June 2022

Accolades

Congratulations and well done to our team members:

• Ellen for receiving a very nice compliment from a HDR student for helping with their thesis manuscript, sent at 3:21 am!!!! The student (Natasha Narain) wrote:

Morning Ellen!

Although I am hoping you see this when the sun is up, I am just so excited, just sent a PDF version to Leah and Courtney. I have been feeling very very appreciative of your help, it could have unravelled and been despairing, without your inputs.

Hugely grateful!

Natasha

• Alice for receiving a wonderful compliment from Michael Scully, Lecturer in Journalism for helping with his research and teaching works:

As a side note: I have really appreciated working with you. You have been a tremendous source for comfort and advice and I truly appreciated your wisdom and kindness.

Thanks for everything!

Michael Scully (Lecturer, Journalism)

Kedron SHS Visit

Once again we had the pleasure of hosting a visit from Kedron State High School students on 13th June. Many thanks to Danielle for organising the program and Zach for facilitating the session. In this session the students were given information about how to apply subject headings to their searches on our community databases, and citation search strategies on Googles Scholar. After the search strategies workshop, the students spent some time browsing the collection using the call number ranges they learnt about in the workshop. They borrowed a number of books with their community memberships to use for their assignment. Ryan Taylor-Davis who coordinate the visit as well as the students were very appreciative of this wonderful session.

XR@QUT Lunch& Learn Sessions

A big thank you to Ellen for extending the invitation from Helen Lauder, Manager eMPS to our team to attend the XR@QUT Lunch& Learn Sessions and for taking Bruce to one of the sessions. These sessions are offered on Wednesdays at 1 – 5pm and Fridays at 10 am – 2pm for the rest of the year. They have been set up to allow interested individuals to stop by the XR@QUT Hub space any time during the session, and to stay as long or as little of the time available.

Topics of discussion include:

• Available gear
• Challenges with access to content and corporate profiles
• Test/ play of existing content
• XR Safety Initiative
• Australian XR in Education Network
• HSE controls for XR gear
• Networking
• Sharing ideas of use and pilot activities
• Other topics of interest, including the benefits of XR from a wellness perspective
• Other topics of interest always welcome, including the benefits of XR from a wellness perspective

Improving Student Experience for QUT Readings

Well done and thank you to Teresa and CA Team for working together with Bryn and Cameron MacLeod to check the links for all QUT Readings (Semester 1 and full year units)! Over 3,700 links were checked in over 1,600 lists with 10% of the links found to be broken and fixed.

Rapido Implementation

The Rapido implementation is progressing well with most of the configuration being completed. We are currently still testing and some of the Document Delivery staff are using the new Rapido interface for processing requests from QUT staff and students. QUT library holdings have now been uploaded to Rapido and we are starting to receive requests from external libraries. We currently receive 2 requests/day for the first 2 weeks, then the volume of requests will increase. Procedures are still being written and updated and staff training is still to come. We are scheduled to go live with Rapido on 11th July.

A big thank you to both Cathy and Narelle for your great work on this!

Unmediated Access to Equipment and Games in our Games Lab

A new and exciting development has come to the Games Lab – Unmediated access to equipment and games!

On 23rd June all gaming controllers were permanently installed into the Games Lab via new, specially designed security cables from Secure Entertainment.  What this means is no more loaning out of equipment from the HiQ service point.

Both Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus games libraries are up and running on the consoles. This means there is no longer need to load games on disc into the consoles to play; the games are available immediately as online downloads direct to the consoles. The existing collection of games on disc are now stored at HiQ for students to borrow as an interim arrangement and will be reduced in number to only those titles which are not available via the consoles.

With the controllers installed and the games libraries activated, the Games Lab can now be a walk-in, help-yourself, streamlined and convenient experience for our users.

Teresa is exploring some further improvements to the room (including layout) that will increase discoverability and ensure there is equitable access to the facility for all our students. Hopefully, we can install some of those improvements in Semester 2.

A special thank you to both Ellen and Teresa for the wonderful works in this space!

