#lselibrary

In what will soon be new postgraduate study space on the first floor of the LSE Library, students and library staff discussed their vision for the future of the library. Students were told that the lower ground floor, fourth floor and parts of the first floor are being transformed in the next few years and gave their own thoughts on these and other changes.

Some developments were clearly welcomed, including the abolition of library fines, the extra study space in the course collection area and the plan to make the fourth floor student study space. Others were not, such as proposals looking at reducing numbers of fixed PC points and banning all food from the library. Interestingly, many students also highlighted the behaviour of other students, such as the practice of ‘saving’ desks for hours on end, as a major problem in the library, as well expressing the perennial desire for more study space and plugs.

So what happens now? Well I am taking the feedback from the event to the Library Services Committee next week, where I will ensure that progress is made on the issues highlighted and push for students’ views to influence the plan for the future of library.

I would like to thank everyone who attended and the library for making the event possible. If you have any feedback on the library or anything else at all, email me at:

The Student Ambassadors for Digital Literacy (SADL) project is a fantastic opportunity to improve your own digital literacy skills and help your fellow students make the most of the technology at students’ disposal while you’re here at LSE.

SADL is looking to recruit 40 students from the from IR, Statistics and Social Policy departments to become digital ambassadors. These ambassadors will attend four workshops throughout the year on various areas of digital learning - from how to best use the library’s many digital resources to how to manage your digital footprint that prospective employers see online.

Being a SADL ambassador is a great chance to improve your digital skills - which as well as being valuable skills to have in themselves, will show you the most effective ways to access to LSE’s digital resources (saving you a bunch of time) - as well as your communication skills, as a large part of the role is sharing what you’ve learnt with your fellow students via blogs and posts on Moodle.

The project, which has received funding from LSE Library and LTI, was a huge success last year. Check out last year’s ambassadors talking about why they think the role is important and what the most important things they learnt were.

Next Monday (25th November - Week 8) at 2pm the Library Users Consultative Forum is taking place in Library 3.01 and is your chance to say what the Library can improve on. Whether that's more books for your core readings, more spaces to plug your laptop in and work for hours, or more free access to journals or newspapers (we at the Union know this is possible!), now is a great opportunity to raise these things.

There's also lunch provided, so if you're in the library already you really have no excuses.