The focus for the year has been continuous improvement working within tight budget constraints to ensure the service meets the needs of the University.
Media Services provides the University with:
In addition, the University Mailroom is managed by the Director of Media Services.
The aims of Media Services are:
Media Services is one of four services in the Division of Information Services and Systems (with Computing Services, Corporate Information Services and the University Library) which was managed by the Deputy Vice-chancellor, Professor Ron McCaffer during the period to which this report applies.
Media Services reports to the University through the Information Services Committee. The Media Services Users Committee has provided valuable input over a number of years and has assisted in the development of services focused on University requirements. The Mailroom Users Group which has been set up recently also provides useful guidance.
Support for learning and teaching is a key University core activity run by Media Services. A small team of technical staff provide AV resources for learning and teaching in the 80 pool rooms around campus and in departmental rooms to support taught courses and academic events.
Dr Anne Mumford and Caroline Pepper (Manager of Teaching Support Services) have continued their coordination of activities on campus relating to pool rooms. The success of this approach has resulted in significant improvements in the services offered and in the refurbishment and maintenance programmes required across a range of services to ensure fit for purpose facilities. The University has been successful in gaining ongoing funding from HEFCE for a programme of refurbishments to support the funding from the University for ongoing maintenance.
The role of Media Services has been extended to include the allocation of pool rooms from January 2002. This role was previously undertaken by the Academic Registry. Key challenges for this activity include:
Media Services have continued to work closely with the PVC(T), ADTs, the Programme Development and Quality Sub-committee of Learning and Teaching Committee and the Media Services Users Group to ensure that resources are appropriately developed to meet the current and future needs of the University.
Major upgrades have occurred in the Brockington Building (B111), Wavy Top (GGB01), Ann Packer Building (JJ004, JJ017, JJ018) These have been well received. In addition W004, S004 and XX019 had data projectors installed. The EHB Assembly Hall was converted into a lecture room for semester 2 and provided a more-than-adequate addition to the pool at a size of room which is in considerable demand (capacity of 120).
The Cope Auditorium will come into the pool for the 2002/3 academic year and will be available for teaching for part of the week. The rest of the time it will be used for community use. A shared usage model is also being piloted with three rooms being part owned by the pool and partly owned by academic departments. This includes a room in the new Sir John Beckwith Building and two smaller rooms owned by departments.
Media Services also work closely with the conference office on providing AV for conferences and other events. Media Services staff have focused on improving communication and in developing the service to meet the needs of the many customers who come onto campus at weekends and in the vacations.
Media Services continue to offer an increasing number of digital services to the University. This year has seen the consolidation of our partnership with Xerox through the leasing of monochrome and colour digital equipment. This enables printing of first-generation files (as well as copying) and the use of colour for short runs which is useful for many University applications. There is still scope for further developments, although the year has seen use of the technology for online ordering of copies of exam papers for students linked to the Learn Server and some innovative use for University marketing. Full use is also being made of the digital plate maker which enables files to be sent direct to plate for offset litho printing and results in improvements in quality of output. This is to be complemented by a proofing device which can provide accurate colour proofs prior to printing.
There is increasing interest in the multimedia services offered by Media Services including design for Web (many departments are using AVS to “kick start” their Web sites and then taking ownership once the style has been agreed). Production of video on CD and through the Web are also services on offer.
Media Services has been able to offer consultancy to academic and other service departments to enable additional skills to be brought in to support research, learning and teaching.
During the year a project has been established to set up an image database for the University. This has involved funding from the University for some hardware to enable scanning and storage of images. The current photographic collection is being scanned, although new materials will increasingly be sourced in digital form. It is essential that appropriate metadata is stored with the images and time has been spent defining this with advice taken from the Information Science Department as well as the JISC-funded national Technical Advisory Service on Images (TASI). The service will be launched early in 2003.
Media Services plays a major role in the Graduation ceremonies. This year staff were involved in:
Staff are also involved in discussions on the technical
requirements for the
re-location of the ceremonies.
The Webcast was a relatively recent innovation and has incurred significant expense for the University in the pilot phase. One of the challenges for the future is to be able to provide the service at a lower cost whilst ensuring that the use of the network for other purposes is not compromised.
In conjunction with the Registrar, Media Services manage the corporate identity of the University and handle all day-to-day issues such as usage approval. Staff are involved in addressing the development of the corporate identity as the logotype becomes increasingly established.
Media Services are also involved in the design and development of the top level Web pages.
Alison Freer of Media Services played a key role in the setting up of the Marketing Forum which involved a wide cross-section of the University. Involvement in this area is one which is expected to expand in the forthcoming year.
Media Services manage two large areas of outsourced services for the University: print buying and advertising.
Media Services has established which print jobs can be handled most effectively in house. This primarily involves short runs, digital printing and corporate stationery. All other work is put out to tender to a list of 12 companies approved by the University following an advertisement in the EU Journal to place the print requirement of the University. This is estimated to save the University £140K per annum. In-house work is regularly benchmarked to ensure best value.
Media Services also manage corporate advertising for staff and student recruitment as well as advertisements for other activities. Media Services liaise with the advertisement agency used to develop appropriate artwork, meet deadlines, check copy and publication and handle invoicing.
Media Services provides technical support and use of equipment to Charnwood Talking News, a service for local people with a visual impairment. This involves working with the volunteers and the tape copying of the weekly audio tape.
