Last November, Richard joined the JISC Collections Board as an Institutional Director. Paul Harwood caught-up with him at a recent Board meeting and found time to get to know him a bit better. Here is what they spoke about:
1: You are Director of the Library and Learning Centre at the University of Dundee. How long have you been in post and by what route did you get to where you are now?
Yes, Director of LLC and University Librarian. Like many folk nowadays, I have had a varied career to date. I originally trained as a scientist, studying in New Zealand and Australia, and moved to a research and teaching post at University of Dundee. After lecturing for 10 years, I transferred to the University centre to manage our eLearning systems implementation and development. Two and a half years ago in Dundee we combined our Library, eLearning and academic staff education to form the Library and Learning Centre, and I was appointed as Director.
2. As funding gets tighter and student expectations become greater, what are the implications for you and your colleagues in managing a high quality library and information service?
Ah, the day job. It feels like juggling while standing on a wobble board. The expectations are demanding, while the resourcing is challenging and changing. We strive to make efficiencies where-ever we can, and reduce services as rarely as possible. Moving resources online helps, as do students who increasingly manage their own IT platforms. A high quality library environment includes physical and virtual domains. Academic libraries aim to achieve a high standard in both, and this requires significant investment by staff and resources, then continuous attention to detail. And while juggling and balancing, we have to listen too.
3. Who has the brighter future; scholarly publishers or university librarians?
Both have a strong future, but we may diverge a little. Publishers' articles are starting to appear direct to patrons via author-pays OA, and Librarians may become engaged in quality assurance and web-based publishing and archiving, supporting local or subject consortia. We are certainly set to move a long way from previous models of publishers managing the production process, and librarians managing the access process. Let's not forget the library as a place - on our campus, the library is one of the busiest building on campus and set to remain so.
4. How did you first come into contact with JISC Collections and the work it does?
As soon as I was appointed to the LLC, I considered it vital to understand key elements of our budget, and journal purchases are, by far some margin, the major resource expenditure. Working through the details, I recognised the involvement of JISC Collections with journal bundles, databases, additional resources, and, in Scotland of course, SHEDL. The NESLi2 license and its variations are required reading for Directors and we get very interested in the variations of resource access that are negotiated.
5. What do you hope to bring to the Board of JISC Collections and the Executive Directors?
Immediately I must recognise that I was elected, so I have a responsibility to represent my constituents! This will be an important two way communication process, passing on to JISC Collections the concerns and realities of the sector, and also returning to Library colleagues the challenges and realities faced by JISC Collections. As a Library Director, you get to know one institution very well, and this can form a good example when asked to represent others. Dundee is mid-sized, research intensive, with plenty of undergraduate and post-graduate teaching for vocational and non-vocational subjects. We are therefore typical of a large number of Universities. Of course I can listen, and I recognise that I must be responsive. From my previous roles as a scientist and lecturer, I know firsthand about authoring and editing, and the importance of good access to published material.
JISC Collections is well placed to innovate further, and as institutional directors we must encourage this. No doubt that the high cost & high value licenses must be focused on, and work in establishing and maintaining efficiency gains are critical. Let's hope I can bring clarity and prosperity.
6. What are the key challenges facing JISC Collections in the next 3-5 years?
Diversity of the publishing sector, and diversity of the reading sector. Interestingly the academic publishing sector is one recognised in the transition to the internet in a structured and sustainable manner. Compare this with the music or newspaper sectors which are still experimenting. JISC Collections faces the clear challenge of meeting academic library licensing expectations on restricted budgets, while also facing the expectations of publishers to sustain and grow their income.
Maybe open access routes will be clearer in 3 to 5 years, but I think it more likely that the promise of open access will have outstripped the reality. JISC Collections may be facing the challenge of living in the real world with firm prices for access, while readers have an expectation that resources are available without charge. By this time UK institutions will be very clear about our contributions to the publishing world through researching, authoring, editing, purchasing, and even paying to publish some material for OA.
7. When you are not running the library at Dundee or contributing to the development of JISC Collections, what do you like doing?
I am a proud and cheering member of the swimming club Dads, and my wife is a qualified swimming coach. I am a keen cyclist, canoeist and an aspirational sailor, activities I share with the willing (some friends & some family) and the unwilling (rest of the family). It is fascinating to see the rise of technology in these pursuits, and as a consequence I have developed a hobby of collecting salt-water damaged electronic devices.
