Room Booking

Summary

Aims

The Andrew Wiles Building is an iconic building in Oxford, home to Oxford Mathematics and the research and teaching activity of the Department.  In addition, the Department wishes to make best use of the potential of the Building for reaching out to a variety of external audiences, and for generating revenue which is vital in underpinning the Department’s academic endeavour.  The Department will continue to make best use of the Andrew Wiles Building in this way, whilst managing this alongside its own academic demands on the building and obligations to the wider University. 

Bookings must also comply with the university code of practice on meetings and events

For health and safety reasons it is important that people consider the size of any meeting, class, seminar or lecture room and book the most appropriate room. Room capacities must not be exceeded.

Outline of Process

How to make a booking

Any Department Member may request a booking at any time by emailing @email or by visiting the online room booking calendar.   Any such requests will be dealt with according to the protocols below.  This flow chart may help to give an overview of the process: 
flow chart.pdf

If you wish to hold an event such as a conference and there do not appear to be sufficient rooms free in the online calendar please contact the Events Team @email.  There is often some flexibility in bookings/reservations in the calendar, and the Events Team will explore further, discussing with those who have made the bookings/reservations.  If there are still difficulties the Events Team can also provide support in finding alternative venues.

Further detail on how room booking requests are dealt with

1. All Rooms on the Mezzanine level are initially reserved from Monday week 0 – Friday week 9 each term for Departmental use for teaching and other key events from the lecture list.  The Academic Administration Team will manage all bookings for these periods and must be consulted before any booking is made.  Due to the Department’s commitments to host lectures, seminars and intercollegiate classes only requests for very minimal usage are realistic.  Academic Administration will not give permission for any classrooms to be used during weeks 1-8 of termtime until after all intercollegiate classes have been booked in, and will reserve at least two classrooms during week 9 for this purpose, again not being able to release them for other bookings until after all classes have been scheduled.    Bookings for intercollegiate classes are taken once all the major events from the lecture list have been timetabled, from week 9 of the preceding term. 
2. Each summer Department members will be given the opportunity to request reservations for rooms for other events (over and above the teaching events during weeks 0-9 of term time, and the other reserved rooms – see 6-9 below) for the academic year three years hence (see table overleaf).  In the case of any competing requests these will be adjudicated on by Executive Committee.  It will not be possible to confirm any bookings for the academic year in question until that exercise has been completed.
3. In the case that it is necessary to find a venue elsewhere to accommodate a Departmental booking Executive Committee shall rule on who is responsible for making and paying for that external booking.
4. No bookings at all will be possible beyond this period, with the exception of any which are judged by Executive Committee to be of overriding importance to the Department’s strategic interests.
5. Rooms N3.12, S1.37, S2.37, S0.22 and S0.29 (i.e. all meeting rooms except for the Boardroom N4.01) should generally be for Department-only use.  If they have not been booked for a departmental event by a month beforehand they may occasionally be booked for an external event with a regular client, so long as other rooms remain available for departmental events.  Outside the Department, use of the Boardroom (N4.01) will be confined to specific regular University clients (OUP, Division) and occasional high-profile clients.  The Events team will manage balancing departmental need of meeting rooms against occasional bookings from external clients.
6. Room N4.01 (the Boardroom) will be reserved from 11am-1pm on Wednesdays of weeks 1-9 of term-time for core Department meetings.
7. L5 and C5 (or equivalent/larger rooms), will be reserved for Department-only use from Monday-Friday outside termtime where possible[1]. 
8. L3, N4.01 and three additional classrooms (or closest equivalents) will also be reserved for Department-only use from Monday-Friday in the whole weeks most closely approximating mid June (9th week) to mid July and from Monday-Friday throughout September.  These reservations will be cancelled and the rooms may be put to other use if not booked for a Departmental event by the preceding 1 December.
9. The rooms under 7 and 8 above (or nearest equivalents) will be kept vacant until they are specifically required for Departmental use[2] (i.e. until after all other possible rooms have been exhausted).  
10. The Mezzanine Study Area may be booked if required during the Long Vacation only (week 10 TT – week -2 MT).
11. Anyone wishing to use the ‘event spaces’ (e.g. the north and south mezzanine circulation areas) in any formal way (e.g. with specific tables/stands, etc.) must book them in the online system.
12. In extremis, departmental events may be booked into the Taught Course Centre (Video Conferencing Room), and this can give a little flexibility in problematic cases.  This is only likely to be possible outside term-time.  Any potential bookings must first be checked with the Taught Course Centre Administrator (Sandy Patel).  Note: IT facilities are frustrating for standard users, who will require extra support/whiteboards/etc..  IT staff will need to be available to support.  All bookings should also note ‘Oxford-only event’ in the title or notes of the event, in order not to confuse partner institutions who can see the bookings.
13. External Events (events external to the Department which may be internal or external to the University) may be booked into rooms as required, subject to the restrictions listed above.  However, the Events Team will refer any potentially problematic bookings to Executive Committee in advance – before confirming them to the client.
14. The schedule of external bookings should be reviewed regularly by Executive Committee to aid in developing an understanding of the types of bookings which might be considered potentially problematic under 12. above.
15. Departmental members will be permitted to reserve a booked room for use in the event that it becomes vacant: they will then be given first refusal on the room if it does become vacant.  This should be recorded in the title/notes section of the relevant room bookings.
16. Any member of the Department who wishes to report that their endeavours have been adversely affected by this policy should report to the Director of IT and Physical Resources, who can adjudicate or refer to Executive Committee as necessary.

Within these constraints the Department’s Events Team work to maximise external impact and revenue from other events, alongside the Department’s obligations to the rest of the University.  For department members holding events in the building please see the further policy on Department members organised events room hire policy. In particular note departmental policy is that all department led conferences and events pay the full concessionary room hire cost and not use the funds for other event expenditure at the expense of the room hire contribution.

This policy will be subject to ongoing review by Executive Committee, Department Committee, and Finance Committee.  The rooms which are kept as contingency for Department only use will also be kept under review.  Any points in the policy which require further clarification may be referred to Executive Committee in the first instance.  At times where Executive Committee does not convene for a long period (e.g. in the Long Vacation) the Director of IT and Physical Resources/Head of Department may be consulted.

Example Timetable 

ONCE THIS EXERCISE HAS BEEN COMPLETED:

Contact @email or visit https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/members/room-booking/room-booking-calendar to request bookings up to 31 August 2021.

ONCE THIS EXERCISE HAS BEEN COMPLETED:

Contact @email or visit https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/members/room-booking/room-booking-calendar to request bookings up to 31 August 2022.

Etc. ...

[1] Rooms as described under 7 and 8 will be reserved where possible, once other departmental bookings requested in the annual exercise have been made (e.g. summer schools).  Where these rooms are not available an equivalent room or the room next largest in size will be reserved where possible.   

[2] If someone wants to book one of these rooms the Departmental reservation will transfer to an equivalent room or the next largest room where possible.  Where they cannot be moved to an equivalent or larger room Departmental reservations may only be used for Departmental events.  ‘Departmental events’ include mathematical research seminars and conferences organised by staff based in the Mathematical Institute.