Communication
The Student Information Desk (SID) is the University’s principal enquiry service for students, it maintains a bank of frequently asked questions, manages referrals to specialised services, and responds to face-to-face and remote enquiries.
Information literacy and academic skills
1. The Pro Vice Chancellor (Education and Student Experience) provides strategic oversight of the library service and academic skills development with the Director of Library, Learning Resources and Information providing a strategic lead. The scoping of these services is the responsibility of several departments working together, with the primary contribution coming from Library, Learning Resources and Information.
2. Curriculum based academic skills teaching undertaken by course teams is complemented by:
3. Curriculum based information literacy and academic skills teaching strategies are tested through course approval and review.
4. Extracurricular academic skills teaching is provided through the Academic Liaison Librarians service librarians@beds.ac.uk and Microsoft Office Trainers. Support is offered through remote and face-to-face appointments. A bank of academic skills guides is available via the Library, Learning Resources and Information webpages (lrweb.beds.ac.uk). Assistance with more general enquiries (such as basic IT issues or library usage) is also available from the Library Technical and Library Services teams.
5. As required, Academic Liaison Librarians offer CPD to support academic and professional services staff to develop knowledge of learning resources services and associated skills (such as building reading lists, embedding information literacy, and contributing to course approval and periodic review).
6. The Academic Resources and Reading Strategy (ARRS) provides a rationale for how Library, Learning Resources and Information and associated services will undertake actions to enhance both the availability and access to required reading but also evaluate the impact and use of resources by students to inform future services developments.
7. Academic Liaison Librarian teaching is monitored via attendance statistics, student feedback and course team feedback. User experiences of the library and learning materials are monitored through the BUS, NSS and a bi-annual survey.
8. To ensure best practice and standards are maintained professional staff involved in teaching and learning are encouraged to maintain membership of the Higher Education Academy and obtain relevant professional standing (e.g. Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), Certified Practitioner / Certified Lead Practitioner status from the Association for Learning Development in Higher Education). The University maintains its membership of the Society of College, National and University Libraries (SCONUL) and participates in regional and national initiatives promoted by JISC.
Formerly Quality Handbook chapter 10
Next review July 2026