Annual Report

Recently, the head librarian and I worked together on producing an annual report for the previous academic year. We feel it is important to speak up and show people what goes on behind the scenes here in the library.

Maintaining the library’s blog proves very useful when compiling an annual report. It can often be difficult looking back and trying to pinpoint key library activities over the previous 12 months. Regular postings on the blog make this process much easier.

This is the second year we have produced an annual report; we find it is a valuable marketing tool and a great way of taking the library outside the physical boundary of four walls. Sometimes, you have to push library activity under the noses of people before they see it (particularly those who don’t actually use the service), and this is our way of politely doing that. ‘X’ number of copies are sent to those in upper management positions within our institution and copies are also sent to the external partners we have worked with during the year. It is also available from the library blog. In addition to this, we have made the annual report visible via a wall display near the library photocopiers (a key area for sharing news!) and we often notice people browsing it whilst waiting for their printouts. We have received various feedback and it often forms the basis of conversations with people from other departments of the college.

In my previous role as a secondary school librarian I used to produce a similar report for the headteacher, and it was discussed in Head of Department meetings. However, this is where I felt the benefits of working in a team as opposed to working solo – there is always somebody with whom to discuss matters and bounce ideas around.

In a nutshell, I enjoy working on the annual report; it outlines the positive ways in which we help people, the ways in which we facilitate a useful service and how the department contributes to the college’s strategic aims. More generally, it reminds me of why I am proud to be a librarian!