Author Archives: Lily Swain

West Hub Visit

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In April, we were treated to two library visits in one day: Cambridge Judge Business School in the morning and the West Hub in the afternoon. Located on the University of Cambridge’s West Cambridge Site, the West Hub is a 10-minute cycle or a short bus journey from the city centre. It was a really lovely route, with the cycle path running parallel to the fields and heading towards the nearby village, Coton.

The view as you leave the West Hub

Home to the University Sports Centre, Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Veterinary Medicine, Whittle Laboratory and various commercial research institutes, the West Cambridge Site’s main focus is on physical sciences and technology. One of the Site’s newest buildings, the West Hub, opened on 26 April 2022 and represents the first step in the creation of the West Cambridge Innovation District.

Lovely, bright staircase with floor-to-ceiling windows

The West Hub is the University of Cambridge’s first publicly open co-working hub. With no restrictions on who can access the building, the space feels like a futuristic public library. On the ground floor, you can find a canteen, bar, newsagent, and even showers. Moving up the bright orange staircase, there is a rich variety of working areas (40 to be exact!) to suit different needs and moods. Interestingly, there are no zones for studying: the architect designed the building so that it naturally gets quieter as you move up the building. The Library Manager did note that students tend to be quiet in the North Room (where the books are located) though. Perhaps the visual cue of books is all it takes to inspire silence! It was an important and intentional decision to name the room with the books the North Room rather than the Library, so that the West Hub as a whole is understood to be a library.

One of many different seating styles in the West Hub

What struck me, was how accessible the space was. Unlike many buildings in Cambridge, the West Hub has step-free access, two lifts, wide corridors, accessible and gender-neutral toilets, baby change stations, spacious seating areas, and a mixture of high and low-tables. The West Hub’s relationship with nature is also inspiring. There are beautiful big windows overlooking green space, trees in the atrium growing toward the upper floors, and indoor plants dotted everywhere. Incorporating nature into the building is a clear indication of their desire to prioritise wellbeing and sustainability. The calming atmosphere is complimented by the availability of contemplation rooms, which are comfy, technology-free spaces to contemplate or have a conversation. Other bookable spaces include large meeting rooms, meeting pods, and a pop-up media lab.

A growing tree in the atrium

While in many ways the West Hub reimagines what a library is, it still maintains traditional services. The library desk is located on the first floor and as part of the Technology Libraries and Biological Sciences Libraries Team, it supports the Departments of Engineering, Computer Science, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, and Veterinary Medicine. The library staff offer standard study skills sessions (how to use the library, literature searches, referencing) alongside more personal sessions (designing a great poster, perfecting presentation skills, revision tips). In addition to the North Room, there is also a small ‘Inspire, Learn and Inform’ collection, which displays books from outside of the main subject areas. Although borrowing is restricted to University of Cambridge students and staff, non-members are welcome to reference the material inside the West Hub.

A massive thank you to Danielle, the Library Manager, for providing such an engaging tour and to the rest of the West Hub team for sharing their expertise with us.

Cambridge Judge Business School Library Visit

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A few weeks ago, we had our first joint visit with the Oxford trainees to Cambridge Judge Business School (CJBS). Located in the former Addenbrooke’s Hospital, the School has an impressive façade and despite various reconstructions, still maintains some original features. The interior of the building has changed significantly though, with an open plan design, floating staircases, balconies, giant columns, and lovely bright windows. The art deco feeling, with bright colours and patterns, represents a marked difference from traditional University of Cambridge buildings and speaks to the School’s desire to be innovative.

After introductions and a lot of staring in awe at the atrium, we were met by CJBS’ Deputy Librarian, Andrew, who led us straight to tea and biscuits (which is quickly becoming one of my favourite traditions of library life!).

It’s a fairly small library, but immediately feels like one which is welcoming and comfortable. There is a map on the wall for students to place a pin on their home country, googly eyes on staplers, beanbags within the stacks, “dinky doors” on shelves, and a work-in-progress communal jigsaw. It was really nice to see a playful side of librarianship, especially when business is a stereotypically serious subject. I’m sure that CJBS’ efforts to create an open space, with student wellbeing a key consideration, contributes significantly to combatting library anxiety and positioning the library staff as friendly and approachable.

I was really impressed with how committed CJBS are to understanding and then improving user experience. With a dedicated User Experience Librarian, they run numerous UX projects throughout the year. One of their previous projects asked students to empty their bags (this was optional!) to understand what kind of things students brought with them to the library. It led to the discovery that more users than they thought owned Microsoft devices and as a consequence, they purchased more compatible chargers. Another project observed the creative solutions students implemented to change the height of their laptop i.e., by placing their laptop on a pile of books. To combat this, CJBS now have lots of laptop stands available and a couple of height-adjustable desks.

