In order to meet the challenges facing us over the next few years, and to work towards our new agenda for 2013, there have been some changes made to senior management responsibilities in the Library at Walton Hall.  Tricia Heffernan’s new team is called ‘Academic and Student Services’ and as well as responsibility for the Learning & Teaching team, she now includes Customer Services within her remit.  One of the new initiatives in her area is a Learning & Teaching focus on how new developments in the VLE can support the embedding of Information Literacy for Associate Lecturers and students. Gill Needham’s new group is called ‘Information Management and Innovation’ which comprises five teams, Information Management, Content & Licensing, Information Literacy, Research & Innovation and Systems Development.  Our ‘Business Performance and Management’ team is now led by Ann Davies and brings together Finance, HR, project support, activity and performance monitoring, business development, marketing and publicity activity.

The Open University CPD course “The Evolving Information Professional” written in conjunction with Library Services was launched in the New Year.  This flexible online course helps information professionals face the challenges of the digital age and raises awareness and understanding of the issues and challenges facing libraries, archives and information services.  For more information visit: http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C01GT067

This online repository is now one of the largest UK repositories and has reached over 8,000 deposits.  It is an Open Access resource featuring research publications and other research outputs from the Open University that can be searched and browsed freely by anyone and is available at http://oro.open.ac.uk/

We have been really impressed with the interest in our Library Services Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Milton-Keynes/The-Open-University-Library/57072763224 and with how people are engaging with us through Twitter http://twitter.com/OU_Library.   Why not join us and keep up-to-date with library resources, share tips and information and find out what the OU Library is doing!

The new ‘One-stop search’ will search across many of the library databases and enable students and staff quick access directly to articles.  With subject headings, basic and advanced search facilities and a separate search facility for free resources, this service is proving popular.  You can access the One-stop search from the Open University Library website homepage http://www.open.ac.uk/library. 

Library Guide – a practical guide to using the Library website

Library Services has launched a new online tour of the digital Library service. The Library Guide is aimed at anyone who is new to using the online Library and needs an overview of the services and resources and some hints on getting started.

The guide features an overview of the Library website and the wealth of resources available. There are suggestions about how students can use the online library for their studies, a quick start section with some key resources to try, and some practical hints and tips. A glossary has been included to help with unfamiliar words or phrases. The guide also includes audio clips from OU students who share their experiences of using the online library. 

You can access the Library Guide at http://library.open.ac.uk/libraryguide and from the home page of the OU Library website: http://www.open.ac.uk/library

m-libraries Conference 24th – 25th June 2009   Following on from the successful first m-libraries conference in 2007 held and sponsored by The Open University Library in partnership with Athasbasca University, the second m-libraries conference will take place in Vancouver in June.  It is sponsored by the University of British Columbia in conjunction with Athabasca University, The Open University and Thompson Rivers University. For more information, visit the m-libraries website at http://m-libraries2009.ubc.ca/.  Registration is now open with ‘early bird’ concessions available until 15 May.