LIBRARY LIFE
Our libraries enhance and enrich the learning experience through inclusive and accessible places where our students and staff can readily access knowledge and skills.
Stay in touch with some of the people, perspectives and partnerships transforming library life for all those who use find a home in our places and spaces and inspiration in our resources.
Together we shape our sustainable future.
OUR PEOPLE
At the heart of the library service are skilled colleagues bringing the wealth of resources to enrich learning and research.
We are transforming to reflect a changing university sector, the expectations of those who use our service, encouraging them to make most accessible the rich materials, resources and technology that are part of library life today.
Your library experience matters to us
At the heart of any service lies a curiosity about and a commitment to those who use it. Ulster’s academic library is no different. As we seek to create a flexible, adaptable space, observing patterns of library use can make it easier to try and test solutions, simple fixes or ideas.
We can see how students move around space and notice what might bother them – from the usually welcome sunshine being a nuisance in a favourite study spot or the use of mobile phones in the library. Simple observations that can make a difference to comfort and full use of the space.
Whilst we may not be able to action all suggestions from students or within the team, over time we will build a culture of ‘you asked, we did’ and that’s important in a service at the centre of campus life and learning.
Ciaran Cregan, Head of User Engagement
A love letter to the library
Look out for our library information assistants and tell them what works for you, what perhaps doesn’t, what you think we could improve, and what you love about your library.
Our Derry~Londonderry campus library has seen a takeover to showcase the riches of the library through themed activities brought to life through exhibitions and comment boards. Look out for your opportunity to take part and share your thoughts – from top titles to burning questions, shared experiences to creative flourish!
To celebrate what the library has to offer and to prompt engagement and dialogue, we began with some more whimsical themes and seasonal moments such as Halloween, which is always huge in Derry~Londonderry. This started the conversation, and we have since moved on to other themes, from violence against women and girls to poverty and consumerism.
Approaching February and the theme of love and romance - fictional and academic writing – we gave over the whiteboard and noticeboard to love letters to the library. Rather than creating a survey link, we could see how students interacted with each other, and it almost became the whiteboard equivalent of being lost in a scroll on your phone.
Svetozar Manev, Information Assistant in the User Engagement team
OUR PLACES
Our academic libraries are a mainstay of our learning environment and a specialist space in which academic ambitions can thrive. Modern, welcoming spaces at the heart of campus create the place for private study, collaborative, social learning, nurturing subject confidence and engagement and insight and encouraging independent study and exploration.
A partner in academic ambitions
Supporting teaching, learning and student success
Our dedicated team is on hand to support the best ways to access and make use of quality resources and the very latest technology to enhance student learning.
Our library spaces and specialists across all campuses combine to create supportive environments for student success. Working closely with academic colleagues, the library team tailors timetabled library classes to address a specific module or assignment.
We map out the eBooks and eJounals relevant to the topic and have readily available the resources that can inform assignments. Our academic colleague sets up the class requirement and we take it from there, using the assignment as our starting point. We aim to make these classes interactive by introducing polls and Microsoft Forms, giving students the chance to test their knowledge. Given our progressive collection development, we can be sure to remain current, and with course builder access we then load materials into the module area of Blackboard Learn.
Mary Rose Holman, Campus Subject Librarian in Academic Engagement.
Supporting our research culture and community
We encourage scholarly research by supporting researchers in how to publish and disseminate their work in leading research journals with Open Access.
With Open Research one of the five themes of Research Culture and Community at Ulster University, the library’s Open Research team supports the values and practices, principles and policies supporting openness and transparency across the research lifecycle and throughout research careers.
Our Open Research team embraces the principles of Open Research in place to comply with funding expectations and underpin the strongest impact and benefit through open access and engagement.
Publishing can be a maze of requirements and protocols, but through our access to publisher agreements, and approving use of them, we can assist researchers as they go forward to publish in journals. We work with both academic staff who publish regularly and PhD researchers at the beginning of their careers and taking their first steps in publishing their research.
Publishing is a mark of achievement, excellence and influence and so it’s an important milestone for those in our research community. We’re here to make that a little less daunting so that a researcher can enjoy that moment as they prepare to disseminate their findings and share their thought leadership.
Eimear Evans, Open Research Manager
Library Treasures
Home to some of foremost collections in Ireland, our special collections and rare books are a wealth of intellectual, social and cultural insight, value and significance not only to staff and to students but to many special interest groups and those curious about these literary and historical treasures.
Sarah O'Deorain, Special Collections and Archives Officer looks after both the special collections and the University’s extensive archive at Coleraine. From private libraries of rare books and fine bindings bequeathed to the University to the Derry and Raphoe Diocesan library hosted - with input of a heritage lottery funded conservation project 2003 – 2012 - at Derry~Londonderry, the rare books and special collections are a testament to the credentials of the library as a trusted home for these treasures, making them accessible for all to enjoy.
Staff, students, researchers and members of the public can book by appointment to visit the special collections. The archive at Coleraine hosts a rich and eclectic tapestry of the life and times of Ulster University and those who studied and worked here over the decades, with much of the photograph collection now digitised for easy access and sharing, alongside papers and press cuttings.
I am fortunate to work with artefacts of such historical, social and cultural significance. Sometimes materials arrive with us in plastic bags and it's my role to create some order and ensure that these resources are catalogued and stored correctly to archival standards and with the support of colleagues in boxing and producing lists. Climate, temperature and humidity all play an important part in preserving the condition of the materials in our care.
