Loughborough University Library Research Articles

The ScholarLed Consortium

ScholarLed, a consortium of five not-for-profit, scholar-led OA book publishers, was founded in 2018 in order to develop powerful, practical ways for small-scale, scholar-led Open Access presses to grow and flourish in a publishing landscape that is changing rapidly. We comprise Mattering Press, meson press, Open Book Publishers, Open Humanities Press, and punctum books: five publishers with different business models and publishing practices, but with a shared commitment to making high-quality research available OA without levying Book Processing Charges (BPCs).
 We have approached this task with the philosophy of ‘scaling small’; in other words, rather than seeking to grow our reach by any one of us becoming exponentially larger, we want to create systems that allow a large number of diverse, small-scale scholarly publishing initiatives to operate collaboratively, and so to foster a robust, inclusive and community-managed publishing ecosystem in partnership with all actors in the scholarly publishing ecosystem (including scholars, libraries, and funders). Collectively the ScholarLed presses have now published over 500 books, and expect to publish over 80 new titles in the coming year. What would the publishing landscape look like if, rather than 5 presses, we were 25, 50, or 100 in number?
 Accordingly, in our first year we became key partners in the Community-led Open Publication Infrastructures for Monographs (COPIM) project, which we developed along with organisations including Coventry University; Loughborough University Library; University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) Library; Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB); Jisc Collections; and the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC). In June of this year, this project successfully secured funding of £2.2 million from Research England to build the necessary open infrastructure over the next three years to transform open access book publishing, by moving away from a model of competing commercial service operations to a more horizontal and cooperative, knowledge-sharing approach.
 In this presentation, we will discuss the ‘scaling small’ philosophy that underlies ScholarLed, and how this chimes with growing international movements such as the Invest in Open Infrastructure initiative. We will also explore how this impacts the COPIM project and our firm conviction that, in order for open access publishing initiatives to thrive, we have to develop more robust definitions of ‘open’ that go beyond releasing content from behind paywalls. COPIM will pilot a range of interventions, from developing open, transparent, sustainable, and community-governed infrastructures for the curation, dissemination, discovery, and long-term preservation of open content and open data, to helping publishers transition away from a BPC-based business model, to following the best practices for integrating open content into institutional library, digital learning, and repository systems. COPIM prepares the ground for OA publishing to thrive, increasing its strength and heterogeneity within a robust, inclusive and community-managed publishing ecosystem: Scaling Small.
 Keywords: scholar-led; community-driven; open access publishing.

Capturing the student user experience (UX) in York and Loughborough University Library buildings

Purpose – In higher education libraries, the concept of the user experience has increased in profile and importance. The concept of the “student as customer” has generated much debate but there is general agreement that universities need to be more successful in meeting student expectations. A key strategic area for university libraries has been to adapt and improve their physical spaces to ensure that they are still relevant for today’s students. York and Loughborough University Libraries have both undergone building refurbishments and both are committed to monitoring and reviewing services and spaces. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – There were various constraints which very much influenced the methodology. These included: avoiding survey overload no resource allocation an acknowledgement that the methodology employed needed to combine rigour and validity with a pragmatic approach to data collection. A joint project team was established of representatives from each university. A questionnaire created on Google Forms was administered by staff with individuals in the library and entering the data onto a iPad. Findings – Findings provide evidence of use across a range of users along with valuable information on who is using our library spaces and for what purpose. Originality/value – This research is a rich contribution to the evidence based around student’s learning in universities. It benefits from the expertise and knowledge of two university libraries. As university’s continue to develop learning spaces, this work will enable further investigation around what makes a successful learning space and what makes the library a destination of choice.

Evaluating Possible Uses of a Raspberry Pi in an Academic Library Environment

Loughborough University's Library Systems Team investigated two potential uses for Raspberry Pis. The first use to be identified for investigation was using the Raspberry Pi as a replacement for the existing OPAC hardware. While it met a majority of the requirements there were issues with the responsiveness to user input at certain times. The second use for Raspberry Pis investigated was to provide a number of digital signs to display details about resource bookings and the availability of PCs in IT labs around campus. The Raspberry Pi demonstrated that it was ideally suited to this task.

