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Senior Administrators’ Forum: University Information Services.Summer AGM and Forum, June 2011.

Welcome to the University of Sheffield Library.

Keith Dean, Assistant Director and Head of Corporate Services. K.dean@sheffield.ac.uk 0114 2227223.

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Workforce Development Planning at Sheffield

Keith Dean, Assistant Director and Head of Corporate Services, University of Sheffield Library.

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Workforce Development Planning

• What are the issues, why do we need to do it?

• What will it achieve?• What is it?• How do we do it?

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What are the issues?

• We don’t have the ideal workforce• Size• Costs• Skill sets

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What will it achieve?

• A workforce fit for purpose for 2015; to meet our key objectives and allow further development into the next planning period

• More appropriate balance of expenditure• A more flexible and dynamic workforce to

match the service we want to provide.

• It could be VERY different to what we have now

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What is it?

• ‘having the right people with the right skills in the right place’

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How did we start?

• Recognition of the problem; first WDP 2011

• Mainly a financial exercise with an ambitious target. VSS ‘resolved’ a big proportion of it.

• Phase 2; Workforce 2015; re-focusing (the Library in 2015), and crucial consultation

• Alignment with Strategic Planning• There will be some easy solutions!

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And then........

• A presentation to all Library staff with:• The right context• Clear aims, examples and outcomes.Followed by;• Continuous rounds of consultation• Retaining a tight grip on reinvestment• Resolving the more difficult issues

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The University Library

Workforce

2015

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The planning context

New services, new roles, new skills

The financial context

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• HE White paper delayed• Uncertainty around fees and funding of

teaching after 2012• Competition for students and for research

income• University mission, vision, identity• Professional Services values and vision• University Strategic Plan 2010-2015• Project 2012• Space planning

The planning context

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New services, new roles, new skills

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• Extending self-service• New customer service roles• Learning & teaching• Research support skills• New systems and digital architecture• Working smarter

New services, new roles, new skills

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Self service

• We will have a much richer self service offer to customers on campus and remotely, and through mobile devices

• Making new areas of services available on a self-service basis

• We will have better systems to support self service

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Customer services

• Fewer staff handling face to face transactions

• CS roles will be different– Logistics–Welcome– Customer account help– Learner support

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Learning & teaching

• Closer engagement with students and other L&T colleagues

• More staff have educational qualifications• A better offer for our postgraduates• Better use of our learning spaces (inc IC)

to support new approaches to L&T• Information skills remain a key area• Resource lists: more academic input, less

in-Library processing

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Supporting research

• Better understanding of research• Content still central to our offer• Better skills to support researchers with

research planning and management• Open access: continued development• New skills for data management and

digital preservation• Digitising our distinctive (special)

collections

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Better systems

• Open• Integrated• Interoperable• Resilient• Less bespoke• Shared/remote (“cloud”) not local

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Working smarter

• Better at academic policy engagement

• Winning respect at Faculty level• More agile and responsive• Collaboration to share services• Encouraging professionalism• Work across boundaries• Faster, better, cheaper

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The financial context

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• Reduction in state funding of teaching• Undergraduate fees• Increasing Govt pressure not to charge

maximum £9000 fee• Uncertainty about teaching funding from 2012– reduction of up to 80%

• Mechanism for controlling student numbers unclear

• Rising energy costs• Loss of capital funding

The financial context

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Library factors

• Continuing inflation in journals costs• Increasing demand for open access

publication• Sector library data (benchmarking)

show that we spend a low proportion of our budget on collections and information services

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Information & staffing spend

University of Aaaaa

SCONUL 2008/09data

staffing

information/content

Key

excludes operating costs

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Information & staffing spend

University of Bbbbbb

SCONUL 2008/09data

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Information & staffing spend

University of Ccccccc

SCONUL 2008/09data

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Information & staffing spend

University of Ddddddd

SCONUL 2008/09data

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Information & staffing spend

University of Eeeeeee

SCONUL 2008/09data

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Information & staffing spend

University of Fffffff

SCONUL 2008/09data

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Information & staffing spend

University of Sheffield

SCONUL 2008/09data

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Library factors contd

• We need to balance our staffing and information/content spend

• Recurrent IT spend will increase to support more advanced systems and services

• Increasing need to demonstrate our value

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What this means for us

• We need to try and avoid the uncertainty of annual savings targets

• Our recurrent staffing spend in real terms will be about 15% lower by July 2015

• Greater investment in information/content by 2015

• We will all experience further change in our jobs through to 2015

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Looking forward

• libraries will remain central to the academic endeavour for a long time

• Our University Library and its people are among the best in the UK

• The Library is very well regarded by the University

• The University of Sheffield is a highly successful university (top 100 in this month’s THE survey of global university reputation)

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Questions

• How will we manage with a 15% reduction in staff by 2015?– Advanced systems– Investment in self service– Streamlining procedures & processes– Eliminating duplicated effort– Support for staff in new roles

• Will there be another VSS scheme?• If the University can charge £9000/year in

fees won’t it be better off?• Will there be a recruitment freeze?