Response from UCL Medical School
Dear Paul,
Leon has asked me to reply to this on his behalf. I, in turn, have consulted
with Professor David Ingram, whose interesting comments I have copied
below. In essence the answer is that we would find value in 24 hour opening
as part of a changing culture of the function of the library service. We realise,
however, that funding constraints may be relevant.
"This is as much a question about the culture of the academic community and
the way it lives and works, here in London.
I've spent quite a lot of time over the years working in Universities in N.
America which provided high quality, spacious and welcoming library
environments, highly conducive to study and open for much longer hours than
here. The benefit to the academic community was huge. People who are
engaged intensively on completing theses and dissertations sometimes do
need to work almost 24 hours per day for weeks on end. Libraries can be
great places to do that, provided they are conveniently located for a critical
mass of people and have surrounding social facilities.
There's a competitiveness aspect to this issue of opening hours, as well, and
LSE and Imperial are mindful of that, I imagine. I know a librarian at LSE and
will ask how the experiment is progressing, there.
Clearly, the bandwidth and ease of access to ICT infrastructure, combined
with progress in providing electronic access to an ever-wider range of library
and information resources are very important factors. But we mustn't forget
the role of libraries in providing places for private study, within a social setting,
as well.
In general, I think we will need to develop new, more open spaces, combining
flexible learning and teaching accommodation, at different scales, and with
flexible access to a modern and pervasive ICT infrastructure. I think that's the
approach Peter Mobbs is wanting to take, in developing the strategy of the
new UCL teaching and learning IT sub-committee which he chairs.
To achieve this, we'll gradually have to redesign libraries and their operations
for these wider roles. Perhaps we should work with places like the British
Library, BMA, RSM etc, all on our door-step, to see how we could best plan
for and develop towards this kind of learning environment for the Medical
School, alongside other UCL Faculties and Institutes, on all our campuses.
Michael Worton mentioned to me a while back that there were some
discussions ongoing with Lyn Brindley, CEO of the British Library, about
potential for greater collaboration with UCL. Lyn has been very much to the
fore in library/IT matters, nationally, over the years."
Regards,
Andrew Whalley
The LSE and Imperial College in the University of London are experimenting
with 24-hour opening. Library Services in UCL has consulted the Dean of
Students and Union Sabbaticals about extending opening hours in UCL
Library Services. A bid to extend all library opening hours on all sites to 24
hour opening would cost an extra £720,000 per year in staffing costs.
The present bid, therefore, extends library opening hours across UCL and has
been formulated after detailed discussion in the Library’s Senior Management
Team. The bid is made up of the following elements:
Strand 1: Weekday Opening up to 21:00 – 3 Terms and Easter Vacation.
Libraries: Cruciform, Environmental Studies, Institute of Archaeology,
Main Library, Royal Free, SSEES, Science Library. Cost: £90,000
recurrent
Strand 2: 24-hour opening on selected sites 21:00-08.30 – Weekdays Third
Term only. Libraries: Cruciform, Environmental Studies, Institute of
Archaeology, Main Library, Royal Free, SSEES, Science Library.
Cost: £57,000 recurrent
Strand 3: Summer opening to 21:00 – Libraries: Boldero, Cruciform,
Environmental Studies, Human Communications Science, Institute
of Archaeology, Institute of Laryngology, Main Library, Institute of
Orthopaedics, Royal Free, Royal National Institute for the Deaf,
SSEES, Science Library, Special Collections. Cost: £56,000
recurrent
Total cost of all three strands of activity: £203,000 recurrent
Suggested priority: 4