Scott Polar Research Institute visit 9/2/12

A group of around 22 intrepid explorers met Heather Lane from the SPRI on a Thursday afternoon for a tour of the SPRI Library. The SPRI is an international hub for ice, snow and the polar regions, including ice on Mars and glaciers in the Himalayas. Equipment and clothing from Scott’s expedition formed the nucleus of the first research, and in 1926 the Institute was incorporated into University of Cambridge. 

The library contains over ¼ million printed documents. The collection is interdisciplinary and covers an impressive 79 languages, also including fiction, poetry and exercise books. 150,000 are catalogued electronically, and the rest are in the card catalogue. A big retrospective cataloguing project is planned, as well as moving from the in-house library system to Voyager. The Institute has MPhil, PhD, postdocs, visiting academics and the general public, but no undergraduate courses. The library is very outward-facing, with a focus on the polar scientists who are out in the field. 

Heather outlined some of the very varied work that goes on.

• The library does analytical cataloguing, which means they catalogue individual journal articles and book chapters. Keywords and abstracts for all are put in the catalogue, which is immensely time-consuming. There are 4 part-time bibliographers to do this work, with different language and area specialities.
• 3 times a year the Library produces Polar and Glacierology Abstracts.
• The Library is a World Data Centre for glacierology.
• Volunteers and paid staff are used for short stints to do specific projects, such as very specific bibliographies.
•  Over 1 million manuscripts are held in two main collections: 19^th century Arctic and opening up the North West passage, and 20^th century British Antarctic.
• One archivist looks after all of these, and supervises the archives reading area (3 reader spaces). Volunteers are used here as well.
• Fundraising is a large part of Heather’s work. For example, for the retrospective cataloguing project, she needs to find funding for 4 full time staff for 4 years.
• Heather’s role is varied, and includes usually 2-3 TV interviews per month.

Heather aims to raise the library’s profile. There has been a big critical reception for the new museum, which now receives 50,000 visitors per year, compared to less than 3,000 per year before its redevelopment. Heather would like the library to be more active for exhibition research. The library has 100,000 photographs which are ideal for exhibitions.

Built in the 1930s, the old library was intended to hold the entire world collection of material on the polar regions. Visiting scholars are given desks in the library, as the Institute does not have enough desks. Many like this, as they are within arm’s reach of much of the material they need. This can make people more likely to gift their own publications, which is helpful as the library is very dependent on donations. Heather showed us the desk where Ranulph Fiennes plans his expeditions using library resources and maps. The library has 25,000 maps which are borrowable, and borrowers can annotate them with new routes. During the cold war, scientists at SPRI kept in contact with their colleagues in Russian polar centres and US and Russian ice breakers met here as neutral ground to exchange information. Heather explained about the friendly, ‘everyone mucks in’ atmosphere in the SPRI. Those who go on polar expeditions are ‘can do’ people. The ships bell from the Terra Nova is kept on the library stairs, and 4pm it is rung for tea. Everyone in the building is invited to tea in the library, from the Director to the cleaners and any visitors. This aids communication, as library staff get to see their academic colleagues regularly.

The Shackleton Memorial Library was added in 1998. The Friends Room (named after the Friends of the SPRI) contains PCs, latest journals and atlases. Heather showed us the Endurance Spar above the door and told us Shackleton’s story. Paintings by the official artist on Shackleton’s expedition are around the room. Striking photos on the walls are some of the 109 ‘lost’ photos taken by Scott on his last expedition.

Next on the tour was the rotunda, which contains the most regularly used open shelf material on specific expeditions. The Universal Decimal Classification for polar libraries is maintained at SPRI Library, and is used for classifying the stock. This material is reference only. Users leave items on the desks for staff to reshelve, as the classification system can be confusing to users. A common issue for libraries is space, and SPRI library is no exception, as the amount of material produced on the polar regions grows. The Library is maintaining a bibliographic database of output from the 200+ projects from International Polar Year 2007-2008. 15 times more output is expected than the last International Year in 1957. The rotunda was intended to provide storage space for 25 years, but has been filled in less than 10 years. The upper floor contains material on biology and technology relating to polar regions and ice and snow. Heather explained that the SPRI works closely with British Antarctic Survey (BAS). BAS deal more with technical and current manuals, while SPRI have more historical material. 

