ENGAGED STUDENTS

Ten years of the Student Team

In 2024, The University of Manchester Library hosted a day-long symposium to celebrate the 10th anniversary of The University of Manchester Library Student Team (UMLST). Titled What We’ve Done, We’ve Done Together: Collaboration, Agency, and Student Partnership,  the event, attended by students and colleagues from over 40 institutions, focused on a day of discussion, exploration, and connection. 

The day was launched by Professor Christopher Pressler (University Librarian and Director of The John Rylands Library) and Katy Woolfenden (Deputy University Librarian and Director of Education, Experience and Strategic Insights).

We were delighted to have Rosie Jones (Director of Teesside University's Student and Library Services) as a panellist, and Robbie Beale (Activities and Culture Officer of The University of Manchester Students' Union) as our keynote speaker. 

The symposium focused on four key themes: 

• Student Partnership and the Student Voice 
• Student Partnership and Learning 
• Student Partnership and Equity 
• Student Partnership Wildcard Theme 

These themes encouraged reflection on the impact of student partnerships in areas such as fostering dialogue, enhancing academic success, promoting inclusion, and addressing systemic barriers. The event celebrated the achievements of the Library Student Team whilst exploring the evolving role of student partnerships within higher education. 

Our Students

Over the last year, the Library’s Our Students (OS) Steering Group has worked with Library colleagues to map projects and activities to our 18 OS benefits, ensuring all relevant Library activity is captured under the OS umbrella. With this information we have created a Power BI dashboard which displays an ‘at a glance’ health check of our progress.

Several new activities were initiated in 2023-24 to ensure the benefits will be realised:

• PGR focus groups to better understand the needs of our PGR customers (OS7)
• Submission to and subsequent win at the CATE awards (OS10)
• Microsoft certification exam support sessions for students (OS16)
• Collaboration with the Disabled PGR society looking at inclusive provision to identify needs and make recommendations (OS3)

Our Students will continue to develop and progress activities to address gaps, with a focus over the next year on:

• The development of the Muriel Stott Building
• Continuing to work closely with the Students Union and University colleagues on the development of additional Spaces projects to meet the diverse needs of all our customers
• A Library-wide initiative looking at Open Educational Resources which speaks to benefit OS9 ‘Expanded reach and range of high-quality teaching, learning and student support content that is uniquely Manchester (accessible to all, recognisable as ours and available for reuse by others)’
• The creation of an NSS Action Group to enhance our partnership with students, focusing initially on: Student Pedagogy and Feedback, Content and Reading Lists, Space and Partnerships.

Partnerships with other University Teams, Initiatives and Campaigns

The Customer Services Team played a key role partnering with various teams across The University of Manchester to support student campaigns and initiatives.

Digital support for our students

The Library's digital teams played an important role in the re-launch of MyManchester, which is the University's main student portal. The digital teams helped test the platform and made sure it was easy to use and accessible for everyone, especially for the MyLibrary tab.

This tab was a key feature in the initial version of MyManchester and allowed students to easily access important Library services, such as checking their account and finding resources, without needing to go to the Library's website.   

Meanwhile, the Library also assisted with the delivery of Microsoft Certification exams for students via the Flexible Learning Programme.  The teams set up equipment and dealt with any issues that arose.