COMSATS Institute of Information TechnologyIslamabad, Pakistan

Visit ReportOf

Raja Muhammad Ibrahim (Chief Librarian)

To the Warwick University, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom

24th Jan to 2nd Feb, 2015

Coordinated by

COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan

&

Warwick University, UK

Gratitude:

I am extremely thankful to the visionary leadership of COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, for extending their utmost support which caused in the happening of this professional and high-valued visit to the Warwick University, Reading University and British Library, UK.

The coordinated efforts of Rector’s office, International Office, HR, CIIT Audit and other alliedoffices which ultimately resulted in the accomplishment of this professional visit, are highly appreciated.

About Warwick Library:

The University Library has about 1.3 million printed volumes and 13 kilometers of archives in its main building and Modern Records Centre. There is also a small research-only collection in the Mathematics Department. It has over 25,000 registered users and employs around 175. Apart from that over 22,500 items are accessioned each year, adding 1.1 km of stock (700 meters of printed materials, 400 of archives) and over 48,000 electronic journals are currently received and more than 80,000 electronic books.

Reading Hall of Warwick Library Main Entrance of the Library

Scheduled Activities:

On 26th of Jan 2015, I was warmly and enthusiastically welcomed by Mr. Robin Green(Librarian, Warwick University) along with his other senior staff members (Mr. Heather Green and Mr. Anne Roberts etc).

Visited various floors and sections of the Warwick Library and met the concerned staff of each section and was briefed regarding its printed/electronic resources, library services, facilities, usage of various types of innovative technologies and new trends in the professions.

There were special areas in the Library which are two Silent Study Rooms, informal Group Study areas with open access PCs, Smart Boards and other interactive learning resources. All floors have study seating. A controlled entry policy operates, with turnstiles triggered by the University/Library Card, in order to give priority for use of facilities to members of the University only. Apart from that there are in excess of 1 million entries to the Library in a year, with around 6,000-8,000 coming through the turnstile during a typical term weekday.

Also there is a Wolfson Research Exchange which is a community space that offers peer support and a forum for interdisciplinary collaboration to all Warwick researchers. Last year the space held over 700 research led events, more than any other space at Warwick.

Wolfson Research Exchange at Warwick Library Learning Resource Center at Warwick

On the next day, visited the British Library India office with Mr.Robin Green and was briefed by the concerned about its collection, current activities and linkages. It was so good and informative that most of the books have to be ordered from the storage by the India office.

Observed and thoroughly discussed the following Research Support Services:

Research Strategy Research Development Research Support and Contracts Support for Research Impact and Innovation Research Systems and Management Information

Also discussed, Patron-Driven Acquisition (PDA), which is a method of purchasing materials for a library based on a known patron demand. It is an example of the ‘Just-in-time’ acquisitions model which is a reaction by the library to ensure the needs of the user are met, as opposed to the

‘Just-in-case’ acquisitions model which is the traditional way in which materials are selected/recommended either by the Librarian or faculty member in anticipation of the user’s needs.

Availed an opportunity, through an enlightening presentation, regarding Society of College,National and University Libraries (SCONUL). It represents all university libraries in the UK and Ireland, irrespective of mission group, as well as national libraries and many of the UK’s colleges of higher education.

SCONUL promotes awareness of the role of academic libraries in supporting research excellence and student achievement and employability, and represents their views and interests to government, regulators and other stakeholders. It helps academic libraries collaborate to deliver services efficiently, including through shared services, and to share knowledge and best practice.

SCONUL members are the academic libraries themselves, with the heads of library service making up the Executive Board which is responsible for governance and for setting the strategy for the organization. SCONUL also has four Strategies which are responsible for ensuring that the academic library community is informed about, and engaged with, the major issues and challenges facing the library sector. They are supported by an Executive Director and office, engaged in policy development, lobbying and coordination and support.

The Learning Resource Centers were observed as the most busiest/usable places after the library. For the Post Graduate students these centers were made at various locations inside the campus and for the Under Graduate students these were available inside and outside

On 28th Jan 2015, a comprehensive presentation was given by highlighting COMSATS and its educational programs and research achievements, CIIT Library and its resources/services/technology/facilities. This presentation was attended by the Library Extended Management Team of Warwick University Library. This presentation drew the attention of the whole staff and they put a number of queries in respect to CIIT Library’s resources/services and the current international trends, norms and values.

The Warwick University provides a subject specialist for each department who acts as primary liaison for the respective departments. The subject specialist works with departmental faculty and staff to understand and support the academic, teaching research and information needs of students.

