The conference programme had a pleasing symmetry to it: having started with an address from a university vice-chancellor, we ended with an FE college principal, Len Closs, Principal of Northampton College. One of those too-rare beasts, a principal who values libraries, he showed his philosophical training with a presentation that quoted Schopenhauer, Sartre and Frank…

I attended Andy Walsh of the University of Huddersfield’s workshop on mobile technologies. Andy (@andywalsh999, who also blogs at http://librarymobiles.blogspot.com/) asked us how many of us had implemented a series of mobile technologies in our libraries. The results were something like this: QR codes: some text a librarian: none mobile-enabled search: none mobile-friendly web pages:…

On Tuesday morning I attended Maria Carnegie’s workshop. After a game of ‘spot the FE/HE student’, which is not as easy as you might think, she presented with admirable clarity a case-study of the development of the University of Derby’s Buxton campus, which 1636 HE students and 2520 FE share. The campus contains Buxton College…

We should have heard three student voices, but had to make do with one. Neither Usman Ali, Vice President of NUS for higher education, nor the president of tExeter College students union, turned up. However Llywelyn 'Taffy" Morris, Education Officer for the Exeter Guild of Students (the SU) rose to the occasion. Introducing him Liz…

it’s difficult to blog workshops. So much of the content is in the exchanges between the participants, hard to capture except in a video of the proceedings. Ruth Curry of the Research Information Network presented on the theme, Library what library? Building on Steve Smith’s remarks, she pointed to a future of prolonged significant cuts.…

Oh calamity. I seem to have deleted, or not saved, my notes of the first session on Monday afternoon. From memory, Michele Shoebridge, who runs a super-coverged service called Academic Services, including libraries, IT and student services, welcomed us and talked us through the plans for new buildings on the campus. Then the V-C, Professor…