New study spaces available on the 1st floor of the Library

On Wednesday 5th of February new study desks were installed on the 1^st Floor of the Library.

There are now an extra 40 study spaces for you to use. If you are looking for a pleasant, quiet study environment try out the 1st Floor of the Library.  

 

If this floor is full and you need a quiet area to concentrate,  remember that there is silent study available on the 3rd floor of the Library.

2nd and 3rd floors are now open

Dear Students and Staff

 
I am pleased to be able to inform you that the 2^nd and 3^rd floors of the Library are now open. We hope that you will enjoy the additional study spaces and group study rooms, the enhanced Wi-Fi access, the new furniture with integral power sockets, the new heating, lighting and ventilation, and the refreshed décor. We trust that the refurbishment will enhance the learning experience for everyone.

Please be aware that during this week there are still a few things to do, but we wanted you to be able to access all the floors as soon as possible.  We will be:

• checking that the books on the 2^nd and 3^rd floors are back into the correct order
• removing the temporary shelving 
• adding additional furniture on the Ground and 1^st floors.  

There will be some disruption as we do this, but we will try to keep this to a minimum.  All four floors are now open, so please enjoy the new study spaces.

If you have any comments about the refurbished floors, please send them to library@aston.ac.uk or write them on our Facebook wall: https://www.facebook.com/AstonUniversityLIS .

Please remember:

The 3^rd floor is for individual silent study only.

The Ground, 1^st and 2^nd floors can be used for individual or group study.

Excellent Customer Service

LIS prides itself on its customer service and has just increased its score from 87% to 95% in an assessment for Customer Service Excellence awarded by the Cabinet Office. The assessor measures 57 standards for customer service, based on an evidential submission, observation of practice, and interviews with students, LIS staff and colleagues from around the University. He was amazed at the difference made by the refurbishment , and said that feedback from students about both the service and the refurbishment was overwhelmingly positive. The question he was asked most often was “When is the rest of the Library going to be done?”

Library - Invitation to Focus Group Discussion

Dear Students,

Tell us what you think!

Library & Information Services would like to invite you to a focus group discussion in the Library to ensure your views contribute to our programme of continuous improvement.

If you would like to help and you are free from:
12:30 to 2:00pm on Tuesday 22 March (Undergraduates)
12:30 to 2:00pm on Wednesday 23 March (Postgraduates)

then please email library@aston.ac.uk to book a place. We will provide you with some light refreshments and an online book voucher.

Please include the following information with your reply:
1. Your name
2. Course of study
3. Year of study
4. Brief information about why you would like to be involved in the focus group

Once you have contacted us, we will confirm your booking via email by Monday 21st March.

We will allocate places on a first-come, first-served basis ensuring at the same time, that students from different courses of study, across different year groups, are all represented as much as possible. Please remember that your views are valuable to us in developing services that meet your needs and the needs of students at Aston in the coming years.

We look forward to hearing from you.

library@aston.ac.uk

Important news about the Library

I am pleased to announce that the refurbished ground floor of the Library will open from 8.00am on Monday 1 November 2010. Here is a summary of the changes that you will find, following the refurbishment works this summer:

• The new entrance is at the corner of the library opposite to the Main Building. You can find a route map here. The temporary entrance at the back of the library will be closed from 6.00pm on Sunday 31 October onwards.

• There are new stairs, a new passenger lift and new toilets on all four floors at the front of the building.

• On the ground floor you will find: a Welcome desk; flexible group study space; two computer labs; the short loan collection; a self-service reservations area; self-service machines with fines payment facility; two additional needs rooms; two bookable group study rooms, a Help desk and CaféLibro.

• The Learning Development Centre, printed periodicals, small study areas and the Library staff administration area are on the first floor.

• The second and third floors have not been refurbished at this stage. All of the bookstock is located on these floors, as well as PCs and printers / photocopiers. The second floor can be used for group study for much of the year, but the third floor is reserved for individual silent study only.

• Further information about the library, including opening times and borrowing arrangements, can be found on the library website.

To see the changes for yourself and find out more about how the Library works, please come along to a Library Matters Live session anytime between 11.00am to 3.00pm from Monday 1 November until Friday 5 November. There will be Goody Bags for all first year students and a chance for all students to enter a Prize Draw to win a £100 Bullring Gift Card or a Sony e-book reader.

