INTERVIEW
Digital needs a new leadership culture
Under the leadership of Janet Peden, University Librarian and Deputy Chief Digital and Information Officer (CDIO), the Library Service at Ulster University has been engaged in a digital transfor- mation process with the adoption of an E-First Collection and Infor- mation Access Policy alongside a process to digitise services where possible. Here she talks to Rob Mackinlay about the benefits and challenges of digital transformation.
ULSTER University is a widening access institution, the Library Service has a critical role to play in providing access to information in a variety of formats to allow learning, teaching and research to take place at a time, place and pace of the user’s choosing.
This student-focused approach, supported by new ways of working, will be at the core of library service delivery in Ulster’s new state of the art Belfast campus which is scheduled to open in September 2021. Against a backdrop of significant challenges to include Brexit, Covid-19, spiralling eBook costs and the ever-shifting landscape of HE, Janet Peden, Ulster University Librarian and Deputy CDIO, is overseeing the open- ing of a new library at Ulster University’s new city centre campus which will welcome 15,000 students in September 2021. “It’s an exciting time for me to be a leader at Ulster,” she says. “Not every university librarian gets the opportunity to be part of a team working on a transformational development which is one of the largest higher education projects of its kind in Europe. This summer will see the fulfilment of eight years of hard work, not just on my part, I am simply one element of a large library services team. The Library Service at Belfast will be the result of a collaborative
16 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL
Rob Mackinlay (@cilip_reporter2,
rob.mackinlay@
cilip.org.uk) is Senior Reporter, Information Professional.
effort, teamwork at its very best. But it is my responsibility to get the library environ- ment right and make it accessible for everyone. We want to deliver a 21st Century library service which will meet the needs of staff and students at Ulster University for a long time into the future.”
E-first
“Ulster University is a geographically dispersed institution with four campus libraries, this number will reduce to three with the opening of the new Library at Belfast. When you have a finite budget with which to meet the information needs of all
April-May 2021
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