University Libraries and Space in the Digital World ed. by Graham Matthews and Graham Walton (review)

Reviewed by: University Libraries and Space in the Digital World ed. by Graham Matthews and Graham Walton Barbara I. Dewey University Libraries and Space in the Digital World, ed. Graham Matthews and Graham Walton. Surrey UK: Ashgate Publishing Company, 2013. 228p. $89.96 (ISBN-978-1-4094-2382-9). University Libraries and Space in the Digital World seeks to explore a variety of topics on library space in the digital age. Editors Graham Matthews and Graham Walton want readers to have greater insight into how university libraries will continue to use physical space in the 21st century and to understand the history and future of library space. They propose to achieve their goal by using library experts from “across the world” as chapter authors. The editors are experienced academic library practitioners, researchers, and academics at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom. They both have a long-standing interest in library space and recently completed a project evaluating how social learning space was being used at Loughborough University Library, during which the rationale for this book emerged (J. Bryant, G. Matthews, and G. Walton, “Academic Libraries and Social and Learning Space: A Case Study at Loughborough University Library,” Journal of Library and Information Science, 41, 1 (2009): 7-18.) The book contains chapters by authors from the UK (most numerously represented), US, Australia, and Finland. Chapters begin with the history of libraries and library space and move on to aspects of library space transformation, including the philosophical context of space. The book ends with a speculative chapter on the future of library space. Chapter authors have varying degrees of expertise and currency in research librarianship. On balance the quality of content is very good to excellent. Chapter 1, Space in the University Library – An Introduction, stresses drivers for space justification such as the budget crises, but then correctly points out that regardless of the economy a number of factors move university libraries to transform spaces. Authors Sarah Childs, Graham Matthews, and Graham Walton outline trends in university library space by decade beginning with pre-1970s through 2000s. It is here that the information commons concept is mentioned. However, the authors missed the relevance of, and real beginning for, the commons movement, which occurred in the early 1990s with the onset of the Internet, pedagogical innovations, and generational changes. Groundbreaking installations of this era included the University of Iowa’s Information Arcade and University of Southern California’s Levy Library. More focus in this collection should have been placed on the commons movement and its striking effect on library space planning. Premier space experts such as Joan Lippincott, associate director of the Coalition of Networked Information, would have been nice additions to this collection for her knowledge of the history and development of information commons. However, Lippincott’s work, so important to library space transformation, is cited in several of the chapters. Chapter 5, Library Space and Print, includes a discussion of both special collections and the trend for student-focused [End Page 426] space in newly formulated special collections departments and libraries. Major library projects, such as the University of Virginia’s Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, underscore the core importance of special collections as collectively bringing the world’s unique scholarship to the table of knowledge. If the reader had only time to read one chapter it would have to be Chapter 6, From Stronghold to Threshold: New Library and New Opportunities. Chris Banks provides incredibly useful strategies for space planning in his case study of building the University of Aberdeen’s new university library and special collections center. The most important aspects, many of which are overlooked in other projects, including consultation with stakeholders, fund raising, selection of a design team, project governance, staff engagement, print and noise management, and moving in are effectively covered. The chapter ends with an important and potentially useful list of success factors for the library project. Chapter 9, University Library Staff Accommodation: Why Space Matters for the Forgotten Army, is one of the only writings I have seen focused on staff and space. Hopefully this chapter will be a catalyst for more work on staff space in the 21st...

The Application of QR Codes in UK Academic Libraries

Quick Response (QR) codes are relatively new in the UK, although they have been used very successfully in Japan. Two examples of the use of QR codes for commercial product promotion are outlined, one successful, the other a failure. Against this background, this article considers the increasing need for academic libraries to promote their services and resources to a “mobile clientele.” It reports on two case studies of UK academic libraries that use QR codes to promote library resources. It also gives an account of a pilot exercise at Loughborough University Library where QR codes were briefly tested. The research found that, although awareness and use of QR codes in the UK was increasing and that certain types of QR codes, when used in academic libraries, were more successful than others, none of them were as successful as anticipated. Other new and more sophisticated technology was being developed which suggested that QR codes might simply be a bridging technology.

