Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences Library Action Plan 2023-24
Library Actions
What we've done and what we're planning to do over the next academic year
New look AberSkills
AberSkills is a new fully bilingual online resource, that has been developed as a one stop shop for students and staff at Aberystwyth University
AberSkills has been designed to support students in every aspect of their University journey. With a focus on academic and study skills, transitioning to university life, well-being, employability, and the effective use of technology.
AberSkills also supports academic staff in their efforts to enhance the learning experience. The platform offers guidance on embedding skills sessions into the curriculum, helping educators provide comprehensive support to their students.
Alongside the updated website is the new AberSkills Blackboard module. Every student across the University is automatically enrolled on this module and can access the AberSkills teaching materials, recordings of workshops and resources.
LILAC Information Literacy Award Nominees
Our Academic Engagement Team (consisting of our Subject Librarians and Digital Skills team) were nominated for the LILAC Information Literacy Award for the new AberSkills resources.
New Skills Hub and Careers service, Hugh Owen Library
We have opened a new AberSkills Hub and Careers space on Level D (ground floor) of the Hugh Owen Library.
The AberSkills Hub offers appointments and drop ins to support students with a range of services including Maths and Stats, Digital Skills and Science Skills. In addition, the Careers Service is now available to students in the library for drop ins, CV clinics and appointments as well as for careers workshops and training sessions.
Subject Librarian teaching and support
Simone Anthony, our Healthcare Education Subject Librarian, has been giving Library, Information, and referencing skills sessions to Certificate in Healthcare Education students. This scheme enables Healthcare Support Workers to fit their studies around paid work.
Psychology Subject Librarian Sarah Gwenlan has been especially busy undertaking systematic reviews with researchers, reviewing topics including Diabetes self-management, behavioural interventions changing dietary behaviours and misogyny in female sport.
AI resources
Our Subject Librarians have published the latest LibGuide 'Utilising AI in the Library: A Student's Guide' to examine how students can effectively use AI to maximize their library experience.
Our Librarians have also been hard at work delivering new ‘AI and your studies’ AberSkills sessions to students.
Redeveloping Level E
This summer sees some big changes to Level E, the middle floor of the Hugh Owen Library.
Building work gets underway in mid-May on our project to create a larger student space on this floor featuring more study spaces and 6 new group study rooms with beautiful views over the town to the sea.
NSS 2024 Results
Our Library and IT Services continue to outperform the UK sector average for student satisfaction
Library Services - 93.3
UK Benchmark 90.2
IT Services - 90.9
UK benchmark 84.5
Overall Student Satisfaction with Learning Resources
| NSS Results | National Benchmark | Our Score |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 86 | 90 |
| 2024 | 87.2 | 91.5 |
NSS Benchmarking Institutions
These charts show how Aberystwyth University compares in the National Student Survey for learning resources for the disciplines within the Faculty of Earth & Life Sciences*
We currently benchmark against:
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Bangor University
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Cardiff Metropolitan University
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Swansea University
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University of Sussex
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University of Lancaster
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University of Keele
Theme 06: Satisfaction with Learning Resources: Q. 19-21
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The IT resources and facilities provided have supported my learning well
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The library resources (e.g. books, online services and learning spaces) have supported my learning well
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I have been able to access course-specific resources (e.g. equipment, facilities, software, collections) when I needed to
Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences
Aberystwyth 91.9
Bangor 84.4
Keele 79.4
Sussex 89.4
Swansea 86.2
Biological & Sport Sciences
Aberystwyth 90.9
Bangor 86.7
Cardiff Met 86.9
Keele 86.1
Sussex 91.8
Swansea 89.4
Psychology
Aberystwyth 92.6
Bangor 84.3
Cardiff Met 88.9
Keele 89.2
Sussex 86
Swansea 85.6
Agriculture, Food and related studies
Aberystwyth 89.7
Bangor 93.5
IS User Survey 2023
What do our users think?
We ask students and staff to take the IS User Survey every November.
We ask what we're doing well and what we need to improve. We use the results to plan and develop our services.
We had 315 responses to our User Survey in 2023.
| Department | Number of respondents |
|---|---|
| Geography & Earth Sciences | 25 |
| Healthcare Education | 13 |
| Life Sciences | 48 |
| Psychology | 14 |
| School of Veterinary Science | 2 |
Read more about the feedback we received from the survey and our actions as a result
Spend
since August 2023
Books and ebooks -£171,950.15
Journals and eResources -£1,313,910.34
The majority of the Library Resource Budget is spent on resources requested by academic staff to support learning, teaching and research.
