An orientation: Library Service and Learning Development: CMP, FAMM, Fashion Design, Film, Photography: Help & Support

This page describes various sources of help available at the university, with a particular focus on help available from the Academic Engagement and Learning Development (AELD) team.  There is also information for academic staff.

Academic Engagement Librarians

At Harrow, there are two Academic Engagement Librarians: 

James Thickins (3 days per week) - fashion design, photography, fine art, Contemporary Media Practice, and MRes

Sara Hafeez- courses in media, fashion business, and music, as well as TV Production, Animation, Games Art, Graphic Design and Illustration.

The Academic Engagement Librarians:

• Help develop and manage library collections
• Coordinate and deliver information and digital literacy sessions to students, researchers and academic staff. These are provided either as embedded workshops (i.e. within a module) or as part of a series of generic workshops 
• Provide support to students and staff through appointments (one-to-one or for groups)
• Contribute to academic course development and liaise with academic departments
• Manage and support the provision of reading lists - see reading list guide for academic

Learning Developers

Joseph Nicholson is the learning developer for Harrow and the rest of the DCDI college.

The Learning Development team:

• Coordinate and deliver academic skills sessions to students, researchers and academic staff (these include essay and report writing, presentations, group work, critical thinking, and more). These are provided either as embedded workshops (i.e. within a module) or as a series of generic workshops 
• Provide support to students and staff through one-to-one appointments
• Develop academic skills guides

Requesting books or DVDs for the collection

Items can be requested to be added to the collection by:

• Adding them to online reading lists (see the online reading list guide)
• Emailing James or Sara
• Using the 'Can't find what you need? Service, which is available for staff and students

Digital access to essential reading

We will try to obtain a digital copy of items designated as 'essential' on reading lists, and 80% of the time, we can do this.

If you want to check whether an item is likely available to purchase digitally, find it on Jisc Library Hub Discover and see if other institutions have online copies.

Digitisation requests

For items that we cannot purchase online, digitisation is an option in most cases. We can typically digitise a chapter or up to 10% of books (whichever is greater), as well as whole articles from journals. To do this, sign into the online reading list system, add the book to the list for the module, and then click on the book's title in the online reading list. The 'request digitisation' link is then revealed.

There is more information about this in the online reading list system guide, or you can ask your librarian for help.

Jisc Library Hub Discover gives a good indication of what books might be available to purchase digitally, and the CLA Check Permissions site shows whether digitisation of chapters is allowed (a few overseas or smaller publishers are not part of the scheme).

Requesting embedded workshops

Use the embedded workshop form to book workshops with Learning Developers or Librarians.  

We can offer a maximum of two embedded workshops per module per term.

Considerations:

• Workshops should be booked as early as possible and before the beginning of the term.
• Academic staff should be present during the workshop if possible or, at minimum, introduce the speaker and set the context of the workshop to the students.
• Academic staff should organise and monitor attendance, set up the workshop link, or book the workshop room if outside of class time.
• We plan these workshops collaboratively with you and try to ensure they are most relevant and valuable by aligning them with the assessments that your students are working on at the time. As such, please identify the academic skill needs of your students and share information on your module/course, including the module handbook, assessment briefs, and any other relevant examples or useful texts that could be used during the workshop.