Have Your Say! Library Focus Group

At the Library we pride ourselves on our openness to feedback, comments, and, when necessary, criticism. And thanks to you, we’ve made a number of changes to the ways we can help you get the best out of your studies.

From improvements to wifi coverage and IT facilities to loan recalls during vacations, to extended opening hours, you’ve told us what you’d like – and we’ve listened.

We’d like your help to help us help you again! We’re running a Library Focus Group on Wednesday 13th March at 12.15pm in Library Seminar Room 1 to get your feedback about how we’re doing. We’re open to discussion on any subject related to the Library – our resources, study spaces, skills support, anything you like.

By way of an added incentive, we’re throwing in a free lunch as well!

If you are interested in attending, please email library@lboro.ac.uk to register.

We look forward to seeing you – and hearing your ideas.

Library Gallery Now Open!

07 Gallery

We’re very proud to announce that we’ve just launched our very own Library art gallery, containing many of the winning images from Library photo & image competitions held down the years, as well as artwork by the Library artist-in-resident.

The gallery can be found in the stairwell between level 3 and 4 on staircase ‘B’ (those are the stairs closest to the PC Clinic). We will be changing the images on display periodically, so come back often to see what’s new!

Welcome to the Start of Term!

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A big WELCOME to all our visitors – old and new! – as we start another exciting academic year. We hope everybody had a good summer (we missed you, by the way!) and we’re looking forward to the pleasure of your company over the year ahead.

We haven’t been entirely resting on our laurels over the summer, and there are a few new things that we’ve done since June that you might not be aware of…

  • Extra power sockets on Level 3. We embarked on an extensive re-wiring project over the summer, with the result that the majority of the study tables in Open 3 are now equipped with their own electrical sockets – so you no longer have to worry about dragging desks about and trailing wires all over the place!
  • Extra CAD software. IT Services have installed CAD software on an additional 86 work stations in the Library, covering levels 2 & 4, meaning we have 122 PC’s in total that contain the software.
  • Credit/Debit card payments on the Self Issue machines. All of our Self Issue machines have now been enabled to take payments over £5 using your credit/debit card, so you don’t have to queue at the desk to pay your book fines any longer (not that you’re going to forget to return your books on time though, right? Right!)
  • Increased Loan Allowances. Last term (if you can remember back that far!) we increased loan allowances across the board to help you out during the exam season. Well, we deemed that to be such a success that we’ve made it permanent. So now you’ve no excuse to stock up for the term ahead!

Newcomers and old lags alike will also find our latest batch of ‘Get the Know How’ courses useful, whether you’re making your first visit to us or you simply want a refresher.

We hope you enjoy your term – and best of luck for the year ahead!

Prize winners for completing Library refurb survey

Pilkington library after refurbishmentThank you to the 271 people who completed the recent survey evaluating the Library refurbishment. The results are very interesting and will be used to make sure the Library carries on doing what it does well and changes what it doesn’t! Three Amazon voucher prizes were on offer for people who made their views known via the survey. Congratulations to the following lucky winners:

  • Ruth Hepburn,  Textiles student
  • Christopher Tydeman, Computer Science student
  • Baljinder Samrai,  Materials M Phil student

 

Study Space on Level 3 – Some Clarification Following Recent Student Feedback

Pilkington library after refurbishment

We have been receiving some feedback lately about the apparant lack of study tables in Open 3, and how compared to previous years the space seems a lot emptier – and why we’re not filling this empty space with more tables!

Simply put, we cannot provide any further tables in the study area of Open 3 or anywhere else on that level. This is not because we don’t want to, but because University fire regulations govern the number of  spaces that can be safely taken up in that area. Truth be told, in fact, that in previous years we’ve actually been breaking these regulations with the volume of tables and seating we provided – as people who may remember the crushes and crowded avenues from the last couple of years can confirm!

