Daille White, Jane Brooker, and Lucy Lang – Victoria University of Wellington

Completely refurbishing library so closed for 3 months; wanted to create a small library as a temporary replacement to provide resources/services over summer trimester.

Lots of communication, especially over Facebook and face-to-face meetings which allayed fears and panic.

(‘Before’ photos of “dingy, cramped” library actually look pretty nice! ‘After’ photos have replaced brightly painted walls with timber and glass which is also very smart. Black shelving was the architect’s vision and not their own preference though….)

Various plans were made and changed. Ended up moving to a low-use student common room. Small area but looked clean and bright. Informal atmosphere. Open 9-5 Mon-Fri which was plenty – being staffed by core people strengthened relationships. Users had to consult for help and discovered librarians actually really nice. 🙂

Selected high-use material and course materials, and material requested, to put into temporary collection. Also promoted extended loan. No complaints about interloans as delivering service very quick – some even commented better than before. Some found items in the smaller collection that they didn’t know library had. Academics were particularly interested in new items display.

Always had been planned to change the service model, to be in the space with clients around them – more visible and approachable. Summer boutique library helped.