Templeman Library Visit and CILIP Kent Committee

My second Library visit was to the Templeman Library at Kent University, Canterbury. It was a short visit due to my meeting with a CILIP Kent committee member about my joining the group. I was able to take away some really great information, however.

Templeman library is undergoing renovation. Unlike our library which is downsizing in a fashion, the Templeman is getting bigger. This will pose some temporary issues while the collection is being moved, especially for any readers with physical limitations. This kind of thing is never easy. Even our small library will need to do some careful planning as we move things around to create a better layout for our readers.

Templeman provides laptops to be checked out and used in the library study space. We could possibly do something on these lines as well. This could work especially well since most of our computers are going to be in the front of the library where people can have discussions. People may want to have computers in the silent area.

The library has monitors on the walls to tell students what computers are in use and how much power each laptop has. All of their quiet and silent areas are visibly marked. They also have a mechanical book sorter.

Soon Templeman getting a program called Primo which sits on the OPAC and looks through all the resources including electronic books and journals when readers do a search. This could be really useful to us. It's expensive and a bit complicated, but I will be doing a visit to Christ Church Library soon and it seems that they have been doing really well with it. I will need to ask many questions.

After my visit, I discussed becoming a member of the CILIP Kent committee. It seems Kent has been underrepresented for a long time. Well, that will need fixing. Besides, someone has to represent the NHS library! Now I need to find a picture of myself and come up with a blurb for their website.