Researchers can't get 'essential' texts

Postgraduate students desperate for new books critical to furthering their research are being told by the Library “we must not order books that are not on reading lists,” Leeds Student has discovered.

Bertie Russell, a Geography PhD student, has been unable to use a book “essential” to his research because the library does not stock it and his purchase suggestion was rejected.

After Bertie placed a proposal for ‘Deleuze and the Social’ he received an email reply from Sara Thornes, Faculty Team Librarian for the Edward Boyle library which read: “Unfortunately the fluctuation in the exchange rates that has come with the credit crunch has hit the library budget hard, and we have recently been told that we must not start any new subscriptions or order books that are not on reading lists.”

Bertie was dismayed at the response: “It is one of only two books that have been written on the issue – so, it is essential that I have access to it. It costs £20 but I can’t get the book, as there are no funds available.”

He explained that the only way for him to obtain the book is if a sympathetic lecturer were to place it on a reading list. “But that means research is largely being determined by the remit of what is already being taught,” he said.

“It’s quite illogical if research is supposed to be producing something new. There is not much precedent for my subject area within Leeds Uni, so the Library is particularly scarce on the newer books.”

“The recent fall in the value of sterling has hit the Library, as some of our purchases are made in dollars and euros.” Margaret Coutts, University Librarian and Keeper of the Brotherton Collection, said. “Subscriptions in US dollars are currently costing an additional 37%, and those in Euros an additional 19% above the anticipated cost.”

Thornes was on hand to explain the Library’s reasoning. “Texts on reading lists are used by large numbers of students, typically a single copy of a reading list book would be used by around 20 students,” she said. “Books requested for research, tend to be used extensively by only one individual.”

The Library’s current stance is at odds with information provided at start of the year. “I was informed before starting my PhD that the Library appreciate the suggestions of research students as it means less work for the faculty librarian.” Bertie said. “The books a PhD student recommend are also likely to be at the ‘cutting edge’ of research, helping to open access to these topics for students in all cohorts.”

An article in the Times Higher Education highlights the problem as a national one. THE reported that the fall in the value of the pound is having a ‘crippling effect’ on the budgets of UK university libraries with Glasgow University estimating that every time the pound went down either a euro cent or a US cent over a year, it would cost their library £12,000 and £7,000, respectively.

“This is indeed a national problem and all university libraries are experiencing the same,” Coutts explained.

The Library say that the block on orders will be in place until May, after book costing has been reassessed. For the time being PhD students should be offered alternatives, such as document supply or inter-library loans.

The Vice-Chancellor Michael Arthur was open in his assessment of the cash flow problem. “We’re facing quite a bit of financial turmoil,” he admitted during a recent question and answer session with students. “I’ve been putting the Library under some pressure by asking for an extra five per cent efficiency as a way of coping with the economic downturn.”

Arthur added: “We’ll try and ensure that material for students is affected least; the research side might be affected more.

“Library costs actually inflate at way above the rate of inflation – about 6 per cent per annum. When I arrived here we were actually spending about £8m in the library and we’re now spending £12m.

“The library is not suffering a cutback in funding, we’re talking about not increasing it by as much as we had planned.”

Originally published in Leeds Student on March 13

£360,000: Fine for some. University library pockets record sum in fees

Leeds University libraries took £360,000 in fines in the last academic year, figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act have revealed.

The total is up £60,000 from the £295,000 charged in 2006/07 – a rise of more than 20% in one year.

The charges levied in 06/07 themselves represented a significant increase, up £25,000 from the year before.

In all, the University has amassed £925,919 in library fines over the last three academic years.

The figures reveal that the average undergraduate pays around £9.30 in library fines for every year of their degree, totalling £28 for the last three.

Exeter student paper, Exepose, reported last year that the University of Manchester collected the highest amount in fines of those libraries that responded to their enquiries.

Manchester, the largest university in the country with over 39,000 students, charged £190,388 in 2006/07. The figures obtained by Leeds Student show that Leeds exceeded this total by over £100,000, even before the 20% increase that occurred last year.

The figures come as part of a response to a Freedom of Information Act request sent to the University by Leeds Student earlier this year.

Public authorities are legally required to respond to requests submitted under the act, and subject to a number of conditions they must supply the information within 20 working days.

