Library Services strategy 2024-2028

Our services and resources are designed to place the learner and researcher at the centre, providing them with the resources and support they need to succeed.  

This strategy will increase the accessibility and inclusiveness of our collections and spaces, support an open research environment, adapt to changing demands of our students and researchers and support them in their development, knowledge and skills to navigate the increasingly complex information environment.

This strategy sets out our aims for the next five years and has been written to support ‘Impact 2028’. Progress will be monitored annually by Library Services through KPIs and our operational planning.

The strategy will allow UWL Library Services to build on our successes over the previous years to create a service that delivers even more to our students and researchers. UWL Library has held Customer Service Excellence accreditation for seven years and had the highest score in NSS Q19 across the whole of the UK (excluding small and specialist) in 2020. We have committed to developing an inclusive library collection since 2018 and throughout this period been dedicated to developing the skills and knowledge of ourselves, students and researchers. 

Library Services will work alongside colleagues from across the University, in both Schools/Colleges and Professional Services, to deliver this strategy where we commit to:

• Reducing barriers to accessing spaces and resources through increasing accessibility and inclusiveness
• Helping students and academic colleagues to succeed by adapting our services to meet their needs
• Ensuring that students have the skills they need to be confident information users that enables them to succeed academically and to have positive graduate outcomes
• Promoting the value of Higher Education with our local community
• Building an open research infrastructure and culture
• Developing our staff to adapt our service to meet the changing information landscape

1. Embedding inclusivity to support success 

We will continue to place inclusivity and accessibility at the heart of our work to create collections and spaces which reduce barriers to students and academic colleagues and help them continue and succeed.

1.1 Ensure support is accessible to all students by identifying and addressing barriers to accessing specialist subject support from their librarian and shift to a video first policy for support material.

1.2 Plan a programme of activity to build on induction and re-induction activities particularly focused on support for underrepresented communities within HE, to help increase confidence in using the library spaces and collections.

1.3 Through investigation increase our understanding of any inequalities within the student population in relation to access to resources (print and digital) and address these inequalities.

1.4 Ensure students and academic colleagues are provided with an inclusive library by continuing our commitment to inclusive collection development and increasing the number of inclusive reading lists available.

2. Understanding students’ needs to help them succeed

We will continue to increase our knowledge of students’ needs and adapt to the changing curriculum to ensure that the Library is responding to the needs of our community.

2.1 Move to more data driven decision making by developing additional data points to fully understand how students are using library resources and complement this with qualitative opportunities to learn student’s needs.

2.2 Investigate changing students’ preferences for accessing information as well as changes in publishing and employment to pivot the library’s collections and support to meet their needs. Included within this area would be understanding how the accessibility of the collection impacts this.

2.3 Aid students in understanding the scope of their dissertation and showcase previous work by developing a platform for housing student dissertations for the UWL Group.

2.4 Consider how the Library can offer more to students by exploring the potential of artificial intelligence on developing and adapting services and resources offered by Library Services.

2.5 Support the rebalancing of the UWL curriculum by auditing the Library’s collections in STEM areas to identify any gaps in provision and address these to ensure the collections fully support the new areas of teaching and research at UWL.

2.6 Improve students’ learning experience by building on the recent changes to the Library management system and discovery system to provide better integrations across systems.

2.7 Review and adapt services to ensure these meet the needs of students across all types of courses, including apprenticeships and courses via lifelong learning.

3. Supporting students with skills for their education and future careers

We will measure and increase the impact that our information literacy teaching and support has on academic work, research and how it positively impacts graduate outcomes. 

3.1 Aid UWL in developing assessments that are relevant to real world scenarios by designing projects relevant to Library Services which students can opt to choose as part of their coursework. 

3.2 Help develop information skills and academic integrity knowledge needed for academic study, research and employability by researching and implementing different ways of embedding critical information literacy into both the curriculum and our academic colleagues’ development.  

3.3 Review student submissions to measure the growth (education gain) in their use of information and the impact of information literacy teaching. In addition, we will measure the confidence level of students as they progress through their courses.  