This, we hope, has been balanced out by the creation of over 300 extra study spaces, mostly upstairs on Level 4, during last year’s refurbishment, which has increased total Library visitor capacity from 1070 to 1370 – so you haven’t actually lost out at all, but gained considerably!

The perception of emptiness is also altered, unfortunately, by students and visitors who insist on dragging tables across the room so that they can plug laptops or other apparatus into more convenient wall sockets, as opposed to simply using the adjacent study space.

Obviously this movement of furniture has the two-fold effect of making the centre Open 3 look a lot emptier, plus it means that the side of the table jammed against the wall cannot be used for study purposes – in effect, reducing space further.

We do therefore ask that students and visitors show a little more consideration when it comes to utilising furniture in this way; we have sited the furniture in such a way that everybody can make best advantage of it. Moving it around may mean that you are depriving others of much-sought after study space (and may also possibly be blocking fire escape routes). We are very much aware that there is an issue over the lack of electrical sockets, and this is a situation that we are looking at remedying over the summer vacation (obviously we can’t do it sooner as the work will have a considerable disruption to the study environment).

We hope this goes some way to explaining the present situation. If you have any comments, suggestions or feedback about the use of Library space you wish to make, we’d be delighted to hear them by contacting us via email, Twitter or our Facebook page, or simply pop a note in one the suggestion boxes located on all floors of the Library.

Thanks!

Refurbishment Survey – Tell Us What You Think for a Chance to win £50

Pilkington library after refurbishment

As you may have noticed (we hope!) the Library had a major refurbishment last summer, and the University would very much like to know what you think of the changes that were made to the building, with a view to helping inform us how the building should continue to change in future.

As such, we’re running a survey about the refurbishment, and by way of a “thank you” for taking part everyone who completes the survey will be entered into a prize draw to win one of three £50 Amazon vouchers.

The survey is open to all staff and students, and can be completed via this link:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/99S6MFW

"I love the Library!"

National Libraries Day2Our National Libraries Day goody-giveaway last Friday was a rampant success, and we’d like to thank EVERYONE who participated with our little survey about our new Level 4 and its Leisure Reading collection. We received a lot of very nice comments from people, including the following:

“It’s spacious, it’s comfortable, it isn’t loud – perfect for studying… I love the Library. Massive selection of academic and leisure books. I always feel comfortable here and I achieve a lot academically. The staff are also very helpful :)”

Which quite nicely capped our day!

Have a Sweet Treat on Us for National Libraries Day

national libraries dayTo mark National Libraries Day this weekend we’ll be running a little stand up on Level 4 from 11am where we’ll be extolling the virtues of libraries in general and our own facilities in particular, especially our wonderful new (and ever so popular!) Level 4 and the literary pleasures of the Leisure Reading collection contained upon its shelves up there. And in return for a couple of minutes of your time telling us what you think of these new facilities, we’ll top up your chocolate levels with a free treat. What more could you ask for?

National Libraries Day is, as its title suggests, an annual celebration of libraries throughout the UK, be they academic, college, public or school libraries, and seeks to highlight all the positives things libraries and librarians contribute to people, families, communities, workplaces, the economy and society. To find out more, visit the campaign’s website here.

Bring Your Own Device to the Library Survey

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In 2013, the Library and IT Services at Loughborough University undertook a small scale investigation into the impact of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and students.

In recent years an increasing number of people coming into the Library building were equipped with their own laptops or tablets or smart phones (or a combination of them all). At the same time it is becoming increasingly easy to access content via these hand held devices.

A short survey was completed by 129 Library users in February 2013 focusing on students and BYOD. Various similarities and differences were identified in how students were using laptops, tablets and smart phones. Other questions about using ICT also generated some valuable data. The ultimate purpose of this study was to inform the Library’s 2013 refurbishment.

The results of this survey are now available to read as a PDF file from the following link:

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/media/wwwlboroacuk/content/library/downloads/projects/Library%20IT%20Services%20BYOD%20study%20(2013).pdf