Just for my experience/information, attended the class of subject expert, of Mathematics by teaching their faculty/teachers of the Mathematics department, the latest avenues of communication, imparting knowledge and providing maximum research support services to their students through an easiest possible ways in order to enhance and ensure quality teaching.

The next day, accompanied by Mr. Robin Green, made visit to the Library of ReadingUniversity. We were cordially welcomed by Mrs. Julia Munro (Head of University Library and collection Services.

In Front of the Library of Reading University Floor View of the Library of Reading University

The Library supports the teaching, learning and research in the University, by developing and

promoting access to information resources; and also contributes to the wider world of

scholarship, and the transfer of knowledge, by collaborating and co-operating with other

organizations/institutions/universities. Mrs. Julia Munro briefed us about the entire collection,

both printed and electronic, current trends and maximum possible services to its users. We also

visited various floors and sections of the library and met the library professionals. We exchanged

views, news current tendencies of mutual interests in the profession.

This professional trip was ended very successfully by visiting the British Library at London. This

is the largest public building constructed in the UK in the 20th century. The basements extend to

a depth of 24.5 meters. A total floor area of over 112,000 sq meters spread over 14 floors - 9

above ground, 5 below.

The collection of British Library includes well over 150 million items, in most known languages.

Three million new items are added every year. It has manuscripts, maps, newspapers, magazines,

prints and drawings, music scores, and patents. The Sound Archive keeps sound recordings from

19th-century cylinders to CD, DVD and MD recordings. The library has on-site space for over

1,200 Readers. Over 16,000 people use the collections each day (on site and online). It operates

the world's largest document delivery service providing millions of items a year to customers all

over the world.

British Library Front View Reading Hall of British Library

Apart from that the British Library serves business and industry, researchers, academics and students, in the UK and world-wide. Each year, Six million searches are generated by the British Library online catalogue and nearly 400,000 visit our Reading Rooms. Over 100 million items have been supplied to users all over the world.

Matters of Mutual Interests/Suggestions:

A: Signing of MoU with CIIT:

After my presentation regarding CIIT/Library resources, services, facilities and usage of technology, the professionals of the Libraries of Warwick and Reading Universities were keen for signing a MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with CIIT for the exchange of students/faculty/expertise and opportunities of scholarships for the mutual interests/benefits of faculty/students/staff of all three organizations.

B: Need of Resource Sharing:

As explosion in published output, increase in bibliographic access of literature through Internet and off-line databases on CDs, static, and in many cases decreasing library budgets along with high cost of published output had made it virtually impossible for libraries and documentation/information centers to fulfill information needs of their primary clientele. Under such squeezing situation the best option left with the libraries is to optimize their resources through extensive sharing.

The benefits derivable from library cooperation are immense. Savings are made from limited funding; users have ready access to a greater amount of information resources; duplication of materials is reduced and time and efforts too; staff build and maintain professional relationships and this boosts their morale and brings about job satisfaction as they are able to use their talents more, share skills, expertise and facilities of each member library.

The aims and objectives of resource sharing as follows:

Promote free flow of information resources Ensure better access to information resources Ensure maximization of information resources Save resources and avoid duplication of effort Ensure faster provision of information and literature support to the users Facilitate reciprocal exchange of local publications Share suggestion and recommendations Skills Development for opportunities available through cooperative arrangements Increased Human Cooperation

C: Library IT Support Staff/Help Desk:

It has been observed that in each library there is a permanent IT support staff for managing the library networking. Their main job is to focus on enabling library users to make effective use of the Library’s internet services. Also to give quick response to the daily queries and complains of the users and to resolve or route these appropriately. It should take care of the library server and database administration, desktop and network support, web development, maintenance, and access control as well.

According to the Digital Counter Machine of the CIIT Library, on daily basis, an approximately 2500 to 3000 users are visiting the library for their academic/research purposes. This numberincreases during exam days which obviously increase in the number of IT problems on the part of library users on daily basis.

Further it is important to be mentioned that the influx of new students in each semester increase the subject issue and it is obvious that only a proper dedicated IT support team can properly manage such a huge setup otherwise the current situation could lead to an uncontrollable alarming circumstance in the feature.

It is highly recommendable to look into the urgency of the subject matter and depute/hire at least two IT staff members (Morning/Evening) covering the hours from 0800am-900pm (Monday to Friday and Saturday) so that to provide maximum and well-timed IT support to the library users and to manage/take care of the Library software and RFID hardware as well.