We passed through the Wobold Room, which contains open shelf periodicals and pamphlets, as well as housing the MPhil students. This fascinating collection of pamphlets are classified as ephemeral, and are of particular use to arts and humanities and social science students looking at perceptions of polar regions etc. The extent and holdings of the pamphlets are not known, but they include non-standard material like museum programmes and leaflets, lecture notes. The Russian Gallery houses the biggest collection of Russian periodicals on the Russian North outside of Russia, and the SPRI is the only source that abstracts these.

My overall impression was of a library with much more varied material and projects than I had expected. I was struck by the community atmosphere, and how the library meets the needs of some extraordinary people in distant locations with some very interesting stories to report. For example, the library can provide e-access and support to those in the field via satellite phones, however scientists in the field have problems with batteries freezing, so often tape them to their body. Generally, people use the library more while in research bases in the polar regions. The library seems to me to be fairly unique in a few ways. Analytical cataloguing is one way, and the manuscript map material is another - most libraries don’t like their material to be annotated! The SPRI library is a fascinating place to see and I would recommend a visit to anyone who gets the opportunity.

Libraries@cambridge conference 2012 – Blue skies – thinking and working in the cloud

On 12^th January I attended the Libraries@cambridge 2012 conference. It was an interesting day with some thought-provoking presentations and useful opportunities to talk to staff from other libraries in Cambridge, and meet some reps. Here's an overview of what I took from the day:

Anne Jarvis - Welcome

The day started off with a welcome from Anne Jarvis, University Librarian. She summarised some examples of working together in Cambridge and introduced the theme of the day, which is the new challenges and opportunities of the cloud. Anne described blue-sky thinking as being open-minded.

Deborah Shorley (Imperial College London) – Survival of the fittest in library land

Deborah gave a talk intending to shake things up a bit. She said that we need to provide what users need, therefore we must evolve fast or become obsolete. Using the theme of birds, which featured at various points in the presentation – we fly or we die!

The main idea I took away from this session is that we can’t just do what we do slightly differently. We need to do different things – if not others will come and do it for us. The point of libraries isn’t holding collections – it’s promoting them and making them accessible. Another of Deborah's points that struck me was that Imperial College London is 98% digital and they throw out the book as soon as it is available as an ebook. This is quite a contrast to Cambridge University Library!

Liz Waller (University of York) – Library chameleon

Liz’s presentation focussed on the library space, with many photos and examples to illustrate her points. Space needs are changing and there is a lot going on in UK academic libraries, where there is a pressure to meet or surpass student expectations.  Particular themes seem to be reconfigurable furniture to meet different student needs, plus a rise in the use of portable devices among students. I liked the look of Leicester University Library’s study booths for group work. These have plasma TV screens which up to 3 laptops can be connected to.

Liz showed examples of postgraduate study and research areas too, such as Leicester’s leather furniture including a sunlounger (lucky postgraduates!). Queen’s University Belfast's research area features the door from the Lion the witch and the wardrobe film, and a central circular table with a map of Narnia.  Innovative ideas at the Wolfson Research Centre at Warwick include magnetic walls, and seminars inside the seminar room are projected onto the wall for those within the research centre. Postgraduates want flexibility of movable furniture and screens to meet their needs, and spaces continue to evolve after a redevelopment.

Liz showed examples of the different types of seating and working spaces available to meet different needs, including popular beanbags, and ended with the most popular at York, called the haven.

Foundations Project Team (Grant Young, Huw Jones and Jenny Fletcher) – Laying the foundations of a new digital library

Grant introduced the Cambridge Digital Library, which launched with the Newton papers and received a lot of coverage, even making it on the national TV news in New Zealand. Genizah and Darwin projects are producing online resources. Material on the Digital Library is covered by a creative commons licence for reuse, and is enriched by linking it with research. Jennie explained the technology behind the Digital Library. The user interface was developed internally so that it is customisable, for example, menus are collapsible. Future plans for the Digital Library include further customisation, bookmarking, searching, extra support for kindle and ipad.

