Library Redevelopment

[Fawksie]

I remember that the former Head Librarian of St Andrews, Jon Purcell left for Durham last year (http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/itsold/news ... rcell.html), which has a very similar library to St Andrews (similar size and multi-storey carpark design).

Regard:
Strangely familar.

God, that's uncanny. I thought that was an impression of the plan for the St Andrews extension when I glanced at it.

[Query]

I remember that the former Head Librarian of St Andrews, Jon Purcell left for Durham last year (http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/itsold/news ... rcell.html), which has a very similar library to St Andrews (similar size and multi-storey carpark design).

Regard:
Strangely familar.

God, that's uncanny. I thought that was an impression of the plan for the St Andrews extension when I glanced at it.

Wait a minute. Fawksie, are you a furry?

[Fawksie]

Wait a minute. Fawksie, are you a furry?

Uh, yes. Why do you ask?

[LonelyPilgrim]

We should bring back Brian Lang.

Is there any way to force a principal to resign?

Dear God man, what are you smoking?

[Sally B]

How many of those trashing B Lang actually knew him or understood the work he did for the University? He inherited a university that was crippled by debt and frankly a long way down any league tables and left one with the dosh to build a new library and a top 5 position. That's not a bad legacy.

[LonelyPilgrim]

How many of those trashing B Lang actually knew him or understood the work he did for the University? He inherited a university that was crippled by debt and frankly a long way down any league tables and left one with the dosh to build a new library and a top 5 position. That's not a bad legacy.

Sure... if all you care about is results and don't give a tinker's damn about means. And, pedantically, clearly he *didn't* leave enough 'dosh' to build a new library.

[Ian Sutherland]

How many of those trashing B Lang actually knew him or understood the work he did for the University? He inherited a university that was crippled by debt and frankly a long way down any league tables and left one with the dosh to build a new library and a top 5 position. That's not a bad legacy.

Your claim about the university's finances are, to put it mildly, inaccurate.

From the university's financial statements, available from the FOI section of the website:
Net debt July 2000 (year before Lang arrived): £ 24.35 million
Net debt July 2009 (year after Lang left): £ 61.037 million

I haven't been able to find the university rankings for 2001 (I think they are on the Times website but only available to subscribers). But a passing mention in a 2001 story in the Times Higher Education Supplement mentions St Andrews being in the top ten. I do personally remember that in 2002 (when I came to St Andrews to study mathematics), the university was 2nd after Cambridge in mathematics. So I'm sure the university was already climbing the league tables by the time Lang arrived.

Furthermore, the reason the university is high in the league tables is due to a policy developed back in the 1990s by Struther Arnott and David Corner of aiming to recruit a lot of talented lecturers and researchers and trying to boost research funding. (The policy had only just started paying off in time for the 2001 RAE.) Frequently if there were two good applicants for a single post, they would appoint both. I know from speaking to various lecturers recruited at that time that Arnott always personally attended (and participated in) interviews for lectureships, because of the value he placed on high-quality recruitment. (Lang, needless to say, did not.)

[Guest]

...I know from speaking to various lecturers recruited at that time that Arnott always personally attended (and participated in) interviews for lectureships, because of the value he placed on high-quality recruitment. (Lang, needless to say, did not.)

Wow. If that is true (and I do wonder how representative your 'various' lecturers are) that was an unbelievable amount of micromanagement in individual schools and departments, particularly those in which Arnott had no knowledge of the subject.

[Frank]

...I know from speaking to various lecturers recruited at that time that Arnott always personally attended (and participated in) interviews for lectureships, because of the value he placed on high-quality recruitment. (Lang, needless to say, did not.)

Wow. If that is true (and I do wonder how representative your 'various' lecturers are) that was an unbelievable amount of micromanagement in individual schools and departments, particularly those in which Arnott had no knowledge of the subject.

I was thinking along the same lines; Arnott might have had the interest, but I don't see how he'd necessarily have the skill or valuable input into verifying whether someone's any good or not. It seems an improbable solution that's unlikely to do what is desired, not to say that it therefore is wrong or didn't work, but nevertheless it seems...unlikely.

[Ian Sutherland]

...I know from speaking to various lecturers recruited at that time that Arnott always personally attended (and participated in) interviews for lectureships, because of the value he placed on high-quality recruitment. (Lang, needless to say, did not.)

Wow. If that is true (and I do wonder how representative your 'various' lecturers are) that was an unbelievable amount of micromanagement in individual schools and departments, particularly those in which Arnott had no knowledge of the subject.

I was thinking along the same lines; Arnott might have had the interest, but I don't see how he'd necessarily have the skill or valuable input into verifying whether someone's any good or not. It seems an improbable solution that's unlikely to do what is desired, not to say that it therefore is wrong or didn't work, but nevertheless it seems...unlikely.

Well, it's certainly university policy (or at least was when I left St Andrews) that when a lecturer was being recruited, the Dean (or maybe Pro Dean?) has to be on the interview panel, so it's not a great stretch for a Principal (who is willing to make the time) to sit on the panel. One can hardly expect a Dean from say, a computer science background, to be particularly capable of judging the research abilities of a biologist. That's what the specialist members of the panel are for, and I assume a competent Dean will defer to them on that point. Presumably that's what Arnott did, *but* he also had the authority to make a snap decision to appoint two strong applicants when only one post was advertised. In one particular instance I know of in maths, he appointed three people: Lars Olsen (of "tiny tiny tiny epsilon" fame -- what a loss to the university if he had not been appointed! ), Bernard Stratman, and somebody else (I'd guess Nik Ruskuch, but I'm not sure). As I said in my earlier post, maths had climbed to 2nd in the UK when I came for my first degree in 2002, so that decision, plus the headhunting of strong people like Ken Falconer, definitely paid off.

(Incidentally, a quick google search turns up this interview with Douglas Dunn as evidence of Arnott's involvement in recruitment: http://www.booksfromscotland.com/Author ... -Interview)