Creative People
Teaching Excellence
The Library’s contribution to teaching and learning was recognised repeatedly this year.
Alongside several national conferences where we presented our work on supporting students, Library teaching was recognised for its innovative and impactful approach to student partnership with two University Teaching Excellence awards.
Teaching Excellence awards at Manchester recognise sustained and significant influence and impact on key strategic elements of teaching and learning. The Library Student Team received the Team award, noting that they are “a perfect example of inclusion, co-creation and collaboration." Dave Hirst, Teaching and Learning Librarian, was highly commended for his teaching, specifically noting his work on co-creation and the student voice.
In addition to these awards, excellence at the Library was recognised by:
- Our leadership of the University’s AI in Education Working Group.
- Adam Cooke, Teaching, Learning and Students Officer (Widening Participation) became a fellow of the Institute of Teaching and Learning.
- Our Head of Teaching and Learning Development, Jennie Blake, made a successful application for a Principal Fellowship of AdvanceHE.
Student Team
Over the last year the Library Student Team has worked to build upon and diversify their approaches to embedding the student voice across the University.
The team have co-created content, delivered on our training and support programmes, and provided valuable peer support during drop-ins. They played an essential role in Digital Society (the Library’s contribution to UCIL) by running the course podcast and launching their own topic, The Rise of Simulated Spaces. They have been vital to the success of the Library’s Access and Success workshops and events.
Team members gathered and analysed student feedback provided in the University's Tea with AVP TLSE and Belonging Network events. In a response to the cost-of-living crisis, they launched the Library Snack and Chat drop-ins and supported the University's Winter Warmer events. Through several successful Library Instagram takeovers, they reached our university communities through lively and inclusive content.
The Student Team partnered with the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre to host events that centre marginalised voices, resources and anti-racist scholar activism, combating stereotypes and myths. They have written blog posts and book reviews, assisted with exhibitions, and worked on campaigns for Black History Month, LGBTQ+ History Month, International Women’s Day and Islamophobia Awareness Month.
Team members were delegates at University and national conferences, including; ITL Conference 2023, Race, Roots & Resistance Undergraduate Research Symposium and Oxford Brookes University International Teaching and Learning Conference. Tabita-Gabriela Juravle was awarded the Race, Roots & Resistance award for Outstanding Contributions to Anti-Racist Scholar Activism for her work on representing marginalised voices.
Ahmed Iqbal Ullah (AIU) RACE Centre and Education Trust
The last 12 months has seen the AIU RACE Centre and Education Trust deliver creative engagement events and activities, surpassing pre-pandemic levels. These have included:
- Delivering public history workshops and sharing events exploring how creativity was used as a method of resisting oppression in learning about the rich carnival heritage in Manchester, such as We are Carnival during Black History Month 2022.
- Working with critically acclaimed poet Suhaiymah Mazroor Khan who co-delivered workshops with Muslim Writers North, culminating in an open mic night of spoken word poetry, Muslims like us, to commemorate Islamaphobia Awareness Month in 2022.
- Collaborating with Latin American Somos CR to co-produce a sold out public engagement event Somos Mujeres for International Women’s Day 2023.
- Bringing together educators and youth workers for Cultivating Compassion during Refugee week 2023 to share good practice and creative solutions.
- Launching our annual programme during South Asian Heritage month 2023, exploring what safe spaces can or should look like for South Asian young men in the cultural and heritage sector. This was kicked off with a hybrid performance and panel event Tales of Brown Boys in White Spaces.
Increasing support for Microsoft 365
As part of our ongoing adoption of Microsoft 365, the Digital Support and Projects and Business Analysis Teams have worked with our Library Digital Champions to create a range of support and guidance resources for staff. The Digital Champions have also helped curate new staff development courses on M365 in partnership with the University's Learning and Organisational Development Team.
Events and Festivals at the John Rylands Research Institute and Library
In November 2022 the John Rylands Research Institute and Library (Rylands) participated in Being Human, the UK’s national festival of the humanities.
Beyond the Books was a day of activities inspired by Transitions in Print and featured academics whose projects appeared in the exhibition. The day included exhibition tours, pop-up labs, print demonstrations and collection encounters, all offering insight into the work that takes place behind the scenes at the Rylands.
April marked the 400th anniversary of the publication of Shakespeare’s First Folio. The Rylands displayed this special first edition for the day alongside activities with curators and researchers that explored global connections in Shakespeare’s works up to the present day.
Manchester Festival of Libraries returned in June. Taking inspiration from Workers’ Playtime, the Rylands hosted activities celebrating working-class writers featured in the exhibition. The Rylands also welcomed Icelandic author Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir for her writer’s residency in the city as part of the festival.