The Ideal Copy: Fallacies in the Cataloguing of Liturgical Books

OUR recent book, Cataloguing Discrepancies: the 1493 Breviary of York, at the moment in press, deals with some 40 catalogues in which is described the 1493 printing in Venice of the York breviary.1 They range from 1715 to 2005, Coates’ recent catalogue of early printed books in the Bodleian Library,2 and from the briefest of descriptions, as in the 1715 reference, to full descriptions, as in the most recent of these publications. Not one of the 40 is both complete and correct, although the first and last deal only with a single library. All except Coates are, at first glance, irrelevant to the present note, because only in Coates is the concept of the ‘ideal’ copy an issue. In Coates, the following is the structure of the entry for the Breviary of 1493: Inventory of contents, colophon, collation, references. We were informed that the inventory is of the ‘perfect’ (recte ideal) copy after at first thinking it was that of the only other extant copy, with which it is identical, but which Coates does not mention. His ‘first copy’ is the Bodleian book: his ‘second copy’ is the set of fragments in the Bodleian Library. The other complete copy, once in the church of St Helen’s, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, is now held in the Bate collection of Loughborough University Library.

Publish and be read? A review of the usage of Loughborough University Library publications

In 2000 Loughborough University Library reviewed its publications and redesigned their look, feel and content. The following year the Library asked its customers for feedback on the new publications and its web pages. This article describes the development of the library publications, the survey of customer attitudes and outlines future plans.

How to use a survey as a marketing tool: a case study of Loughborough University Library

With increasing competition from external information sources academic libraries need to undertake strong marketing initiatives to redress the balance. Evidence-based practice and evaluation of internal services may help to secure the future permanency of the academic library. In light of this, an initiative was undertaken by the Engineering Team at the University Library, Loughborough University to market its services and resources to the Engineering Faculty. A survey was utilised as the marketing tool. It was made available in electronic format and marketed via the Library website, Team Blog and targeted emails. Evaluation of the results enabled the Team to further raise its profile by taking various issues directly to the Faculty and actively marketing avenues of communication, training sessions and the Institutional Repository. As a marketing tool the survey approach was largely successful and subject teams may wish to utilise this approach as a component of their marketing strategy.

LEARNERS’ DEMANDS AND EXPECTATIONS FOR SPACE IN A UNIVERSITY LIBRARY: OUTCOMES FROM A SURVEY AT LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY1

In this era of e-learning, open-learning and distance learning in the electronic environment, it is interesting to note that library physical space is being given much consideration and thought in higher education institutions. If space is to be provided in an appropriate and welcoming manner, then it is imperative to develop a better understanding of learners’ expectations and needs. In order to provide this intelligence, a major user survey was undertaken at Loughborough University Library in March 2006 of learners’ perceptions of library space. Different kinds of space are provided in the Loughborough University Library, including large group study areas, group study rooms, individual carrels, silence subject floors and personal computer suites. Aspects explored in the survey were how often different library spaces were used as well as the important factors identified when choosing specific space. A further focus was to identify the reasons why library space was used (as well as not used). Further examinations took place of learners’ perceptions of the different space categories. This paper presents the outcomes of the survey (which benefited from over 400 responses). The survey has provided invaluable insight into such issues as noisy versus quiet learning, nature of personal computer access in libraries, importance levels of different factors (such as physical environment and access to library staff) and the role of print (books and journals) in library space. The paper concludes by describing how the survey results have influenced Loughborough University Library future space use. The wider implications for the sector will also be described.

