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To align with the University's defining themes of
innovation, engagement, internationalisation and global development to
support the wider Monash community. Improve services through
co-operative arrangements with CAUL, CAVAL, ARLAC, AARLIN and the
University of Melbourne/Monash protocol and build on these
relationships for the benefit of all Australian libraries, including
achieving greater buying power.
Support international campuses and partnerships
A review of monograph supply for Monash Sunway and Monash South Africa was conducted and the findings have been communicated to these libraries. Advice was provided on collection development and planning for future space requirements. Lending services policies were reviewed and both Sunway and South Africa supported the Monash Passport program by improving loans to
higher degree by research students.
Monash South Africa
Cathrine Harboe-Ree and Janette Burke visited the Monash South Africa campus in May. The main purpose of the visit was to meet the new Campus Librarian and to assess the effectiveness and operation of the newly established Library and Learning Commons, particularly from the point of view of the implementation of the Monash University Library Facilities Master Plan. This visit also provided an opportunity to meet new library staff. Cathrine presented a paper at a data management conference in Pretoria and both Cathrine and Janette visited a number of
universities in Cape Town to strengthen links with Monash South Africa.
In late November the Campus Librarian and newly appointed Learning Skills Adviser from South Africa visited Australia.
Monash Sunway
A Service Level Agreement has been drafted between the Sunway and Australian libraries. Input and advice was provided in the development of the Service Level Agreement between the Library and faculties at the Sunway campus.
Lisa Smith and Leanne McCann undertook a Learning Skills Review visit to Malaysia in May 2008. The final report was presented to the Sunway campus Education Committee for consideration. Siaw-Wan Chong, the AARLIN Officer from the Information Resources Division, visited Sunway Library and Learning Commons in June 2008. As requested she provided training on introduction to reference services with emphasis on off-desk reference services, Monash electronic resources and databases, and hands-on use of MultiSearch and SFX.
Hong Bernard, Contact Librarian from the CL Butchers Pharmacy Library, visited Sunway Library and Learning Commons in late 2008 to provide training on the use of electronic alerts and dissemination of new titles.
Staff from the Information Services and Information Resources Divisions contributed to the development of a training program in reference and acquisitions for the Sunway Library and Learning Commons staff. Staff mobility requests were submitted for visits to and from the two overseas campuses in 2009.
Provide services as appropriate to Monash partner organisations and commercial operations on campus
External Client Services
The External Client Services Unit (ECS) provides a service to members of the public who do not qualify as the Library’s primary clientele, that is, Monash enrolled students and staff on the Monash payroll. Since its inception ECS has provided a centralised, coordinated and standardised delivery of service to external clients. ECS processed 528 memberships in 2008, with 492 of those being alumni memberships. The demand for ECS in the business world is decreasing, particularly for document delivery and in-depth research. A marketing campaign will be undertaken in early 2009 to determine whether there are any business opportunities remaining. The virtual library services to hospitals and health institutions is a possible area of growth and this will be further investigated, while existing arrangements with Bethlehem Hospital and the Cancer Council will continue to be monitored.
Monash College
In 2007 a service level agreement was drawn up between the Library and Monash College outlining a range of services to be provided. This included borrowing privileges (in line with Monash University undergraduates), the provision of reading lists and library classes covering how to use the catalogue, website and databases. Late in 2007 Monash College wanted the library programs to be more embedded into the curricula, like those on offer to undergraduates. In 2008 an increased number of subject classes including psychology, nursing, business and economics, were offered across all campuses. The External Client Services Unit enlisted the help of contact librarians at Peninsula, Caulfield and Hargrave-Andrew to be able to meet the demand from Monash College.
Hospitals
Provision of library services for staff and students of the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences continues to be one of the more complicated challenges for the Library as the numbers of students and clinical placement locations continue to increase.
The Library selects and promotes electronic resources including e-books when available. All electronic information purchased by the Library is available to staff and students at all locations, including overseas campuses and clinical schools. This is particularly important in supporting the increasing demands of students on placement while financial support for Hospital Libraries from the Commonwealth Teaching Hospitals Grant continues to decline.
In 2008 the Library acquired 1,208 items and some print journals to support Monash students at teaching hospitals and spent more than $260,000 on material for hospital libraries. The Hargrave Andrew Library processed 1,198 items previously purchased for hospital libraries that were no longer required. From these, 42 items were sent to the Gippsland collection and 343 items were donated through the Southern Health Library for libraries in developing countries.
2008 was the first year of the graduate entry Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery degree at Gippsland, with students regularly attending placement locations during the year. The Faculty contact librarian at the Peninsula Library participated in the Frankston Hospital welcome for Gippsland Medical School students who will commence there in 2009.
To facilitate the coordination of library services provided by the hospital libraries, the Director Client Services, Science Health and Engineering convenes the Hospital Librarians Committee, which meets three times per year. At one meeting, the Associate Dean (Teaching Hospitals) Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences discussed the strategic development of the faculty and hospital relationship. The Monash University Library’s role in research data management was also presented at one of the meetings.
Monash University Library librarians represent the University on hospital library committees such as:
- The Southern Health library Network Committee
- The Ian Potter Advisory Committee
- The Ian Potter Management Committee.
Support alumni access to Monash resources
The alumni membership structure was reviewed in late 2007 and as a result Alumni memberships were broken down into a number of categories; access to print resources, access to electronic resources, or a combination of both. The range of resources available for alumni was expanded to include ScienceDirect and Scopus. Alumni memberships with access to print resources became available at Sunway and South Africa.
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