Huw talked about the British Longitude survey archive, which is forthcoming to the Digital Library. This was a government-sponsored competition in the eighteenth century to solve the longitude problem (i.e. how far east you are), which was a big problem for ships and explorers. Many submissions were received from all kinds of people, making this a useful resource for seeing ordinary people’s lives in their own voices from across society. Researchers are providing abstracts to link with the Digital Library.

Christy Henshaw (Wellcome Library) – Creating an online resource for medical archives at the Wellcome Library

The Wellcome Library focuses on medical history and is beginning a digital library pilot. This differs from Cambridge Digital Library as the items will be accessed via the library catalogue rather than a separate platform. Items to be digitised are archival collection and books from 1850-1990, which brings up some copyright issues. I was interested to hear that it will include documents like Medical Officer of Health reports for Greater London. The library is also part of the Early European Books Online (EEBO) project, and EEBO are digitising 5.5 million images.

Christy talked about the need to manage user expectations and the impact on people while digitisation work is underway, for example accessing items that are being digitised.

Sensitivity is an issue for the Wellcome Library’s project, as many items are personal papers or include personal data. They need to consider possible distress caused to a person’s family.

Promotion of the project is being undertaken via a PhD student seeding Wikipedia with links. Press publicity may be used for high profile items, and links with exhibitions will also promote the digital library.

The library user in a blue sky

This session featured presentations from library users (including a mixture of academics, researchers and students) talking about what they want from libraries. Some common themes I picked out included the popularity of open access among researchers, and the importance of the library as a space. Collaboration was another key theme - Dr Alexander from Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH) saw her role as a potential collaborator with the library rather than as a library user, while Dr Scott-Warren, a Lecturer in English Faculty and Centre for Material Texts, pointed that that underused archives and special collections could be integrated into undergraduate courses. For Mark, a PhD student from Edinburgh University, the main thing that a library does is give him access to information.

Sylvia, a third year English student, noted the need for both digital and print information, pointing out that not everyone can afford a laptop, and found Kindles and similar devices great for reading for pleasure, but not for scholarly use. She added that librarians have a role in advising about copyright and quality of information, and teaching students how to use referencing software. Today’s university students may be digital natives but that doesn’t mean they know everything about the digital world.

Dr Scott-Warren noted the common phenomena of digital greed (wanting more, better and faster) and digital anxiety (do I know what I have access to?) The challenge for libraries is alerting people to what is on offer. Regarding digital libraries, Dr Scott-Warren noted that there is no standard between libraries, for image quality for example. Technology means there is a pressure for libraries to find out what they have got and publicise collections via the web, which can open up special collections.

Dr Wallach, Senior Lecturer in Materials Science, queried whether a librarian is more like a pterodactyl (obsolete) or a seshat (goddess of wisdom and knowledge). Agreeing with Sylvia’s point, librarians need to teach students about the skill of rejecting sites based on reliability and how to organise searching.

Posters

The conference ended with a drinks reception and a chance to look at posters and talk to poster presenters. I had produced a poster on QR codes and ebooks with my colleague Jayne Kelly. This was my first attempt at a poster and put into practice things I had learnt from Cam23 2.0 about QR codes. I didn’t get the chance to see all the other posters, but those that particularly caught my eye included the Judge Business School on using business cards as library ‘where to start’ cards (great idea) and Claire Sewell’s poster about the cpd23 programme.

Overall, it was an interesting day and I broadened my knowledge of what is happening in other libraries. For me, the main benefit from the day was that I came away feeling inspired and open-minded.

Library day in the life round 8

Library day in the life is a semi-annual event where librarians write about their day to day work for a week. This is the first time that I've taken part. I have two part-time roles in an academic research library. In the mornings I work in the ebooks team and in the afternoons I work on the enquiry desk in the Commonwealth Room, a specialist reading room for Official Publications and Inter-Library Loans (ILL). I love the variety these two roles give me and it means I am never bored!

Monday

I start each day by dealing with the email enquiries about ebooks. A quiet morning on enquiries - must be because my colleague was working Saturday and cleared all the emails then! Next on the agenda is amending links in ebook catalogue records so that the links will work for off campus users. As a result of a recent enquiry we discovered that many of the links in catalogue records for a package of over 400 titles don't work off campus so we are working through the list and amending where necessary. I am also cataloguing some ebooks that we don't currently have records for.  This involves downloading MARC records for these titles from OCLC and amending them to meet our library's needs. 

