This document discusses changes made to the library structure at Maynooth University, including reorganizing librarians into new roles focused on teaching and research development or student engagement. A staff survey was conducted in 2017 to assess engagement, awareness of services, and identify areas for improvement. Responses indicated occasional contact with librarians primarily through email, and that the quality of information received was good or excellent. Suggestions for the future included increasing visibility on campus, embedding information literacy into curriculums, and improving technology services and the website. The library will repeat the survey in 2018 to evaluate the impact of changes and engagement over time.

1. “FACE THE
STRANGE"
EXAMINING OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH
DEPARTMENTS
HELEN FARRELL, ACADEMIC ENGAGEMENT LIBRARIAN,
MAYNOOTH UNI, KILDARE, IRELAND
HELEN.FARRELL@MU.IE
By FerniiMM (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

2. • Changes in MU to the space, culture,
infrastructure, curriculum.
• Changes in librarianship
• Changes in our team
• Challenges and opportunities
• Relationships with departments
varied:
-some had high levels of interaction,
others less
WHAT CHANGE HAPPENED?
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3. TEACHING & RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT (TRD)
• Head of Academic Services
• Teaching & Research Development (TRD) and Engagement and
Information Services (EIS)
• EIS team work with students and front-of-house
• New roles for everyone apart from the Research Support librarian
• Teaching and Learning: 2 dedicated librarians
• Dedicated librarian for St. Patricks, Adult Ed and working with Access
Office
• 2 Library Assistants to support the work of the team
• Academic Engagement librarian: working solely with academics 0.5 FTE
Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/alphabet-class-conceptual-cube-301926//

4. MY NEW ROLE WITHIN TRD
• Responsibility for engagement with academics in the first instance
• Link departmental goals with the work and goals of the Library
• Identify strategic work areas, in agreement with academics
• Feed this information to teams across MU library
• Communication paramount
• Library Reps need support, develop our connection with them
• Collection development role; positives
• General collections and finance. E-Resources, renewals, trials
• Enhance perception of the Library, particularly with departments that had little
interaction
Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/nature-plant-bee-bloom-34694/

5. STAFF SURVEY IN 2017
WHY?
• Promote our services, skills and potential
• Measure their level of engagement, awareness of the
team
• Identify areas for development and focus
• SWOT analysis of our work
• A benchmark before the changes were fully rolled out
means we can reassess now, to see if measurable
change has happened
WHAT?
• Mixture of questions to ask them about efficacy, quality
and frequency of communication, information and
services, inspired by similar survey in DCU (Hyland &
Callaghan, 2017)
• “Traffic Light” system allowed for interesting responses
• Broke down the services and work areas by 3 functional
areas of the team, and based the core of the survey on
these areas:
 engagement/subject support
 teaching and learning
 research support
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6. RESPONSES TO SURVEY
Departmental responses: 2017
survey
• Sent to all subscribed to faculty email
group in MU
• 44 responses
• Good spread of responses across the 3
faculties and 47 departments and
institutes
• 20 did not respond but they tended to
be centres or small departments

7. TRENDS
• Contact with us was mostly
"occasional" with email being a clear
winner at 77%, but in-person contact
was surprisingly high at 20%
• The quality of information received
from us was rated as "good" or
"excellent" by 30% and 47.5%
respectively; just 1 response was
"very poor" Quality of information from subject
librarians 2017

8. WE SHOULD STOP DOING?
• Bureaucracy and rules around purchasing:
e-books vs. print, multi-copy limit
• Challenging website
• Searching – changes in the interface?
• A lot said "nothing"; keep on, keeping on!
"Thinking that staff and students are aware of
everything the Library has to offer"
/
Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/red-stop-sign-39080

9. WE SHOULD KEEP DOING:
• Connecting, communicating, innovating in an
approachable and helpful way
• Providing access to print and E-Resources and
keeping faculty up to date on these
• Buying books
• Providing classes to students: "come into classrooms"
and "LIST programme is excellent"
Keep on: "Subject Librarians" and "FSA"
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10. WE SHOULD START DOING:
Less than half answered but the 19 who did gave suggestions:
• Involve us: induction for staff, training for staff, encourage staff
to participate in training in Library
• "Visit us": staff engagement, increased visibility on campus,
regular contact, come to the departments to give tailored
sessions on alerts and searching to faculty. "A programme of
visits to departmental staff meetings over a 2/3 year period"
• Improve IT and/or CMS: easier eBook downloads, slow
connections, perceived lack of integration of databases within
CMS, Kindle borrowing, quicker & easier downloads for
researchers
"Consideration should be given to developing competencies
(digital, critical, information literacies) beyond the student's first
year in University. There is a need to also consider how this might
be done with outreach students"
Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/athletes-running-on-track-and-field-oval-in-grayscale-
photography-34514/
/

11. WHAT WE TOOK FROM THE SURVEY
PROMOTE
• “’Connectedness' and 'dialogue' are the two major weaknesses in higher education. I think the library
can play a pivotal role in addressing these weaknesses. However, this will need serious engagement from
faculty also"
CONNECT
• "I think the ideal should be that librarians should be able to work with the students directly and on a
one-to-one basis when they have questions about information skills or research materials"
• "Librarians should publish with academics if they don't already do so."
• "More communication between MU Library and Depts on embedding information literacy and critical
skills into the curriculum would be useful“
PROVIDE

12. REPEATING THE SURVEY IN JUNE 2018
1. Review the questions to ensure they cover the scope of the work of the team
2. Timing essential for the survey
3. Analyse needs, by faculty and by department
4. Remove the leading question "how effective?”
5. Include a follow-up email to identify respondents, if they allow; would allow people
to choose "would like to know more"
6. GDPR compliance work
7. Analyse changes between two years; impact, engagement, T&L research

13. CHALLENGES
• Has the functional model the potential to generate more work than staffing can
cope with?
• Could new ways of working raise expectations for collaboration that we won't be
able to meet?
• Has the functional model met the needs of staff and students better than subject
model?
• What level of satisfaction will there be with our department, after one year?
• Are there enough library staff to support the expanding MU, down the line?
Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/assemble-challenge-combine-creativity-269399/

14. OPPORTUNITIES
• Opportunities to work across teams greatly increased
• Collaborative connections can mean more efficient and
meaningful work for all involved
• More freedom to work with departments on direct gains
for them
• Organic development, but closely linked at all times with
the strategic plan for the library and the university
• Create meaningful and impactful activities at every level of
the university
Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/ground-group-growth-hands-461049/

15. SUMMING UP
• Change is disruptive but brings lots of opportunity, outreach
and new projects
• Need to plan for change, build evaluation into the process,
and keep communications open
• Be open to negative feedback, as you will get some
• Continue to engage, and build it into your plans as much as
you can, without getting diverted from the strategic goals of
your library
• Bowie (1972) “…Turn and face the strange…”, RCA Records.
helen.farrell@mu.ie
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