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APPROVED
in Rīga Stradiņš University
Senate meeting
of 15 June 2021,
Minutes No 2-1/6/2021.

Rīga Stradiņš University
Library
REGULATIONS

Issued in accordance with
Section 15 Paragraph 1 and Section 20 of the Law on Institutions of Higher Education, 
Section 4, Paragraph 2 of Library Law, 
and Paragraph 3.6, sub-Paragraphs 3 
and 6 and Paragraph 3.13 Section One of RSU Constitution.

 

1. General provisions

1.1.    Rīga Stradiņš University Library Regulations (hereinafter - the Regulations) shall determine rights and obligations, organisational structure, areas of activity and  principles of financing of Rīga Stradiņš University Library (hereinafter - the Library).
1.2.    The Library is a department of Rīga Stradiņš University (hereinafter - the University, abbreviated as RSU). It is the main Library of medicine and healthcare science sector in the country, which provides collection, systematisation, cataloguing, bibliographic classification and preservation of printed matter, electronic publications, manuscripts and other documents, and ensures public access to and use of the information contained in the collection of the Library and the provision of library services.
1.3.    The Library shall operate on the basis of these Regulations, in compliance with the University Constitution and with the provisions of internal and external laws and regulations.
1.4.    The full name of the Library in English is Library of Rīga Stradiņš University.
1.5.    The Library shall serve students, academic and general staff of the University, researchers, health care workers of Latvia and every user in the country in accordance with the terms of use of the Library. The terms of use of the Library shall be approved by the Rector of the University.
1.6.    Use of the Library collection shall be free of charge. Prices for fee-based Library services shall be set by the Rector’s decree.
1.7.    The Library collection shall be built up with books and other information resources purchased for the University funds, donations from natural and legal persons, as well as other funds.
1.8.    The Library Council shall participate in the improvement of the work of the Library. The regulations of the Library Council shall be approved by RSU Senate, but its composition shall be approved by the Rector’s decree.

2.    Structure of the Library

2.1.    The Library shall be managed by the Director of the Library, who, without special authorisation, shall represent the Library in matters of his/her competence and shall be responsible for the work of the Library.
2.2.    The Director of the Library shall be appointed and dismissed by the Rector of the University.
2.3.    The Director of the Library shall organise the work of the Library, ensure and be responsible for the achievement of the Library goals specified in these Regulations and the fulfilment of the tasks of its departments; organise the records of the Department; carry out the tasks specified in the University process descriptions and other internal laws and regulations of the University, as well as fulfil the duties specified in the job description.
2.4.    The Director of the Library shall be directly subordinate to RSU Vice-Rector for Science.
2.5.    The Library shall consist of the following departments:
      2.5.1.    Department of Collection and Resource Development;
      2.5.2.    Department of Information, Bibliography and Information Literacy, which contains:
         2.5.2.1.    Interlibrary Loan (hereinafter - the ILL) and International Interlibrary Loan (Hereinafter - the IILL);
         2.5.2.2.    Information and Bibliography Service Point at the Library Information Centre in the Open Access Loan;
      2.5.3.    Department of Information Resources Usage and Maintenance, which contains:
         2.5.3.1.     Open Access Loan;
         2.5.3.2.     Library Information Centre -  Open Access Reading Room User Service Point - Library Loan;
      2.5.4.    World Health Organisation Depository Library in Latvia - the Library Department (hereinafter - the WHO Depository Library in Latvia);
         2.5.4.1.     European Documentation Centre (hereinafter - the EDC);
      2.5.5.    RSU Liepāja Branch Library;
      2.5.6.    RSU Library Branch Information Centre for Healthcare Professionals in Latvia;
      2.5.7.    RSU Library Branch at RSU Medical Education Technology Centre.
2.6.    The Heads of the departments or chief professionals of the branches shall be responsible for the work of the departments, and they shall report directly to the Director of the Library. The Head of the department, without additional authorisation, shall represent the department within the scope of his/her competence.
2.7.    The list of the positions within the Library shall be approved by the Rector of the University upon the recommendation of the Director of the Library and in agreement with the Vice-Rector for Science and the Human Resources Department. 
2.8.    The duties of the library staff shall be determined in the job descriptions approved in accordance with the internal procedures of the University. The job descriptions of the Library staff shall be an integral part of the employment contracts.

