Liaison visit to Coventry University London Campus

Rosalyn Bass and Louise Dorman visited the London campus of Coventry University where a colleague, Jane Alderson-Rice, is working on secondment as manager of the Learning Resource Centre (LRC). 

The London campus occupies two floors of East India House, Bishopsgate.  It has been open approximately 2 years and teaches 1,000 law and MBA students who have chosen to study in London rather than Coventry.  The majority of these are non-UK students, a large proportion of which are from China or India. 

The LRC staff comprises 3 librarians, 3 Information Technologists and 5 English language sessional teachers.  An additional library graduate trainee post has just been secured.  A third floor in the building has been acquired and the LRC is to be relocated.  LRC staff are currently negotiating over the proposed layout.

Information gathered during the visit which was of particular interest and relevance to the University of Kent library is summarised as follows:

Induction -  There are several new intakes in a year.  Students are required to attend a compulsory, time-tabled IT workshop which covers hands-on IT set up and login into Moodle, reading lists, timetables and library catalogue.  Moodle is used very much as a “one stop shop” for student resources. A separate library session has been offered but take up was low, so library sessions have been added onto the end of the IT session.  This has been more successful.

Information Literacy/IT skills/Study skills – An impressive calendar of training sessions is available delivered collaboratively by IT and library staff.  This are bookable though a separate module “Spotlight”.

Enquiries - one librarian explained that the level of understanding of spoken English for some of the international students can be quite low compared to their written English, and that cultural differences can require a specific and careful approach. 

Staff training – Cultural awareness training days for front line staff have been offered and found to be very helpful. 

Signs and shelf labels – the library was user-friendly and labels helpful.  We liked the: “A newer edition of this book exists” labels,  the simple listing of all the classmarks and subjects on the shelf end, and the “Not for loan” labels.  See photos.

International Student Experience Fair, University of Kent

Rosalyn Bass and Louise Dorman from Academic Liaison Services, Templeman Library, had a stand at this event on 29 January 2013.  It was well orgnaised and well attended.  30 odd students visited our stand and we were impressed by their maturity, good manners and enthusiasm. All of these had used the library and were generally positive about it.  Feedback was helpful and specific and as follows:
 

Negative

·        Refworks – postgrads had problems getting Cite N Write to work. Had taken advice from Subject Librarian and contacted RefWorks support for help, but had not had any success.  Suggested try Mendeley.

·        Ebooks – frustration with them disappearing after 1 day loan expires because personal notes are lost. Can’t print from them.  Suggested use them online because notes will be preserved as linked to login.

·        Insufficient primary texts – Not enough copies of literature primary texts.  Discussed whether these should be purchased by student. Explained library 1:8 Gold Standard of one core text per eight students.

·        Problems accessing journals – Demonstrated and explained about accessing via library pages

Positive

·        The students were happy to discuss and compare University of Kent with their experiences of university at home.  We learned that one USA library is reference only with most resources having to be used on site and that French universities feel more like schools, with most students living at home and less social life. One student expressed an interest in being an “ambassador” for the University of Kent when he returns home.

·        It was pleasing to note that when students were shown the Academic Liaison leaflet, most of them  recognised their subject librarian and had already had some sort of contact with them

·        Students like the library social area and café

·        One student praised the  “efficient IT service”

·        Many referred to the library inductions and said that they had been helpful

·        All students reported that they were confident finding their way around the library and could locate the books they needed

We both found that the fair provided a good opportunity for promoting the library services. It allowed us to interact with students informally, gather feedback and offer advice, as well as liaise with colleagues from other departments.