- 85% of the budget is available for recurrent expenditure such as journals and databases
- 15% goes towards non-recurrent expenditure such as reading material for research, and materials on reading lists including books, digitized book chapters & articles
Use
19,618 visits to the Physical Sciences Library
182,411 visits to the Hugh Owen Library
Library tour attendees by department in FELS
| Department | Attendees |
|---|---|
| Life Sciences | 82 |
| Geography and Earth Sciences | 41 |
| Psychology | 50 |
Since August 2023, the Library has:
loaned 43,177 items to borrowers
digitised 373 resources - 26 for FELS use
borrowed 495 items through Interlibrary loans
loaned 889 items through Interlibrary loans
provided 622 new and returning students with a guided tour of the Hugh Owen Library and its facilities
Aberystwyth Research Portal
Aberystwyth Research Portal makes the very best of Aberystwyth University's staff and postgraduate research openly available online, free of charge
FELS Research Outputs -238 since the start of 2023
FELS Research Theses -21 since the start of 2023
Your Subject Librarians
librarians@aber.ac.uk 01970 621896
Sarah Gwenlan (ssg)
Simone Anthony (sia1)
Simon French (sif4)
Non Jones (nrb)
Teaching and library support
Subject Librarians provide information skills training and in-depth subject support for all students and staff at Aberystwyth University.
Librarians' teaching activities by department
| Department |
Teaching hours |
|---|---|
| Life Sciences (agriculture) | 3 |
| Life Sciences (biology) | 2 |
| Geography & Earth Sciences | 9 |
| Healthcare Education | 69 |
| Psychology | 33 |
| Veterinary Science | 2 |
Contact your Subject Librarian
Library support for research
Subject Librarians can help you with your research project at any level - from finding resources, systematic reviews, reference management through to publication.
Take a look at our dedicated Library Support for Researchers LibGuide which offers advice, information, links on useful library services, tips on getting the most out of our resources, skills and training opportunities and ways of keeping up to date.
LibGuides
Our Subject Librarians maintain a range of LibGuides as a one stop source of library help and support.
LibGuides contain information, resources and links relevant to specific subjects or general topics.
Our Referencing and Plagiarism guide has been viewed more than 66,309 times since June 2023.
Subject Guides
viewed 663 times in 23/24
viewed 587 times in 23/24
viewed 6341 times in 23/24
viewed 1103 times in 23/24
Our Healthcare Education LibGuide has been viewed 4783 more times in 23/24 than the previous year
Reading Lists
Since June 2023, the following have been added:
- 304 resources to Life Sciences & BVSc lists
- 1759 resources to Department of Geography and Earth Sciences lists
- 96 resources to Psychology lists
- 90 resources to Healthcare Education lists
A total of 2249 resources have been added to FELS lists
*Resources include books, ebooks, e-resources and digitised chapters and articles
96.6% of Aberystwyth University's modules needing a reading list are covered by an Aspire Reading List
Faculty Reading Lists Coverage
| Department | Percentage of complete lists |
|---|---|
| AU Average | 96.6% |
| Geography & Earth Sciences | 100% |
| Healthcare Education | 100% |
| Life Sciences & BVSc | 99.4% |
| Psychology | 100% |
Digital Skills
Digital skills are the skills, knowledge and practices that equip us to live, learn and work safely and effectively in a digital society.
We are supporting students and staff at the University to assess and develop their own digital skills.
Meet the Team
Sioned Llywelyn - Digital Skills Lead
Shân Saunders - Digital Skills Co-ordinator
Laurie Stevenson, Noel Czempik, Joel Williams - Student Digital Champions
digi@aber.ac.uk
Digital Skills Training
86 total sessions delivered
| Group | Attendees |
|---|---|
| UG | 289 |
| PG | 38 |
| Student Drop-ins | 13 |
| Digital Skills Festival events | 72 |
| Staff Training | 53 |
| Academic Reps | 12 |
Digital Skills Festival
The Digital Skills Festival ran for the first time in November '23 and provided students with an opportunity to expand and explore their digital skills over 28 event
| Department |
Number of attendees |
|---|---|
| Geography & Earth Sciences | 4 |
| Healthcare Education | 0 |
| Life Sciences | 10 |
| Psychology | 6 |
| Veterinary Sciences | 2 |
72 total festival attendees – 22 from FELs
All festival resources are accessible to students from the Digital Skills Festival website
Jisc Digital Discovery Tool
During '23-'24, all students had access to the Jisc Digital Discovery Tool (DDT), an online bilingual resource which enabled them to self-assess and develop their confidence with technology
A new questionnaire in the Digital Discovery Tool allowed students to self-assess and develop their knowledge of AI
972 students completed the DDT – 334 from FELS
Weekly DigiTips Series
This year, we've published a new series of weekly DigiTips to support students' confidence with technology: https://wordpress.aber.ac.uk/digital-capabilities/category/digitips