Ms Josephine Margaret Webb

National Teaching Fellow 2005 Jo Webb is Head of Academic Services within the Department of Library Services at De Montfort University. She is responsible for library and learning services in support of learning, teaching and research. She is in charge of a large and diverse team including librarian liaison and subject support work with students, researchers and staff, and for central academic learning development support, including maths. Jo was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship on the basis of her impact on the learning community at De Montfort University, developing innovative and collaborative approaches to enhancing the student experience. Since the award, her role has changed significantly as she has moved into a more senior management role, but the commitment to innovation and collaboration continues. Recently the integrated Academic Services model at De Montfort, building interprofessional teams in a redeveloped physical library space, with very positive learner evaluation, has aroused significant interest within the sector, and the university hosted a conference in June 2008 on this theme. Jo is active in a number of other areas in teaching and the support of learning. Together with Chris Powis (NTF 2004), she wrote Teaching information skills: theory and practice (Facet, 2004), and has continued to work with him in professionalizing the practice of librarians and information professionals in learning and teaching. She and Chris have run workshops and held conferences on learning and teaching for library and information professionals. They have also spoken at conferences and seminars in North America and Australasia and are working on another book with Helen Blanchett. Another strand of activity has been in library support for research and researchers. Together with Pat Gannon-Leary and Moira Bent (NTF 2005), Jo wrote Providing effective library services for research (Facet, 2007) and several journal articles, which have explored the ways researchers interact with libraries and information. She is particularly interested in research and life course analysis and runs workshops on this area. Finally, for her NTF project Jo is exploring the relationship between reading engagement and learning engagement in HE. Jo seeks to link theory with practical application in each area of her work.