In spring 2018 the University of Birmingham announced that it would be the first global top 100 and Russell Group University to open a branch campus in Dubai.  Initially this would take the form of an incubator campus providing capacity for approximately 350 students across 4 disciplines with a target of opening a full scale campus in 2020, accommodating up to approximately 4,500 UG and PG students.  



A library was required; however there would be no dedicated library staff in Dubai and no additional staffing resource within the UK.  Library Services therefore faced the challenge of setting up a library from scratch, at arm’s length, with no additional resource.



In this article, we mainly focus on the work relating to reading lists, and acquiring and licensing content

Harper, Mandy

Machell, Frances

University of Birmingham Research Archive, E-papers Repository

Winter 2019 – Vol.27 / No.2 2Seminar ■takingstockIn 2018, the University of Birmingham (UoB)officially announced that it would be opening abranch campus in Dubai, the first global top 100and Russell Group University to do so. UoB isinitially operating out of an incubator buildingwithin Dubai International Academic City, a freezone dedicated to educational institutions, andoffers taught programmes in four subject areas:business, computer science, mechanicalengineering and education. In spite of the smallsize of the incubator space, University staff wereencouraged from the outset to think about howDubai would offer a comparable quality ofexperience to the campus in the UK.Library Services had been aware of theUniversity’s plans since 2017, and therefore hadalready started considering the challenges. Dueto the size of the building, there would not be aseparate library space or separate library staff inDubai: instead the library would be incorporatedinto the general study space, and would beoverseen by a cross-functional team ofprofessional services staff. Against this backdrop,we formed an internal library project team tothink about the range of different servicesrequired to set up a branch library from scratch,from support for academic skills through to howstudents would borrow and return books. In thisarticle, we will be mainly focussing on the workrelating to reading lists, and acquiring andlicensing content.Identifying resource requirementsOne of the first tasks was to determine whichinformation resources would be needed by staffand students in Dubai. All first year courseswould be taught programmes, and so we madean early decision to use resource lists to drivecontent selection. However at the start of ourproject, while programme design was its earlystages and recruitment of academic staff had yetto start, those resource lists did not exist forDubai modules. We therefore decided to take the■ Mandy Harper and Frances MachellSetting up abranch library in DubaiMission Impossible! ■takingstock Winter 2019 – Vol.27 / No.23Seminarlists from the UK equivalent modules as ourstarting point, and on that basis colleagues fromthe Library Academic Engagement Team went outto the academy to gather up lists. A briefingpaper, clearly setting out what Library Serviceswould do and how we would go about it, waspresented to Education Committees and meetingswere set up with programme and module leads.As the project moved on, however, it becameclear that this would not be the full solution. Asrecruitment got underway and new programmeleads planned their teaching, they started torevise lists or create new ones. There was also awide variance in academic expectations andunderstanding of the principles and processesbehind the University’s reading list systemResourceLists@Bham. Good communication andmanagement of expectations was key, althoughnot straightforward given that much of it had tobe done at a distance. Giving members of theEngagement Team dedicated responsibility forDubai helped, as did setting up a single point ofcontact for queries, rolling out resource listworkshops and ensuring Engagement Advisersare now involved in new Dubai staff inductions.Access to electronic collectionsThe next big question was how we were going toprovide access to content. Electronic resourceswere known to be a major challenge. Due totechnical limitations around authentication, andthe difficulty of restricting access to a sub-set oferesources, we needed to be able to make all (oras much as we possibly could) accessible. Inaddition, the focus on Dubai had highlightedother transnational and partnership activity inwhich the University was involved, and whichalso needed addressing from a licensingperspective. Such a huge and potentially costlyproject needed a systematic approach.During summer 2017, we undertook a full scaleaudit of all our eresource licences which allowedus to identify and obtain any missingdocumentation. All licences were recorded on ourelectronic resource management system to alloweasy review of the relevant licence terms. Wewere then able to identify licences which alreadyprovided for overseas access, and licences thatrequired amendments or clarification. To betransparent with the vendors, we drafted abriefing paper clearly explaining the University’stransnational and partnership activity, includingstudent and staff numbers and their relationshipwith the University. It was clear that the status ofour overseas staff and students was exactly thesame as those in the UK so, unless licence termsexplicitly referred to UK only or site specificaccess, we took the stance that access would beallowed. We were assertive in this approach,negotiating with suppliers and publishers wherethey did not agree or wanted to chargesignificant fees. Full disclosure was importantand so we contacted all 383 publishers andvendors, covering 990 licences, prioritising multi-disciplinary, high-volume, high value resourcesfirst; then resource list content; followed byeverything else. Ebsco, our subscriptionmanagers, helped us by contacting the long tailof vendors which they manage on our behalf.The scale of the task seemed daunting at thestart but the effort paid off. All of ourpublishers/providers have now been contactedand, although we still have some outstandingqueries, the response has been much morepositive than expected. 