Creative People
Library Reshaping Project
During 2021 we completed the most significant change programme in the long history of the University’s Library, achieving a far-reaching transformation that will ensure our structure fully supports our journey towards Imagine2030. Beginning in 2019 with a radical reshaping of the Library’s Executive Team to form five new Directorates, our Library Reshaping Project (LRP) delivered a comprehensive realignment of every level of library staff to create a highly agile and future focused workforce.
A key challenge was leading a large and impactful change against the backdrop of the pandemic, which meant that the vast majority of the project had to be delivered remotely. Despite this less than ideal timing the LRP has been highly commended for the quality of its engagement and change management practice, leveraging the University values of Humanity and Courage to ensure an authentic and open approach to its communications.
The process saw the creation of 84 FTE new roles, with 55 FTE filled internally, the majority promotions, and 29 FTE externally advertised, whilst also achieving an overall reduction of 41.7 FTE, primarily by removing duplication with other Professional Services Directorates. Our new structure is bedding in well with our newly streamlined and highly skilled staff all working towards the Imagine 2030 vision through their new job descriptions and team structures.
Putting the Customer First
In common with almost every other library in the sector our frontline teams were tested to their limits when it came to providing service with a smile (behind their masks!) throughout the pandemic. However, special mention must be made of the outstanding efforts of our Customer Services Team and Stock Operations Team, who were not only at the forefront of delivering the most comprehensive physical service offer in the country, they did this whilst going through the biggest ever staffing restructure. These two multi-skilled teams now offer the most creative and agile service possible every day of the week and across a growing number of library sites.
'Hallowed ground this afternoon! Thanks to the superstars @UoMLibrary for making this work’
'Thank you for your hard work to make the Main Library available for us with the click & collect service. Kudos for those involved with reopening the library.'
‘The library has been so essential for me over the past year with the study spaces but also the ability to access physical books again is beyond helpful. I really appreciate everything you and the library staff do in managing the service and keeping us safe. Everyone I've spoken to has been really helpful. Thank you!’
Hybrid Working
The Library is at the forefront of the University’s hybrid working pilot which is running from June 2021 until August 2022. Having already made a significant shift towards agile working before the pandemic, we are embracing this unique opportunity to radically rethink the way we work locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.
Our Hybrid Working Library Charter has established the expectations and opportunities of how the pilot works in practice and is based around five themes:
- Experiment and evolve
- Empowering teams
- Outstanding services
- Shared spaces
- A healthy work/life integration
Each Library Team has created their own charter to support hybrid working, with a ‘service-first’ approach, and these will be regularly reviewed during the pilot. Our creative approach to Library workspaces means that only a small number of teams (those whose work demands it) have allocated workspaces with the remainder of spaces being shared to encourage collaborative working.
Robotic Process Automation
Over the last two years the Library’s Digital Development Team have been working closely with The University of Manchester’s IT Services (ITS) Directorate to utilise an innovative technology known as Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to support our workflows. Using a commercial system (UIPath) software can be developed to automate, perform and manage repetitive manual processes such as spreadsheet-based data handling, or repetitive interactions with a webpage freeing up staff to focus on more important inter-personal or analytical tasks.
During 2020, with the support of ITS, the Library successfully trialled the use of UIPath to support a small number of Library based processes within the Research Services Team and over the last year the use of RPA has been extended across all Library Directorates and has played a key part in some critical pieces of work during 2021:
- Faculty and Student Partnerships – RPA used to provide an innovative delivery mechanism, enabling students to access the specialist business database Refinitiv Eikon, saving a great deal of manual effort in password management and eliminating the risk of people locking each other out of the platform through using the same ID at the same time.
- Collection Strategies - RPA used to transfer critical data to the company Kortext to enable students to digitally access core syllabus textbooks (eTextbooks) at the beginning of the semester. Using RPA eliminated a huge number of data issues that had previously affected this task enabling the successful delivery of an important programme at a critical time.
- Curatorial Practices - RPA employed in the generation of the Library’s Guide to Special Collections which for years has been limited by reliance on the use of old technology and manual interventions. Using RPA to generate content from existing data sources has enabled the Library to begin using far more appropriate and supportable technology for managing content, without having re-develop or re-write everything from scratch.
- Research and Digital Horizons - RPA is continuing to be used to support the Library’s open access service, the third RPA process is currently in development in this area which has already saved hours of manual processing time.
Our Achievements
Our people are our greatest asset and we are quite rightly proud of the work they do every day.
Despite the challenges the pandemic brought during 2020/21, Library staff continued to develop professionally and to contribute both within and beyond the library sector on a regional, national and international level.
Publications
Sam Aston, Library pedagogies: Personal Reflections from Library Practitioners. Following the Yellow Brick Road
Jennie Blake, Nicola Grayson and Sam Aston, New Review of Librarianship. From the outside in: bringing student engagement to the centre
Chris Gibson, N8 RDM Network case study. Building Integrated Research Services using DMPonline
John Hodgson, History of European Ideas (2021), 1-19. 'Classified by Their Classifications: Nineteenth-Century Library Classifications in Context'
John Hynes, Library pedagogies: Personal Reflections from Library Practitioners. Authentic Librarianship in the Lecture Theatre
Phil Reed, Catalogue and Index (199), pp. 34-37. How Library Carpentry helps us to transform our data and our training
Phil Reed, UKSG eNews Library Carpentry. Building a Library Carpentry community in the UK
Julianne Simpson, Market Realities: Christopher Plantin’s international networks in an ever-changing world in Oates, R. & Purdy, J. (eds.), Communities of Print: Books and their Readers in Early Modern Europe, Library of the Written Word - The Handpress World; no. 99. (Leiden: Brill, 2021) pp. 39-61.
