An Coiste Feabhais Acadúil
The Committee on Academic Quality Improvement
th

James Hardiman Library: Review Report 2005–06 2
This report arises from a visit by a review group to the James Hardiman Library, NUI
Galway on the 20 th to 24 th
November 2005. The James Hardiman Library had already prepared and submitted a 'Self Assessment Report' that, with other documentation, was made available to the review team in advance of the visit.
The Review Group consisted of: Mr. Sean Phillips, Librarian, UCD (Chair), Ms.
Chris Bailey, Director of Library Services, University of Glasgow, Professor Kevin
Barry, Department of English, NUI Galway, and Carmel Browne, Deputy Director
Human Resources, NUI Galway acting as Rapporteur.
The Review Visit
In conducting the process the Review Group considered the Self Assessment report, met with Library management and staff, visited the library and met with stakeholders and a representative sample of library users. This report is based on the outcome of those meetings and our consideration of a wider ranger of documents, which provided the context for our discussions.
We also wish to acknowledge the very significant contribution to the process made by the Library’s Self Assessment group, chaired by Mr. John Cox, Deputy Librarian.
Summary of the Current Position
The Review Group was impressed by many positive features of the Library. The
Library has placed strong emphasis on the development and delivery of a high quality library service. Library management have made extensive contributions in the general area of academic community service at the level of university, faculty and department.
The Review Group, at the outset, would like to declare its full endorsement of the Self
Assessment Report. The Report was well prepared, thorough, comprehensive in its analysis of strengths and weaknesses, and constructively critical of the Library’s services and facilities. It was clear to us, both from the Report and from our discussions with library staff that the Library is abreast of developments in academic librarianship and information work generally, though of course constrained in their application by resource constraints. The Review team was impressed by the substantial level to which library management had developed the Library service from their previous quality review in 1997. The review group also noted that the Library’s forward planning is characterised by a high level of strategic thinking and awareness, not just in the context of the Library, but in the broader university and third-level sectoral context.
The Report would, nevertheless, have benefited from a more detailed treatment of two areas:

The implications for the Library of newly developing models of scholarly communication and publishing (e.g. open-access publishing, institutional repositories). These developments, which are gathering pace internationally, pose issues for university libraries both as users and, potentially, as producers of published information. While it was clear to us from our discussions that
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James Hardiman Library: Review Report 2005–06 3 the Library is aware of these developments and their strategic impact, there was insufficient evidence of this in the Report.

Benchmarking was limited to two specific areas of library activity – electronic resources management and information literacy, in each case with one other library in the United Kingdom. The Report would, we feel, have benefited from a more comprehensive benchmarking in which the holdings and service portfolio of the Library, and the resources available to it, were compared with the libraries of perhaps six institutions comparable to NUI,
Galway in size, range of disciplines, and research activity.
The group acknowledges the report did include some comparative statistical measures with the average in other IUA libraries (Appendix 8 of the Library submission). The group also appreciate that for comparisons with SCONUL equivalent libraries, students are counted as FTE’s in the UK and as individual students in Ireland making comparisons very difficult.
With these caveats we endorse the Library’s mission, aims, objectives and priorities, which are clearly, concisely, and persuasively set out in the Self-Assessment Report.
The Report outlines the achievements of the library since the last review, on which management and staff are to be congratulated. This progress was reinforced by appreciative comments made by library users about the improvements, which have been implemented in services and holdings, and the library’s willingness to consider users’ concerns and to address them where resources permit.
Because of those achievements, we are confident that the Library is now well positioned to determine and to implement appropriate strategies for future development.
This review is both timely and necessary, as academic libraries generally are undergoing a paradigm shift from service provider to full partner in institutional teaching, learning and research activities.
Structure of the Report
It will be evident from the foregoing that it is not necessary for us to comment in detail on the Self-Assessment Report; instead we have selected four key determinants of library development which in our opinion require special attention; these include and reinforce the most important elements identified by the library in its statement of aims (Pg 10) and Priorities (Pg 25) in the Self-Assessment Report.
The main areas identified by the Review Group and covered in this report are as follows:
1. Strategy
2. Resources
3. Buildings
4. Staffing
5. The Quality Assurance process.
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James Hardiman Library: Review Report 2005–06 4
As indicated in the introduction, the review team was unanimous in its view that the
University needs now to build on its previous successes and meet the challenges of the future by taking a more proactive stance with respect to its strategic involvement with the Library. This conclusion was reached taking into account the changing nature of University Libraries as a strategic resource to University development.
The Review Group recognized the substantial engagement of the Library with the
Academic Planning processes at the level of the University Academic Planning
Group/Academic Plan Implementation Group. It is also clear that the efficient management of the Library places it in a strong position to contribute to strategic academic planning within the University as a whole.
1.1. Strategic Placing
The Review Group was surprised to discover that there is an apparent absence of strategic thinking about the Library at University Management Team [UMT] level.
There is evidence of a lack of reflection about what the role of the Library might be and of a lack of awareness of its central infrastructural importance to the University community. The Library may be in danger of being a victim of ‘benign neglect’.
There is considerable respect for what the Library has achieved as a service-provider but this is not matched by a proactive policy about the place of the Library in the
University’s future as a leading institution of research. There is need for the UMT to define the key importance of the Library in the future strategic thinking of the
University. There is a need for the Library and the Academic Community to assert that importance, and to move beyond a perceived status of the Library as serviceprovider.
1.2. Medium and Long term Strategic Planning
The Review Group are aware that medium and long term strategic planning at NUI,
Galway will include an increased commitment to the provision of a research infrastructure and the provision of services to new kinds of student populations. A larger Fourth Level community, that includes doctoral and post-doctoral activity, visiting researchers, research project teams, will look to the Library to provide the required resources. In addition to registered doctoral scholars, many researchers may, as members of specialist research teams or graduate schools, spend relatively short and intense periods of funded contract time at NUI, Galway. There will be a growth in numbers also of other kinds of student populations, including life-long learners.
The information resources of the Library and its flexibility in terms of opening hours and staff resources will be central to attracting and retaining these new customers and the associated funding streams for the University.
1.3 Faculty/Department Planning
Academic teachers and researchers have specific obligations to ensure, at the level of
Departments or other academic units that Library orders are managed in a prudent and planned manner. The timely and systematic ordering by the academic community together with the relevant Information Librarian of library materials is a prerequisite for the establishment and management of all Library collections and information resources.
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James Hardiman Library: Review Report 2005–06
The Review Group is strongly of the view that the Library, at the appropriate levels, and in particular at Information Librarian level, should be represented more fully and more systematically at meetings of Faculties and at meetings of academic
Departments or Schools.
5
Recommendation