IRC Bids

A HUGE thank you to both Peter and Alice for your great pre-meeting preparation of our submissions and to Peter for attending the meeting on behalf of our team on 16th June, speaking for our bids and sending us a summary of the decisions. It was a pleasing outcome for KG, and we look forward to the arrival of some exciting new resources!

Library Adviser Training Sessions

Throughout June, the Library Adviser team was busy with lots of knowledge sharing as they welcome Ishara from Collection Access and Bryn from Library Resource Services to their training and shadowing sessions that were held over for a couple of weeks. Bryn learnt about the ins and outs of the appointment and chat services that are provided to our clients to increase his knowledge of our processes as part of his STEP program. LA team are also pleased to share that Ishara was trained to backfill a Library Adviser role at GP from 21st June to 8th September.

Celebration Lunch with Denise

Our dear colleague Denise has taken an extended leave from 2nd June. Our team presented Denise with a small token of appreciation and had a celebration lunch with her on the last day before she went on leave. Hope you enjoy your well-deserved time off Denise!

Gillian’s Farewell

Our dear friend Gillian Harrison has retired from QUT on 30th June. Gillian has been an amazing member of QUT Library, first coming to QUT in 1990 as an Information Services Librarian. Our team had an online farewell for Gillian on 20th June. We shared wonderful memories and photos of her time with us, thanked her for being a part of our team and wished her well on her next adventure.

This online event was also well attended by our academic colleagues who have worked closely with Gillian and were very appreciative of her wonderful works and support to them.

Industrial Design Collection Relocation Project

Thank you to the GP and KG collection access teams for all their work relocating the hundreds of Industrial Design resources from GP to KG to support the CIESJ Faculty at KG. This last relocation project moved selected design resources to support students and staff who are now based at KG, following the establishment of the CIESJ Faculty. Cameron, Teresa and the teams retrieved, packed, moved, unpacked, and then interfiled hundreds of books in time for semester 2 2022.  We appreciate their efforts on this important project. This move completes all the relocation activities of GP items to KG across Justice and Design. Thank you to Alice, Ellen and Sandra for your work identifying the thousands of resources that needed to be relocated to KG to support the CIESJ cohorts.

Deselection Project

Thank you to the KG L&R and CA teams for all the deselection that has occurred at KG so far this year. Special thanks to Ellen for working through many discrete sections of the collection so we could power through the project. Because of everyone’s efforts the KG physical collection has really benefited from some overdue “housekeeping” (such as back shelving). All the efforts have also enabled us to now assess the physical layout and explore whether new layouts are needed to support patrons with disabilities, improve study spaces, reduce risk of water damage, and improve discoverability and accessibility generally. This next piece of work will be led by Teresa and her team in Semester 2 in consultation with Sarah as Space Manager and in partnership with Disability Services, Facilities Management, etc.

Book Display

We had a “Be Gentle with Yourself” theme at the book display area on Level 3 during the exam period. A BIG thank you to Alice for putting together a wonderful book collection on this topic to help our students managing stress during exam.

KG All Staff Meeting

Our L&R team had a lovely catch up with our CA/ DD team to celebrate our team achievements in Semester 1 at the quarterly KG All Staff Meeting on 8th June. It was the first KG All Staff Meeting for Bruce where we had the opportunity to welcome him as a big group and get to know more about his career background and past library leadership experiences.

Green Impact Program

Special thank you to Helen D, our Sustainability Champion for organising a QUT Library wide participation in the Green Impact Program! Our team which is called “Earth Worms for Book Worms” is planning a series of activities, to take place from July to September. The program will be launched at Library All Staff Meeting on 12th July.

Replacement of Frames in the Lifts

We have replaced the old frames in the two lifts with magnetic ones. Apart from being more durable and easier to use, these new magnetic frames also look more modern and professional.

Old Frames

New Frames

On the Horizon

Placement of two vending machines (one for drinks and the other for food) at the walkway space between the library and E Block near the Recycling Station. Stay tuned!