The response from the library came after 21 days, one day over the legal maximum.

The University has moved to justify the record sum collected.

“The significant rise in fines charges between 06/07 and 07/08 was because the overall fines threshold was raised from £10 to £30,” Janet R Jurica, Senior Assistant Registrar at the University explained. “Whilst before students had to clear their fines at £10 they can now accrue higher fines before their accounts are suspended.”

Margaret Coutts, University Librarian and Keeper of the Brotherton Collection, said the decision was student-led. “The threshold was originally introduced in consultation with students to prevent their borrowing being blocked too rapidly when using our self-service lending facilities in the evening,” she said.

However, Katie McDougall, second year Theology and Religious studies student, thinks the change was for the worse. “I don’t think the threshold increase was a good thing,” said Katie. “It means people will keep books out for longer meaning others can’t because I don’t think fines deter people that much.”

To many students, however, the fines represent a hidden charge for using what are regarded as essential facilities.

Penny Walker, in her third year of studying English, said: “I’m shocked at the figures. It just seems so much money.” Penny thinks that incurring fines is ultimately inevitable. “If you’re using the library regularly it is unavoidable to rack up charges, she said. “I took out a primary text at the start of the year to use for my assessed essay and renewed it each time I was required to. But a week before deadline someone put it on hold and I was unable to renew it again.

“I desperately needed it for the essay so had to keep it and incur the charges. I was also blocked from taking out any other books.”

Misleading

Aled John, another third year English student, reckons the large total is slightly misleading. “The grand total, in its accumulated form, sounds horrific,” he said. “It seems one ostensibly reminiscent of the sort of miserly and loveless revenue generation endorsed by councils all over the UK in the form of parking tickets we all have grown to despise.”

“Roughly speaking though, the current figure for the library fines works out at an average of 11 quid per head, deflating the shock of the hike in thousands that the statistics show.”

Aled says charges are necessary: “As long as the library’s punitive policy is relatively comparable to the costs of running such an institution, and at the same time feasibly repayable, I don’t think it is that problematic.”

Coutts explained the role of the fines. “The sole purpose of Library fines is to prevent individuals from keeping books for unreasonably long periods and so disadvantage others who need to use them,” she said. “We set the rates to make them a deterrent only, and not an opportunity to make money from our customers.”

Coutts added: “The money from fines goes into the Library’s general revenue account and is used to support collections and services for students.”

Universities such as Birmingham, Manchester and University College London adopt a similar approach when it comes to library fines, charging daily rates along the lines of those set by Leeds. Each institution levies around a 40p tariff for a seven day loan.

Ryan Mole, 4th year Physics student, suggested that the reason for Leeds’ huge lead over other universities might involve more than just the scale of the charges per day.

“As a physics student, I find that all the books I need are always in seven day loan, but there are always a dozen copies of each book and there is only ever one or two out on loan,” Ryan said.

“The higher charge per day for seven day loans, as well as the higher frequency with which they must be renewed, means I find it much easier to accrue large fines. The standard loan section for my subject seems to feature books that have very little to do with the modules taught, and they definitely aren’t on reading lists.”

Course matters

Rachel Garrard, a final year Accounting and Business student, thinks students doing courses dependent on loaning literature are more at risk:

“People that do subjects where you tend to take out a lot of books are penalised more. I’ve only taken out out three books all year, whereas friends doing Arts degrees have taken out doz­ens.”

Penny questioned why students received fines for books not on reserve: “Having to renew books that people haven’t asked for is irritating. Getting fined for not renewing them on time when no one else wants them seems unnecessary, especially if the fining system is only in place to act as a deterrent. You are clearly not being of inconvenience to anyone else.”

Aled saw the system as fair though: “My personal tracklist of fines has held rather steadily at around £27 for the last year or so. As long as there is no favouritism, and the rise in monetary retribution for slack students (like myself) gets injected back into the system and not the pockets of the ‘suits’, then more power to it.”

No fines at all

Other UK universities have adopted what many cash-strapped students might regard as much fairer approach to late returns. The University of Southampton doesn’t charge their users fines at all, instead suspending users’ borrowing privileges until late books are returned, and simply charging for the replacement cost of a new book if it is not returned within 56 days.

