Interview
‘UKSG gave me a community and a place to learn’
Andrew Barker, UKSG chair, looks back on a difficult year and to a brighter future (and tells of his love for 50s jazz)
Tell us a little about your background and qualifications… After my degree in sociology from the University of Hull – Philip Larkin had been librarian there (though just too early for me), I began in public libraries, working for Surrey and Hounslow Libraries, meeting my wife in library school. I then moved into FE in Norwich, and then on to HE via the University of East Anglia, University of Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores University and now Lancaster University, where I am director of library services and learning development. Moving into HE from FE was a huge shock. I had a great manager and UKSG to thank for making it through the first couple of years. UKSG gave me a community and a place to learn about the wider sector and gain knowledge and experience. I owe it a great debt, and I feel a huge commitment to it. I once said that UKSG changed my life – it did then, and it continues to do so now.
What sort of a year has UKSG had since the onset of the pandemic? I’m going to take you back to March 2020 and the dark night that Bev Acreman (executive director of UKSG) and I had when we realised we had to cancel the 2020 conference. This was a huge decision, which we knew would have significant ramifications for the organisation. UKSG is a charity, it’s ‘the’ scholarly communications organisation and we were having to cancel the main source of its income. The money we get from the conference pays for everything UKSG does. Without it, we thought there would be no insights articles, no webinars, no workshops – no UKSG. What we did not factor in were our great sponsors and all those who agreed to roll over fees for a
12 Research Information April/May 2021
year and support us. Without them, I would not be answering this question. So, in terms of finances we had a
terrible year – and I cannot overstate that. However, outside of the finances, we saw the best of UKSG. We saw great support from sponsors and organisations across the sector, we have had wonderful engagement with our webinars, seminars, and our November Digital Conference. There was a great attendance from across the sector and across the globe. Finally, we had staff and trustees who have worked incredibly hard to make sure that UKSG’s future is as strong as its past. That effort
‘A huge decision, which we knew would have significant ramifications for the organisation’
has been personified by Bev Acreman, who has worked incredibly hard this last year, and has ensured we look forward to our first all-digital annual conference in April.
What are the plans for the UKSG 2021 event? What are the main themes? We will be all-digital this year, but, we know that people are missing the human elements of a conference – so Bev and her UKSG colleagues (a big-up to Vicky Drew and Brian Lewis) are working with an external provider, Underline, to try and retain the human element of the conference. We will be having the
exhibition spaces (a big thank you to our exhibitors), we will be bringing people together for informal get-togethers – and we will be having the famous UKSG quiz! As it is a digital conference we
have introduced reduced rates – I am particularly excited by the library delegate group membership fee of £275 plus £55 VAT for four attendees from any library member organisation. We do still offer the single delegate of course – but we wanted to introduced a new flexible way for people to engage with us – particularly those who may not have had the chance in the past. This allows maximum attendance at the conference.
Our themes will be the themes facing us all at the moment, what challenges face the sector in relation to content in light of the seismic changes we are seeing: access, prices. However, we are a global organisation, so we will be hearing the global perspective, not just the UK take on things. The beauty of the conference, is that it is the sector having conversations about the challenges we are all facing; presenting many answers to those challenges. That will be our theme, as it is every year.
Is the digital/virtual format, or part of it, likely to be continued in coming years? Can you see any advantages in such a format? Yes, the digital is here to stay, at least in part – we know people have missed the in- person elements, so the answer shouldn’t be either or, but like teaching and learning, we should be talking about a blended approach in the future, taking the best from what we have learnt this year. Going digital, in terms of engagement, has been a huge success for us. We
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