D: Social Media and Academic Libraries:

Social networking tools such as Facebook, and Twitter etc, are increasingly being used by individuals of all ages but are particularly popular among young people and University students. As a result, these social networking tools have been adopted by academic libraries worldwide, for promoting library services within their communities, with potential benefits and challenges.

Social networking tools used by academic libraries are potentially effective methods for student outreach as long as it takes into account the possible issues that may arise. Social networking tools are used for academic library outreach, to encourage and promote library usage among academic staff and student populations at Universities and other institutions.

With the current increase in usage of electronic and internet resources, University students are becoming less dependent on, and often do not use the library as a physical space for their research. Therefore, academic librarians need to reach students in their own space or environments to extend library services beyond the library walls. The goal among academic libraries is to repackage materials into an environment that is more familiar to specific users, and online social networking tools provides such an avenue. Examples of social networking tools used by academic libraries are the usual social networking web sites, blogs, wikis, social media web sites, and social bookmarking web sites.

The potential use of social networking tools in academic libraries has been highlighted by the use of Face book, Twitter and MySpace. For example, librarians visible on these media at a specific time were easily identified by users to address various queries. Communication between librarians also improved, when dealing with user’s queries, and the efficient provision of answers. Furthermore Face book and MySpace were also helpful in improving a library’s social visibility through profiles with a uniform identity.

Social networking tools were found to be very helpful, for information and knowledge sharing, enhancing reference services and promoting library services. This indicates a change in attitudes of libraries towards social networking tools as was previously mentioned. With regard to promotion of library services, two purposes are important to be mentioned. The first is the promotion of library events, such as exhibitions, competitions, talks, seminars, workshops, and tutorials etc. The second is the dissemination of news, such as events alerts, and library updates.

Other benefits were the quick dissemination of information, improved interaction between libraries and students, access to student’s ideas, comments and suggestions, interaction and feedback from library users. Students are kept up to date with news and information, without actually visiting the library.

E: Teaching Expert for Each Department:

It will highly be beneficial for the faculty members to get skilled from the teaching expert in order to create a safe, equitable, positive, and supportive learning environment in which diversities are valued in each department. Identify realistic expectations for personal and studentbehavior in various settings. Identify supports needed for integration into various academic programs placements.

Design learning environments that encourage active participation in individual and group activities. Use performance data and information from all stakeholders to make or suggest modifications according to the latest trends. Establish and maintain understanding among faculty members in order to develop exceptional friendly environment.

Teach them self-advocacy, increased independence and varied behavior management strategies. To design and manage daily routine lectures and other academic activities and further to organize, develop, and sustain teaching and learning environments. Mediate controversial academic issues among students and teachers in the ways that could easily resolve the problem.

F: Establishment of “Learning Resource Center” or “Learning Spaces” In and Off-Campus:

As a library professionals/specialists works with students/faculty and other members of the learning community to analyze learning and information needs, to locate and use resources that could meet those needs, and to understand and communicate the information the resource provides. It is a matter of fact that the availability of multiple sources, in the shape of learning resource centers, could create enhanced learning environment.

Some common aspects of the University’s learning spaces:

It could easily facilitate student-centered active learning coupled with social, peer and professional interaction.

It provides, within their own scale, different types of study environment, from collaborative to quiet individual.

They are technology-enabled, with fixed PCs and wireless, tools for group working such as Panel boards and mobile screens enabling groups to view the display from a single laptop.

Partnership working with and student ownership of the collaborative spaces is a guiding principle (in contrast the main Library’s individual/quiet study Floors are actively managed as a controlled environment).

There is differentiation between different stakeholder groups, by design or by actual use. Each has a distinctive feel, characteristics and culture, and at the same time as there is

crossover use of the spaces students often regard one of them as their home base, generating a certain sense of mutuality.

Individuals may also have preferred locations, even to specific seats.

For the majority of students it is not one type of learning space but the range of provision that meets their needs. Individuals will move between different spaces and types of environment according to individual learning styles, the purpose they are trying to achieve at a given time (even within a single day) but have preferred areas and perceive overcrowding when these are taken, even when there is space elsewhere.

It is strongly recommended/suggested that such “Learning Resource Centers” or simply“Learning Spaces” should be established within the campus by allocating a large hall/roomequipped with fixed PCs, Wi-Fi facilities and unique type of comfortable furniture (specification of this unique furniture could be taken when needed). It would be supervised by a dedicated library staff in order to educate/encourage the students for using the Digital Resources. It should also be established off-campus level at Hostels in order to provide them the pro-active learning environment at their door steps.