Coutts­ said that this year more students were returning books on time. “The drop in fines for this academic year is currently approximately 10%. Of course, we won’t know the final figure until the end of the year.”

She added: “The Library does carry out regular checks on the level of the fines charged, and this happened most recently in 2007.

“Currently, we are planning to introduce online fines payment next year. We believe that this will make it easier for students to settle their fines promptly, and not run up large sums which cause problems for paying back.”

Originally published in Leeds Student on March 13

My first sex test

Who knew getting the all-clear for HIV could be so quick

Getting tested for sexually transmitted diseases is often a mythologised process loaded with rumour and falsehoods. As a member of the male population, about to embark on my first sex test, I inevitably worried about having something Mary Poppins would float from the sky with inserted in a place only a nanny like her should see. Memories of my housemate’s rather crass warning that, “They shove an umbrella up your cock,” circulated in my mind like a hamster on speed.

So it was with trepidation that I walked to Oxford Chambers, an archaic-looking building home to the Terrance Higgins Trust (THT), an HIV and sexual health charity that specialises in fast-track sex tests for students and under-25s. Situated opposite The Light (there’s an analogy in there somewhere but bugger me if I can find it) on Oxford Place the THT runs free sessions twice a week for people who want to be checked for STIs quickly and confidentially. The clinic is famed for its ability to test for HIV in just 15 minutes with only a pinprick of blood.

Naomi, manager of the THT in Leeds explains the ethos behind the clinic: “It’s what we call community testing. So it’s very informal, relaxed environment, separate from NHS clinical services. Your records will be kept completely confidential. It’s a drop-in, with no appointments. You just turn up.”

Once you have just turned up and into the building there is only one route down to the level the THT occupies, via a small lift. The six-foot square space forces a few moments of awkward silences should you be squeezed in with another human pincushion looking for sexual peace of mind – a situation that befell me later in my visit – you can’t really make small talk about HIV.

Any anxiety is offset as soon as I walk through the entrance though. The atmosphere of the THT is very different to NHS services and is one designed to put you at ease. Carpet replaces rubber floors, t-shirt and jeans are worn instead of smocks and radio music plays in place of tannoy announcements.

“The THT in Leeds is unique for people under 25 and students, who are identified as the ‘at-risk’ group,” Naomi tells me later, “It’s very simple for those kinds of people to come along here so the more complex cases can get seen at the GUM clinic.”

“It was set up as a pilot two and a half years ago because the waiting times at GUM were so long. So it’s really for people who haven’t got any symptoms but are concerned about sexual health just because they’re sexually active.”

Without wanting to be too candid it transpires I fall into the group the clinic is specifically aimed at, which helps with the authenticity of this trial run. I ask for a test at the desk and am handed a self-assessment questionnaire determined to work out how much risk I’d put myself at. After liaising over my answers with nurse Laura I was told I was a ‘low-risk’ patient – sigh of relief.
As I enter the consultation room I ask Laura if any dialogue between nurse and testee has ever caused any raised eyebrows: “Nothing shocks us any more! We’ve seen and heard most stories.”
“If people don’t want to disclose information it’s up to them. Sometimes it helps though as they don’t have realistic view of sexually transmitted diseases and talking can help that. People may have false concerns.”

Laura’s easy humour coupled with a warming Yorkshire accent encourages open speaking. Our discussion leaves me feeling fully informed when opting for my tests: a pee-in-a-pot for Chlamydia and the Abbott Determine for HIV.

The latter comes first. “You must be clinically dead,” Laura jokes after feeling my cold hands. A moment of rubbing commences before she braves the jab – a very small scratch – which leads to a few minutes of squeezing blood from the tip of my icy finger before we have enough to dab onto the paper gauge. “It is usually a lot quicker than this,” she offers in mock apology.
15 minutes later and I’m called back for the results. “You’re negative!” I’m told gleefully. A miniscule line in one section of the paper strip compared to another is apparently the difference between being given life-changing news. This quick test can only indicate a positive result and would need to be confirmed by three separate blood tests but it is still a stark illustration of the thin line we sometimes tread in our mission to get laid.

The THT’s other main aim is to reduce the spread of Chlamydia, a disease that’s on the rise in Leeds. According to oft-quoted stats (from a 2007 survey) one in ten under 25s in the UK currently has Chlamydia without being aware, while those in the 16-24 age bracket account for nearly half of all STI diagnoses.