There is a need for the UMT and the whole University community to place the
Library at the centre of strategic planning, academic change, and new teaching initiatives. The Library, for its part, must become an equal partner in the academic planning process and a key enabler in realizing the academic goals of the University. In order to enable a partnership role, it is important to consider the means by which the Library can be plugged in to the academic decision-making structures of the University.
It is recommended that the
Librarian (or nominee) be an ex officio member of the Academic Planning and
Resources Committee.

To update and maintain a dynamic library information resource, the
Academic community need to articulate more timely their annual acquisitions to ensure funding and acquisition of best information resources. There is a comprehensible relevance for the Library to be represented at faculty, department, schools, centers and institute meetings. Alongside these initiatives an active and clear policy on deselection and storage policy needs to be developed.
The Review Group recognise that the University has been relatively generous in providing the Library with the funding necessary to provide information resources sufficient to underpin current demand. However we believe that current funding may not be adequate to ensure that the Library is able to meet potential demand in alignment with the aspirations of the University, namely the increased emphasis on research, international competitiveness, and enhanced learning and teaching provision.
2.1 Increased Investment in Information Resources to support Research
There will be a need for the University to ensure that access to information resources continues to support current learning and teaching requirements; and additionally, will meet the demands of increased research activity (databases, online resources, ejournals etc). The University may also wish to consider continued investment in the provision of particular specialised, unique or locally relevant archival collections in order to attract researchers who will make such collections the focus of their contribution to the University’s research excellence; and which will serve to give the
University a particular distinction.
2.2. Digitisation
A review of current investment also needs to consider the implications of UK-wide and indeed international digitisation activity. Large and significant digital collections in the humanities and social sciences will be available within the next 12 to 18 months
(e.g. 19 th century parliamentary papers).
Much of this will be multi-media.
The
Library needs to be able to subscribe to relevant collections of this type; but it also
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James Hardiman Library: Review Report 2005–06 6 needs a robust ICT infrastructure either locally within the Library or Institution wide and environment to ensure that users have access when and where they want.
2.3 Staffing Support
The nature and level of staffing resource to support research should also be considered. This has been mentioned in the Section on staffing issues. However it should be emphasised that the role of a subject librarian is quite different in this context; it goes well beyond the provision of information literacy skills and training, which is primarily targeted at undergraduates. The nature and number of additional posts that may be required should not be finally determined until an assessment of the role of subject librarians and the potential for redeployment align with a new organizational structure have been explored.
Recommendations

We recommend that the Library undertake a formal review of its collection development policy to ensure that this is fully aligned with the University’s research aspirations; furthermore we recommend that the Library’s needs are included in grant applications.

The Library, in partnership with the academic community, is proactive in acquiring archival collections that will allow the University to develop specialised and unique research activity.

A review of finding to support research at a higher level.
There are two major staffing issues that call for special attention on the part of the
Library and the University – firstly, a general issue of how ‘change’ is managed and accepted by the library staff as a whole, and secondly, a more specific structural issue which needs to be dealt with to optimize the use of staff.
University libraries operate in an environment of continuous change. In the immediate future, that environment will be characterized by:

Changes in the practice of academic librarianship. Some of these changes
(e.g. distributed online availability of library collections) will arise from information technology applications; others (e.g. greater emphasis on information skills training) will be the result of the closer integration of the library into the university’s teaching, learning and research processes.