Picture Gallery

University of Warwick - visit by Raja Muhammad Ibrahim, Chief Librarian at COMSATS Institute of Technology in Pakistan – January 2015

Personnel you will meet

Library

Heads of division:

Robin Green*, Librarian Heather Green, Head of Client Services Ant Brewerton, Head of Academic Services

Extended Management Team (EMT)

Yvonne Budden*, Scholarly Communications Manager Alicia Calvert, Finance and Governance Manager Helen Curtis, Academic Support Manager (Teaching and Learning) James Fisher*, Resource Acquisitions and Digital Access Manager Helen Ford, Archives Manager Ed Kirkland*, Data Services and Digital Production Manager Miriam Krauseova*,Digital Services, Systems and Development Manager Anne Roberts*, Customer Services Manager Becky Woolley, Community Engagement Manager

Other Library staff

Margaret Barwick, Facilities Manager (to be confirmed) Avril Finnie, Customer Support Coordinator (to be confirmed) Geoff Lewis, Collections Manager (to be confirmed) Rob Talbot*, Digital Development Manager Ben Veasey*, Digital Preservation Officer

* Members of the Library’s Digital Strategy group

Non-Library University Staff

Mark Potter, Head of Service Delivery, Warwick Retail Gary Knight, Bookshop Manager, Warwick Retail Fiona Colligan, Head of Piirus Rhiannon Taylor, Piirus Administrator

Proposed schedule

Saturday 24th January

Arriving at Heathrow 2.10pm (10.40am flight PK0785 from Islamabad)

To travel by National Express coach trip from Heathrow (Central Bus Station) to Coventry (most likely 3.30pm from Heathrow Central Bus Station arrives 5.30pm, failing that 4.30pm arrives 6.25pm). Ibrahim to inform Robin of his expected arrival time from Heathrow.

Robin to pick up from Coventry city centre (do not get off at Coventry Ricoh Arena) and take to Ramada Hotel, ahead of Burns’ Day supper at Robin’s home

Ramada Hotel:o Chesford Bridge, Warwick, CV8 2LNo Booking number 379202774o PIN code 0256

Monday 26th January (Robin to collect from Ramada)

Morning: Robin Green

12.30 – 2pm Heather Green (working lunch at Le Gusta, Warwick Arts Centre)

2.30–3.30pm Anne Roberts (Anne’s office – Room 107A)

4pm-5pm Mark Potter & Gary Knight (Bookshop Manager); meet at Warwick Arts Centre Bookshop

Tuesday 27th January

Morning: Ibrahim to visit the British Library India Office Library with Robin.

Dr Margaret Makepeace (Lead Curator, East India Company Records BL) has advised that on his visit to get register - Reader Number 1216592).

o : The Asian and African Studies Reading Room is open 9.30am – 5pm There are some open access books in the Asian and African Studies Reading

Room but the India Office Records and most books have to be ordered from storage, and that you might wish to look at the online catalogues before the visit via the links http://explore.bl.uk/ and http://searcharchives.bl.uk/

Lunch: With Robin

2pm To attend SCONUL Shared and Collaborative Services Group meeting at 94 Euston Street, London)

Wednesday 28th January (Robin to collect from Ramada)

9.30am Meeting of the Library Extended Management Team (EMT) – to include COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Library Information Services presentation

12.30 – 1.30pm (to be confirmed) Window on Teaching sessiono “Learning to be Mathematically Resilient” -

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/staff/teaching/teachinggrid/exchange

2.30 – 3.30pm Becky Woolley [Librarian’s Office, Room 411A – Robin will be out]

4pm Ant Brewerton [Librarian’s Office]

Thursday 29th January

9am – 10.30am Digital Strategy group [Floor 2 Seminar Room]

11am – 12.30 Division Heads (including lunch at 12.00)

1.30 – 2.15pm Fiona Colligan and Rhiannon Taylor [Librarian’s Office as Robin will be out]

2.15 – 3pm Yvonne Budden [Librarian’s Office as Robin will be out]

4pm – 5pm Helen Ford [MRC]

Friday 30th January (Robin to collect from Ramada)

Visit to Reading, accompanied by Robin

o Julia Munro, Head of University Library and Collection Services

Saturday 31st January

Troy Hotel, London

o 68-70 Queensborough Terrace, Westminster Borough, London, W2 3SHo Booking number 652578086, PIN 0787o British Library and back to Pakistan

(If you would like to talk to someone from the BL about the South Asian language collections then Pasquale Manzo should be available that day before 11.00 (and after 14.00)