“Part of the reason Chlamydia is so widespread,” Laura explains, “is that most people with the infection have no symptoms, and it only takes one sexual encounter to pass it on. If left untreated Chlamydia can lead to serious health problems, including infertility.”

I gulp in anticipation. “We ask that you haven’t been to the toilet in the last two hours as it takes that period to allow the bacteria to develop – it can give a false negative if enough time hasn’t elapsed.”

Luckily my bladder hadn’t moved in the last 120 minutes so I could produce a sample in full knowledge that the results would be accurate. Delivering into the small cylindrical container is a bit of a logistical challenge - ‘How to hold? When to release?’ - but one managed after only the briefest of struggles . I chirpily drop the package off at reception afterwards.

On the clientel of the THT, Laura says: “We often get couples in, who’ve just started a sexual relationship and want to get a full scan together. We also get groups of friends come in together, which is great because it gets people talking about sexual health.”

“Last year Valentine’s Night fell on a Thursday and it was packed!” she says, “Ther­e were couples, groups of girls and boys. Freshers’ Week is always a busy time, we usually get through 25 tests a night during that period.”

As I make my excuses to leave I’m offered bountiful condoms, lube and a C card, a bit of merchandise that entitles any under-25 to free condoms and morning after pills at certain outlets. Useful.

At the time of going to press my mobile remained eerily silent on the matter of Chlamydia. By the time you’re reading this I will hopefully know though, buy me a drink in the Old Bar if you’re intrigued.

The THT operates on Mondays and Thursdays, 4pm till 8pm. They ask people to try to arrive by 7pm as the whole appointment can take up to an hour, after waiting to be seen and getting your results.

There is a special Chlamydia Screening on Briggate, Friday 13, look out for the big tent. Visit leedssexualhealth.com for more info.

Originally published in Leeds Student on February 13 2009

Keri's gold mission

Ker-Anne Payne still has to pinch herself to believe she is the holder of an Olympic silver medal.

But the Stockport Metro swimmer is already plotting how to go one better in London in 2012.

The 21-year-old from Heywood took silver in the 10k open water race in Beijing just ahead of her Stockport team-mate Cassie Patten to continue a tradition of Olympic success for the Cheshire club.

Of the eight British swimmers who have won Olympic medals in the last twelve years, four have heralded from the Greater Manchester club with Payne and Patten joining Stephen Parry and Graham Smith as Metro medallists.

Record

Silver and bronze helped Britain take a record number of podium places in China - enough to finish third in the medals table, behind superpowers USA and Australia.

Yet, having had a few months to reflect on this summer's success, Payne feels the biggest achievement is continuing her club's Olympic medal tradition.

"It was really good to have my team-mate Cassie there, to share the experience with her, because she's one of my good friends from Stockport.

"To be able to come back with the knowledge we did this for Stockport makes you very proud."

It was Smith in the 1996 Atlanta Games who started Metro's medal rush with a bronze in the 1500m freestyle while Parry followed in his footsteps in Athens in 2004 with a bronze in the 200m butterfly.

Payne, who also competed in the 200m and 400m individual medley, reflected on the gruelling two-hour swim in the ice-cold rowing lake of Beijing.

"Before the race I was very nervous, I just couldn't stop moving. As soon as I dived in it went though.

"I don't really remember too much about the race. I can remember the start and finish but the middle chunk is just one long blur. Swimming in the rowing lake there were markers saying 1000m, 2000m and it was useful to have those as a gauge. We also saw all our team-mates cheering along the side, which was fantastic.

"Around the last buoy it was just a case of going as hard and as fast as I could - last 100m it was go, go, go, put your head down and go for it."

Close

Incredibly, 120 minutes of competition was not enough to separate the medallists by more than four seconds.

"The tight finish made it a very exciting race. I'm looking forward to the next couple because we gave the Russian gold medal winner Larisa Ilchenko a scare, I don't think she was expecting that. Hopefully we'll get her next time," Payne declared.

"It's been hectic since we got back and I've enjoyed every second of it. Meeting the Queen has been the highlight but it's also been lovely to go round schools and see the children's faces light up, hopefully inspiring one or two future Olympians."

