Library of the Week: 15th January : Charles Seale-Hayne Library, University of Plymouth! This week we speak to Jason Harper, Head of Library Digital Strategy, Research and Engagement at the University of Plymouth. Jason leads the strategic direction of Library digital services, systems, collections, content services and research support. Thank you for taking part!
“It has been an ambition for some time now to index the University of Plymouth’s Charles Seale-Hayne Library’s collection in JISC Library Hub Discover. Competing priorities made that journey longer than we would have hoped, but we are now really pleased that we can share our collections with the wider community – supporting researchers, students and other library services to find and access them via schemes such as Associate Membership, SCONUL Access and Inter Library Loan.
The Charles Seale-Hayne Library opened at its current site in 1976, but takes its name from the Seale-Hayne Agricultural College founded in 1920. The University of Plymouth itself dates its formation to 1862 as a School of Navigation, becoming a polytechnic in 1970, then amalgamating in the 1980s with Exeter College of Art and Design, Exmouth’s Rolle College of Education, and the Seale-Hayne Agricultural College, before acquiring university status in 1992.
The Library is part of the wider directorate of Library and Academic Development, which incorporates support for best pedagogic practice, digital education and technology enhanced learning, English as a foreign language, and student learning support.
The main Library collection is largely focused on support for teaching, with strengths in local history, art and design, film and media, education, electronics and robotics, sustainability, earth science and the environment, navigation and maritime, and marine sciences. The main collection includes approximately 350,000 print items (maintained for currency in support of student learning), 500,000 ebooks, and 80,000 online academic journals.
The Library has small, eclectic and very interesting Special Collections built around a core of items gathered for their aesthetic merit, covering design, typography, illustration, lithography and fine art. As well as the University historical archive, and archives of bodies such as the Exeter College of Art and Design, and the National Association of Small Schools, highlights include one of the largest zine collections in the country, a complete set of Penguin and Pelican first editions in the form of the Professor RA Burchill Collection, and the Marjorie Blamey collection of botanical illustrations. Access to Special Collections must be booked in advance, and visitors will need to undergo a short induction, https://plymouth.libguides.com/specialcollections
The Library building has 1,200 study spaces, with good power sockets accessibility plus guest wifi access, and the friendliest café on campus. The Frontline team of staff manage the Library space and facilities, and provide first point of contact help and support for all Library users in person, and via LibraryandITenquiries@plymouth.ac.uk, telephone or the live Ask refchatter service. The Library itself is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and details of how to visit can be found here: https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/services/library-services/visit
Visitors with accessibility requirements who may require help are encouraged to contact us in advance, https://plymouth.libguides.com/disabilitysupport
Our Information Specialists and their faculty aligned teams, curate our collections, provide specialist support and skills training for students, and support their designated schools at discipline level, https://plymouth.libguides.com/
The Open Research Team support the University’s scholarly communications, open access, fair data sharing and responsible research assessment practices, working with research leads, researchers and research students to help ensure that research outputs are shared and achieve recognition and impact. The team manages the University’s open access repository, PEARL, https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/
The Content Team manage all library collections and content procurement, licensing, fulfilment, cataloguing, access and authentication, and discovery, provide inter-library loan services, alternative formats and digital extracts for reading lists, and support the Library systems: Alma and our Primo catalogue, https://primo.plymouth.ac.uk/
We also participate in the Rapid ILL lending scheme for lending material digitally to other institutions.”
Jason Harper, Head of Library Digital Strategy, Research and Engagement, Charles Seale-Hayne Library, University of Plymouth.
All images copyright of University of Plymouth, reproduced with kind permission of the copyright holder.
You can explore the library’s collections on Discover and find further contact details on their Discover information page.
