Author Archives: Matthew Cunningham

Finalist clearing

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University LibraryHopefully you will have enjoyed using the Library over the course of your degree. There is just one thing to make sure you do before the last day of term – make sure your Library account is clear.

The Library is required to notify departments of any students who have NOT returned books/paid fines by the time their Board of Examiners meets.

You may check your borrower record on any Catalogue Plus terminal in the Library or on the self service units in the Library, but you must still present your card to be cancelled. Please do not leave it until the last minute, in case there is any query. Please also ensure your department knows where to contact you if necessary.

 N.B. Due to the Library refurbishment works over the Summer period, all accounts MUST be cleared by 5pm on Wednesday 19th June 2013 otherwise outstanding charges will be added to your account at Student Finance.

 If you have any query about your record, please contact the Library asap.

Once you have graduated, you are welcome to come back and use the Library. We have our alumni membership scheme which gives you free membership of the Library for 5 years after you join as an alumni, letting you borrow up to 8 long/week loan books at a time. For more details on this scheme, please have a look at our alumni webpage or contact our Customer Services Manager.

To recall, or not to recall, that is the question….

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6334060675_c8cff5ae11There are two areas that the Library’s Customer Services Team receive most negative comments about throughout the year:
• problems about returning books during the vacation periods
• how long before the due date the courtesy notice emails we send to users should be sent.

For the first time, the Library has decided it will hold a vote amongst its users to decide on the future policy on these issues. If this vote is successful, we may look to hold further votes on specific issues in future.

The vote will run from Monday 15th April to Monday 13th May and can be found at here.  If you have any questions about the vote, please feel free to contact the Library’s Customer Services Manager, Matt Cunningham

Need to visit another Library? The Sconul access application procedure has changed.

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sconul
The way to register for the SCONUL Access Scheme has changed. You can now apply on-line for your passport to over 170 higher education libraries. .

What is SCONUL Access?
• It is the largest borrowing and reference scheme in the UK and Republic of Ireland
• It allows staff and students from one member library to use other member libraries
• It is free to join

What has changed?
• You can now apply to join the scheme online and receive all communication from your home library electronically.

But I have already joined; what happens to me?
• We have thousands of current members with SCONUL Access cards. Libraries will continue to accept these cards.
• You can use the new website to find suitable host libraries and their contact details.
• Carry on joining libraries and borrowing!

I am not a member but it sounds like a great idea! How do I join?
• Go to http://www.access.sconul.ac.uk/sconul-access and follow a few simple steps.
• Tell the system what kind of library user you are (staff, full time post graduate, distance learner etc.) and the name of the library at which you are employed or registered as a student).
• Find a library will show you all potential host libraries either as a map or a list. You can modify your search to find libraries in a particular region or near a postcode.
• Choose your first host library by clicking on the name; this will give you details of the institution and allow you to “Apply for access”. This will lead you to an online registration form for the scheme which you can submit to your home library for approval.
• Use the side menus for more details of the scheme.
• Staff at your home library will process your application generally within three working days. They will check that you are a registered user with no outstanding fines or problems.
• Once your application is approved you will receive and email confirming that you are eligible for the scheme. Some users such as undergraduates are only allowed reference access.
• Take a copy of this email and your library or ID card to libraries that you wish to join.
• These host libraries will issue you with a library card so that you can borrow books or gain reference access until your SCONUL Access card expires.
Remember to check the website of your host libraries for crucial information such as opening hours before you visit.

If you have any questions on The SCONUL Access scheme, please contact The Library’s Customer Services Manager.

Need help? – ask a roamer!

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 journals2                                              Ever wondered what those staff who wonder the floors of the Library are up to? Well, one possibility is that they could be one of the customer services team whose job it is to roam the floors to help out our users without them having to go to one of the enquiry desks.

The roaming staff work Monday – Friday between 11am and 3pm during the term, so if you see them and want some help, just let them know and they will be happy to help with finding books, printing problems or just helping you find where you want to go in the Library. They will have an iPad on them, so if you need to ask something to do with the catalogue, they will be able to give you an answer on the spot.

The roamers will also make sure people are behaving in an appropriate manner, that the printers are full of paper and that all the tables and chairs are kept neat on the lower floors. If you notice a problem that needs dealing with, let them know and we will take it from there.

University Library: Renewal reminder notice for staff & researchers

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6334680358_f2ec282b4bThe next renewal reminders (Courtesy notice) for staff & researchers who have borrowed long loan books from the Library are due to be sent out on Monday 4th February 2013 for all long loan items that are due for return on 8th February 2013.

