Debbie Morris

At the Leeds Met staff development festival in 2008 a library graduate trainee, Anna Hepworth, took part in a ‘Dragons’ Den’ event which saw staff propose new, innovative ideas to a panel of senior managers. Anna’s suggestion was to develop a Facebook application (or ‘app’) for the library and it was one of the competition winners. Anna’s initial proposal was to create a Leeds Met library catalogue application, but after discussions with members of the library’s ‘technologies for learning’ team it was decided to take the application a stage further, creating a mash-up using data from the library management system (Sirsi-Dynix Symphony). The Facebook application would send a library catalogue search box to a Facebook profile, but would also add value by delivering customised user data, including library record details such as number of issues, reservations and overdues. There would also be links to the library website and online self-service functions from the application.

By observing students at Leeds Metropolitan University, Katherine Everest, Debbie Morris and colleagues were able to provide library spaces for the way they actually work, not the way we think they ought to work.

Is your Symphony in tune with changes to processes and procedures in the physical Library? Is it overloaded with redundant reports and dated data? Hear how fresh eyes on Leeds Beckett's system revealed the need for major configuration, extensive clean-ups, and rigorous new maintenance policies.

In October 2017, Leeds Beckett University converted from traditional loans, renewals and holds to autorenewals and hold recalls. What was the background to this decision, what options were considered, and how has it benefited us and our users? What problems, pitfalls, and surprises have occurred?

Presentation made at SirsiDynix US User Group Conference (COSUGI) 2017 to Academic Libraries Sharing Session, showcasing SirsiDynix library systems developments at Leeds Beckett University.