My name is Fraser and I am the Vice President for HEMS (Health, Education, Medicine, and Social Care) Faculty.

Since the start of term, I have been working with the library team to review and change the process, rules and fees of library borrowing. All changes have been based on student feedback and student focus groups.

One of the issues students face is that they receive too many emails from the university and some of them can be missed or ignored. With the help of students who participated in a focus group on both campuses we have changed the style of library notices to better suit students. The new notices will be much briefer and clearer, highlighting if action needs to be taken or if it is just a courtesy notice.

Another amazing change is that the fee for late returns of books and laptops has gone down! There is also a new and better fee policy if an item is lost. Should an item get lost you will only need to pay for the price of the item without any additional admin costs. This is a big win for students who otherwise would have had to pay both a late fee and the cost of a book, which can get quite expensive.  

These changes are making a positive impact already, with students paying less in late fees and, in some cases, decreasing the number of people who are liable for fines at all. The library have also noticed a decrease in numbers of library queries regarding confusion with processes.

If you do have any questions or ideas you want looked at feel free to email me at f.luther-yarwood@angliastudent.com or get in touch with your campus’ library team.