Thursday 15 August 2013

And now, the end is near...

...of the college summer holidays, anyway!  We are coming ever closer to the start of the new academic year.  Teaching staff are back next week, and the students will then follow.  As usual, our main site has been open throughout the holidays, to allow for those on continuing courses (such as distance learning) access to computing facilities and study space.  The books have been available for reference for all (though not always on the shelves, as we've been busy this summer!)

All the usual jobs are complete - or almost there: we've done our stock check, which was actually almost fun thanks to our new mini scanner, which has made the job a lot easier!  Originally, we thought we *might* be going to have the first summer in a long time where we didn't have to make a major change / move / change of site, but it was not to be: our main summer job this year was to integrate our oversize book section into the main stock.  Of course, this then meant that we needed to take the books off the shelves, re-rack the shelving bays to fit the larger books, and then integrate and reshelve the books.  Also, while we were at it, we took the chance to have a good clean (picture this - me, armed with bucket, microfibre cloth and brillo pads, scrubbing the shelves before we put the books back on them!).  They do look really good though, and the move was definitely worth it.  The collection looks great spaced out, and it will hopefully mean the oversized books will be used a lot more, as most students didn't seem to look for anything that wasn't on the main shelves.  We also got some lovely new journal shelving, which has some also lovely new display shelving beside it which hosts a smaller reference collection.

So now, as the holidays draw to a close, we are gearing up for the new year: presentations ready to go on the plasma screen (I'm still loving prezi, which I learnt to use when completing the cpd23 scheme), inductions are already being booked, and all the little finishing jobs are being done.  We're looking nicely freshened up, and just about ready to go!  Time to enjoy the last days of (relative) peace before the hectic start of year begins.  Good luck to all preparing for the return of their students (and staff!) as it's about to get a lot busier for us all!