Each afternoon I receipt the incoming ILLs for our readers on our ILL system, and decide whether photocopying is allowed for each one.  A fairly busy afternoon on the enquiry desk, and one of those days where everyone seems to want help at once. I took several ILL requests from readers, checked that we didn't have them here and looked up locations that do hold them. Another job on the enquiry desk is taking fetching requests. Most of the official publications collection is in closed stacks, so readers have to fill out request slips and the department's Fetcher brings them to the room. There was a lot of fetching of acts today. I took some photocopying requests, and took payment from those collecting photocopying. We have a self-service photocopier in the room, but some readers ask for staff copying, and many inter-library loans can only be copied by staff. The Microform Reading Room is reached by some stairs within the Commonwealth Room and when the part-time Microform Reading Room superintendent leaves mid-afternoon, I also deal with any microform enquiries. Often, like today, people need to be shown how to use the microform readers or copying machines, as many people have never used microfilms or microfiche before.

Tuesday

I spent the morning continuing to amend the ebook links and cataloguing ebooks, plus dealing with the email enquiries that came in. I had to break the bad news to a student that their recommendation isn't available as an ebook. Luckily we have a print copy in the library, so at least the student can access the book somehow.

A quieter afternoon on the enquiry desk. As well as the usual loan receipting, photocopy requests, fetching etc, I responded to some ILL requests from other libraries that we couldn't satisfy. There are several jobs that I can do at quiet times on the desk, such as cataloguing official publications.  In the quiet periods today I dealt with the ephemeral material. This is typically leaflets or other ephemeral material from government departments that we don't catalogue individually. Instead we register each item received, only recording the title and the publication year for each item.

Every Tuesday evening I do a couple of hours work in the Rare Books Reading Room. It's useful to see what other reading rooms in the library do, and gain some experience working with rare books. At the end of the day it's time to lock up a section of the library and then home time!

Wednesday

Finished checking the ebooks links today, hurrah! As well as keeping on top of the enquiries, I updated our spreadsheet of available ebook titles with some new ebook acquisitions and uploaded this to our information for librarians website. This is useful for knowing what we have access to as not all our ebooks from all suppliers have records in the catalogue at the moment.

This afternoon involved the usual receipting of loans, dealing with fetching and photocopying requests, enquiries, plus more responding to requests from other libraries.

Thursday

Some updates to the ebooks webpages. We recently signed up for ebook downloading from MyiLibrary. I put together some guidance for our users on this, based on some FAQs on the MyiLibrary site and my colleague's blog post that advertised it, and uploaded this to our ebooks website. I also added a new resource to our free ebooks pages which provide useful links to free ebooks.

A typical afternoon in the Commonwealth Room. Today there were quite a few ILL and microform enquiries. Sometimes what starts as an official publications or microform enquiry turns into an ILL enquiry when it becomes clear that we don't hold what the reader is looking for. Today for example a reader was looking for some Irish newspapers that she thought we might hold on microform. After establishing that we didn't have them here, I managed to find some libraries that do have them.

Friday

There were several ebook email enquiries waiting for me this morning. A couple of ebook recommendations from librarians, including one that is needed quite quickly. I've only been doing this job for a few months, and today I had some training on how to place ebooks orders, and put the purchase order information in the system.  

One of the things I like about enquiry work is that you never know what you will be asked next. Today for example, I helped a reader find information about poverty indicators, and another find an Irish census report in the parliamentary papers. Not all official publications are in the online catalogue, so I often need to show readers how to use our card catalogue to search for material published before 1999. For enquiry work, I find it is always helpful to know what online resources are available, both paid-for and free, as complex enquiries often need a mixture of print and online sources to solve. The detective work involved is interesting! Detective work is sometimes needed in ILL work too. Today I took some more ILL requests, and managed to find a couple of articles that were requested. It's always satisfying when I find that we already have something a reader wants to get on ILL as it saves them the £3 ILL fee and usually results in a happy reader! I entered some requests onto the ILL system, which sends them off to the library we wish to request them from. 

That's the end of another week. For anyone who's stuck with me til the end, sorry for the length of this, but that's what happens when trying to cover an entire week in one post!