Our role is to provide student access to information resources and enhance the lifelong information literacy skills students possess so that effective learning can take place by developing appropriate graduate attributes.

• Liaise closely with teaching staff to ensure materials which support programmes are purchased and promoted.
• Provide a service for students to recommend items; reservations which will move stock to students who are taught on different campuses; distance learning services. Purchase the resources students need and request.
• Provide effective physical and virtual learning environments – improving based on student feedback, e.g. PCs in group study rooms.
• Deliver a range of user education classes and services, in a variety of forms, to suit the diverse student body (user education, induction, enquiry services, displays, learning objects in WebCT, highly used web-pages. In:form information skills website etc.)

The Library aims to support academic staff in their information access, awareness and exploitation so that they can pass on these skills to their students. We also teach students directly in information skills relevant both to their subject studies and to lifelong learning needs.

• Purchase and promotion of material to support teaching.
• Developed involvement in Week 1 activities.
• Range of user education sessions – for students and academic staff, using a variety of approaches (lecture-based, team teaching, laboratory style, tutorials, question and answer sessions etc.).
• Presence on ASEC committees and delivery of presentations to members on those committees.
• One-to-one academic support.
• Production of a Framework for Information Literacy – a partnership model for developing student information literacy skills.
• Work with module leaders to develop e-learning materials within WebCT, e.g. digitisation service, copyright advice etc.

Our role is to provide information literacy skills to ensure effective coursework, enhance employability and contribute to a wide range of graduate attributes.

• Developed range of user education sessions, teaching students to find information effectively for themselves.
• Stock internationalised to encourage more global outlook.
• Displays programme promoting both subject information and awareness of cultural, social and global issues.
• Involvement in NUBS “Live Project” for Year 3 students on work placement.
• Transitional skills in preparation for the world of work, e.g. preparing student nurses to use NHS Scotland Knowledge Network.

Our aim is to provide equality of experience to all our students regardless of previous academic experience, cultural diversity, distance or special need.

• Services aimed at international students abroad, e.g. online subject guides, learning objects, e-resources, staff visits to India and China, In:form information literacy website etc.
• Services aimed at international students studying in Edinburgh, e.g. tailored induction and other user education sessions, videos etc.
• Distance learner specific services.
• Supporting collaborative partners, e.g. NHS Lothian, teaching information skills to their staff on their premises.
• Services to special needs students, e.g. information in different formats, tailored equipment and furniture, collaboration with other University units.
• Working with ELRAH to connect more effectively with FE partners and articulated students.
• Use of range of technologies to convey information and interact with diverse customers, e.g. Library Live real-time online enquiry service, learning objects, web-guides, purchase and guided access to e-resources etc.

Library staff are our most important asset, and we deliberately appoint staff with a pronounced customer service ethos, who are prepared to “go the extra mile”. This has been explicitly recognised by award of Customer Service Excellence, the first University Library in Scotland to achieve this award.

• Many Library staff are professionally qualified and actively encouraged to develop these qualifications, e.g. CILIP Chartership.
• Active in local, regional and national professional organisations, e.g. ELISA, CILIPS, BLA, SCURL etc.
• Prioritised staff development budget available to all levels of staff.
• Library staff have been successful in bids for project monies, e.g. successfully obtaining SLIC bid money twice in three years, and are speakers at national/international conferences.
• Attendance in and delivery at internationally important conferences, e.g. delivering multiple workshops on mobile library applications at the European Library Automation Group in Prague (LP/EB).
• Active participants in and organisers of CPD courses, e.g. Cochrane Systematic Review course for health librarians.
• Library staff take active roles in University research projects, e.g. carrying out advanced literature searching.

The Library supports the work of the Schools by close liaison with its members and programme leaders.

• Information training workshops for academic staff.
• Presence on Faculty and ASEC Committees, Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee and many others.
• Academic staff induction.
• Support for research both through stock purchase and active participation in research bids and projects, e.g. TRI, Clinical Nursing and Midwifery Research Group, Teaching Fellows research.
• Support for various “educational” courses engaged in by academic staff, e.g. MSc Online blended learning, PGCE etc.

The Library aims to provide a varied, relevant and appropriate range of teaching to effectively engage with the diversity of its customers using a full range of technologies.

• Active engagement in staff development opportunities to keep up to date with good practice, including participation and delivery at Staff Conferences.
• Creation of a tripartite e-strategy, with one whole section dedicated to e-pedagogy.
• Appointment of an e-Learning Advisor to specifically ensure we follow best practice in the online environment.
• Use of wikis to engage and interact effectively with customers; use of other applications, e.g. Textwall, Camtasia, Podcasting, range of learning objects in WebCT etc.
• Leading members of the recent TESEP project.
• Contributions to Teaching Fellows Journal.

By providing access to information in whatever format and the skills to maximise engagement with that information, the Library plays a key role in empowering its customers to innovate, question, synthesise and create.

• Library engages with its customers via a range of feedback mechanisms and is actively open in its search for improvements to service, e.g. surveys, “Have Your Say” website, development of In:form, graphic signage, Cash for Books scheme, Library Live etc.
• Active use and development of available software and newer technologies, e.g. web-pages, catalogue enhancements, NUINLink and SFX, learning objects using Camtasia, podcasts, wikis, blogs and other Web 2.0 technologies and most recently a mobile app for accessing the Library catalogue.
• Benchmarking of Library services with competitor institutions, and collaborative working with these competitors.

Although rarely involved in direct credit-bearing assessment, the Library uses some online formative assessments on WebCT and in some of its workshop activity. We also play a part in delivering information skills that are actively assessed by others, e.g. referencing, information searching and gathering etc.

• Preparation of online formative assessments, e.g. information literacy quizzes on WebCT.
• Assisting module leaders in selection of digital resources for assessment purposes.
• Production of referencing guides and advice.
• Use of self-assessment in Library workshops.

The Library is engaged in constant communication, discussion and feedback with its customers, both in terms of improving Library services and in responding to individual and group enquiries for both subject related information and more generic information skills and techniques.

• “Have your Say” website provides one of several feedback/communication mechanisms with students and staff.
• Use of “You said...We did” feedback via noticeboards and Library online announcements.
• The whole range of enquiry work: physical desk-based, online, Library Live, one-to-one sessions with Information Services Advisors – the latter often as referrals by Personal Development Tutors.
• Detailed feedback specifically relating to PhD and Masters students on search strategies for literature reviews.
• Working with staff/student liaison committees.
• User education sessions that often take the form of Q&A sessions, e.g. information skills sessions for Week 1 continuing students.