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Introduction
Diana Mercer
It is thankfully very rare - but nonetheless very sad - to hear of the death of a colleague. This year it is all the more poignant in the case of Louise Shepherd, who died in August 2013 and whose work towards the development and implementation of our strategic goals has been highlighted in two of the individual reports: her major contribution to the Service Level Agreement between UCL Library Services and our NHS partners (Support for Healthcare); and the exhibition at Queen Square on the history of epilepsy that she co-curated (Outreach & Engagement).
As in previous years, there are a number of common themes running through various of the reports, two notable examples being digitisation and training, support and outreach.
Digitisation is highlighted in both Research Support and Space Management: substantial external funding has enabled us to continue to digitise materials from UCL Special Collections, ranging from the Montefiore Testimonials to the works of pioneers in modern genetics, while a collaborative venture with a number of UCL academic departments has seen the creation within the Library of a bespoke digitisation suite to be used by students as part of their training.
Training, support and outreach form an ever more significant component of our work. Much of this is provided in order to enhance the skills of UCL students and other registered library users. As outlined in the Student Experience and Support for Healthcare, web-based guides and updates via social media targeted at particular groups are being used very successfully to supplement training sessions. Alongside this, we are engaging increasingly with external audiences, ranging from participating in a series of public seminars on Dante's Divine Comedy to active participation in a summer school aimed at disadvantaged school students (Outreach & Engagement).