3. Library goals

3.1. The main goals of the Library as an accredited library of national significance are the following: 
    3.1.1.   to organise the work in accordance with RSU strategic direction towards the status of a research university by creating the Library as a research library, taking over best practices from the leading foreign university libraries; 
    3.1.2.    to implement RSU Open Access Policy;
    3.1.3.    to ensure the availability of the collection, electronic resources and information systems for the University students, researchers, academic and general staff, healthcare professionals of Latvia and every user of the Library.

4. Tasks of the Library

4.1.     Modernise and expand the range of services provided, develop the infrastructure of the Library departments;
4.2.     Promote the professionalism of the users of the Library, including the professionalism of healthcare workers by providing them with information resources and teaching them how to use these resources;
4.3.     Use available sources of information from other libraries in Latvia and abroad or document delivery centres with the help of the ILL or IILL;
4.4.     Proactively present and publicise the Library information resources, services, RSU scientific activity and repository systems among Library users by promoting user information literacy;
4.5.     Advise the libraries of healthcare institutions and provide them with methodological assistance as necessary;
4.6.     Raise funds to be used for the continuing education of the staff, expansion of the Library collection and other resources of the Library, or the state-of-the-art development of the Library;
4.7.     Maintain feedback from Library users by conducting regular surveys on the quality of the Library information resources and services provided;
4.8.     Prepare and submit the documents and information needed to the University departments in accordance with the internal laws and regulations of the University.

