We are pleased to announce that this Friday and next the Library will be teaming up with good causes to raise money for charity. Do you have any outstanding fines on your Library record? If you come in to The Forum Library, Research Commons or St Luke’s Campus Library on Friday 9th November or Friday 16th November we will be inviting you to donate the equivalent amount to charity rather than paying your fines to us. Donations must be cash only; see Library staff for details. We will also be collecting, so if you don’t have a fine to pay but would still like to donate you will be welcome to do so – please see Library staff.

Which charities are we supporting?

Friday 9th November: RAG

As part of RAG Week, on 9th November,  Library fines can be donated to the University RAG (Raising and Giving) society’s fundraising campaign. RAG supports a number of local and international good causes including Isaac’s House, Devon Rape Crisis Service, Newlife Foundation for Disabled Children, Force Cancer Charity, Exeter Community Action, The Eddystone Trust and Cancer Research UK. For more information on these worthy causes see the RAG website.

Friday 16th November: BBC Children in Need Appeal

November 16th is Children in Need day and the South West Party is being hosted from the Forum. The Forum Library will remain open as usual throughout this time but we are keen to support this very worthy cause, so all fines paid on this day can be donated instead to the BBC appeal. For more information on the campaign and how the money raised helps to make a real difference to the lives of children all across the UK see the Children in Need Website.

So please take these opportunities to give generously, support important charity work, and clear any outstanding fines on your Library record!

You may have spotted the above posters and flyers going up round the Library. That’s because Monday 29th October sees the launch of the Library Quality Survey. This short online survey  is your chance to tell us what you think of your Library and your feedback really makes a difference!  The answers you provide help us to focus on the things that really matter to you and to make sure we are providing the service you need.

Here are just a couple of examples of the changes that have been instigated as the direct result of feedback  from previous years’ surveys:

• You asked for more books and resources in your subjects. As a result we invested an extra £75k in core texts, delivering 2200 new texts of the most heavily demanded books on your reading lists. In addition, we launched the I want one of these student book suggestion scheme.

• You asked for more study spaces. So we introduced a 24/7 study room and refreshment area to complement the 24/7 PC cluster at St Luke’s Library, and with alumni funding built a courtyard study garden. We also installed 4 additional PCs at St Luke’s and 22 new study desks.

So by stopping and taking a few minutes to complete the survey you can help make a real difference both to your own studies and for the benefit of future University of Exeter Library users.

And if that wasn’t incentive enough, when you complete the survey you’ll also be entered into our prize draw to win a hi-spec iPad!  What are you waiting for?

Please click here for more information and to start the survey.

The LibQUAL survey is open throughout November but please don’t delay, take a few minutes and let us know your views on the Library as soon as possible.

If you have any further questions about the Library Quality Survey please feel free to email us: 

On a hot and sunny Sunday on the 22 July, Bound 2B Brilliant – a team of staff from the University of Exeter Library – took part in the Race for Life for Cancer Research UK. The venue for the event – Westpoint – was a sea of pink as thousands of women took part in the event. The Library team (pictured below) consisted of Ros Jennings, Catherine Weedon, Rae Ahmed, Jess Gardner, Maria Koutsoumanis, Carolyn Asher and Maggie Martin.  Rae said ‘it was a brilliant event, great sunshine, great team and great atmosphere … really enjoyed it!’

Bound 2B Brilliant would like to say a huge thank you to everyone for all their support, encouragement and donations. You all made the day extra special.  We’d like to say a special thank you to our honorary team mate Simon Foote, who didn’t get to run but helped us every step to get there! Thank you! You can still donate to the team if you would like to at: http://raceforlifesponsorme.org/bound-2b-brilliant or sponsor the Team by texting XORQ60 £1 or more to 70070.

Lunchtime lecture by Professor Sam Smiles;

Wednesday 13th June 2012, 1pm

University of Exeter
Lecture Theatre 1
Queen’s Building

Free public lecture – no need to book.

More info here.

Some of the library staff will be putting on their running shoes and racing for life in July, and in the process, raising money for Cancer Research UK.  The team members are Kate Weedon, Jess Gardner, Maggie Martin, Ros Jennings, Carolyn Asher, Maria Koutsoumanis and Rae Ahmed, and they come under the collective name, ‘Bound 2B Brilliant’.

The team members have come together to raise money for Cancer Research UK, and to play a vital part in helping save lives. Events like Race for Life are vital in funding Cancer Research UK’s life-saving work into preventing, diagnosing and treating cancer.

The plucky team members will be racing for life at Westpoint (near Exeter) on July 22, 2012 at 11am. Why not go along and cheer them on. You can also sponsor the team at http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/bound-2b-brilliant. In doing so, you can play your part in beating cancer.

Also, look out for fundraising events! There’s bound to be something to tickle your fancy. There will be coffee and cakes at Main Library Information Central, 24 April 2012, 10am -11am, more cakes on sale at Amory on 14 May, 12pm – 2pm, a sponsored swim (to wear off the cakes) and much more! For more information contact Rae Ahmed (email

Good luck Bound 2B Brilliant!

The winner of our LibQual survey competition was today presented with her prize.

Jessica Gardner gave Meimei Wang a new iPad 2 in a brief ceremony in the Main Library today.

Well done Meimei !

Pictured left :  Stephen Mossop [Head of Customer Services], Meimei Wang [INTO student] and Jessica Gardner [Head of Library and Research Support]

Universities and colleges are obliged to pay VAT at the full standard rate, which is currently 20%, on their subscriptions to electronic academic journals, books, newspapers and magazines.

We believe that they should be treated in the same way for VAT as printed publications. Printed versions of the same resources are zero-rated in the UK; in the rest of Europe VAT is applied at the reduced rate, currently 5%.

This extra VAT burden means that libraries have less to spend on electronic publications making it very difficult for us to move towards e-provision.

Electronic publications are greener, save valuable storage space and offer increased availability for the majority of users.

Sign the e-petition to urge our Government to do one of two things;

1. Introduce zero-rated VAT on electronic academic publications.
2. Or, if it is not feasible to add electronic publications to the list of zero-rated goods then to follow other European countries and apply VAT at the reduced rate now and consider reducing this to 0% as soon as possible.

We need 100,000 signatures for the topic to be debated in the House of Commons. Anyone can sign:

• You will need to provide your name, address and email
• You can choose to receive email updates from the government about the e-petition

Sign here http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/28226