Developments at the UK Open University Library

Speaker : Ms.Elizabeth Mallett, Library Services Manager (Information Management) The Open University Library in the UK

About the Talk : The Open University is the largest academic institution in the UK, and was the highest-rated UK university in 2012. 71% of OU undergraduates have no previous HE qualifications on entry to the university, and there are a large number of students with disabilities (over 17 thousand). To support this diverse student base, the Open University Library Service continually strives to innovate in online library services and find new ways to improve the student experience.Elizabeth will present some of the new initiatives currently underway, such as the “Library Futures” programme and the Digital Literacy Levels Framework. She will give a preview of the forthcoming OU Digital Archive and an overview of some recent JISC –funded projects .

About the Speaker : Elizabeth has a BA (Hons) in Librarianship from Loughborough University and a Postgraduate Certificate in Open and Distance Education (PGCERT ODE) from The Open University. She is also a qualified PRINCE2 Project Management Practitioner. Elizabeth started her professional life in public libraries in rural England, and then London. She joined The Open University Library in 1998 and has held a number of positions including Head of Information Literacy and Research and Innovation Projects Manager where she managed a series of externally funded (JISC) projects such as STELLAR, RISE and most recently the start-up phase of the OU Digital Archive project, with the aim to build a space where collections of material from the OU’s rich history can be discovered and preserved.

Since June 2012 Elizabeth has led theInformation Management team. This includes university wide roles such as the University Archivist, Records Manager and Metadata Manager, who support best practise in managing information across university units and systems. This includes working with the University Secretary’s office regarding legal compliance on information retention and data protection issues.