DVDs and CD-ROMs now available in the library!

From today, members of St Hugh’s College Library will be able to borrow DVDs and CD-ROMs.
Until December 2010, the college JCR (Junior Common Room, or undergraduate student body) had a collection of films on DVD which they kept in a student’s bedroom and administered their own system for keeping track of loans.

Over the Christmas vacation, the JCR’s DVDs were brought to me for cataloguing and from today, the collection is available for loan.  A maximum of 3 DVDs may be borrowed at once, and the loan period is 3 days.

Since the installation of the RFID security and stock management system in August 2010, the library has had the facility to lend multimedia items using the same self-service kiosk used for book borrowing.  This is how the system works:

1. DVDs and CD-ROMs are stored in jewel cases that look identical to the usual cases, but have an in-built locking mechanism which secures the disc inside the case.

2. The special cases also contain RFID tags, so if someone tries to leave the library with an item they have not borrowed, it will trigger the alarm.

3. When someone borrows a disc using the self-service kiosk, they will be able to exit the library without triggering the alarm.

4. Just after the security gate, there is an unlocking unit affixed to the wall.  The borrower slides the case through the unit to unlock it, and can then access the disc inside.

Alongside the DVDs, there is also a small collection of CD-ROMs.  These CD-ROMs come from textbooks where they provide supplementary information, an electronic version of the text or animations to accompany the main text.

CD-ROMs have the same lending rules as the books they accompany.  Both the disc and the matching book are labelled ‘Multipart item – check catalogue for additional parts’ to help students locate the companion items in the library.

RFID installation

A major project during the summer of 2010 was the installation of an RFID security and stock management system.  RFID stands for Radio Frequency IDentification, and involves fitting items with a tag which can be read remotely.  The ability to read the tag remotely means that a library inventory can be conducted by using an RFID scanner to pick up the tag IDs of all the books on the shelves (which saves a great deal of time and money over having to open each book in order to scan its barcode).  It also means that multiple items may be borrowed or returned simultaneously using the self-service kiosk.  Any items not borrowed using the kiosk will trigger an alarm if the user tries to leave the library with the item, and this will greatly reduce the number of books lost each year, saving the library money.

One of the first steps was partial destruction and rebuilding of the floor, in order to install electrical and network cables for the security gates:

Next, the gates themselves were put in (and the floor re-carpeted!):

While all this was going on, RFID tags were placed in all the open-shelf books and programmed with the associated barcode of each individual book:

During a three-week period, The Tagging Team repeated this process over and over again until all 53,602 books were tagged.

Once the self-service kiosk arrived, we were ready to go with the new system:

The new kiosk has been very popular with readers, and provides a much nicer user interface than our previous self-issue system.  It gives readers the option of a receipt for each transaction, and many find this a useful way to be reminded of the due dates for their loans.

The security gate area is supervised by CCTV as the library is open 24 hours a day, but only staffed from 09:00-17:00.  If the alarm is triggered, it flags the CCTV recording so library staff can easily see if there have been any incidents overnight.

I am looking forward to the upgrading of our library management system (expected in July 2011) which will enable some other features of the kiosk to be used, e.g. readers will be able to see a list of all their loans and renew them on the screen.

“Chips and Mash” Mashed Libraries event, Huddersfield, 30th July 2010

What is a mashup?

A mashup is a derivative work consisting of blending two or more media sources. For example, a live train map for the London Underground, a remix of songs, or a calendar add-on showing the due dates on your library books.

The first Mashed Libraries event took place at Birkbeck College in November 2008. Since then, there have been events at Huddersfield (Mash Oop North!), Birmingham (Middlemash) and Liverpool (Liver and Mash). Since the theme of this event was RFID, the name Chips and Mash emerged. The next mashed libraries meet will be in Bath on 29th October, and the name Mash Spa has already been suggested.

Librarians deal with a huge amount of data, and the Mashed Library events provide a context for bringing together librarians and technical people to find new ways of ‘mashing’ library data into new and wonderful forms.

The word ‘shambrarian’ was often heard at Chips and Mash! A shambrarian is someone who works in a library or information management context (often in a tech/IT role), who knows a lot of librarians and may share some of their characteristics but is not a librarian themselves.  Librarians often have ideas for mashups they would like to create, and they need the shambrarians’ tech skills to make them happen.

The main thing I learned about today was QR [quick response] codes

Here is an example of a QR code: 

Many people now have smartphones, and you can download a free QR reader app for your device.  When you scan the QR code with your phone, it will link you to directly to some text, a URL or a phone number.  This QR code will direct you to my Twitter profile.

Some libraries are now displaying QR codes at strategic points to help with user education.  for example, a QR code by the photocopier might link the user to a tutorial about how to do double-sided copies, or QR codes on print journals might link directly to the electronic version of the same title.

I like the way that exploring the library using information linked from QR codes could make the process seem like a treasure hunt or an adventure, rather than a chore.

Generating a QR code is free.  Search for ‘QR code generator’ and you will find a variety of sites for creating your code.  You can then save the image as a file, or copy and paste the HTML to embed the image on a web page.