Sean Kelly, head coach at Stockport Metro, was also on duty in Beijing.

"Getting two medals from one club is great," he said. "but, as a coach, you always want your swimmers to win and I can't lie, I was disappointed one of them didn't win the gold.

"I knew the open water event was where the girls were going to strike. They swam fantastically and kept up the good record of getting Olympic medals from Stockport."

The reason for Stockport Metro's unrivalled success at the Olympics is obvious to Kelly.

"The huge support we receive from the council is a massive factor. We're subsidised around £200,000 a year by the Sports Trust and a lot of people don't appreciate that.

"There's not that many schemes around the country that invest as much as that. It allows us to keep the cost of swimming down for the kids who come here. But we get out what we put into it, and what we deserve."

Originally published in the Manchester Evening News on December 30 2008

In it for the Long haul: Paralympic gold medal winner interviewed

LS Sport sits down with a golden graduate, Giles Long, Leeds Uni’s own Olympic champ

As a triple Paralympic gold medallist and world record holder, a Member of the British Empire, and now a London 2012 ambassador Giles Long is easily one of Leeds University’s most successful sporting Alumni. But the accolades didn’t come without a fight for the swimmer who won medals at three consecutive Games from 1996 to 2004.

“I had dreams of going to the Olympics ever since the age of seven and I even told my mum and dad that I was going to win a gold medal. And then I had cancer as a teenager and I had to come to terms with, well, does going to the Paralympics answer that dream?”

The question of whether hopes of able-bodied sporting excellence can find fulfilment in a disabled sphere is answered with an emphatic affirmative: “What doesn’t kill you will make you stronger” Giles says providing validity for the maxim, “as long as you’re prepared to work at it and take the set backs but then carry on and still pursue that dream you can be anything you want to be.”

Giles’ inspiring outlook was one that as a young boy might not have been foreseen. After being diagnosed with a bone tumour at the age of thirteen he lost the use of his right shoulder through subsequent chemotherapy and operations. The impact of the event, occurring at such a crucial point in a person’s – and a swimmer’s – development was initially too surreal to acknowledge. “At first when someone tells you you’ve got a disease like cancer, and you’re that age, it really feels like it’s happening to someone else,” Giles confides, “It’s not until you physically start having the treatment that it really hits home.”

For a time the idea of switching goals and aiming to compete at the Paralympics was not one Giles was enamoured with, “principally because it meant acknowledging that I had a disability.” It was only after a chance meeting with an eminent swimming coach that Giles found the right frame of mind to continue.

“He told me, ‘Before you were ill you could do ten-thousand things, and now you can do nine-thousand, which means that you’ve got a choice. You can concentrate on the one-thousand things that you can’t do anymore, or you can concentrate on the nine-thousand things that you can still do.’” It was the spark that got Giles thinking. “I decided that I wanted to go to the Paralympics because I wanted to be the best I could be. The rest is history.”

Giles graduated from Leeds in 1997 with a degree in Geological Sciences under his belt. Back in Leeds to take part in the University’s ‘Celebrating the Games’ series of lectures, Giles found himself walking down the Otley Road for the first time in a while.

I ask him what memories the trip vivifies. “Coming back from the Games in 96 as a gold medallist was a terrific time. Most of the people on my course didn’t even know I was a swimmer; it was something I kept quite separate from that life. So all of a sudden after coming back from the summer having been all over the TV and they said, ‘Oh my god I didn’t realise!’ Seeing how much some people got from what I’d done was just awesome.”

Managing to balance training at an elite level with studying for a degree was done “with great difficulty” and on occasions socialising had to be come second. “There were times when I had to say ‘I’m not going to the Original Oak tonight because I’ve got training in the morning’” Giles tells me, “A lot of people would look at that and call it a sacrifice. I’d look at it and call it a choice. Everything in the world that’s worth doing is really difficult and all the fairly rubbish things, like watching This Morning when you’ve got exam revision to do, they’re all really easy.”

Looking forward to the 2012 Games, the first to be held on these shores for what will be 64 years, we chat about what impact it will have and how the Leeds graduate will be involved. As a 2012 ambassador Giles will be at the core of the momentous sporting occasion as he spends the build-up promoting the Games all over the country, sometimes being charged with persuading people of its relevance to them: “I was speaking to someone from Leeds today about this talk tonight and how 2012 will be something for the whole country and he said ‘Well, it really feels like a London thing.’”