64% of providersconfirmed there would be no additional fees for atotal of 645 resources. 21% did levy additionalfees but in many cases these related to our UKvalidations rather than the transnational activity.Only two declined to extend access, of which onewas BoB and covered by the ERA licence so anexpected outcome. Through negotiation, a 65%overall reduction on the original quotes wasachieved.Developing a print book collection.By comparison with eresources, building a printcollection should have been straight forward. Wewould use our preferred UK supplier, send booksto Dubai shelf-ready and use establishedprocesses to order and receipt the books.Unfortunately, due to delays in the necessarylicences, we were not able to ship books via thisroute in time for the campus opening, and weneeded a ‘plan B’.‘Plan B’ involved buying books in country via theteam of professional service staff in Dubai. Twolocal booksellers were identified and asked toprovide quotes for the title lists compiled fromresource lists. However, as they were bookshopsrather than library suppliers, they did not stockeverything and struggled to source all the bookswe needed. Many of the titles had to be sourcedfrom the UK which created additional delay. Theorder and invoicing process itself was complexand bureaucratic, and to further complicatematters we were dealing with multiple quotes asthe volume of resource lists increased.Using non-library supply also meant that bookswould not arrive shelf-ready. The localDubai Campus: Exteriorprofessional services team had no priorexperience of library work and their focus was ongetting the campus ready for the start of term,and so we decided to send UK staff out to Dubaito process the books. Whilst this entailed travelcosts, the benefits were numerous: the UK staffhad existing expertise which allowed them towork efficiently, solve problems as they arose,and provide on-site training, not just in bookprocessing but in a whole range of library relatedprocesses and systems.Thanks to the hard work of both UK and Dubaibased staff, we now have around 2,000 items onthe shelves, and have started ordered titles forsemester 2 and beyond. The university’s importlicence is in place and we are working with ourexisting suppliers to embed shelf ready Dubaibook ordering into business as usual activity.Welcome to the Dubai Campus!Teaching started in September 2018 with thefirst cohort of 100 students, and the University isalready planning its next steps, with expandedprogrammes for 2019/20 and its purpose builtcampus is due to open in 2021. Library Servicesare working on converting its project intobusiness as usual, and managing the ongoingrelationship with the Dubai campus as thestudent cohort becomes established.About the Authors:Mandy Harper is Head of Collection Developmentat the University of Birmingham where she hasstrategic and operational responsibility for theacquisition and discovery of informationresources. Mandy has over 12 years’ experienceworking in libraries including working atEversheds law firm before moving into the HEsector. Frances Machell is Head of CollectionManagement at the University of Birmingham.She has over 15 years’ experience of working inacademic libraries and has recently led internalprojects to set up the Library Services offer theUniversity’s new Dubai campus and to coordinatethe implementation of an upgraded librarymanagement system.Winter 2019 – Vol.27 / No.2 4Features ■takingstockDubai Campus: Interior

Mission impossible! Setting up a branch library in Dubai

In spring 2018 the University of Birmingham announced that it would be the first global top 100 and Russell Group University to open a branch campus in Dubai.  Initially this would take the form of an incubator campus providing capacity for approximately 350 students across 4 disciplines with a target of opening a full scale campus in 2020, accommodating up to approximately 4,500 UG and PG students.  



A library was required; however there would be no dedicated library staff in Dubai and no additional staffing resource within the UK.  Library Services therefore faced the challenge of setting up a library from scratch, at arm’s length, with no additional resource.



This presentation addressed how we successfully set up that branch library, including Resource Lists, e-resource licensing and print book supply, and how we used it as an opportunity to employ a different approach to change management

http://epapers.bham.ac.uk/3259/1/mission_impossible_article.pdf

Mission impossible! Setting up a branch library in Dubai

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

University of Birmingham Research Archive, E-papers Repository

University of Birmingham Research Archive, E-papers Repository