Student led change

New drop-in meeting pod near the entranceBuilding on strength

We were delighted last year to report that a full four years after we first received Customer Service Excellence Standard recognition, our award had been fully reviewed and re-accredited but we have not stood still.  We have continued to work hard to make good our one point of partial compliance and exceed your expectations and impress our independent assessor in all areas, leveraging the strengths highlighted in the last assessment in empowering staff to “go the extra mile” and reflect the commitment of the Library's leadership team to embedding improvements to the customer experience across the board.

 

Creating a warmer welcome in person and online

We have completely refurbished the foyer and its toilets to create a lighter, brighter, more welcoming entrance to the Library.  New entry doors have an intelligent management system that works with a new energy-efficient heater to banish the winter winds and keep the entrance area and Atrium comfortably warm while continuing to support our ambition to act responsibly and sustainably and to become carbon neutral.

You told us that the Library was much larger than any you were used to, so we made getting to know the Library easier with a welcome video, an overview of library services for new students, a redesigned virtual tour and a separate self-guided audio tour

 

Student reading a book in the new Book NookReimagining library spaces

We reimagined, refurbished and repositioned the Book Nook, taking a once drafty space beneath the stairs and turning it into a warm, naturally lit relaxing sofa corner nestled next to the Library Café and the attractive Near and Far World Books collection of children's books in translation.  The leather chairs from the Book Nook found their way up to the first floor, where they replaced ageing furniture to add a touch of luxury and a new conversational cluster.

You told us that the existing water fountains were ageing and hard to find.  Staying hydrated is important for your study and wellbeing, so we prioritised replacing them with modern water bottle refill stations in easy-to-find locations, including next to the Library café.

Finding space to spread out and study used to be hard at peak times, so we condensed our collections to create space for naturally lit study spaces and added sound-baffling study pods so you can study with friends without outside distractions.  We also made all the teaching rooms in the library available to you day and night, whenever they are not being actively used for teaching.

 

Drop-in individual study podSpace for all

Being inclusive is at the heart of everything that we do and so we were delighted to be among the first buildings on campus to receive individual study pods where you can shut out the world and settle to study your way, which even come with focused, moveable, adjustable intensity lighting, so if you find the Library to be overstimulating, you can retreat into one of these pods and study in solitude.  Together with the Individual Silent Study Zone on the second floor and the complimentary reusable earplugs we offer our clients, these ensure everyone can escape the energizing buzz of the Library.

Every year, our students have told us that our resources were one of the things they liked most about their courses.  Learning from the experiences of providing meaningful changes to clients during lockdown, when all our clients were working remotely, we streamlined access to our eresources and worked with suppliers to bring more eresources than ever before delivered straight to your desktop in a digital-first approach intended to offer optimal support for blended learning for clients on campus and beyond and ultimately help us create more study spaces in the Library. 

 

Creative and Cultural Industries' Faculty Librarian Greta Friggens introducing one of the Library subject pages to studentsSupporting you wherever you study

We turned our Subject pages into tailored learning paths taking you from first steps to final projects with library teaching, support, and the best resources for your subject, restructured our website to make finding the services you most need simple and intuitive, and worked with Information Services to develop reliable a single sign-on system so you can now log in once and access everything you need without difficulty. 

Website improvements, powerful search tools and single sign-on access to eresources from anywhere using the VPN make finding what you want faster and more reliable.  Our friendly and expert staff are also on hand in person and online to help you get started and improve your search, digital, media and information literacy, and referencing.

 

Saving your time

We recognise the pressures of being a student and so continue to offer the Click & Collect service we first introduced during lockdown so you never have to search the shelves for books.  We also offer introduced an add-on for the library catalogue that offers 3D floor plans showing where to find books on a subject or with a particular classmark number

We redesigned our referencing advice pages to be more streamlined and comprehensive and wrote a simple overview guide for the APA 7th edition referencing style.  We restructured our website to be simpler and more intuitive and studded it with video shorts showing how everything works.

 

Convenience on demand

You told us that you did not all enjoy reading exclusively from a screen, and not all books are available electronically, so we introduced automated book loan renewals and postal loans for everyone staying in the UK.  Now everyone can read our print books, no matter where in the UK they are staying.  We still strive to offer ebooks for everything our distance learners need to read, as well as for all essential reading for other courses, so you can read or listen to your core materials at home or on the go without delay.

 

Students book cover design display 2018Art and recreation

We are proud to buy and display our students’ competition-winning art to stimulate and inspire future generations, as well as curating regularly changing displays by and for staff and students', showcasing their talents, hobbies, interests and projects.  There is nothing like the feeling when we see the burgeoning confidence of students seeing their work exhibited in public for the first time. 

 

 

 

 

Suggestions post boxTell us what you think

The library service has always been client-led, developed in response to feedback from people like you!  The library service you see now developed as a result of comments, suggestions, ideas and criticisms we received from previous students, just as your needs, insights, and creativity will help shape our future. 

While we actively engage with students and watch keenly for trends so we can anticipate your needs, there is no substitute for hearing from our clients.  Your comments and suggestions fuel change and help us meet your emerging needs. 

You can post ideas anonymously into our retro red suggestions post box on the ground floor near the IT Desk - just grab a feedback postcard from the supply on top of the post box.  You can also leave us a review on Google, chat with us in person or using our online chat service, through social media, or simply drop us a good old fashioned email!  There is even a dedicated feedback form on our website!