October 2023: CLG AGM followed by a talk from Alastair Flett, Deputy University Librarian & Director of Academic Services

For our AGM in October2023 we were lucky to have a talk by guest speaker Alastair Flett. Alastair is Deputy University Librarian and Director of Academic Services at the University of Cambridge. He has responsibility for: Collection Development and Management, Education and Reader Services, Faculty and Departmental Libraries, and the Office for Scholarly Communications. In this talk Alastair reflected on his first year in Cambridge University Libraries. He shared his career path and lessons learned along the way. 

Alastair started his career as a Graduate Trainee at the University of Kent at Canterbury, before completing an MA in Library and Information Science at UCL. Upon graduating, Alastair moved into medical librarianship, first in an NHS hospital library then as Assistant Librarian (Health Sciences) at the University of Manchester.  

While he did not see medical librarianship as his long-term career path, Alastair did feel motivated to continue working in Higher Education. He therefore took the unusual step of joining the University of Liverpool planning team, eventually being promoted to Head of Operational Planning. He recommended servicing committees as a great way to keep gaining experience. 

Alastair then joined the University of Liverpool’s Executive Team, and was ultimately promoted to the post of Deputy Director of Libraries, Museums and Galleries, bringing his career back into the world of libraries. Alastair held this position until he joined Cambridge University Libraries in 2022. 

Alastair generously shared some of the main lessons that he learned along the way in his career:  

• Pay attention, no matter how senior you are. 
• Remember that everyone has a boss; it can be useful to understand all the relationships and legal frameworks. 
• Alastair’s career path made him ‘bilingual’: able to understand both the world of libraries and corporate governance. 

Alastair shared some insights into his current role of Deputy University Librarian and Director of Academic Services at the University of Cambridge. This position combines delivering strategy, deputising for the University Librarian, and leading on the development of library services in support of research, teaching and learning, and collection development and management (or, the so-called ‘new stuff’ in Cambridge libraries!). While Cambridge has some similarities to Liverpool libraries, Alastair also pointed out some of the key differences, such as number of library sites and number of employees.  

From this unique perspective it was really interesting to hear more of Alastair’s lessons and reflections after his first year in Cambridge:  

• Libraries are special; they are a window into culture and different ways of thinking, and their input and output are knowledge. 
• Libraries are spaces that are meaningful to people. 
• Librarians are special; they want to help people and engage with people. 

But there are things that libraries can learn from professional services, and vice versa.

• Libraries are a narrative, and we need to be willing to move things forward. 
• We are all in a learning organisation and we should all be learning. 
• It’s about the people; what the users and staff want and need is hugely important.  

Alastair concluded by saying how lucky he feels to be part of the group that gets to write the next chapter. A huge thank you to Alastair for his openness and honesty in this thought-provoking talk.

Post contributed by Natalie Kent, Deputy Librarian at Pembroke College.

August 2023: Anglia Ruskin University Visit

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