Hi Caitlin, thanks for responding to my post!

In answer to your first question, about balancing HDR support and collections management and support of undergraduate students: I think that solutions will vary depending on the individual library and its needs. So, I don’t think there is any one solution but that it is important to be mindful that needs must be periodically assessed so that aspects of the organisational structure can be changed accordingly. I think this is true for most organisational constructs. I don’t have any experience working in this particular context, but I have experienced the student and tutor side of things so I have some awareness of how different groups within the university may be invested differently in research.

I think opening parts of the library to the general public would be really useful. Having been in and then out of the university system, there were times when I was unable to access information I needed and I realised the benefits of university. I can predict that some people would prefer to keep collections private in order to ensure that paying clients and staff have priority access to all library facilities. Personally,  I would gladly welcome non-students to access university collections (especially content available online) because access to information in fundamental to bridging gaps in education.