Every query received into the University archive is a journey of discovery, and no two explorations are ever the same. The vast collection of student magazines reveals just how much student life, learning and wider society has evolved over the years. I have been asked to uncover what bands played at the University between 1977 and 1984, and what reviews they received, and was even contacted by a novelist researching materials for a murder mystery.
And as for Sarah’s personal selection from amongst this prize collection:
Pliny’s Historia Naturalis had been an ‘encyclopedia of all knowledge of the ancient world’ for over a thousand years by the time it appeared in print. Our vellum copy, published in 1472, which is from the Henry Davis collection, is a firm favourite of mine. It’s one of only 12 known copies in the world and has a full history of ownership that allows us to trace it through the hands of Francesco Donato, Doge of Venice (1543-53), Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford, who was First Lord of the Treasury 1711-1714 in the reign of Queen Anne (effectively Prime Minister) to Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex the sixth son of George III. It is beautifully illustrated and it’s my ‘desert island’ book choice from our wonderful collection.
Sarah O'Deorain, Special Collections and Archives Officer
Accessing Special Collections and Archives
For details of all the special collections we hold in the library and how to access them visit:
Welcome - Special Collections and Rare Books - Library Guides at Ulster University
Or contact the team at:
Library-SpecialCollections@ulster.ac.uk
s.odeorain@ulster.ac.uk
For details of the University Archive and the materials held and how to access them.
Home - University Archive - Library Guides at Ulster University
Or contact the team at:
archives@ulster.ac.uk
OUR PARTNERSHIPS
Partnerships in the library team, across the staff and student community and externally with other universities, library, community partners and national initiatives create strong connections, supportive ways of working and shared experiences. For now, for the future. For good.
Net Zero Challenge
As a library team we champion participation in the Net Zero Challenge. It’s a challenge that many staff and students take on to explore how we can each play our part in a small way. Individual goals include actions we can take at home, travelling to work, waste recycling, pre-loved fashion, washing at low temperatures – all designed to reduce our own carbon footprint.
We are prompted to think about health and wellbeing, linked to the Employee Wellbeing activities on campus, and even with the best of good intentions, old habits can creep back in. The Friday Net Zero email prompts us to reflect and reduce further. These are our own personal endeavours, but are good practices that we can bring to the workplace, the library team, our collective effort as we play a personal part in shaping sustainable futures for all.
Janice McQuilkin, Assistant Librarian
Mosul University Library partnership
Built in 1967, Mosul University Library was one of the largest University Libraries in Iraq and the Middle East University and its destruction during the 2016/17 conflict saw the loss of over 1 million resources. Since then, and with the physical rebuilding completed, the library has been receiving resources to help rebuild its collections and support its 40,000 students. Our library team partnered with the School of Education and stepped in to support the reimagination and recreation of this academic and civic resource.
From an initial training needs analysis covering collections, strategic considerations of an academic library, lending systems and online catalogues, the team went on to deliver bespoke training through online group and individual sessions, navigating the complexity of translation. A toolkit supports the team in Iraq to become self-sufficient as their library re-emerges, with ready access to Ulster University resources.
For fellow library colleagues in Mosul, there was both a practical rebuild, restock and renew, but also an emotional cost and upheaval. Part of our training programme for our Iraqi librarians was to explore disaster recovery and special collections. They enjoyed learning alongside our library and academic staff and the professional postgraduate students on our Library and Information Management course.
We in turn found it hugely rewarding to lend our expertise and shared love of libraries to support the Mosul team in their service provision for library users, with the skills, confidence and understanding to fulfil and enjoy their roles as the library re-established its place at the heart of learning.
Jeanie Parris, Campus Subject Manager, Academic Engagement
OUR SUSTAINABLE FUTURES
Our focus on sustainability runs through all our partnerships. It informs how we equip our staff and students with new perspectives, curiosity, learning and skills, and how we operate the library service across our campuses. Alongside our core delivery, here are just a few of our organisational and team initiatives, as we play our part in sustainable futures for all.
Getting our hands dirty in the campus wellbeing garden
Out of a Library team development day, came the opportunity to get outdoors, get active and support both wellbeing and sustainability in partnership with the Students’ Union. Just beside Piggery Lane on Coleraine campus and containing raised beds, a grass area, a shed, a tree bee house and a bench, the Wellbeing Garden is managed by the Students’ Union who welcomed the library team to join in a series of weekly gardening sessions.
The wellbeing garden is a hidden gem on campus – a place to take a break, enjoy the sunshine and to get creative by planting, nurturing and growing our own flowers and produce. Along with enthusiastic Doctoral college researchers we have planted chives, beetroot, radish, peas, potatoes, sunflowers, lettuce from seed, strawberries and mint. It’s a fun way in which to take our green impact into the outdoors, get out into the fresh air, feel the soil under our fingers, make new connections, and enjoy the outdoor beauty of Coleraine campus.
In line with that sustainable commitment, as a library team we also planted a tree on campus to mark the library service transformation, as together we reimagine our role at the heart of campus life and learning, with fresh future perspectives.
Mary Davies, Assistant Librarian, Academic Engagement
Better World Books Mission
Our partnership with Better World Books Mission, aims to save books from being pulped or going to landfill, instead bring them to the developing world where they will find new readers to inspire, educate and inform others beyond their time on the shelves at Ulster University.
The Better World Books Mission is an online destination for books offering a wide selection of used and new titles, giving booklovers across the world access to knowledge at affordable price and making a difference with every online purchase made through donations and environmental programmes.
Donated books from Ulster University’s library have contributed to the more than 38million donated to this international programme. It’s part of our commitment to literacy and learning as well as a contribution to positive social and environmental impact.
