On a warm evening in August, an enthusiastic group from CLG made our way over to Cambridge’s Anglia Ruskin University, or ARU. We were given a fabulous tour by CLG Committee member Lily Swain who works at ARU as a Library Services Advisor.
We heard about the origins of Anglia Ruskin University (or ARU) which began as the Cambridge School of Art in 1858. Over the decades, it merged with other institutions and began offering degrees, until in 1992 it became a university. Today ARU has several sites in different locations. As well as Cambridge, there are sites in Chelmsford, Peterborough and London. The Peterborough campus opened most recently, and interestingly their library is e-only, providing all e-resources and no physical books. The University also offers a huge breadth of courses across four faculties: Business and Law, Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences, Health, Education, Medicine & Social Care and Science & Engineering.
We heard about the range of roles in the ARU Library, and in particular about the work of the Library Services Advisors. They have a busy and varied rota of tasks that includes roving around the building, working on the help desk, and ordering books for reading lists.
The Library building is bright, open and modern, and felt really welcoming. The ground floor had recently had some new study pods installed, and it was easy to imagine groups of students making good use of them. The ground floor was set up for collaborative working, with quiet conversations allowed, but as you go up to higher floors in the building there are clear signs to ask you to be increasingly quiet. The ground floor was also home to teaching rooms where the subject librarians could teach groups, and throughout the Library there were 10 bookable study rooms, giving readers lots of options.
It was really enjoyable to walk around the upper floors and to browse the stacks in the Library. The collection is organised according to Dewey, and I was really impressed with the signs that help readers interpret a classmark and then locate a book on the shelf. It was interesting to hear how the collection is kept really relevant with frequent updates.
I really enjoyed the visit and could see that ARU students have access to great resources and study space there. Huge thanks to Lily for hosting our group and for giving an excellent tour.
Post contributed by Natalie Kent, Deputy Librarian at Pembroke College