If you want to beat the rush, it is possible to renew your books now until 28th June 2013, either by logging on to the catalogue and renewing them online or by emailing the Customer Services Manager. M.S.Cunningham@lboro.ac.uk

For anyone who is not sure how to renew books online, we have prepared a short video with instructions.

Please note, if you have already renewed your long loan items, you will need to bring them back to the Library, return them on the self-service machines and reissue them to yourself, as staff and researchers only have one unseen renewal online.

Please ensure that you check your account and renew / return any items on or before the 8th February 2013 to ensure you are not fined for late returns. If you have any queries about your account, please ensure you contact the Library so that we can resolve an issues before any fines are charged.

Library achieves 100% Customer Services Excellence (CSE) compliancy in December 2012

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6334060675_c8cff5ae11Loughborough University Library is pleased to announce that it became 100% compliant to the Customer Services Excellence award in December 2012. CSE was developed by the UK Government to ‘ to offer services a practical tool for driving customer-focused change within their organisation’.

In order to achieve the award, organisations are assessed against 57 separate criteria under five main strands: Customer Insight, The Culture of the Organisation, Information and Access, Delivery and Timeliness and Quality of Service. In 2011 the Library achieved accreditation and had full compliance against 52 of the 57 criteria and 5 areas where we are considered to be compliance plus (i.e. market leading). The 2011 report stated:

“The commitment of the management team, and the whole staff, to deliver the best possible service to all users is totally apparent. The continuing amount of customer-led improvements is impressive… and that customer service is at the heart of everything they do.”

There were 5 areas out of the 57 where the Library was not fully compliant and a follow up assessment took place in October 2012 to assess progress in these areas. The Library can now report it is fully complaint in all 57 criteria. This is a great achievement for which the Library is very proud.

“Front-line service delivery remains of a high standard with the most recent results of Key Performance Indicators confirming this.”(2012 report)

The Library is particularly pleased with the student focus group facilitated by the CSE assessor where comments such as ‘everyone is really friendly here and nothing seems to be too much trouble for them’ were made. Matt Cunningham (Customer Services Manager in the Library) has said:

‘The Library spends a lot of time and effort in training Library staff to make sure they help University staff and students in a helpful and informed way. Having this confirmed through the CSE award is great to have because it shows we are getting it right. The challenge is to carry on this level of service after the Library has been refurbished in 2013’

Study space during 24/7 exam period – clearing desks

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Students at work on Level 3Anyone who has experienced the Library during exam periods will know that we get pretty busy, so the Library does have a policy of clearing desks to ensure spaces are not reserved.

At various points of the day Library staff patrol the building and leave notes on unattended desks. If these notes are still there 30 minutes later all the items on the desk will be collected to free up space for other users. The security staff will also gather belongings left overnight to make sure there are spaces first thing in the morning. We clear desks because of feedback we have received from our users in the past. The desk clearing procedures will start on Monday 14th January.

We hope this will help those who need a space to revise in to work in the Library. If you have any feedback, please feel free to contact Matt Cunningham, Customer Services Manager or leave a message on ask a librarian.

Look out for messages in the next couple of days about aditional study space open around campus for revision.

Borrowing books over Xmas

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The Christmas vacation is the only period we do not recall books – because of the high volumes of Xmas post and because the Library is actually closed between Friday 21th Dec and Wednesday 2nd Jan.

From Friday 7th December, you will be able to borrow and renew week and long loan items until the 9th January 2013.

“Xmas Tree”. CC licenced image from Flickr

The only exception to this is if a book has an outstanding request – where it will continue to only issue for one week.

The last recall notices for books also go out on Friday 7th December, so make sure you continue to check your emails up to that date to make sure you do not have to return books on your record before the end of term.

Short loan books stay the same over the vacation period.

The scores are in….how did we perform against our KPI targets?

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Twice a year we check how we are performing against the KPI targets we set ourselves – our first week this year was w/c 19th November.

 As can be seen from the results below, we performed extremely well again – meeting all our targets apart from one – for opening hours (and even that was by just over 1%).

Highlights include shelving just over 1/3 of all books returned within one hour of return and replying to all ask a librarian queires within one working day.

We promise not to rest on our laurels, however, and are determined that our next monitoring week will produce a clean sweep across the board. We will let you know how we did.

KPI performance table Semester 1 2012