Giles recalls, “So I said ‘Yeah but if you live in Leeds, you can get the train down to King’s Cross in two hours twenty minutes. And from King’s Cross there’ll be the javelin service that’ll take you to Olympic Park which means you’ll probably be able to get there quicker than someone that lives in South London.’ Now if that doesn’t mean that the Games is something for everyone then I really don’t know what is!” he reasons soundly and passionately. “There comes a point at which you have to say ‘This is something that’s going happen once in my lifetime’ and ask yourself if you’ll regret it once it’s been and gone and you didn’t go, you weren’t a part of it.”

The fantastic achievements of Britain’s swimmers in Beijing this summer, with a stand-out Paralympic performance from Eleanor Simmonds, came as little surprise to the man no stranger to gold himself. “It was a personal thing for me with Ellie winning her golds [in 100 and 400 metres freestyle] because I’m her athlete mentor. My input has been infinitesimally small compared to all of the hours of slog that she spent up and down the pool but to be able to share in someone’s success in whatever tiny, tiny way, well that is the essence of what we were talking about; people up and down the country taking a piece of the Olympics, taking a piece of the Paralympics, and having it for keeps.”

When I ask about the forthcoming pool Giles is reflective: “It’s a shame it’s not a 50metre pool but there’s only so much land, there’s only so much money. But the brand new pool sounds like it’s going to be absolutely fantastic; yet another feather in the cap that makes this university one of the best in the country.”

Giles has an autobiography out at the moment entitled Changing to Win. It carries simple motivational methods that can be used to succeed in many tasks, from getting out of bed in the morning to achieving that long-term goal. To take hold of change and use that as an inspiring force. Available from all good books shops.

Originally published in Leeds Student on November 28 2008

It's all academic: The Academy opens in Leeds

Academy venues are famous the country over. It was about time Leeds got one of its own. LS2 were very kindly invited along to the grand opening...

The Venue

As a piece of architecture, the freshly named Leeds Academy is spectacular. The nineteenth century building was always wasted having a distinctly generic club as its incumbent but it’s a loss the current occupant more than makes up for. The separating layer between second and third floors has been ripped out to open up an expansive yet intimate space with optimum acoustics. The venue’s plush chrome naming on the outside is a signifier of the sharp use of design within. It’s a shame they couldn’t resist hanging four bashful disco balls from the ceiling. They looked like History of Art student in the Brotherton; not really sure what they were doing there.

LS2 sat in the fancy balcony section looking out onto the stage with a perfectly angled viewpoint. There are more than a fair few rows of extremely comfy, prim and proper seating with enough legroom to allow for clambering between aisles. It seems more than a bit of an odd juxtaposition compared to the squashed revelers below but we weren’t complaining. Throw in the bar at the back of the section which seemed to have more staff than punters – making service instantaneous – and plasma screens showing the gig going on behind you and it's a winning combination.

The Academy’s structural masterpiece - and what will doubtless turn into its signature features – are the fantastically grandiose iron arches supporting the crisply white ceiling. At first glance they look like a mimic replication of Tudor architecture but on closer inspection they have an industrial characteristic. It’s like a sixteenth century builder has joined forces with Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The luxuriously purple curtains enclosing the stage add an element of theatre to proceedings; they provide a fantastically unique frame to the drama enclosed.

Underground Club

LS2 had high expectations for this much rumoured-about little club. Unfortunately these expectations weren’t quite met. Situated, surprisingly, underground the main room, the after-party venue immediately strikes you as being exceedingly white. It’s clearly a deliberate design choice but one that seems flawed. You don’t want to party in a place that reminds you of the hospital where your great aunt died. In spacial terms, think Wire or even Hifi but with a clinical edge. It didn’t work; there was no charm. Our judgement may have been influenced by the fact it was populated by numerous older folk also on a freebie night out (all on the weirder side of inebriation) but we doubt it. An amusing side note on the club found manifestation in a sign nailed to the wall: “We kindly ask that patrons refrain from smoking in the venue.” Funny, we thought it wasn’t really a matter of choice since September 1 2007.

Originally published in Leeds Student on October 24 2008