Progress report: period ending 9 May 2008
Actions and achievements
Students, staff and other members of the University were invited to participate in the student-staff forum held on Thursday 8 May. Guest speakers at this workshop included:
- Professor Mark Considine, Dean of Arts and member of the Commission's Steering Committee
- Sally Beattie, student representative on University Council and member of the Commission's Steering Committee
This was particularly useful in elucidating issues such as the needs of undergraduate and postgraduate students in terms of quiet space and collaborative space, learning needs of students and how to meet those needs. There was discussion around whether lecture theatres were the most appropriate form for imparting information as most students were self directed - seminar and break out rooms may be more appropriate in the future.
Two Extraordinary Steering Committee meetings were held on Tuesday 6 and Wednesday 7 May. Discussions centred on what a library could possibly look like in the year 2013 and what was the appropriate mix of print and digital requirements. These two meetings were well attended and the feedback has been incorporated into the Interim report. This will be completed over the weekend and be available by Monday midday for distribution to the Steering Committee for review and comment at the meeting on Wednesday 14 May. Comments will be incorporated overnight and sent to the Academic Board secretary on 15th May for distribution.
The invitation to respond to the work of the Information Futures Commission will be closed off later today. More than 30 submissions from faculties, groups and individuals are now available, along with the latest statistics, over 100 completed questionnaires, blogs and tag clouds. These are all on the website and provide background to the interim report.
Update: Monday 12 May 2008
Feedback from the above meetings and from an Expert Panel meeting on Friday have been incorporated into the interim report.
More than 70 submissions have been received, about half of these arriving on Friday. We are expecting a few late submissions this week. We’ve had a good submission from the Librarian from University College London who visited recently and left with a copy of our Consultation Paper.
Over the weekend we have been analysing the submissions and updating the Interim Report. The final draft will be distributed to the Steering Committee at lunchtime on Monday.
A youtube clip about innovation may be of interest. There is also a UK adaptation as is it is licensed under Creative Commons licensing. There may be merit in developing an Australian version.