Be a part of your Library, join LAG!
What is the Library Advisory Group (LAG)?
The Library Advisory Group is your way to help shape the future direction of Library Services. It is a participatory forum that meets to explore what the Library’s users want and how the Library can best provide it. All members of the University are welcome to attend. Oh and there’s usually tea and cake.
Check out some of the wonderful things LAG has accomplished in the past, and get involved to help the Library continue improving!
Join the Library Advisory Group from University of Essex on Vimeo.
(Jan 2017)
How do I get involved?
Come along to any meeting and join in, or register your interest by emailing libraryblog@essex.ac.uk. We’ll make sure you’re personally invited to future meetings, and let you know what we’re planning for them. There will also be opportunities to join in and follow along via social media.
When does LAG meet?
We generally meet twice a term (in November and February). Please register your interest or follow us on social media for dates.
Where does LAG meet?
Usually in Special Collections on the first floor of the Albert Sloman Library, but we’ll also get out and about, so look out for us. If you’re at Southend or Loughton, there will be opportunities to join in via social media, and we’re looking to organise LAG meetings and/or pop-up stalls for you as well.
What are LAG meetings like?
Although there’s usually an element of formal business at the beginning, with a report by the Director of Library Services on latest developments, LAG meetings are generally informal and participation is welcomed. We often have workshop activities, such as building your ideal study space in LEGO, drawing a mind map of your research life, or commenting on some case study videos. We provide refreshments and an opportunity to talk to Library staff and other attendees. You bring the ideas, we bring the cake.
What happens to ideas generated at LAG?
The outcomes of LAG meetings are considered by the Library’s senior management team, and fed into future service developments. Some examples of the impact of LAG so far are:
- The introduction of 24/7 opening hours at the Albert Sloman Library in October 2018, and extended summer opening hours from June 2019
- The design of the Library Reading Room refurbishment (using evidence from the LEGO models LAGgers built)
- The change of the recall period from 3 days to 7 days (following reactions to case study videos and Tinder-style dating profiles)
- The introduction of “Shut Up and Write” facilitated writing workshops in association with the Talent Development Centre (from data gathered using mind maps)
- Refinements to the way that reading lists are organised and trial on-shelf signage in the Student Collection to make it easier for students to get access to essential reading
More formally, LAG reports to Education Committee, and to the Student Experience Committee, so that there is a wider University context for what we do.
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