Thank you for your patience during the refurbishment, especially during the last month when the upper floors of the library have been particularly crowded. We hope you enjoy the new facilities and spaces. To help us to provide a pleasant learning environment for you, please make sure that you observe the Library Regulations.

Please let us know what works well and what doesn't work as well, by emailing library@aston.ac.uk or by completing one of our Have Your Say forms.


Nick Smith

Dr NR Smith
Director
Library & Information Services
Aston University
Birmingham
B4 7ET
UK
T: 0121 204 4509
F: 0121 204 4530
E: n.r.smith@aston.ac.uk
W: http://www1.aston.ac.uk/lis/

Printed Journals Returned to Library

The printed journals have now been returned to the first floor of the library after being held in storage during the refurbishment. Please check the Library catalogue for holdings.

Lift out of action from August 23rd

The lift in the Library will be out of action for approximately 2 weeks from August 23rd due to the refurbishment. Apologies for any inconvenience this causes. If you need to use the lift, please continue to come to the Library and staff will be more than willing to fetch any material that you need.

Cafe Closure: 17th August

The cafe in the Library will be closed from Tuesday 17th August due to the refurbishment and will remained closed until the ground floor of the Library re-opens during the Autumn term.

New photos of Library refurbishment demolition work available!

Have a look at these latest photos of demolition work that took place a few days ago on the Library building!

Floorplans of Library Refurbishment

You can now view the architects' floorplans of the Library refurbishment. You can also follow the progress of the renovations as they happen via Flickr.

Noise Hot Spot chart

Look at this chart to find out the places in the Library building where the noise is going to be the most noticeable this week (week commencing 26th July).

Library Building Closure: Thursday 22nd July

Unfortunately, due to an unexpected problem, the removal of the emergency staircase in the library, which was to have been done last weekend, will now have to be done on Thursday 22 July. This work will cause significant noise and vibration throughout the building during the day and the evening, and also means that all of the toilets in the building have to be closed. Consequently, the library will be closed that day.

We hope to re-open at 9.00am on Friday 23 July. However, if the work has to be extended into Friday, we will not re-open until 12 noon at the earliest. If you are intending to come to the library on Friday, you are advised to ring 0121 204 4489 or 0121 204 4525 to check if we are open, before travelling.

There is alternative quiet study space available in the Main Building. Please ask at Library Reception or Enquiries for advice about this or ring one of the numbers above or email library@aston.ac.uk .

We apologise for any inconvenience this closure may cause to you.

No toilet facilities in Library building this Saturday 17th July

Due to the Library refurbishment work taking place over the summer vacation, there will be no access to any toilets in the Library building on Saturday 17th July. If you are using the Library building on Saturday, you will need to go to the main building and use the toilet facilities there. Please remember that you will need your student card to get into the main building over the weekend.

Library Building Closure 7th/8th August

The Library building will close at 3pm on Friday 6th August and will remain closed over the whole of the weekend of Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th August due to the refurbishment. We apologise for any inconvenience this causes.

Network unavailable in Library building Monday 5th July

There will be no PC or printer/photocopier access available for students in the Library building on Monday 5th July between 9am and 11am due to the work going on for the Library Refurbishment. Apologies for the inconvenience.

Changes to service during Library Refurbishment

Take a look at our new Changes to Service webpage to find out how Library services will be affected during the building refurbishment this summer.

Access to printed journals during summer vacation

As part of the Library refurbishment project over the summer, it will be necessary to remove all printed journals from the 1st floor of the Library and place them in storage. Therefore, there will be no access to 1st floor printed journals from June 10th to October 6th. Please make use of our Inter-Library Loans service during this time.

Preparatory work is due to start in the Library Building

During the last week of exam period (week beginning 7th June), some preparatory work needs to be carried out in the Library before the arrival of the building contractors on 21st June. This will involve stock removal on the 1st and 2nd floors of the Library. We hope to keep noise and disruption to a minimum, but people wishing to study in silence may wish to use the 3rd floor during this time.

Project timeline for Library refurbishment

A project timeline of the Library refurbishment is now available on our Library webpages. Keep checking our refurbishement webpages for updates throughout the summer.

Help name the Library

We had over a hundred suggestions submitted to our "Name the Library" competition. These have been short-listed to nine suggestions and you can now vote for your favourite. The results will be announced next month.

Voting closes at midnight on Sunday 13th June.