Alongside UX projects, they also have a ‘graffiti wall’ so students can leave anonymous feedback and suggestions. This has proven to be quite successful, with the team acknowledging that, for many students, writing on a board is less daunting than approaching staff directly. The library team then write the actions they’ve taken underneath. The ‘graffiti wall’ initiative has brought to light many issues that wouldn’t have been discovered otherwise, including a squeaky door in the far corner of the library.

The collection is very reading list focused, which results in the stock being regularly weeded and replenished with new acquisitions. There is also a big emphasis on electronic resources, because many students aren’t located in Cambridge, or even in the UK. A clear example of this is CJBS’ new Global Executive MBA programme, which includes teaching from various locations: Cambridge, other countries, and online.

The library also has access to specialised business databases such as Bloomberg. Alongside traditional services such as live market analysis, Andrew showed us some of the more fun features such as the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which updates daily to show the world’s richest people. Bizarrely, there’s also a feature called ‘Posh’ which allows users to list items to sell – think Ebay for rich people – such as cars and apartments (everything we saw was in the millions…).

In addition to essential texts and reading list materials, students can also borrow wellbeing books from the ‘Boost’ section and access ‘Weird Ideas and Disruptive Thinking’ books covering a variety of subject areas. There’s also a small fiction and DVD section.

Cambridge Judge Business School’s user-centric approach was really refreshing and gave us all lots to think about for our own libraries. A big thank you to Andrew and everyone at CJBS for such an interesting visit.

A Day in the Life at Anglia Ruskin University

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When I first started at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), the team rota felt pretty overwhelming to look at: with 6 full-time and 6 part-time Library Services Advisers, there is definitely a lot going on! I have removed the names of my colleagues from the screenshot below, but each row corresponds to a different Library Services Advisor. The bottom half of the rota lists our priority tasks, and we simply type our name next to the task we are doing in the appropriate time column. With a big team, this ensures that two people aren’t accidentally doing the same task at the same time.

The timetable does change daily though, meaning that no two days are the same. With it being the start of term, the timetable is currently quite full but at different times of the year, we have more blank slots (unallocated hours) so we can focus on individual or group projects.

Team rota for Tuesday 17 January 2023
Team rota for Tuesday 17 Janaury 2023
An asile with stacks of books either side on the second floor of the library

8:30 – 9:00: Building Walk
After a very chilly cycle to work (the feels like temperate was -5!), I start my day with a building walk which – as the name suggests – is a walk around the library to make sure everything is in order. The usual things to look out for are health and safety hazards, faulty equipment, and broken lights. Apart from a few travelling chairs, the library was all in order. Time for a cup of tea!

09:00 – 10:00: Emails and Reading Lists
Next, I’m on a blank slot which gives me a chance to go through the library email account. As term only started yesterday, it is still fairly quiet with only a handful of enquiries overnight. Today, they are pretty straight-forward: a book recommendation, query about loan length, and an alumni membership application. With some time left over, I start to order a few books from ARU’s reading lists. We have recently moved to a new reading list management system, Keylinks, which has made the whole process a lot smoother.

10:00 – 11:00: Phone & Chat Support
I always find phone and chat support a strange hour because it’s so unpredictable – sometimes I don’t receive a single message/call, while other days can be significantly busier. Today is one of the quieter days, with only one 5-minute chat regarding literature reviews. With one eye on the phone/chat, I decide to continue ordering from the reading lists because it’s a good task to dip in and out of. In the end, I order 1 book to our Chelmsford campus and 17 books to our Cambridge campus.

11:00 – 12:00: Scanning
I notice that there is a pending PDF scan request on Alma (our library database), so I do the usual checks before approving (are the number of pages compliant with copyright, is the item available electronically, have they requested from this book before). After completing the scan, I tackle accessibility. The chapter I am scanning from is an ocular anatomy book, and I must admit, I sometimes struggle with how best to add alt text to scientific figures. With one or more figures on each page, I take my time to ensure that the descriptive text is as useful as possible, should the patron use it.

12:00 – 13:00: Lunch
With it being such a cold day, I decide to eat inside – on sunnier/warmer days, I love to get some fresh air with a stroll around nearby Mill Road Cemetery. After staring at a screen for a lot of the morning, it’s nice to take some time away and squeeze in some pages from my current read, So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell.

13:00 – 14:00: Help Desk
Shifts at the desk have been really busy so far this week because there are lots of new students on campus as some courses have a January start date. To manage queues and help students more efficiently, there are 2 people on the desk between 11 and 4. The enquiries we receive are varied but the most common ones today were directional, password resets, WiFi issues, printing trouble, and how to use the self-service machines. I also had a few students who were struggling to find a book upstairs and as we can’t leave the desk, I radioed a colleague (who was on the ‘back up’ role) to help.

