Strange goings on in the library

Hey - put 'em OUT

The University of Oxford’s Bodleian Library used to require members to swear they ‘hereby undertake not to remove from the library, or to mark, deface, or injure in any way, any volume, document, or other object belonging to it or in its custody; not to bring into the library or kindle therein any fire or flame, and not to smoke in the library; and I promise to obey all rules of the library.'
 

Who’d have thought it?

It won’t escaped anyone who reads this blog or who is anyway connected to the University that we have a brand new, spangling library opened, right in the middle of our Luton town centre campus. State of the art? SURE! Look at all this:

The controversial National Library in Kosovo.
Byzantine, Arabic; or marshmallow fudge?

Some may argue that any student facility worth its salt should surely have way more than the one cafe (ours will be open for the start of the academic year), but we hope our libraries also provide contemplative, stimulating learning spaces whatever time of day it is (natch; both our Luton and Bedford libraries are, of course, open 24/7). And of course, there's no 'right' or 'wrong' shape for a library. Our new Luton library was designed after listening to the views of our students. Others serving different communities come in many shapes and sizes, from converted tank shaped vehicles in Argentina to vending machines in Beijing.

But still, here's more about us:

Libraries don’t immediately spring to mind as attractive settings for fiction. Haruki Murakami’s The Strange Library bucks this trend, however, with its tale of a young boy  visiting his local library on the way home from school, having wondered how taxes were collected during the Ottoman Empire. So far, so….. Ottamany. The ‘weird’ is then turned up as our young hero is led to and imprisoned in a reading room with a sheep man who makes excellent doughnuts and a girl who can talk with her hands.

Marshmallow fudge

For some, these kind of imaginative gymnastics will have eyes rolling up to the heavens; for others, there’s always our Creative Writing course.

Our recent Tell Us Student Experience surveys haven’t shown anything quite so surreal going on in our  own Learning Resource Centres, but the tastes and subjects covered by our academic librarians are so eclectic, you just never know…..

Marsh's Library. Nothing spooky here. Move on.

Other strange goings on in libraries include the haunting of Ireland’s first library, which was built by the splendidly named Archbishop Narcissus Marsh and opened in 1701. Marsh was a modest man – he called his library Marsh’s – although he was keen to share his success and invited his niece to stay. So far, so . But then, nieces in these sorts of stories being what they are, she promptly fell for and eloped with a member of the local clergy. Or a sea captain, depending on the account you read. Either way, Niece had a conscience and hid an apology letter in one of Marsh's books, without telling Uncle which one it was. As you do.

The niece's note

The hapless Marsh now reputedly haunts his library, looking for his niece’s note.

Gearing up for Clearing

Clearing - it starts tomorrow (18^th August) though really it started much earlier for us, we’ve been campaigning since June and recruiting students through Clearing from 1^st July!

Now it feels a bit like a wedding or Christmas or getting our own exam results - it’s nerve wracking and exciting in the same measure.  It’s unlikely that I will sleep the night before and as we’ll be at work for 7am I may be testing the sleeping pods in our new library later in the day!

We launched this year’s campaign much earlier, 13^th June – to maximise opportunity with the BTEC market, key influencers and those using clearing as an initial entry point.  

Our advertising has clear aspirational hooks, features our own students engaged in practice and has full digital and social media integration.  Our microsite ensures that clearing enquirers have access to clear and concise information whilst ensuring we are able to effectively track traffic through our digital marketing. The site is fully mobile responsive as we know that over 80% of traffic will be through a mobile device. We’re receiving great coverage in the media for our helpful advice to students and featured graduates and we look forward to ITV Anglia covering our clearing operations tomorrow (18^th August).

It has now become a tradition that we launch Clearing each year with a PR stunt! Two years ago we had the flashmob in Luton Mall and last year projections across famous landmarks in London. This year to celebrate the launch of our fantastic new library we commissioned a piece of 3D street art for members of the community to engage with in the Luton Mall 17^th and 18^th August .

We’ve delivered visually impactful campaign with high visibility and I’m immensely proud of the work the marcomms team has produced.

We know that going to university changes people’s lives and we are incredibly excited about talking to students over the coming weeks, on the phone, via live chat or in person, about the life changing experience they can have at the University of Bedfordshire.

Another week closer to Clearing

With A-level results a week today it's been an interesting week in the office! Clearing is the no. one topic of conversation and everyone is prepping last minute bits and pieces to ensure everything is in place. I hope by now you've all seen some of our new artwork, either online or around campus. We're all really pleased with the finished result and hope you like it!

This week I had a tour of the new library and I must say it looks fantastic! It's a great space and it certainly helped to get my steps up for the day walking down the nine floors (yes I have a fitbit and yes I did take the lift up - I'm not that crazy!). I'm currently arranging some student videos for the PG e-zine, PG Life, so I'm going to see if I can film in the new library and show it off a bit - watch this space!

I've also been working on the more than a degree site and finding out about some more initiatives at the University including the psychology film club and various trips run by the Business School. It's great to still be finding out about various activities that our students can get involved in, and it just shows what a wide variety of co- and extra-curricular activities we have on offer. 

Over the next few days I'm also going to be working on our Postgraduate online profiles - making sure our profiles on external websites are as up-to-date as possible. It'll be great to be able to add the information about the new library to the various websites as well as the latest NSS results.

I'm also looking ahead to next month when the new set of freshers will start their university journey! I'm hoping to be able to do some photography and videography at some of the events which we will be able to use on social media and in our e-zines throughout the year. I love going out and meeting our students - it also helps me build a nice list of contacts to call upon when we're planning our marketing photo-shoots!

On your marks, set, go…

It’s seemed rather quiet around the office for the last two weeks, not on the work front, but in actual bodies around the office. I think everyone had the same idea – take holiday before the beast that is Clearing begins!

It’s been a little hectic for those of us who haven’t had any holiday (I’m not bitter, I promise. But if it wasn’t for a three week holiday in Australia in October, I may be – 11 weeks and counting!!)

Gearing up for Clearing like...

I often find that around Clearing the vibe in the office is a little different, not in a bad way, just different. As the Clearing start date approaches you can almost feel everyone gearing up like at the start line of a race; ‘brace yourself’, ‘stay focused’, ‘keep calm’, ‘you’ve planned and prepared well for this’…*BANG*…and we’re off…Taking calls, offering guidance and advice, checking off qualifications and making offers. And whilst our dedicated Admissions team and other trained volunteers are doing that, the marketing team are monitoring and amending campaign activity daily, to ensure we have the most impact. It’s a busy ole time!

And by the time we’re done with Clearing, we’re all usually ready for another holiday…oh…Australia in October you say…

In other news, I think I’ve completed the quickest evaluation report ever (43 pages of lovely stats and useful insight), which is a personal achievement in itself. And I’ve made a good start on the Winter season (September-December) Open Day plans. I’m just finishing the budget allocation and then I will be looking at the Open Day collateral. We’re going to be working on bringing it together a little more, as we’ve added things into the plans over the last year or so, it’s meant that some of the collateral doesn’t quite flow, so I’m going to work on ensuring it has a more consistent and well thought-out approach as we approach the 2017 cycle; which let’s face it, is marketing 101!


All of the welcome packs that I was working on last time are now ready too, with the last of the deliveries coming in today. Another thing ticked off the list.Although I have just taken on some new jobs, so I best get off!
Speak soon,
K