The University Mailroom is under the management of the Director of Media Services. The Mailroom provides the following services:
A reduced allocation to Media Services /Mailroom in the budget for 2000/01 resulted in a service charge being levied to departments in the year to enable services to be maintained. This continued in the year and was expanded to enable departments to choose varying service levels. The service has reduced its vans from two to one and established new rounds to increase efficiencies. Such service improvements have been made possible by the flexibility and willingness of Sue Pickaver and her colleagues in the Mailroom. The rounds are very tight and any expansion of the rounds is unlikely to be possible, particularly given the lack of lifts in buildings and easy parking and access.
Increased hours at the counter (from 20 hours a week in 1999 to 40 hours a week last year) has proved popular with staff and students. This has been made possible by bringing together the reception areas for the Print Unit and the Mailroom and by increasing staff flexibility through the use of part time staff to cover the ends of the days to replace a retiring member of staff. This will be extended by a further two hours in 2002/2 through further integration of reception services following staff training.
During the year the service was renamed as Media Services from Audio Visual Services. This was to reflect a more modern image and to be an indication of the change management which had taken place to redefine the service under the new Director.
Media Services was recognised as an “Investor in People” in December 2001. This is an encouraging recognition for the considerable effort put into developing staff to meet the needs of the University and the directions in which the service needed to move, particularly in the utilization of digital technology. It is also a recognition of the change management and the wide ownership and involvement of staff in making the necessary changes. This has not always been easy and staff deserve this recognition.
During the year staff have undertaken training in specific software applications relevant to their jobs as well as management staff undertaking key HR training in recruitment, disability and race relations. Alison Freer gained a Diploma in Management from Loughborough University and Caroline Pepper a Certificate in Management from the Open University.
HEFCE, through its Fund for the Development of Good Management Practice, funded a project to undertake a benchmarking initiative for Media Services. The project has been sponsored by the UK Standing Conference for Heads of Media Services and hosted at Loughborough. The work has been jointly managed by Dr Anne Mumford of Media Services working in conjunction with Dr Eric Davies and colleagues of LISU. This has been a remarkably successful project and one which will benefit both Loughborough and the sector as a whole in providing comparative data to help service developments and performance improvements. The first years data revealed low levels of core funding at Loughborough University compared with other HEIs and less investment in teaching facilities. The integration of the whole range of media services at Loughborough should however bring some efficiency gains which the figures might also suggest. Some of the lack of investment is being rectified through internal University and HEFCE funding and this is shown in the initial results from the second year. The costings and pricing shown in the data show that the University is getting value for money through its combination of in-house and outsourced services. This is very encouraging.
This is a major issue for Media Services where there are physically demanding jobs, the handling of loads and the use of some dangerous substances. A review of the department has been undertaken and steps put in place to assist in meeting the obligations of the University. There is a cost to this in time, training and resourcing.
There is an increasing use of digital technology and information systems. Support for these is difficult with the resources available and this presents a risk to the service. The Tharsterns MIS system is a key system for estimating and charging jobs, for just in time purchasing of required resources and for establishing the time spent on production jobs. Wallchart software has been purchased for room allocations and will need to be rolled out on campus and the digital image database is a further institutional information system. Ensuring that these are effectively maintained and supported and service risks minimised will be a challenge for Media Services.
The reduction in the allocation from the University has caused problems in managing Media Services during the year. This followed on from reductions in core funding the previous two years. This has made the necessary change management much more difficult during the period since the appointment of the current Director. However, the trend towards increasing deficits has been stopped and improvements have been shown in both last year and in the year reported here. Further monitoring has been put in place for the forthcoming financial year and a budget settlement which is not a cash cut from last year has been agreed. This still does not meet the request which was accurately costed to meet the minimum service levels expected on a day to day basis by the University.
Ruth Randall, Steve Bexon, Michael Newbould and Lin Brackenbury left Media Services during the year. Mick Sharpe, Patricia Sorer, Ian Jepson and Chris Conway joined the service.
Dr Anne Mumford is a member of the JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee of the HE and FE Funding Bodies) Committee for Learning and Teaching. She is also a member of the Executive of the Standing Conference for Heads of Media Services. Peter Allison is a member of the Management Group of the HEFCE-funded SHOTLIST initiative.
The key challenges for the coming year are many and include:
University Grant
|
Revenue |
£414,026 |
|
(£374,242 initial allocation plus £39,784 additional allocation) |
|
|
Capital |
£195,000 |
|
(£100,000 initial, £40,000 EHB Assembly Hall, £55,000 digital imaging service) |
|
|
|
£609,026 |
|
HEFCE Capital Grant |
£19,813 |
|
Internal Charges to University Customers |
£1,925,012 |
|
Cash Sales |
£92,766 |
|
External Charges |
£274,222 |
|
Advertising Rebate |
£35,424 |
|
Total Income |
£2,956,263 |
|
Staff |
|
£915,222 |
|
Non Staff |
|
£654,114 |
|
|
|
|
|
Outsourced Services |
|
|
|
Advertising |
£423,561 |
|
|
Print Buying |
£408,492 |
|
|
Postal Charges |
£415,713 |
|
|
|
|
£1,247,766 |
|
Capital |
|
|
|
University Grant |
£195,000 |
|
|
HEFCE Capital Grant |
£19,813 |
|
|
|
|
£214,813 |
Total Expenditure £3,031,915
Deficit for the year: £75,652
Note: The above figures are based on the management accounts of the University, the financial accounts for AVS will in addition show a profit element of approximately £9,000 to be covenanted back to the University. There is approximately £10,000 of work in progress.