I am delighted to be here in Hong Kong as the Deputy Librarian (Reader Services) at the University of Hong Kong.  Having been here for just on two months now I feel the settling-in process has been very smooth and made very pleasant by the large number of wonderful people I have met.  Of course the many delights of Hong Kong have also contributed towards making the transition a very agreeable one.

I have come from the University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia where I was the Program Manager for Client Services within the Information and Education Services Division, an amalgam of the Library, the IT Division, the Centre for the Advancement of University Teaching and a few other smaller units.  As a manager within this integrated Division, I held responsibility for a range of library and IT services and I was charged to specifically exploit the collaborative opportunities (my staff tired of the use of the word synergies) between the two.  In this role I was responsible for services such as library reference services across three libraries, faculty librarian/liaison services, central computer laboratory management, help desks, IT desktop support through Service Level Agreements, software sales and site licence management and student training in IT and information literacy.  I held this position for three years.  Prior to this, I held a range of positions as a senior Librarian including that of foundation Law Librarian at the University of Newcastle.  I have also worked at other Australian university libraries including those at the University of New South Wales and the University of Sydney.  I have also had some exposure to public libraries while working at the State Library of New South Wales and the Canterbury Public Library system in Christchurch, New Zealand.

In my previous position as a manager of an integrated library and IT unit, I was often delighted to see these diverse groups working together and learning about, and from, each other.  This is not to suggest that this was always an easy task but as a team my staff relished in the small achievements from which larger things grew.  For example, we initiated converged library and IT help desks and called them "information desks."  The expectation was that any information desk under my jurisdiction would be able to provide the same services and the same service standards.  In this situation we had IT staff and librarians working together to provide unified and consistent services.  This was not intended to trivialize or weaken professional responsibilities but rather to enhance the skills and abilities of both groups.  Obviously, the service you could reasonably expect from a librarian differed from that of an IT specialist.  But a common platform of services was developed and the standards of service delivery were intended to be uniform.

Librarians were in regular contact with IT professionals as well as with curriculum experts including a team of learning consultants.  In some cases, this led to staff choosing to change their professional direction.  For example, one librarian became a learning consultant, another became a service quality manager for the entire Division covering all library, IT and education support services.  Librarians were included in major university-wide projects including those dealing with IT initiatives, flexible delivery and staff and student training.  Our electronic access librarian worked very closely with the university's IT Infrastructure group to ensure that this infrastructure was capable of supporting the information resources that she was charged with developing and maintaining.  Our help desk and reference managers met on a weekly basis to deal with issues arising from student access to information and IT services.  As a manager within the Division, I met on a fortnightly basis with the other managers in the Division.  These managers held university-wide responsibility for portfolios such as the web, IT infrastructure, university teaching and learning support, staff development, multimedia design, IT corporate systems, information resources, plus all areas covered by my Program.  Members of the group shared their Program's management plans and their own individual performance goals enabling a transparent and consistent approach to planning.  The group analysed key strategic directions for the Division as well as assessing projects, both proposed and in progress.  Rarely were these meetings dull.  It always struck me that prior to the formation of the Division, it would be rare that a selection of these parties would meet to discuss common issues.  It probably never occurred that all of them would have done so.

Of course, like any large organization, there were also difficulties and hurdles to overcome.  Perhaps I should save those for another occasion.

While the differences between my previous environment and my new organization may seem significant, I have been struck by the similarities between the two.  The University of Hong Kong Libraries new strategic plan identifies and addresses many of the issues facing libraries today.  Electronic access to resources, smart use of technology, collection development, client communication and liaison, interlibrary sharing and collaboration are just a few of these.

On the latter point, I hope that in the near future I will have the opportunity to meet with many of you and to work with you when possible.

 
Peter Sidorko
Deputy Librarian
The University of Hong Kong Libraries