Annual report 2023–24

Our library environments are central to the student experience, enabling new discoveries through our rich collections and connecting ideas, knowledge and communities.

We provide the foundations for student education, research and innovation through our integrated on-campus and online services, and deliver an outstanding and inclusive student experience.

We empower and develop students through mentorship opportunities and internships, such as our academic writing mentors, student ambassadors and our cultural, galleries and communication internships.

91% NSS score for library services, above the sector average and leading comparable institutions.

Our campus learning hubs

Our libraries are welcoming, safe and collaborative spaces for learning, development and experimentation:

• 2,112,126 library visits
• 75,874 physical items loaned
• 2,628 Libray Makerspace users.

Digital spaces

We provide the information resources students need to explore their academic and personal interests, through ebooks, journals and digitisation. We develop in-depth online guidance for study and research:

• 93,521 enquiries answered
• 1,003,228 ebooks accessed
• 10,404,629 website visits.

Improving student experience through mobile access

Problem: Students forget their ID cards, forming big queues for day ticket machines.

Solved! The new Sentry app integrates with our library management systems so that phones can be used to enter and leave our libraries.

Impact: Improved our service by saving time and frustration and lowering barriers to entry:

• 173,151 scans (entry or exit) using the app in the first term
• 6,840 unique card numbers were presented.

Library of Things (strategic priority 14)

We launched the Library of Things in January 2024, lending specialist audio-visual equipment for creative projects of all kinds. 

Bring Your Own Device pilot a success

As part of the Learning Spaces programme in collaboration with IT Services, the Brotherton Library piloted a new “Bring your own device” area, where students can plug their devices into a fully equipped workstation with a large screen and ergonomic keyboard and mouse.

More supported space for student writing

Our popular Writing Space provides a nurturing and informal space for students to work on their writing.

We promise to provide a supportive and compassionate environment, whether you’re an international student on your first day of year 1, or a taught postgraduate student writing their dissertation.

This year we:

• extended the service to be available every weekday afternoon
• created more opportunities for students to become writing mentors 
• reached out to encourage students from a wider range of subject areas to benefit – 66 students engaged with pop-up stalls in four stalls.

Student feedback:

• “Helped me figure out my literature review and how to make it more concise and specific.”
• “The Writing Space was so helpful and answered all my questions! Everyone was very friendly and approachable, and I feel a lot more confident with my essay!”

My favourite thing about working as a mentor last year was seeing students I had originally helped come and visit the space again. I felt that we worked collaboratively together over a few weeks to make some great progress, and we were able to see a lot of improvement (in both their academic skills and their confidence).

• 94% of student visitors would recomend the Writing Space.
• 980 visits.
• 277 students helped by mentors (385% increase on last year).

Academic skills development and workshops

Learning advisors design and deliver in-curricula and co-curricula skills development opportunities, aligned with Curriculum Redefined and in partnership with academic and professional colleagues:

• 30,099 students received academic skills training
• 2,108 students attended a Skills@Library workshop online or in-person
• 351 maths and statistics consultations, of which 24% were return visits
• 1,033 students had academic skills appointments with our learning advisors.

Student feedback:

• 96% said they learned something to improve the way they work.
• “The learning advisor was absolutely amazing and helped me so much! I loved the format that you can ask for help for whatever! Gave me a lot of confidence and really helpful techniques to go forward with!!”

No limits on 1 million new ebooks (strategic priorities 18 and 20)

Substantial investment in a new ebooks platform, Perlego, provides access to over 1 million ebooks across disciplines and subjects. These are available on an unlimited concurrent usage model, which means students have on-demand access to the texts they need.

In the first two months, Perlego gave access to:

• 1,904 citations on reading lists
• 17,365 unique titles.

Discovery collections promote diversity

We created online Discovery Collections to promote our leisure reading and audiobooks, and curate resources to support initiatives such as Black History Month and Disability History Month. This creates opportunities to explore themes and reach a deeper understanding.

HSL refurbishment begins! (strategic priorities 11, 12, 13 and 17)

Work to refurbish the group area in the Health Sciences Library has begun, part of a campus Learning Spaces initiative:

• extensive consultation with students and staff
• supports the University’s sustainability objectives
• connection to nature and wellbeing
• supports different types of collaborative and group work.

The bold design will transform this corner of the Library into a light, open, and engaging space, that will help to foster collaboration, creativity, and academic success.

Investing in open higher education

We have trebled our investment in initiatives and organisations that support open access content and infrastructure. This is a key enabler of our vision to be an active partner within scholarly communities that support the development of open educational resources for equitable education opportunities.