New Projects at Oxford UniversityRoger MillsEBHL TallinnMay 2006

Change amid the dreaming spires

New Vice-Chancellor• New financial system

• New divisions

• New pay scales

• New buildings

• New library staff structures

• New library management system

• New digital library

Divisional structures 2000-2005• Humanties

• Social Sciences

• Life and Environmental Sciences• Geography and the Environment• Plant Sciences inc. Forestry• Zoology inc. Ornithology• Biochemistry

• Maths and Physical Sciences

• Medicine

Divisional structures 2005-• Humanties

• Social Sciences• Geography and the Environment

• Maths, Physical and Life Sciences• Plant Sciences inc. Forestry• Zoology inc. Ornithology

• Medicine• Biochemistry

Library structure• One ‘hub’ library per division – reference

and lending

• But Geography & the Environment will be in Science – planned before divisional transfer to Social Science

• All science departmental library collections to be incorporated in hub [Radcliffe Science Library] - eventually

ELISO• Electronic Library and Information Service

for Oxford

• We are far behind Harvard – and Auckland

• ‘Catch-up’ plan – funded by savings through closing departmental libraries, reducing sites; break-even by 2010

Special Collections• New Bodleian Library (1930s) to be gutted

and re-modelled as Special Collections Library – post 2010

• http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/news/buildings/new_bodleian

• Theoretically, Plant Sciences, Forestry, Ornithology could move there

• BUT taxonomic books need to stay with herbarium, ornithology needs to stay with Edward Grey Institute

Design proposals

• The inevitable restaurant

So…• We may stay as we are…

• BUT new appointments to Sibthorpian and Sherardian Professorships pending

• Will they love libraries??????

• Or will they want the space?

Space• We haven’t got any

• So planning new depository to hold 8million+ vols

• Scheduled to open 2007

• But planning objections delaying

• http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/news/depository

The View from Boars Hill• The Oxford Problem: skylines

So in the meantime• Down the mine – old salt mines in Cheshire

(north of England)

• http://www.deepstore.com/

And more new building…• Remodelling the Radcliffe Science Library

• To include Hooke Lending Library

• Integrated stock

• And add all departmental collections

• Moving out low-use stock to depository

• Time scale 2006-7

Moving stock• Means re-classifying – no common scheme

in Oxford

• Adopted Library of Congress – not ideal but little choice for universal scheme

• Costly – budget for preparing geography collections £250,000

Moving staff – and budgets• Subject based staff teams and budgetting

• Information Services in Bio- and Environmental Sciences

• Bio- and Environmental Sciences Team (BEST)

• Bio- and Environmental Sciences Subject Consultant

• In-house services and departmental liaison

One possible version!

New LMS• VTLS Virtua

• replacing Geac

• go-live 1.9.06

• http://www2.ouls.ox.ac.uk/lms/

New Digital Library• Temporary interface (Greenstone)

• http://www2.odl.ox.ac.uk/gsdl/cgi-bin/library

Flora Graeca completed• Pilot project available now

• Full project ???July 06 (including printed vols, drawings, Fauna Graeca and Mediterranean Scenes

• Descriptive volume on Flora Graeca with extensive illustrations to be published 2007 in Treasures of the Bodleian series

• Volume on Mediterranean Scenes under consideration

Basic search facilities

• JPG images can be downloaded

• TIFF images purchased

All metadata will be searchable

And finally… New Librarian• Director of University Library Services

• Vacant Jan 2007-

• New job anyone??