Eleanor Warren, Music in North-East England, 1500-1800, ed. by Stephanie Carter, Kirsten Gibson and Roz Southey (Boydell Press, 2020) [published October 2020]. The York Antiphonal: History, Liturgy and Use in the Late Fifteenth Century
Awards
Sam Aston (FSP): AldinHE Certified Leading Practitioner
Jennie Blake (FSP): Fellowship of the Institute of Teaching and Learning
Mark Furness (Curatorial Practices): Accreditation with the Institute of Conservation (Icon)
Rachel Garraway: Postgraduate Diploma Library and Information Services Management
Sarah Kneen: Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education
Simone Malekar: (Student Team): Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (HEA)
Craig Morley (FSP): Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (HEA)
Fatimah Opebiyi (Student Team): Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (HEA)
Phil Reed: Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education
Conferences
Jennie Blake, St Mary's Festival of Learning and Teaching
(24th June 2021). Collective and collaborative teaching development
Jennie Blake, National Teaching Fellows Conference. Virtual Teaching and collective work
Jennie Blake, Humanities Teaching and Learning Group. ‘Working together to make work lighter’: presentation on using principles of collective working to enable staff to work more effectively together
Jennie Blake, Teaching and Learning Seminar, Lancaster University. Working with Students as Partners: collective and collaborative curriculum development and the Student Team
Jennie Blake, Phil Reed and John Hynes (FSP), BLA Online Teaching Conference. Moving from a marathon to a sprint (in our dress shoes)
E. Booth (2020). Advocating for Quality Metadata : Shelf-Ready MARC Records and the Joint Consortia Framework Agreement, CILIP Metadata & Discovery Group Conference 2020
Laura Caradonna, Seminar for Archival conservators trainees (Archive Association Conservation Training Scheme) in November 2021. Integrated pest management strategy in the Rylands and its implementation to other library sites of the university
Steve Carlton and Tristan Martin, UKSG - The Open Access Lifecycle Seminar 2021. Evolving workflows, increasing workloads: Supporting open access in a changing world
Jo Castle, Association for Historical and Fine Art Photography (AHFAP) 2020 Conference. Simon Said: Digitising the archive of Heinrich Simon
L. Channer & M. Roughley (2020). Reading Lists and Engagement at the University of Manchester Library, NOWAL Reading Lists and Engagement : Exchange of Experience hosted by UCLAN
S. Forbes & L. Pover (2020). The DCS and Ex Libris Leganto integration, Annual CITE meeting hosted by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 18th November 2020. Blog post shared in March 2021 via CLA webpages
Mark Furness, Pathway Prep event. Advice on Accreditation
Jane Gallagher, The National Archives’ Bridging the Digital Gap trainees session. ‘Digital Engagement’
Chris Gibson, N8 RDM Network 2021. Building integrated researcher services with DMPonline at The University of Manchester
Chris Gibson, DMPonline event 2020. DMPonline at the University of Manchester
Chris Gibson, Integrating DMP tools with a data registry, TU Delft, Netherlands. Integrated researcher services via DMPonline and the Manchester Data Management Outline
Nicola Grayson and Anna Theis, NoWAL Equality & Diversity - Experience Sharing (Hosted online by University of Salford). Building Inclusive and Supportive Research Communities
John Hodgson, DCDC, July 2021. Virtual Reading Rooms at the University of Manchester Library
Sarah Kneen, Anna Theis and Fatimah Opebiyi (Student Team), Northern Collaboration Conference. Shut Up and Pivot: Moving writing support online
Pennington, D., & Booth, E. (2021). Metadata and Discovery - Better Metadata Makes a Difference, NISO Plus 2021
Phil Reed, Teaching with Scottish Funding Council (Data Carpentry). Leading and supporting Spreadsheets, OpenRefine, Python and SQL online workshops, part of Data Skills Workforce Development Training portfolio at the University of Edinburgh, funded by Scottish Funding Council.
Phil Reed, OpenRefine online workshop for researchers and professional services staff at the National Library of Scotland and University of Edinburgh. Organised by Centre for Data, Culture & Society.
Gwen Riley Jones, AHFAP 2020 Conference. Expanding our Digital Horizons
Michelle Sharples and Janette Watson (FS), ALN - Communicating During Times of Change. Remote restructuring and Communicating an evolving service offer
Julianne Simpson, Institute of Historical Research August 2021. Supporting historical research online: a workshop for information professionals
Julianne Simpson, Institute of Historical Research August 2021. The virtual seminar at the John Rylands Library: support for teaching and workshops
Julianne Simpson and Dominic Marsh, RLUK Conference March 2021. The Virtual Reading Room: Remote Research and Teaching at the John Rylands Research Institute and Library
Jess Smith, 2021 NDSA Digital Preservation (DigiPres) conference. EPadd+ project
Jess Smith, Microsoft/Information and Records Management Society round table. Palladium project
Lianne Smith, ALN Conference Sep 2021. 'Redressing colonial perspectives in missionary archives'
Eleanor Warren, M6 (North-West Medieval Studies network) Seminar Series. "I have no data": tales from the library and how a medievalist learned to love data'
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