About Corporate and Information Services
The Directorate of Corporate and Information Services is led by the Deputy Registrar and is responsible for six key University services: Planning, Strategic Programmes and Change, Governance and Assurance, Legal Services, Health and Safety Services, and Information Services (which includes the Library, Archives and IT functions). The purpose of the Directorate is threefold; to enhance coordination between central professional services and academic departments with the aim of improving services to both staff and students, to ensure that the governance, assurance, risk and resilience management activities of the University are joined-up and to provide the capability to support the delivery of strategic initiatives and institutional change.
As a Directorate we strive to provide the best student and staff experience through a strong customer focus, agile and effective services and a commitment to continuous improvement. We work in collaboration with colleagues both within the Directorate and across the University to achieve these aims.
Information Services
Information Services is one of the largest Professional Support Services at York, with a community of approx 275 staff, working across Library, Archives and IT Services.
The Department has a very strong reputation within the University and externally. We are proud to hold the Customer Service Excellence accreditation; the first department at the University to be awarded this standard and one of the first converged services (eg Library and IT Services) in Higher Education to receive it. Customer Service Excellence requires us to look closely at our services, processes and culture, and to make improvements to them where necessary. It provides a quality framework we use to assess ourselves against and it is an important aspect of our staff culture.
Information Services was awarded the Vice-Chancellor & President’s Special Recognition Award in recognition that “within this Directorate there are a range of people who are regularly working above and beyond the call of duty, often in the background to make all our working lives run more smoothly”. Our staff are frequently recognised through nominations and awards in high profile areas such as The Times Higher Education awards; Women in IT Excellence awards and The Vice-Chancellor’s Teaching awards.
Library
Staff, facilities and business
The Library offers a wide range of services and extensive collections to support the Teaching, Learning and Research of the University with a strong focus on customer service and continuous service improvement. With over 1500 study spaces we provide a wide range of study environments including quiet reading areas, flexible group study, specialist research areas, bookable group and individual rooms and PC classrooms. The University Library complex includes the JB Morrell Library, the Raymond Burton Library for Humanities Research, the Borthwick Institute for Archives and the Harry Fairhurst building on the Heslington West campus and is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 362 days a year.
We have a library available at the King’s Manor in the centre of York, the Library@Piazza is located on Campus East in the Piazza Learning Centre, and we are responsible for running York Minster Library, under a partnership agreement with the Dean and Chapter. The Library also supports a range of general study spaces available across campus, including a variety of pop up library study spaces during exam periods.
In 2018 the University of York achieved joint top position in Times Higher Education Student Experience Survey for the Good library and library opening hours question.
We develop our collections in response to learning, teaching and research priorities, working closely with departments to understand and anticipate their needs, and providing them with the resources that will enhance their work. Academic publishing, scholarly communication and research methods are changing rapidly, and we play a leading role in advising academic colleagues about open access, digital scholarship and open research and in launching new endeavours such as White Rose University Press.
We work in partnership with our academic and student communities and are highly regarded by them. Our work using ‘UX’ to understand the needs of our diverse community has received national interest. The team also have a focus on equipping all users (students, academics and researchers and professional services staff) with the digital skills they need to be successful which is sector leading.
Equality, diversity and inclusion
Corporate & Information Services and the University are committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive community and equality of opportunity for all staff. Applications from individuals are encouraged regardless of age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, marriage and civil partnerships.
We offer a range of family-friendly and inclusive employment policies and practices, for example flexible working patterns and a formal flexitime scheme.
The Directorate provides support for all staff in their career development. Staff are encouraged to attend training events and take up opportunities for professional development, including those offered by the award-winning University People and Organisational Development Team. The Directorate gives consideration to supporting secondment opportunities and encourages and supports its staff to gain experiences which will help them work towards their career goals.
We have a culture of reward and recognition and all staff are encouraged to recognise their colleagues through our reward schemes - Staff Contribution, Making the Difference and Rewarding Excellence. We are committed to developing this area further, in recognition that our people and our culture are integral to the delivery of our strategies and aims.
The Directorate recognises the importance of mental and physical wellbeing. We are working as a community to empower our staff to be confident in discussing mental health; facilitating and promoting available mental health resources and events and creating a supportive environment for people to discuss this area openly. Since 2015, Information Services has held an annual staff festival across two days, offering staff a series of activities and training to promote wellbeing; this has now been extended to include Corporate Services since the merger of the two areas.
The Department is committed to establishing a culture of environmental good practice and is working towards the bronze award for Green Impact initiatives.