Projects and Collaboration, Victoria University Library

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1 Projects and Collaboration, Victoria University Library Ellis, Sarah, Victoria University Library, Wellington, New Zealand Kizito, Tanya, Victoria University Library, Wellington, New Zealand Abstract The Victoria University Campus Hub Project started in 2010 and included redevelopment of the Central Library, construction of a new central building (fondly called the Hub ) and redevelopment of the Student Union building. The project is due for completion this year. A cross Library project team was established to manage the collection moves to enable redevelopment of the Library, support continuity of Library services and ensure that the moves were as seamless as possible for Library clients. The collection moves were part of a number of major changes in the Library including the relocation of approx. 700,000 items. The project was led by the newly appointed Library Project Manager in 2011 (a new role to the Library as identified in the Library Services Review).The project team drew on expertise from across the Library and in particular a newly established Collection Access team. This paper describes the Library Collections Project within the context of the Campus Hub Project and new Library structure. It shows how collaboration was fundamental to the success of the project, outlines the challenges the project faced and summarises the opportunities that arose and learnings gained. 1

2 Projects and Collaboration, Victoria University Library Effective collaboration is a key factor in the success of any project. It requires multiple parties to work together to achieve a common goal. Victoria University Library undertook a major redevelopment which required collaboration between stakeholders including the Library, the Campus Hub Project team and wider University community. The collaborative relationship between the Campus Hub Project team and Library staff was essential to the Library Collections Project and redevelopment work. The relationship underpinned a shared understanding of the needs of the University. The Campus Hub Project started in 2010 and was overseen by the Associate Director of Campus Services. The project included redevelopment of the Central Library, construction of a new three-level central building combining cafés, food outlets and shops, specially designed areas for socialising and informal learning spaces and redevelopment of the Student Union building. The Campus Hub Project provided the Library with an opportunity to review the layout of the physical collection. Prior to the project, the physical collection in the Central Library was distributed over ten floors and was not easy for Library clients to navigate. The collection contained a number of separate collections in multiple locations, including the United Nations and Official Publications, Audiovisual, Three Day Loan, periodicals and big books. In 2010/11 the Library undertook a review, Library Services Review - Arotake Ratonga, to develop a clear direction for its services across all aspects of the Library. One finding of the review was the need for more project-specific resourcing in the Library to provide oversight and management of large-scale Library-wide projects. To support the Campus Hub Project and the redevelopment of the Central Library, the newly established Library Projects team developed a plan to manage the changes to the layout of the collection. The Library Collections Project team was established in mid to late 2011, and consisted of a cross section of staff from across the Library. The project was led by the Library Project Manager and an Associate Director was the Project Sponsor. The following objectives were established for the project: Achieve a more intuitive, navigable and accessible physical layout of the collection Ensure effective consultation is undertaken with the University community 2

3 Ensure decisions involve relevant Library teams and are made at the appropriate level, in a timely manner with effective consultation Ensure collection moves and changes are undertaken in a timely, planned and efficient manner and within the timeline for the redevelopment programme Minimise the impact of the collection changes on service continuity. A major challenge of the project was to align the needs of the redevelopment work with the operation of the Library. To enable this, the Library Collections Project Manager and senior Library staff met regularly with the Campus Hub Project team. At these meetings the Project Manager ensured that the timing of the collection changes, and potential impacts, were considered as part of the planning. The Project Manager took the decisions made at these meetings to the Library Collections Project team for detailed planning of the collection changes. Over the course of the project 700,000 items have been relocated. Wherever possible, the moves have been undertaken during University breaks. Daily targets for the number of items to relocate were used to keep the work on schedule. A number of strategies were developed to minimise the impact of collection changes on service continuity. Multiple communication channels were used to inform Library clients of current and scheduled changes. These included Subject Librarians keeping their Faculties and Schools advised of collection changes through regular newsletters. A Message Wall at the entrance to the Library was an effective channel to communicate up-to-date messages to Library users. Whiteboards were used on impacted floors for specific messages and news items on the Library website were kept current. Social media e.g. the University s Facebook page, was used to communicate the changes to students. Other channels used included the staff newsletter (Vic News), Salient (the student magazine); and digital display screens which were located around Library service points and entrances. At key milestones Library staff undertook tours of the new layout for academics and students. To ensure continued access to the collection the Library catalogue was updated immediately after each change, even for short-term relocations. During periods when sections of the Library were closed off access to material was managed through a request and retrieval process. Where resources were unavailable for an extended period of time, clients were referred to the interlibrary loan service. The Library also used roving staff members on impacted floors to proactively assist clients; and an 0800 number was available for clients to call roving staff members for assistance. Planning the logistics around the physical shelving was another testing aspect of the project. This required balancing the high cost of moving the shelving to offsite storage between 3

4 collection moves, with the negative impact on study space of keeping the shelving in the library for future decants. The project also provided the Library with the opportunity to review its shelving from both a risk management and accessibility perspective, as well to align it aesthetically with the redevelopment project. As a result new shelving has been procured for the Library. When a significant piece of work is completed, it is always valuable to reflect on what was learned. The Library Collections Project was the first opportunity to integrate the new project management framework into core Library business, and to demonstrate its value to a largecross library project. The project successfully managed the changes to the collection and contributed to the timely redevelopment of the Central Library. Members of the project teams and Library staff had a steep learning curve and it was important that everyone was willing to learn. A shared understanding of the respective drivers and priorities of both projects contributed to their success. The redevelopment project has been all consuming for Library staff for the last few years. It was important however that the Library continued to share its vision with the wider University community, and to tell the story many times over, and in many different ways. However, often it was not until people could actually see the changes that they truly engaged in the story. A high degree of flexibility is essential where deadlines and priorities are determined by a larger project, as was the case for the Library Collections Project. To enable the Library to be responsive to inevitable changes in the Campus Hub Project, general guidelines were developed to manage the collection relocations. The project team needed to take a pragmatic approach to decision making, particularly where tight deadlines needed to be met. Library staff were encouraged to focus on the long term goal, rather than on the compromises that needed to be made throughout the project. Effective communication about the collection changes was very important. A number of channels were used to communicate the changes to both Library staff and clients; some were more successful than others. For example, Facebook was the most effective channel to communicate with students, and the Message Wall was successful for immediate messages within the Central Library. Both of these channels were dynamic and easily updated. Signage and whiteboards were a lot less effective because Library clients did not seem to read them. 4

5 The Campus Hub Project provided the Library with an opportunity to review the layout of the physical collection, and help to position it as a 21 st century research and student-centred Library. The Central Library was able to achieve a reduction in the number of separate collections and multiple locations. This was achieved by integrating big books and Three Day Loan material into the general collection, and relocation of all periodicals to one floor. In addition the collection is now distributed across six floors instead of ten, with shelving for recently returned material on each level. Restricted issue and the Audiovisual collection is now open access, which supports the Library s new service model. The success of the Campus Hub Project was underpinned by a strong collaborative relationship between the Campus Hub Project team, Library staff and wider University community. A willingness to learn, effective communication, flexibility and pragmatism - and keeping sight on the long term goal - all contributed to the success. 5