Alongside events developed by the Library’s Exhibitions and Public Engagement with Research Team, we have supported partners such as Creative Manchester, Manchester China Institute and Manchester University Press to host events at the Rylands. This included a book launch for New Order’s Stephen Morris and a festive reading by Jeanette Winterson, Professor of New Writing at The University of Manchester. The Rylands has also hosted a range of events funded by research grants awarded by the John Rylands Research Institute including the Compassion and Care Conference and annual lecture for Manchester Centre for Correspondence Studies.
Our Achievements
Our people are our greatest asset and we are quite rightly proud of the work they do every day.
In 2022/23, Library staff continued to develop professionally and to contribute both within and beyond the library sector on a regional, national and international level.
43 members of staff presented at regional, national and international conferences
Five members of staff had work published in academic journals
10 members of staff, plus the Student Team, achieved professional qualifications or won an award
Conferences
Ayres, B. (2023, March) ‘Needle in the haystack: where is my institution’s data?’, Elsevier RDM Webinar Series, Online.
Barker, S., Malik, I., et al (2022, September), ‘Library Student Team: Rethinking Students as Producers’, Poster Presentation, RAISE Conference, Lincoln.
Bayjoo, J., Booth, E., Fathallah, J., Snyder, L. (2022, November). ‘Collective Funding for Open Access Books: How Libraries and Publishers Can Banish the BPC,’ National Acquisitions Group Webinar Week, online.
Blake, J., and Malik, I. (2023, July), ‘Becoming, belonging and community: Supporting transition to higher education', AdvanceHE Teaching and Learning Conference 2023: Shaping the future of HE, Keele.
Booth, E. (2022, November). ‘Improving the Discoverability of Open Access Books: Metadata Challenges and Opportunities,’ CILIP Metadata and Discovery Group Webinar Series, online.
Carlton, S., May, L., Stephan, K. (2023, April), ‘Certain in our uncertainty: Acknowledging, addressing and achieving in an unequal scholarly communications landscape’, UKSG, Glasgow.
Cooke, A. (2023, July), ‘Amplifying voices with archives through an SDG lens’, AdvanceHE Teaching and Learning Conference 2023: Shaping the future of HE, Keele.
Durant, I. (2022, November), ‘Zooming in to special collections: how visualisers can open access’, Reading the room: reflections and resolutions re researcher visits event, Trinity College, Cambridge.
Evans, C., and Sprunt, N. (2023, July), ‘Our Friends in the North – the ALN Copyright and Research Resource', ICEPOPS, Glasgow.
Furness, M. (2023, September), ‘Book Cradles’, Society of Bookbinders Training Seminar, Shropshire.
Ganeshwaran, N., Reed, P., & Barton, C. (2022, November), 'Library Carpentry Workshops', Lancaster University.
Ganeshwaran, N., Reed, P., & Barton, C. (2023, April), 'Library Carpentry Workshops', Leeds University.
Gifford, I. & Taylor, S. (2023, March), 'Open Research Tracker', RLUK virtual conference.
Gifford, I., Taylor, S., & Ganeshwaran, N. (2023, June), 'Open Research Tracker', RLUK OSN (Open Scholarship Network), Online.
Gifford, I. & Morris, P. (2023, February), 'Interactive Scroll Viewer for Rylands Qinq Exhibition', International Technology for Museums 2023, Online.
Harriott, T., and Street, L. (2023, July), ‘Library Love Notes’, Academic Libraries North Conference 2023, Leeds.
Hunt, D., and Sharples, M. (2023, April), ‘Imagine2030: A Library for Our Third Century’, International Conference on Academic Libraries, Delhi.
Hussain, A. (2022, September). 'The changing landscape of Library Systems at The University of Manchester', International Group of Ex Libris Users 2022 Conference and Developers Day, Cardiff.
Hynes, J., Norgrove, B., and Tang, M. (2022, September), ‘Discovering what matters: reflections from new starters in Bibliometrics', LIS-Bibliometrics Conference, Online.
Hynes, J. (2022, October), ‘Using SciVal and Scopus to support our Healthy Futures SDG', SciVal and Scopus users meeting (UK & Ireland), Online.
Hynes, J. (2022, November), ‘How to use SciVal and Scopus to support our future sound sustainability goals’, Taiwan Electronic Resources and Consortia Program, Online.
Laws, M. (2022, November), ‘Have You Ever Thought About Working in a Library: attracting diverse candidates to Customer Service roles, CSGUK Annual Conference, London.
Malik, I., Pearson, L., McGill, B., and Tomlinson, N. (2023, June) ‘Embedding student-staff collaboration: Co-creating resources at the University of Manchester Library’, Oxford Brookes International Teaching and Learning conference, Oxford.
