Learning Centre organisational change put users in the centre

Service personnel working at the Centre were divided into Learning Services (LES), Research and Innovation Services (RIS), Information Technology Services (ITS) and Leadership Support Services (LSS). The goal of the organisational change was to focus on customers and customer needs.  The best functioning solution from the point of view of the customers – be they students, researchers, or representatives of the university's administration – is to get the support as an integrated service process from the same service organisation. The details of the change were drawn up carefully together with personnel, and there was no need for personnel cutbacks in connection with the change.

Changing customer needs

In addition to changes in the operating environment, the change was also prompted by changing customer needs. The activities at Aalto University focus on the Otaniemi campus, and separate operating spaces are no longer needed. Digitalisation brings both new operating methods, and changes in access to and use of materials.

'The use of printed material has declined considerably at the Aalto University Learning Centre. Aalto wants to continue to provide versatile service to students, to advise researchers on publication, open science, and on managing data, while supporting the administration on the basis of analysed data' says Tuija Pulkkinen, Vice President of Research and Innovation.

Facilities available for customers

The facilities of the Harald Herlin Learning Centre support a new type of learning, research, and work. Through digitalisation it has been possible to free up facilities for customers and various services.

'At the learning centre the whole community can meet and work creatively together. We have placed the students at the centre of the activities and try to create environments in which learning is fun. We have been very successful at this: in the building there is a palpable buzz of people with a thirst for information'', says Eero Eloranta, Vice President of Education.
 

The facilities of the Harald Herlin Learning Centre support a new type of learning, research, and work. Through digitalisation it has been possible to free up facilities for customers and various services.

'At the learning centre the whole community can meet and work creatively together. We have placed the students at the centre of the activities and try to create environments in which learning is fun. We have been very successful at this: in the building there is a palpable buzz of people with a thirst for information'', says Eero Eloranta, Vice President of Education.

From the point of view of personnel, working tightly as part of their own service organisation brings a new kind of collegial support while enabling learning at work and the development of job descriptions, and in so doing, contributing to occupational well-being.

The personnel, who serve students and teachers, will get a broader view of the everyday activities of their customers, thus enabling them to put some of their own skills and expertise to use in the overall development of services. The same naturally applies to personnel who serve researchers or support the administration of Aalto Univeristy. Placing employees that offer information technology services in the IT service organisation helps secure the transfer of knowledge and skills, while improving the reliability of the services. Job descriptions are further developed in all service organisations, enabling development of deep knowledge in one's own field.

Teams with expertise

From the beginning of the year face-to-face customer service and general service e-mail has been the responsibility of the service points team headed by Matti Raatikainen at Learning Services (LES). In addition, the communications of the Learning Centre is part of the service team of the management of degree programmes (Johanna Söderholm) and services linked with Learning Services premises and systems are part of the teachers' service team (Markus Torkkeli) at Learning Services. 

Research and Innovation Services (RIS) are now responsible for academic publishing, offering researchers support in all phases of research work from collecting data all the way to publishing. The library resources team in research and innovation services handles the procurement of electronic and printed materials, the interlibrary loan and document delivery services. .The supervisor of the team is Mari Aaltonen. The publication activities of Aalto University researchers, the management and publishing of research data and the ACRIS data services are supported by Open Science and ACRIS team headed by Anne Sunikka. ACRIS has shown its strength in the evaluation of research – the data collecting work of the departments is only a fraction of the work required in the previous evaluation.  In addition, more than 25% of all peer-reviewed scientific publications are freely available, partly thanks to the possibility of free self-archiving available inACRIS. Other personnel at Research and Innovation Services support the research and publication process in many other ways.

In addition, expert service personnel can be found in Records Management, Leadership Support Services (LSS), and Information Technology Services (ITS).

Further information:
Eija Zitting, Head of Learning Services (LES) [email protected] tel. +358 50 364 7778
Ella Bingham, Head of Research Strategic Support (RIS) [email protected] tel. +358 50 384 1501

Harald Herlin Learning Centre
Visiting address: Otaniementie 9, Espoo
Home page: http://lib.aalto.fi
Customer Service e-mail: [email protected]
Customer Service telephone: +358 50 316 1011