- In cases of unplanned absence, if the absent colleague has not been able to do so, arrange for their LibAnswers status to be set to ‘Out of office’. (LibAnswers admin can do this).
- Check for any appointments or training sessions scheduled to take place in the staff member’s absence (check with them directly, or look at their Outlook calendar), and instigate processes for arranging cover or postponing as required and appropriate.
- Inform the cover contact and referral / triage contact and instigate cover arrangements.
Note: For unplanned absence, colleague(s) in a regular cover arrangement would not necessarily be expected to be able to provide cover:
- at short notice;
- where the support or session requires specialist expertise;
- where the session is a group sessions arranged for an academic programme;
- in cases of extended absence (more than 2 weeks);
- where their capacity does not allow.
- Ensure scheduled 1-1 appointments are cancelled or re-arranged if they cannot be covered, especially if at short notice. If unplanned absence is short term, ask the absent staff member to rearrange the session on their return.
- Where the unplanned absence affects the delivery of planned group teaching sessions, e.g. as part of an academic programme or for a department, the line manager and / or Head of Library Skills should endeavour to arrange cover, taking into consideration:
- Lead time until the event: Colleagues are not expected to deliver sessions without sufficient preparation time.
- Availability of session materials: Library trainers should have their session materials readily available to colleagues via the ‘Training for academic programmes’ folder on the Library Skills Team site (see Agreed ongoing cover arrangements in the guidance for the skills trainer / liaison librarian taking absence). If this has not happened, the contact in the department may be able to provide materials used the previous year, if session has been delivered before.
- The expertise required to deliver the session: In some cases, e.g. subject specialist sessions, there may be no other colleagues able to deliver the session.
- Where it is not possible to find cover for planned group teaching sessions, direct students to asynchronous materials or our scheduled programme of bookable sessions where appropriate, and ask the absent colleague to rearrange the session on their return.
- Where unplanned absence is more than 2 weeks, establish extraordinary arrangements for cover, consulting the Head of Library Skills (for skills cover) or Head of Academic Engagement (Subject Liaison Team) or Site Libraries Manager for liaison cover, as appropriate.
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