2016 Conference: welcome message

 

Chris PowisThese are exciting times for the University of Northampton.  Everything that we do, from the way we teach and deliver services to the very notion of what a campus should look like, is being challenged in readiness for our move to the new Waterside Campus in the summer of 2018.  Waterside is informed by a radical vision of a new kind of university, but it needs to be underpinned by research and our commitment in Library and Learning Services to practice-based research has become even more important than ever.

We believe in the importance of involving all of our staff in research.  Working in a university should mean a freedom to think and therefore we want all staff to look beyond their daily tasks and to ask why, how and what if….  Waterside is a powerful spur but it we’d be questioning and challenging regardless.   However, this shouldn’t be an insular activity useful only to the individual, team or department involved.   It should and does involve telling others about our findings, celebrating our successful research (and understanding our failures).  We want to share, debate and collaborate and I am therefore delighted to say that our third biennial LLS Research Conference will take place on July 5th and I hope very much to see you there.

Chris Powis, Head of Library and Learning Services