How to make your e-resources earn their keep

Based on a paper given at the UKSG seminar ' The radical library: taking up the challenge', London, 13 November 2003' This paper outlines how Loughborough University Library ensures that the bibliographic and full text databases it subscribes to are used to the maximum. This is done through the collection of statistics, promotional activities including training and the introduction of a portal (MetaLib) and linking technologies (SFX). The article will concentrate on the introduction of MetaLib and SFX and discuss how successful the new services appear to be.

MetaLib and SFX at Loughborough University Library

This article outlines the implementation of MetaLib and SFX at Loughborough University. It includes details of the timescale, work and staff involved, how the services work, usage and the reactions of readers.

Meeting the library needs of distance learners without additional funding

States the problem of incorporating distance learning (DL) library services without additional funding. Describes the work of a distance learning working group at Loughborough University Library. Activities included an analysis of the characteristics of DL courses and students at Loughborough; a comparison of library services to on‐ and off‐campus students; a survey of DL students and academics; and a benchmarking exercise comparing DL library services at Loughborough with those at local and peer group institutions. Key outcomes of the research are presented. Details the suggested methods of funding the working group’s recommendations.

In with the new: reviewing library induction practices at Loughborough University

Describes the joint Library, Computing Services, and Learning and Teaching Development induction review at Loughborough University. Considers alternative Higher Education Library induction approaches; assesses recent practice at Loughborough University and describes the new approach adopted. This included a joint induction presentation and associated publication. Other induction methods at Loughborough University Library are also described. Finally, reports on a questionnaire evaluation of the joint induction approach and how it will affect future induction practice.

Towards the active collection: the use of circulation analyses in collection evaluation

As Learning Services at Liverpool John Moores University came under increasing pressure to provide value for money, they undertook a library per formance measurement exercise based on library circulation data gathered by their Dynix Library System. The project aimed to produce a simple analysis of the use of new acquisitions which would utilize the management infor mation existing in the library's automated system and set out to achieve 2 aims: to analyze the use made of each book acquired in order to determine the pro portion of each subject area's new acquisitions which circulated in the first full year of shelf life and the number of loans per item in each subject area; and to compare the library's acquisitions with statistics produced by Loughborough University's Library and Information Statistics Unit (LISU). Concludes that the data derived from these circulation activity reports can prove valuable in collection evaluation, enabling the library to identify high and low performing subject areas and examine budget allocations. The lim itations of this technique, identified in the study, could be easily overcome by library system suppliers if they provided collection management infor mation at a more sophisticated level.

Vine Volume 2 Issue 3 1972

LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY LIBRARY In order to fulfil the original aims of MINICS to provide a record structure hospitable to data describing all types of media — monographs, series, serials, etc. — the data fields are being redefined and a new feature incorporated to encode the significance of the contents of fields. The three levels of record — serial/series, monograph or individual item, and analytical are being retained and tags are still two digits. The MINICS record, based on MARC, is made up of a fixed length leader, a variable length directory and variable length data fields. The data fields fall into four categories: control elements, such as accession number, ISSN, ISBN, physical medium code; cataloguing data; linking elements, such as former and later title; and stock maintenance elements, such as frequency of publication, supplier, binding details. A range of field indicators has been defined which, when applied after a tag, show the significance of the data, e.g. whether a main or added heading is required, or distinguish data of a subsidiary nature. These indicators also act as dividers between repeated uses of a field.

Local Information Services for Industry in the East Midlands

Visits to fourteen public and five academic libraries in the East Midlands revealed that, although there was not a great demand, a number had developed specialized services to industry: in particular, Loughborough University Library ( LETIS) , Northamptonshire County Technical Library, and Nottingham Public Library ( NANTIS) . A questionnaire sent to NANTIS members, and visits to members of both NANTIS and LETIS, were particularly informative, and from the results of this investigation, suggestions are made for the improvement of information services to industry. For comparison, other local co-operative schemes are briefly considered through an examination of the literature, and from material gained from brief visits to the headquarters of two schemes. It is concluded that the existence of a formal co-operative scheme does not noticeably affect the quality of the service to industry. The article arises out of a thesis submitted for a Master's degree at Loughborough University in 1970. No attempt has been made to bring the material up to date.