Quality Working Group Meeting Minutes

Minutes of the meeting held on 19 February, 2008 at Birkbeck College

Present: Julie Howell (LMU, Chair), Rodney Amis (KCL), Gill Briggs (TVU), David Clover (ICS), Susan Howard (Imperial), Margaret March (Anglia Ruskin), Philip Payne (Birkbeck), Janet Percival (UCL), Elaine Salter (Westminster)

1. Membership
JH welcomed MM to her first meeting.

2. Minutes of the meeting held on 4 June 2007
RA was added to the list of members who had apologised for absence. With that amendment, the Minutes were agreed as an accurate record.

3. Matters arising
Minute 3: Chartermark. 
        Action: PP to find out what has happened about the proposed CPD25 event on Chartermark   

Minute 3: Library Surveys. DC has been asked to provide CPD25 with more information about the proposed event; CPD25 will see if there is room in their schedule for an event this year.
         Action: DC

4. M25 Action Plan
There was a wide-ranging discussion about the proposed project in support of the SCONUL VAMP project, which would address issues around utilisation of space, including performance indicators and costings. Factors to consider include the high cost of space in SE England, the blurring of learning and teaching spaces in institutions, the gradual disappearance of the traditional library envelope, the costs of open access and off-site storage.
A toolkit could include:
• Costing models for open access and off-site storage
• Information on recent building projects
• Performance indicators and benchmarking
• Impact assessment

It was agreed that we should gather together the available information on space utilisation, including JISC toolkits, and use this information to scope out a project at our next meeting. 
         Action: DC to collate the information.
 

The Group also discussed its short-term targets:
• Directory of expertise in the area of quality. 
       Action: ES to circulate our original survey for discussion.
  This document may provide a basis for an audit

• Application of the Quality Maturity model. Frankie Wilson will be invited to the next meeting.
        Action: JH to contact Frankie Wilson 

• Audit of formal quality processes. This may have been covered by original survey.

5. SCONUL WGPI
PP reported on the last meeting, held in November 2007. LISU and Evidence Base have put in a joint bid to HEFCE for a project on evidence based management in libraries. The Group has agreed that responsibility for its portal will be distributed, rather than centralised. The Group is trying to obtain funding to develop statistics on the web eg to facilitate comparisons between libraries.

6. Any Other Business
At LMU, guidelines have been drawn up concerning the etiquette and ethics of surveys. 
        Action: JH to circulate these guidelines to the Group.

7.  Date and Venue of Next Meetings
  
    22 April 2008  King’s College London
    24 June 2008  University of Westminster