Confirmed minutes of the Meeting held Tuesday 29 September 2009

University of East London

Present:
Bethan Adams, Tim Cullen, Dilys Hall, Ann Murphy (Chair), Gurdish Sandhu, Christine Wise (Secretary), April Yasamee

Apologies:        
Bill Downey


1.Welcomes
AM welcomed colleagues to the meeting, especially Bethan Adams, Gurdish Sandhu and April Yasamee, who were attending their first meeting.


2.Minutes of the meeting held 21 May 2009 and matters arising
These were confirmed as an accurate record.


3.Report back from M25 Consortium Steering Group Meeting
AM noted the minutes of the M25 Consortium AGM held 18 June 2009.  Prior to the AGM, there had been a series of papers on space planning, consortial purchasing and on the Encompass project.

AM reported back on the M25 Consortium Steering Group meeting held 8 July 2009.  Sandy Leitch had taken over as Secretary and was currently reviewing the M25 Consortium website with the M25 Systems Team.  TC reported that he had recently reviewed the Working Group’s web pages and found them to up-to-date, although there was scope to add new content.
ACTION CW for agenda.

AM noted a change in the planning cycle for the M25 Consortium, linked to the recently-awarded charitable status of the Consortium.  In future this would be:
September – afternoon members’ meeting followed by evening networking event
October/November – Steering Group meeting
January – annual Steering Group planning day
March – Steering Group meeting
April – annual M25 Conference including AGM for member representatives

AM noted that the new online Director’s Room had been launched at the members’ meeting held 23 September 2009.

AM noted a recent seminar for Directors on career progression, at which Directors now working at Pro-Vice-Chancellor and similar level had spoken.  It was intended to run further events of this type and to invite other senior managers in M25 libraries to attend.

AM reported that John Tuck had taken over as Chair of the Digital Developments Working Group (formerly the Resource Discovery Working Group).  This Group would be reviewing the Inform25 site and other broader digital issues as part of a revised remit.

AM reported that the Quality Group was looking at job descriptions with a view to holding specimen examples in a repository.  Interest in sample person specifications was also noted.

4.New name and remit for the Working Group
AM confirmed that the name of the Working Group had formally been changed to the M25 Strategic Partnerships Working Group at the M25 Consortium AGM on 18 June 2009.  The remit of the Working Group included a focus on forging links with other regional library consortia, and to focus on internal collaboration, particularly among the non HEFCE-funded members of the Consortium.  AM had been invited by the Steering Group to take the lead in organising a library consortia event in December 2009.

5.Current issues of interest to M25 Consortium members not funded by HEFCE
Following on from the re-focussed remit of the Working Group, AM invited discussion on current issues of interest.  Issues raised included links and liaison between museum libraries in membership of the M25 Consortium, licences and access to electronic and digital resources, particularly for users in “walk-in” categories, and cross-sectoral partnerships for funding applications.  Possible methods to discuss these issues further included focus groups and exchanges of experience.  AY would canvass other issues of interest via the online Directors’ Room and report back.
ACTION AY

6.INSPIRE London: update and launch
AM reported back on a meeting she and TC had recently attended with Philip Payne and Andrew Green (both members of the national INSPIRE board) and with David Brockenhurst.  At this meeting, it had been agreed that David Brockenhurst would chair the INSPIRE London Steering Group, which would also be attended by Aileen Cahill (Croydon Libraries), Elizabeth Charles (Birkbeck College) and Stephanie Kenna (British Library).
Immediate actions for the Steering Group included raising the profile of INSPIRE LONDON with M25 Consortium member libraries, training and documentation to process memberships.  AM noted that the INSPIRE website http://www.findit.org.uk/ might be out-of-date in some aspects, and that there was potential to link content with INFORM25.  This would be investigated with the M25 Systems Team.  The intention was to launch INSPIRE London in early 2010.  AM welcomed comments on operational aspects of the INSPIRE London programme.
ACTION ALL

7.Update on UK library consortia
TC circulated a document listing library consortia which had been prepared by Adam Edwards in 2006, accompanied by an update on the current position.  Comments and suggestions were made regarding other library consortia, which TC would use to prepare a further update.
ACTION ALL

8.London health libraries: M25 Consortium engagement and current developments
BA reported on the recent meeting of the NHS/HE Partnership Group which she had attended.  DH noted that the London Health Libraries Council had not met recently.
Interest in linking health libraries’ catalogues and in providing access to e-resources was noted.
DH would review whether there was the potential for contact with the health librarians’ group CHILL and report back.
ACTION DH

9.Any other business
There was none.

10.Date of next meeting
CW would canvass for the next meeting date circa the first two weeks in December 2009, with a potential venue of the Bloomsbury Healthcare Library.
ACTION CW


CW
Minutes 29 September 2009
October 2009