WHELF update: February 2012

WHELF: Wales Higher Education Libraries Forum February 2012: an update

WHELF actively promotes the work of higher education libraries in Wales and provides a focus for the development of new ideas and services.
 
At our recent meeting in February, these were some of the topics under discussion:
 
Welsh history of World War One to go online
The WHELF Archives and Special Collections Group has been awarded £500,000 by JISC  to digitise primary sources relating to World War One. Through digitisation and collaborative working this project will bring together an impressive array of scattered content into one place and promises to become a key reference point for researchers and students looking at the Welsh experience of World War One.
Find out more at: http://whelf.ac.uk/2012/02/09/welsh-history-of-world-war-one-to-go-online/

Welsh Information Literacy Project
Phase Two of this project is almost complete. The Information Literacy Framework for Wales is available on the project website http://www.welshinformationliteracy.org/ and in Welsh at http://www.llythrenneddgwybodaethcymru.org/. Agored Cymru have since built on the Framework by creating units of learning to accredit information literacy learning. We have conducted a benefits analysis advocating information literacy in the workplace and for employability, and the project is also producing materials for librarians to advocate information literacy in schools and initial teacher training.
Find out more at: http://whelf.ac.uk/2012/02/16/welsh-information-literacy-project-phase-2/

Digital teaching and learning resources in Welsh schools
Andrew Green, Chair of WHELF,  is part of a task & finish group set up by the Education Minister, Leighton Andrews, to make recommendations on the promotion of digital teaching and learning resources in schools in Wales.
Find out more at: Written Statement by the Welsh Government

Libraries Inspire: The strategic development framework for Welsh libraries 2012-16
The Libraries Inspire Delivery Plan for 2012-13 is now available. It outlines specific actions and targets and a number of WHELF priorities have been included – walk-in access to electronic resources, mapping collections, digitisation, shared library management systems and implementing the Information Literacy Framework for Wales.
WHELF is represented on the Libraries Inspire Advisory Group by Anne Harvey, Swansea Metropolitan University and Julie Hart, Aberystwyth University.
Find out more at: Libraries Inspire

Libraries Inspire Innovation and Development Grants 2012-13 WHELF has made two bids for grant funding:
1. Walk-in Access to Library Resources in UniversitieS  – a pilot project to enable members of the public to access electronic resources in Welsh Higher Education libraries.
2. Collections Wales – mapping the printed and digital heritage of Wales to improve access. 

E-books
A number of WHELF libraries are trialling ‘Patron Driven Acquisition’ or ‘Demand Driven Acquisition’ for e-books.  In this model, the library offers access to a huge menu of content but only pays for material actually used by staff and students. Bangor University have reported on their own project and plan to seek the views of WHELF members regarding a consortial level deal.
Find out more at: http://libalyson.wordpress.com/2011/12/01/e-books-day-in-wales-a-review/

Sharing a Library Management System – Research, Scoping and Specification Study
The final report has been completed for WHELF after a lot of hard work. Thanks are due to Mark Hughes (Swansea University) who led the project, and to members of the project team and steering group. The next stage will be to seek further funding to take the work forward.

WHELF News
We welcomed Sue Hodges as a member of WHELF. Sue joined Bangor University as University Librarian at the start of December.

We also welcomed Emma Adamson, Head of Library Services at Cardiff Metropolitan University. Emma is taking over from Paul Riley as WHELF representative since Paul’s appointment to the post of Head of Library and Information Services. Cardiff Metropolitan University was formerly the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC) but changed its name on 1st November. 

Cardiff University’s brand new Health Library at the Cochrane Building, Heath Park, opened on 7th November. The new Library, which is open 24 hours a day, offers a range of learning spaces over three floors, tailored for quiet individual study, group work and an informal social space.
Find out more at: http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/insrv/news/healthlibrary.html

… and the ‘Milne Collection’ of American Civil War material at Swansea University attracted a recent VIP visit from Sir Alex Ferguson of Manchester United!
Find out more at: http://whelf.ac.uk/2011/12/06/sir-alex-admires-swansea-universitys-archive-of-american-civil-war-books/ 

For more information please contact:
Sue Mace
Development Officer
WHELF: Wales Higher Education Libraries Forum
http://whelf.ac.uk/
http://whelf.ac.uk/