Morris, P. (2023, March) ‘From inspiration to reality: software prototyping for research proposals’, Digifest.
Napthine-Hodgkinson, J. (2023, July), ‘Cultivating Creative Commons Cognisance in Colleagues – CC education for PgCert HE participants’, ICEPOPS, Glasgow.
Napthine-Hodgkinson, J., and Stevenson, M. (2023, July) ‘Enhancing Public Speaking Skills using Improvisation Techniques’, Playful Learning Conference, Leicester.
Nazir, A. (2023, June), ‘Databases & datasets: Pinning down usage’, European Business School Librarians’ Group (EBSLG) Conference, Bergen, Norway.
Ralphs, P. (2023, July), 'Focus, Time, Responsibility: creating a space for specialists in a world of generalists’, Academic Libraries North Conference 2023, Leeds.
Ralphs, P., and Reed, P. (2023, April) 'Using Chat for enquiries & referrals’, Academic Libraries North Conference 2023, Leeds.
Richards, T. (2023, September), ‘A history of advanced heritage imaging: From paper to plate to pixels’, The Hurter and Driffield Lecture, Royal Photographic Society, John Rylands Research Institute and Library, Manchester.
Sanchez-Gonzalez, S. (2023, July), 'Bringing the agency of books as affective objects to the study of book exhibition experiences', International Graduate Student Symposium on the study of Books and Literature in Exhibitions, Hybrid.
Smith, J. (2023, June), ‘The Palladium Project – appraisal, access and use of Carcanet Press email archive’, EABCC Symposium, Illinois.
Smith, L. (2023, June), ‘Working with Communities’, Institute of Historical Research Historians/ Audience/ Communities seminar, Manchester.
Snow, L. (2023, June), ‘Should it stay or should it go? Repatriation and decolonisation in conservation’, West Dean College Student Conference, Chichester.
Stevenson, M. (2023, April) ‘Supporting research – A panel discussion on the user and best practice of Reference Managers’, Technology from SAGE Insight 2023 Event, Birmingham.
Taylor, S. & Beard, L. (2023, July), 'The University of Manchester Office for Open Research: Enabling and Embedding Open And Reproducible Research Practices', LIBER Annual Conference, Budapest.
Van Renterghem, A. (2023, July). ‘Students in the Stacks: Using Collection-based Learning in Assessment’, University of Manchester Teaching and Learning Conference, Manchester.
Publications
Ayres, B., Lehtsalu, L., Parton, G., Száldobágyi, Á., Warren, E., Whyte, A., & Zimmer, N. (2022). RDA Professionalising Data Stewardship - Current Models of Data Stewardship: Survey Report (1.0). Zenodo. Available at: https://doi.org/10.15497/RDA00075
Blake, J., Cooke, A. and Nisic, J. (2023). ‘Creative and Digital Partnerships in Collaboration’, in: Abegglen, S., Burns, T. and Sinfield, S. (eds.) Collaboration in Higher Education. London: Bloomsbury.
Reed, P. (2023) ‘Multiple ways to follow-up after Carpentry trainings: Benefits, impacts and librarians’ wishes’ in The Carpentries. Available online.
Awards
Dave Hirst: Teaching Excellence Award for Flexible Learning and Digital Delivery and the Student Voice (highly commended).
Library Student Team, Jennie Blake, Adam Cooke & Kathryn Miller: Teaching Excellence Award for inclusive Education and the Student Voice.
Jess Napthine-Hodgkinson: Creative Commons Certificate
Jennie Blake: Principal Fellow AdvanceHE (awarded Nov 2022)
Adam Cooke: Institute of Teaching and Learning Fellowship
Tabita-Gabriela Juravle: Race, Roots and Resistance award
Phil Reed: Refinitiv Workspace Certification
Christine Sweet: PGCertHE
The Rylands Awards
Above and Beyond
- Winner: Grant Collier
- Highly commended: Dominic Marsh
Creative Approach
- Winner: Open Research Tracker team
- Highly commended: Imaging Team
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
- Winner: Esther Miller
- Highly commended: Jane Gallagher
Inspirational Action
- Winner: John Hynes
- Highly commended: Mike Roughley
Outstanding Newcomer
- Winner: Amber Greenall-Heffernan
- Highly commended: Ria Sunga
Scholarship
- Winner: RACE Centre team
- Highly commended: Tony Richards
Social Responsibility
- Winner: Jocelyn Wright
- Highly Commended: Inbal Harding
Staff Member of the Year
- Winner: Olivia Walsby
Team of the Year
- Winner: Building Care and Operations
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