Student Library User Group
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- Availability of journals and ebooks/print copy provision (Vicki Cormie)
- Holds and recalls, possible changes to time limits (Graeme Hawes)
- Short loan bookings and recent weekend changes (EM/GH)
- LIBRARY 24/7 - USAGE AND PLANS FOR FUTURE
- AP – EMcC to confirm with student representatives once a second 24/7 trial is arranged for May. Reservation of study spaces (EM)
- AP – Library to consider how such a policy could be advertised and enforced. No card no access policy (EM)
- ST MARY’S LIBRARY (GREG C.)
- AP – Library to continue monitoring usage data and user feedback with a view to potentially opening earlier at weekends.
Student Library User Group16.00 Monday 11 Feb 2013 Committee Room, Students’ Union MINUTES PRESENT: Student Representatives: Amanda deBerardinis (Modern Languages), Yeung Cheung (Economics), Izzy Corbin (Classics), Sarah Jane Gaffney (Psychology), Viktorija Geobyte (Physics & Astronomy), Hillevi Gustafson (Film School), Ondrej Hajda (International Relations), Carolyn Keller (History), Amanda Litherland (Chair & Director of Representation), , Kate Reid (English), Aleksejs Sazonovs (Computer Science), AnneMarie Schreyer (International Relations), Katherine Skinner (Social Anthropology), Pip Tildesley (Geography & Geosciences), Carolina Wonnacott (Management). Library: Vicki Cormie (Senior Academic Liaison Librarian), Graeme Hawes (User Services Manager), Ewan McCubbin (Assistant Director, Liaison & User Services), Hilda McNae (Senior Academic Liaison Librarian) and Louise Pidcock (minutes). APOLOGIES: Daniel O’Hara The minutes of last meeting 22 November 2012 were approved.
Athens is no longer the authentication system used to access the Library’s large e-resource collections. VC asked the group if they had found any problems with off campus access. Most students found the log in system now used for accessing e-books worked better without Athens. Some of the e-books were hard to locate but overall students found this system better. She asked if students preferred e-books to print. Most of the group liked the option of having core text books available in print. VC said if students wanted parts of books or journals digitised (that were not otherwise available electronically), this could be done under our digitisation copyright licence, with extracts uploaded into modules on MMS. International Relations students had found problems opening some PDF files; HMcN said different types of computers caused different types of problems opening certain files. If students found any problems opening files they were told to contact a member of the Academic Liaison team as soon as possible.
The system used at present to recall items on loan from the Library allows you 7 calendar days to return the book after receiving the first recall notice. The item is then held for 5 days on the hold shelf. GH asked if the group felt this was a reasonable balance. GH stated he would be reluctant to change this system as he felt it worked well. Overall the group agreed with him that the system worked well. A group member said if she had a book that was recalled she felt obliged to return it as soon as possible as the recall meant someone else needed the book. GH asked the group to ask their colleagues if they found the system acceptable as he always welcomed feedback on this issue.
GH informed the group of recent changes to weekend borrowing of short loan books. The weekend borrowing now meant short loan books taken over this period followed the same rules as short loan books borrowed during the week – i.e. a book borrowed on a Friday was due back on a Saturday rather than a Monday. He had received no complaints about the new rule and felt it had been advertised successfully. The new system meant there were no longer queues for books first thing on a Monday morning. In the near future he hoped to be looking with a fellow Library colleague at the Short Loan system used at Warwick University. Warwick have managed to use the system borrowing system as St Andrews but have implemented advanced booking of short loan time slots, but still on a self-service issue basis.
EMcC reported that during the December trial of 24/7 opening the behaviour of students in the Library had been very good with no bad conduct reported. The reported usage had been very low and EMcC said full details of data to back this up will follow. The 3-4am time period had proved to be very low. The cost to the Library per person per seat had therefore proved expensive. EMcC stated he was keen to repeat the exercise in the exam period in May later this year. He said he was working with Library staff, Estates (who provide cleaners for the Library) and RBS (who run Café 1413) to make this possible. It was suggested by some students that numbers could have been low as some schools had no exams during the period before Christmas. EMcC said at this time he was unable to confirm for definite if 24/7 would happen again as it depended on other parties making it possible. Staff costs had proved to be the greatest but the University also had to consider the cost of heating and lighting the building on a 24/7 basis. AP – EMcC to confirm with student representatives once a second 24/7 trial is arranged for May.
The 24/7 trial had highlighted the problem of unofficial reservation of study spaces. Some students found this an annoying practice, having study spaces left with belongings and no user for long periods of time. During the 24/7 trial period some possessions were left in the same place for a week therefore not freeing the study space for another user. EMcC confirmed that the Library does not currently have a policy of removing unattended items after a set period of time. He indicated that other university libraries have adopted policies of staff removing belongings in order to free up study spaces but was interested to find out from students if there was an appetite for a similar approach at St Andrews. The group felt it should be made clear to Library users they could only leave their belonging in the one place for an hour at a time. This would allow for café visits, toilet breaks and quick visits into town. They felt the Library should advertise this as Library policy and it would make anyone abusing this rule uncomfortable. AP – Library to consider how such a policy could be advertised and enforced.
EMcC informed the group the Library still intended to introduce a no card no access policy. If a user turns up to the Main Library without their ID card they would be issued with a temporary day pass (but only after confirming their identity with Welcome Desk staff). A maximum of 3 temporary passes would be issued within a set period of time (either a semester or academic year). If as user comes to the Library for a fourth time without their ID card, they would be denied access. If a student loses their card, a new ID will normally be issued the day after they report it to IT Services. If a student has lost or damaged their matriculation card, they will be able to register for a temporary day pass at the Welcome Desk, pending the issue of their replacement card. Such day passes would count towards the 3 pass quota, hopefully encouraging students who have lost their card to get it replaced. Statistics from the security gates on the use of the Library are being collated. All the data is now being captured by IT and passed onto the data warehouse. The data that is available shows Sunday as the busiest day in the building. The question was asked why books taken from JF Allen Library set off the alarms in the Main Library. GH explained JFA and the Main Library use different systems to de-sensitise the books. He informed students to have the books de-sensitised at the front desk in the main building to stop alarms activating and causing any distress to users.
AL said the student who wanted to raise this issue was not present so she would pass this item onto the next agenda. GH informed her if she was to tell the student to email him he would try to deal with the issue.
It was asked if it would be possible to open the Main Library earlier on a Sunday morning. EMcC said that before September 2011 when the first phase of the redevelopment was completed, the Main Library opened at 9am on Saturdays and Sundays. The decision at the time had been to offset the early morning opening at weekends with extensions to closing times – i.e. open later but also close later. So at that point the Library started to open at 10am both weekend days but Saturday closing time was increased from 9pm to midnight and Sundays from midnight to 2am. Friday night closing time had also been increased from 10pm to midnight. EMcC also pointed out that until February 2010, the Main Library didn’t open until 1pm so even the current opening time of 10am represented a significant improvement in the last 3 years. However, the Library would continue to monitor usage data and feedback with a view to opening earlier at weekends. This would be dependent on not only staff agreeing to a contractual change in their working hours but also the University providing the additional salary budget that would be needed. AP – Library to continue monitoring usage data and user feedback with a view to potentially opening earlier at weekends.  
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