Changes in the scholarly communication process (e.g. the development of new financial models of academic publishing and of institutional repositories, subject portals, and similar initiatives).

Changes in the nature of the university (e.g. increasing emphasis on research, international competitiveness, and distributed off-campus learning initiatives).
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James Hardiman Library: Review Report 2005–06 7

In addition to their effect on facilities and services, these changes will impact on the library as an organization in two fundamental ways: o The balance between different aspects of library provision (e.g the Library as the provider of study/reading places, as the repository of content, and as the supplier (or mediator) of services, will change and hence the form of organizational structure will need to change to reflect this.
o Library staff who are uncomfortable with continuous change or the risks which it poses, or who find uncertainty disagreeable, are unlikely to derive job satisfaction or advancement in a fast-changing environment.
While it is clear that the Library’s Senior Management Team are aware of the nature and the impact of change, and the need for it, we did not form the impression that the staff as a whole either welcomed change or were enthusiastic proponents of it. In this context we are at a disadvantage in that individual members of staff did not take the opportunity to meet the Review Group, but we are determined to overcome that disadvantage by highlighting the importance of individual responsibility for the development of the library into the future.
Recommendations
The Review Group recommend that the automatic regrading of graduate Library
Assistants as Senior Library Assistants should be discontinued and that the grade of
Senior Library Assistant should be reserved for posts which carry significant supervisory responsibilities of processes, routines, and services.
This change in the structure would optimize the use of staffing resources by
 providing genuine promotional opportunities for ambitious para-professional staff to realize their potential and to acquire experience in routine management.

Releasing assistant librarians to deploy their professional skills more effectively to develop services and to integrate them with all levels of academic activity in the university
The James Hardiman Library main Library building was completed in 1973. It is purpose built, but has undergone subsequent extensions, and now offers approximately 8,800m2 of space on three floors over basement. There are 1,861 reader places under the Librarian’s control, most of which are in the main Library.
The Medical Library is located in the Clinical Sciences Institute at UCHG and there is a separate Nursing Library in the Business Park at Dangan.
Physical Design of the Library
There is a need for the University to understand and balance the elements of the
Library as a Service, an Information Resource and Study space in the future. The physical design of the library alongside the appropriate staff structures must guide the design of delivery into the future. The blueprint should be state of the art and flexible in provision to attract staff and students to NUI, Galway
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James Hardiman Library: Review Report 2005–06 8
As no money has been identified or sourced for a new build in the foreseeable future, our proposals are based on the idea that the existing space will be extended and refurbished. Our understanding is that funding has been sought formally for two extensions and a refurbishment. The vacating of the restaurant is vital to support this extending and refurbishing. There is an urgent need for essential Plant & Machinery issues to be addressed immediately in the current space i.e. plug points, redeployment of existing space by the provision of storage space and a vigorous ‘deselection’ policy etc. The Library must exercise its professional competence in leading this exercise.
On the positive of this, the library is focally located relative to the University campus.
A building development plan must be immediately undertaken however this must be preceded with an overall library building masterplan to which the extensions/refurbishments, new staffing structure and service diversity is envisioned for the final and holistic masterplan. The masterplan must be a blueprint for the future in which the library is intrinsic to the learning space and the university academic strategic plan.
Recommendations

An overall building planning exercise should be undertaken immediately that reflects the growing strategic role of the Library in a student and research driven University and balances the elements of provision that are now required.

Preparation for balancing the elements of provision for the Library service into the future could be identified and implemented directly vis a vis:o Study Spaces should be dispersed. This has potential for the
Postgraduate population in terms of Schools, Centers and Institutional space.
o On line Information should by definition be dispersed.
o Print information resources should not be dispersed and kept centrally for more cost effectiveness and will need adjacent study spaces.
However, ‘deselection’ policy as referred to earlier in this section should ensure relevance and vitality of the print collection.
o Library Services to include staff services should be centrally located, however web based services that can be used without staff assistance can be dispersed. This could also include the relocating a service within the Library e.g. Systems support/Bibliographic services.
o Development and implementation of Storage and a robust policy of
‘deselection’.
5.1 Planning and Organisation
The Review visit was extremely well planned and organised. We found that every element of it was useful and added value to the process. The Review Group would have welcomed more time on our own but it is difficult to envisage how this could be accommodated in an already packed schedule.
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James Hardiman Library: Review Report 2005–06 9
5.2 Follow-up Procedures
The value of the process is critically dependent on the action and response that result from it. The Review Group is willing to make any further contribution that would help support the process, should it be required to do so.
Mr. Sean Philips, Librarian UCD (Chair)
Ms. Chris Bailey, Director of Library Services, Glasgow University
Professor Kevin Barry, Dept. English, NUI, Galway
Ms. Carmel Browne, Deputy Director Human Resources, NUIG (Rapporteur)
February 16 th
2006
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