Organisational Context
Macquarie University is Australia’s innovative university located on a single campus at North Ryde, NSW. Macquarie was founded in 1964 as a second-generation Australian university with a focus on conducting interdisciplinary research and teaching in the sciences, social sciences and humanities. One-third of our 31,000 enrolled students are postgraduates and one-third are from countries other than Australia. An overview of the University’s new strategic focus under Vice Chancellor Steven Schwartz can be found in Macquarie@50. By 2014 Macquarie University aims to be among the top eight research universities in Australia and the top 200 in the world.
The Macquarie University Library operates from a single building at the heart of the campus. The Library has over 120 staff and an annual budget of $16 million. The Library holds 49,000 electronic journals and more than 1.4 million print volumes. The Library is open 82 hours a week during semester and receives 5,500 physical visits and 5,500 website visits each day of the year. The Library is home to the Lachlan Macquarie Room, the Lachlan and Elizabeth Macquarie Archive and several special collections. The Library’s vision is to be a world leader in the provision of information services to the university community. To realise this vision the Library needs to attract and nurture excellent staff. Library staff value innovation, excellence, flexibility and partnerships in service delivery and ethical and professional behaviour. The Library’s Strategic Plan is online at http://www.library.mq.edu.au/about/libpubs/strategic.html.
The Library aims to provide a responsive and scalable way of delivering services which makes the best use of existing resources, develops a shared understanding of service provision between the Library and our customers and creates a cycle of continuous improvement. To assist with this goal we have implemented the internationally recognised framework for service improvement, the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) (AS8018). Originally designed for IT services, we are extending this approach across the Library. We are currently implementing a new Quality Program in the context of the University’s Quality Enhancement Framework.
The University Librarian reports to the Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Provost) for academic affairs. The Library Committee of Academic Senate meets quarterly and advises the University Librarian and the Vice-Chancellor on the present and future needs of the Library. Each academic Division has a representative on this Committee and each academic Department has a library liaison officer. The Library is also supported by the Library Friends Foundation, which was founded in 1986, and by a number of bequests.
The Library’s organisational structure consists of six Departments and a Project Office. These are grouped according to their primary focus on delivering services or capabilities:The Library Services Group reports to the University Librarian and comprises the following areas:
Information Access
The Information Access Department provides information, reference and research advice to the University community and other Library clients. This includes the provision of physical and virtual inquiry services, targeted outreach services to specific groups of clients and services that assist clients to become self-sufficient in finding, using and evaluating information.
Resource Access
The Resource Access Department delivers information resources to Library clients. This includes lending physical material held in the Library’s collections to a range of Library clients, managing physical and electronic access to material in high demand by students on and off campus, and managing physical and electronic delivery to clients of material not held in the Library’s collections.
Information Resources
The Information Resources Department develops and manages the information resources acquired and organised by the Library for use by the University community and other Library clients. This includes all aspects of life cycle management for information resources in all formats, physical and electronic, so that these resources can be used effectively in the delivery of Information and Resource Access Services.
Information Ethics
The Library provides advice to the University on a range of information ethics issues including copyright.
The Library Capabilities Group reports to the Deputy University Librarian and comprises the following areas:
Library Development
The Library Development Department develops and implements Library-wide plans and policies for: Library staff planning, performance review, development, training and administration; Library marketing and communication, including Web and Intranet, Library community and industry partnerships; provision of IT Training services for staff and students.
Library Business Services
The Library Business Services Department develops Library-wide plans, policies and contracts to ensure effective management of the Library’s physical facilities and equipment, purchasing and financial management including partner relationships, risk management and legislative compliance, and administrative support services.
Library IT
The Library IT Department manages and develops the Library’s IT infrastructure and applications and provides first level IT support for Library staff and clients and a 24x7 first level IT Support for all Macquarie students. The Library uses the IT Service Management Framework to ensure a quality approach to the delivery of IT Services.
Quality and Planning
The Quality and Planning Coordinator develops, implements and reviews planning and evaluation processes, including the Library’s Quality Program.
Library Project Office
The role of the Library Project Office is to provide a focus for turning innovative ideas into action through the Service Innovation Program and other funded projects. The Library Project Office is responsible for overseeing the Library’s Program and Project Management process; for managing and evaluating projects which contribute to achieving the Library’s strategic goals; for providing project support and training as required; and for ensuring that projects are properly documented and monitored.
Maxine Brodie
University Librarian