5.    Tasks of the Library departments

5.1.     Each department shall have specific tasks corresponding to the common tasks of the Library:
    5.1.1.    Department of Collection and Resource Development shall:
       5.1.1.1.    build up the Library collection in accordance with RSU study directions and programmes, scientific research directions, Library collection guidelines, decisions of the Library Collection Commission, the place of the Library in the common library coordination system as the main medical sector Library in the country, in accordance with the University financial resources, including expanding the availability of digital resources;
       5.1.1.2.     enter and edit metadata in the electronic joint catalogue of libraries of national significance by creating an electronic catalogue of the University Library, supplementing the database of authoritative records and process resources;
       5.1.1.3.     examine and evaluate the new and changed lists of literature of study course programmes and inform the study course leaders and Heads of the study programmes about the availability of literature in the Library collection for the provision of the study process;
       5.1.1.4.     exclude the items from the Library collection;
       5.1.1.5.     list the collection received and excluded by the Library;
       5.1.1.6.     create an analytical bibliography database of the healthcare and medical sciences sector of Latvia;
       5.1.1.7.     enter and edit metadata in RSU Institutional Repository;
       5.1.1.8.     perform other tasks of similar content in cooperation with other departments of the Library.
    5.1.2.    Department of Information, Bibliography and Information Literacy shall;
       5.1.2.1.    carry out bibliographic references and organise an information and reference system;
       5.1.2.2.     organise and provide information and bibliography services to users;
       5.1.2.3.     create bibliographic databases and lists of information resources;
       5.1.2.4.     promote the information literacy of users, including healthcare professionals of Latvia, about the Library services, resources (subscribed databases, RSU Institutional Repository, Research Data Management System (ZDIS Pure), research data repository Dataverse, etc.), as well as publishing in open access;
       5.1.2.5.    ensure the input, review, approval, storage and analysis of data from scientific publications, doctoral theses and other relevant works published by RSU staff in RSU Research Data Management System (ZDIS Pure) and provide training and support for ZDIS Pure users;
       5.1.2.6.     provide informative research support to RSU staff starting from the emergence of a research idea to the dissemination of the research results;
       5.1.2.7.    provide the Library users with information sources that are not available in the Library collection using the ILL or IILL capabilities;
       5.1.2.8.    carry out other tasks of similar content.
    5.1.3.    Department of Information Resources Usage and Maintenance shall: 
       5.1.3.1.    ensure the availability and use of the Library collection for the continuous implementation of study and research processes;
       5.1.3.2.    promote the use of innovative methods in the organisation and development of the collection;
       5.1.3.3.    publicise the Library collection: regularly create lists of new acquisitions and place them on the website of the Library, organise exhibitions (including for accreditations and licensing of study programmes), send information to RSU departments, Latvian clinics, etc.;
       5.1.3.4.    do stocktaking of the Library, select the information resources for deaccessioning, recataloguing and transferring to other libraries, and organise the work in branch libraries;
       5.1.3.5.    ensure the preservation and restoration of the total collection of the Library;
       5.1.3.6.    ensure that high-quality sources of information are provided to users at the Library service points for work in the Library and outside it; 
       5.1.3.7.    participate in the creation of the Unified Readership Database; 
       5.1.3.8.    conduct Library user surveys and use various other methods to study the level of user satisfaction with the Library information resources and services;
       5.1.3.9.    carry out other tasks of similar content.
    5.1.4.    WHO Depository Library in Latvia shall:
       5.1.4.1.    create and expand the part of the total collection of the University Library, the collection of the WHO Depositary Library in Latvia and the European Documentation Centre (hereinafter the EDC), by providing a user with neutral, accurate and factual information about the EU;
       5.1.4.2.    publicise the WHO and the EDC, as well as their publications in social and other media in cooperation with the WHO Regional Office for Europe in Copenhagen (Denmark), the WHO Representation in Latvia and the European Union Representation in Latvia in order to promote and develop research in the field of European integration;
       5.1.4.3.    engage in various University projects with the aim to raise funding for the continuing education of the Library staff, the purchase of information resources or the modernisation of other Library processes, and organise projects for public involvement in civil dialogue on up-to-date and nationally important EU topics;
       5.1.4.4.     carry out other tasks of similar content.
    5.1.5.    RSU Library Branch Information Centre for Healthcare Professionals in Latvia shall:
       5.1.5.1.    provide information resources and services to every user of the centre, as well as academic staff, researchers and students of RSU agency “RSU Red Cross Medical College”, also performing the functions of the college library;
       5.1.5.2.    provide information resources to users and serve in the reading room in accordance with the Library Rules and Regulations;
       5.1.5.3.    provide high-quality information and bibliography service to users, and teach how to use electronic resources; 
       5.1.5.4.    advise users in the process of using electronic resources or collection;
       5.1.5.5.    carry out other tasks of similar content.
    5.1.6.    RSU Liepāja Branch Library shall:
       5.1.6.1.    provide the academic staff, researchers and students of the branch with information resources and services;
       5.1.6.2.    provide high-quality information and bibliography service to users, and teach how to use electronic resources;
       5.1.6.3.    carry out other tasks of similar content.
    5.1.7.    RSU Library Branch at RSU Medical Education Technology Centre shall:
       5.1.7.1.     provide the academic staff, researchers and students of the branch with information resources and services;
       5.1.7.2.     provide high-quality information and bibliography service to users, and teach how to use electronic resources;
       5.1.7.3.     carry out other tasks of similar content.

6. Cooperation and rights of the Library

6.1.     The Library shall have the right to request and receive the documents and information from the departments of the University, other public and local government institutions, as well as from other persons in cases specified in laws and regulations for the smooth operation of the Library.
6.2.     The Library shall be obliged to provide other departments of the University with the information about its activities in accordance with their requests.
6.3.     The Library shall have the right to receive the necessary financial, material and technical provision for the smooth operation of the Library.
6.4.     The staff of the Library shall participate in working groups and commissions set up by the University in accordance with the internal laws and regulations of the University.
6.5.     The Library shall submit proposals to the University management for the improvement of the activities related to matters within the competence of the Library.
6.6.     The Library shall have the right to involve employees working in other departments of the University in pursuance of the Library goals, agreeing on it with the respective employee and the Head of his or her department.
6.7.     The Library shall have the right to organise consultations with the representatives of the University departments on matters related to the activities of the Library.

The Chairperson of the Senate J. Gardovskis
Director of the Library I. Aploka


AGREED
in Rīga Stradiņš University Rectorate
meeting  of 7 June 2021,
Minutes No. 5-2/23/2021