3.4 Support students to adapt to the increased prevalence of AI within the information landscape, working alongside our professional and academic colleagues. 

3.5 Research the needs of students and staff within the new STEM subjects to understand the structure of their learning and identify any changes needed to the spaces, services and information literacy offered by the Library.

4. Support potential students being able to access HE

We will support UWL in increasing access to HE by engaging with our local communities and supporting them in their development. We will do this by working in partnership with colleagues in the community and within UWL. 

4.1 Increase links with our local public libraries, archives, school libraries and NHS Trusts to evaluate areas of collaboration to enhance our services, at West London, Reading and Oxford. 

4.2 To increase confidence in using HE libraries and archives within our local communities, develop a clear articulation of what Library Services offers to our residents, prospective students and current students. 

4.3 Enhance the local resident’s scheme at all libraries to include access to our subscribed resources where we are legally permitted to do so.

4.4 Develop ways to promote the research that is available through the repository to aid the local community to see the quality and relevance of the work taking place at UWL.

4.5 Create an outreach programme aimed at secondary schools to help develop the skills sets of young people.

4.6 Design a flexible area within Paul Hamlyn Library to be used for internal and external events to reduce barriers to using libraries.

4.7 Embed the UWL and Ruskin College archives into the local community to encourage researchers and the public to access and engage more with the collections. This will include the full cataloguing of the Ruskin College archive.

5. Embedding sustainability

We will work with our suppliers to better understand the environmental impact of the services and support students and academic colleagues in developing knowledge of sustainability.

5.1 Review all the physical library and archive spaces alongside relevant stakeholders to look for opportunities to decrease the environmental impact of the spaces and contribute to the University’s Net Zero goal.

5.2 Increase the knowledge and visibility of sustainability issues with students and staff by developing a sustainability special collection.

5.3 Further embed sustainability into our teaching to support students and staff developing their literacy in this key area.

5.4 Address any inequalities in access to technology and space experienced by the students by redesigning the Paul Hamlyn Library, Reading Campus Library and Ruskin College Library to provide more flexibility for students. In addition, work alongside colleagues to review the social learning spaces at our Brentford site.

6. Building impactful research

We will continue to improve our open research infrastructure and culture for UWL with a complementary support service which will aid UWL in our ambitions to grow impactful research.

6.1 Embed support for research students in developing both information literacy and open research knowledge and skills by developing a programme of activities to span the length of a research students’ study.

6.2 Promote Open Research principles and practices and increase the visibility of the Library's support for Open Research by creating resources, hosting seminars and undertaking dialogue with researchers and research administrators. Create an open research network of key contacts and champions within Schools and Colleges.

6.3 Refocus the Library’s collections to support research activity and to embrace the continuing shift to open access research and data.

6.4 Strengthen the UWL Press's role within the University's research culture through administrative and editorial support and expansion of its range of outputs.

6.5 Strengthen the importance, role and visibility of the Archive in collaborating, collecting, preserving and making available the institutional history of UWL and Ruskin College to researchers and the local community.

7. Development of the Library Services team

We will continue to improve Library Services by developing our skills, knowledge and understanding to the changing information landscape.

7.1 Identify the impact that technology changes (including artificial intelligence) will have on the library and archive professions and adapt the department to embrace these changes to enable us to succeed.

7.2 Ensure increased opportunities into the professions by embracing opportunities through the L3 and L7 apprenticeships and identify any areas Library Services can lead on.

7.3 Contribute to the development of good practice by increasing the visibility of research and knowledge exchange taking place within Library Services and increase the number of research bids authored by our staff.

7.4 Investigate more ways to celebrate the success of people and the work taking place within the department.

7.5 Ensure we provide an environment in which staff feel valued and are encouraged to develop as professionals, and which supports collaboration, creativity and new ideas.

7.6 Develop UWL Library and Ruskin College library to create synergies between the two library services and expand our CSE accreditation to include Ruskin College Library.

For a full list of the UWL Library's 2028 targets, please visit the Library service standards and key performance indicators page.