2018 highlights: Netloan library customer user groups

As we reflect on the past year working with and supporting our library customers, the annual netloan user groups stand out as a particular highlight. This autumn they took place at Canning Town Library (Newham Libraries), Halifax Central Library (Calderdale Libraries), M Shed in Bristol, and Johnstone Town Hall (Renfrewshire Libraries).

The discussions at these important events change each year to reflect developments in the technology landscape, together with the changing needs of library users. We look at how libraries are adopting new models of working and changes in service delivery to meet these needs and leverage new technologies. The main focus remains on the People’s Network of public access computers. At the groups we explore how netloan PC booking and print management software is being used and developed in order to make the most of this vital public infrastructure.

One of the topics we explored this year covered the shift to self-service. We looked at how staff are being helped to focus on transformational work, providing greater help to those that need it most, while self-service technologies support the more transactional elements...

HEAnet 2018: refreshing perspectives in Higher Education IT

The annual HEAnet Conference took place in Galway last week, with third level education CIOs and ICT staff attending from across Ireland for an insightful few days of presentations and networking. Hearing great things about the event from our customers, Lorensbergs also made the trip to exhibit and join in the discussions on the latest IT issues affecting Ireland’s Universities and Institutes of Technology. Here’s a short summary of our HEAnet experiences.

As an IT conference, HEAnet was particularly interesting in the way it brought a student focus to the event, an approach made all the more effective by including first-hand student accounts. Campus IT – a student perspective was delivered by a University College Dublin student and covered some of the challenges students face when using IT systems on campus. The accessibility of IT support was a key issue, with some students simply not being aware of the full range of support services available and how to access them.  Regular IT events and workshops were suggested as a solution to publicising and making these services more accessible to students – much more effective than the frequent use of flyers for awareness raising. The session created a lot of interest - incorporating the student voice directly into proceedings was an interesting angle and a refreshing experience for delegates in a conference context...