Holding an orange motorola radio

14:00 – 15:00: Back Up & Pick List
After a busy hour on the desk, I make myself a cappuccino before tackling the pick list. There were 46 items on the pick list when I started and by the time I’d found the books on the shelves, processed them, and placed them on the requests shelf, the pick list already had 15 new items! There are currently 150 books on the requests shelf, waiting for collection. Luckily, the desk didn’t radio me for any support this hour, so I was able to focus on the pick list uninterrupted.

15:00 – 16:00: Pick List & Processing an External Membership
I’m on a blank slot so I help the next person on the ‘back up’ role by finding the new items from the pick list. There is nothing to receive as there were no books or journals in the post today, so I process a new alumni membership application form. In need of a boost of energy, I then take a short chocolate break!

Trolley with books in front of a shelving unit with books on

16:00 – 17:00: Roving & Shelving
For the last hour of the day, I am tasked with roving. The main responsibility is to circulate all four floors to ensure that noise levels are appropriate and be visible in case any students need help. Roving is a nice opportunity to be away from a screen and walk around the library. It’s also a great time to get amongst the books and do some shelving. After a busy day, I cycle home for a relaxing evening.

Cambridge Central Library Visit

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For our second visit, we were given a tour of Cambridge Central Library. It is one of the 33 council run libraries in Cambridgeshire, tucked away in Cambridge’s busy shopping centre, the Lion’s Yard. The bright and modern library spans three floors and caters to all with community at its heart. In addition to its broad catalogue (children’s, teenage, and adult books; CDs and DVDs; music scores; and newspapers), it offers important services to the public such as book clubs, rhymetime, arts activities, basic digital skills sessions, mental health support, and help applying for a bus pass. Membership is free and open to all living, working, visiting, or studying in Cambridgeshire. I have always found public libraries to be warm and welcoming spaces, and Cambridge Central Library was no exception.

Library entrance and main sign
Outside the library entrance

In the first half of our visit, one of the library staff, Jess, gave us a general tour of the library. On the ground floor, the fiction, teenage and teenage plus, and children’s books can be found.

Books on shelf with blue or orange stickers on their spine
Their sticker system differentiates between teenage and teenage plus material

I was really impressed about how accessible the children’s collection is with separate sections for braille, large print, dual language, and dyslexia friendly books. The entrance and train shelving units were also great fun!

Mid-height wall with a person-shaped cut out
The entrance to the children’s section

We were then shown the book return sorting room which had some great technology. Once customers have returned their items via the self-service machines, the books are taken on a conveyor belt to the sorting room where they can be distributed into various boxes depending on which floor they’re shelved, or which library they need to be sent to.

4 storting trolleys on each side of the conveyor belt
Behind-the-scenes in the book returns room

The rest of the books can be found on the second floor, classified according to the Dewey Decimal system. There are also plenty of desks and computers available, and some great nooks for reading and relaxing (or people watching!).

Chair between shelves facing the window overlooking the Lion's Yard Shopping Centre
Red chair in corner facing window looking outside
On the second floor between every set of shelves, there are chairs facing the window
Framed colourful quilt of Market Square
A wonderful quilt of Market Hill is displayed on the third floor. It was made by members of the Gadabouts Quilting Group between 2006 and 2008

In the second half of our visit, Mary introduced us to the Cambridgeshire Collections. Starting in the reading room, we were shown their microfilm newspaper collection which dates from 1762. Mary was really proud to show us their microfilm reader, too, which is the only one in Cambridge. The digital machine allows users to easily find and crop articles, then save them as PDFs/JPEGs – a really useful tool for research. We were then taken down into the temperate-controlled basement, which stores the majority of the collection. The range of material is extensive – as long as it relates to Cambridgeshire, then you name it, they probably have it! Mary shared her personal favourite with us: a set of miniature jam jars created by a local company in Histon for the Queen’s dolls’ house. We loved these too!

6 miniature jam jars in a cushioned box
Miniature jam jars!
The Queen's Dolls' House These miniature jars are exact reproductions of those which we were privileged to supply to The QUEEN'S Dolls' House Chivers & Sons Ltd. The Orchard Factory, Histon, Cambridge, England Purveyors of Jams, Jellies, and Canned English Fruits to HIS MAJESTY THE KING, H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES, H.M. QUEEN ALEXANDRA and H.M. THE QUEEN OF NORWAY
The note accompanying the jam jars

We are all very grateful to Jess, Mary, and the rest of the Cambridge Central Library team for welcoming us to their library.