin how we will turn our vision into

reality through excellent design.”WLHC Detailed Design statement 2007

• Inspiration

• Connection

• Aspiration

• Learning

• Integration

• Inclusivity

• Enduring Values

• Well-being

• Sustainability

• Visibility

The Vision …connection

Project is seen as both a physical and metaphorical bridge linking

the City and the University : “Town with Gown”

The Vision …Connection

New Generations to Ancient texts

Ideas to Business Plans

People to Skills

The Curious to Learning

Libraries to New Audiences

The Disadvantaged to The Community

Questions to Answers

Staffing …

Challenges:

Staffing …Values

Mixed groups of staff

Produce a visual representation of key values

Voting with Post-it notes

Summarised by facilitator

Results from 4 sessions synthesized into …

Staffing …Values

Staffing …Values

•Values sessions followed up with team leaders session on “what would this look like in practice”.

•Values themselves are now distributed as part of the recruitment process.

•Part of a overall Training & Development programme which includes:

• Visits• Shadowing• Workshops• On-Line sessions.

Organised using Moodle (open source VLE)

Contact Details: Roger Fairman r.fairman@worc.ac.uk

Project website wlhc.org.uk

Articles:

Fairman, Roger and Hannaford, Anne (2010) Synergy, Efficiency and Vision – the Worcester Library and History Centre. SCONUL Focus (50). pp. 86-89. http://eprints.worc.ac.uk/1286/

Keene, Judith and Fairman, Roger (2011) Building an Integrated Work Force Through Shared Values: the Worcester Library and History Centre. Library Review, 60 (3). pp. 188-201 http://eprints.worc.ac.uk/1301

Thank You For Listening

Questions?