RFID

Intellident sponsored Chips and Mash and they brought along some RFID products to demo. I was excited to see the same type of self-service kiosk that will be arriving in my library in two weeks’ time! John Cunningham did a presentation about the range of applications they have for RFID, including monitoring the supply chain stages of fresh fruit and vegetables for supermarkets and movement of clothing stock for Marks and Spencer (look out for ‘intelligent labels for stock control’).

smartBlade

Linda Davies described to us the Intellident smartBlade installation at her workplace, Cardiff University. It involves placing thin panels at intervals all along the bookshelves. Using the related software, you can search for a book, and the system will send a pulse out to all the panels, reading all the books’ RFID tags until it finds the book you have searched for.  A small blue light then flashes on the panel closest to the book.  There were many impressed faces in the audience but I think very fee of us will ever see this in our libraries. As for me, I’m content with having RFID at all, and the installation of the system in my library this summer is very exciting.

Badge(r)s!

Lisa Balman's inspired badge combines a badger and a QR code

We were asked to bring our own name badges for this event, and undercurrents of creativity and competitiveness blossomed into a competition for who had the best badge.  This was further complicated by the ‘badger’ theme – a Mashed Libraries tradition harking back to some meeting notes in which ‘badge’ had been misspelled – and now it seems that badgers are the official mascot of the mashup events.

My Chips and Mash badge, made out of an RFID tag

I took pictures of as many badges as I could and you can see my photos in this Flickr set.  I won a prize for my badge, made out of an RFID tag!

Project Management

This summer, I have four main projects to co-ordinate:

• Weeding of the collections (as described in my post about Collection Management)
• Installation of RFID security and stock management system
• Relocation of the Law Library from its existing home in a separate building to its new location within the main library
• Refurbishment of the library lobby

Though these projects can run largely independently of one another, there are some points of interaction.  For example, it makes sense to weed the collections before applying RFID tags to all the books.  The refurbishment of the lobby needs to fit around the RFID installation, as the carpet needs to come up and new cabling needs to be laid before the RFID gates can be installed.

A Wordle image created from the text of the list of tasks for the summer's projects

I started out by listing all the different stages that would be needed for each project, and began talking to other people who would be involved.  This ended up being quite a lot of people: Intellident (our RFID system supplier); the team who support Oxford’s library catalogue (OLIS) regarding the RFID system; the security company who manage our CCTV; the college’s Estates team who will organise the electrician, carpenter, and redecoration aspects;  a crate hire company for moving all the Law books;  the college IT department for all the wiring, moving of computers and WiFi installation; suppliers for new furniture… I hope I haven’t forgotten anyone!

I used Microsoft Project to begin weaving all these strands together: identifying predecessors (the order things need to be done), liaison, task durations, start and end dates and costs.

Screenshot of the Gantt chart I made for this summer's projects

I liked how Project allowed me to see different layers through the plan, e.g. all the tasks that involved the IT team.  It also created a Gantt chart which helped me visualise the different phases of the work.

The only problem with using Microsoft Project is that very few of my colleagues have the software on their machines, so they would not have been able to access my document.  I worked around this by making an Excel version of the plan, once the details had been figured out.

The work begins in earnest next week, and I’m looking forward to seeing all these changes taking shape.  It will be great to welcome the students back in October with a improved library that offers them a better place to work.

November 2010 update: find out how it turned out!

• New collections
• Installation of RFID security and stock management system
• Relocation of the Law Library

Visit from another college librarian

I will begin by telling you a little story about what it means to be a collegiate university.

A major difference between the University of Oxford (and Cambridge and Durham) and other UK universities it that it has a collegiate structure.

The University of Oxford has 38 independent, self-governing colleges and 6 permanent private halls (here’s a list).

Students and staff therefore belong to both their faculty and college communities.  Colleges and permanent private halls have their own libraries, which are usually only for the use of members of that College or Hall.

Each College or Hall has its own governing structures, ethos and Fellows, and they are also financially independent.

So the College Libraries* at the University of Oxford have (paradoxically) everything and nothing in common.  They are financially and ideologically independent of each other, and can modify every aspect of their services and collections to suit their particular college.  For example, some colleges are only for postgraduates and some have subject specialisms.

However, for all these differences, the college libraries and their Librarians have common ground in that they occupy a unique niche within the University, and are quite different from the faculty and departmental libraries of the University.

And so it is that college librarians find it very useful to meet up and discuss different aspects of their work, and share experiences of tackling a variety of issues in their work.

Today, I had a visit from another college librarian who was interested to know about the library lobby redesign project I am undertaking this summer.

The new design will include:

• Security gates for RFID security and stock management system
• Self-issue and return kiosk for RFID
• Combined printing, photocopying and scanning machine
• New tables and comfortable seating
• New carpet
• New coat of paint

I am looking forward to the pleasant entrance to the library that this refurbishment will provide, as well as the new equipment and facilities available to readers: self-return, photocopying , scanning and colour reprographics are all new features.

This work will begin next week, so I am spending this week making sure that we are ready for the move of the library office for the duration of the work, and ensuring that library users know about alternative arrangements for access during this period.

*From here on, I will use the term “College Libraries” to refer to the libraries of both colleges and permanent private halls, to avoid repetition.  Apologies to Blackfriars, Campion Hall, Regent’s Park College**, St Benet’s Hall, St Stephen’s House and Wycliffe Hall.

** I know, I put Regent’s Park College in the list of Permanent Private Halls.  But it is in fact a Hall, and not a College.  See?