| A leading centre of excellence
in oral health care, The Eastman Dental Institute is part of
University College London and is recognised nationally and internationally
for major contributions to research and postgraduate specialist
training.
Stock and users ...
The Information Centre houses over 3,000 books plus over 70
active print journals plus back-runs of 50 further titles. The
physical resources are complemented by electronic resources,
in particular e-journals. As a postgraduate and research library,
it is used in person most by postgraduates between clinic sessions.
Many postgraduates use the 40 workstations to research using
the electronic services and lecturers and researchers often
access the electronic resources remotely. Information Centre
Manager Gerhard Bissels is supported by a team of one full-time
and two part-time librarians.
The challenge ...
When the opportunity arose to extend the library facilities
through additional space allocation, the decision was taken
to modernise the service through increased automation by moving
to self-issue. Automation of circulation and online print/copy
accounts freed up staff time so that librarians could spend
more time focusing on reader support, in particular online resources
and database searches.
The solution ...
The Institute sought new furniture to reflect the change in
emphasis of the library’s service. SEROTA library furniture
was selected because it could provide bespoke furniture to meet
the library’s exact requirements and to complement the building’s
fabric. The issue desk was replaced with a self issue machine
on one side and a new enquiry desk, complemented by a round
table where readers can sit alongside staff during support sessions.
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The Eastman Dental Institute
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Benefits
...
“Michael Serota starts with the library’s needs when assessing
furniture requirements, he doesn’t try to squeeze your requirements
into pre-packaged boxes. We were very impressed by Michael’s
thorough approach – he started with a site survey to gauge
the needs of our readers, studied the building layout and
designed furniture which would both be sympathetic to our
building and that would look good and would suit our needs.”
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