CONFIRMED minutes of the Meeting held Monday 7 December 2009
Bloomsbury Healthcare Library

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


Apologies:        
Bethan Adams, Bill Downey


1. Welcomes
AM welcomed colleagues to the meeting, especially John Gilby, who was attending his first meeting.


2. Minutes of the meeting held 29 September 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 Steering Group meeting held 22 October 2009, available from http://www.m25lib.ac.uk/thursday_22_october.html, and the following discussion items:

• Outcomes of the recent Strategic Planning workshop;
• Development of the Strategic Plan;
• Launch and use of the online Directors’ Room;
• Development of an online M25 Staff Room for other staff;
• Involvement of the M25 Consortium in a bid for London to be World Book Capital 2012;
• Work of the Digital Developments Working Group on the review of InforM25 and consortia digitisation at article/chapter level for sharing;
• Working group on British Library Reading Room usage; AM had been invited to attend in her capacity as Chair of the M25 Strategic Partnerships Working Group;
• Review of the M25 Consortium’s marketing strategy and initiatives;
• Vacancies on the M25 Steering Group and the Digital Developments Working Group;
• M25 Consortium AGM 23 April 2010; the theme to be discussed via the Directors’ Room;
• Promotion and use of the M25 Access scheme.

4.Current issues of interest to M25 Consortium members not funded by HEFCE
AY reported that she had posted a request for information in the Directors’ Room and had received one reply, from JG.
In discussion, it was noted that the outcome of the WAM25 bid for HEFCE funding was of particular interest to M25 Consortium members not funded by HEFCE.
It was agreed that AY would contact Directors of other non-HEFCE funded institutions in membership of the M25 Consortium to establish their interests and to encourage them to use the Directors’ Room.
ACTION AY


5.Inspire London: update and launch
AM reported on a recent meeting that she and JG had attended.  Discussions were continuing on updates to the Inspire London website and on links to InforM25.  Following this, there would be training for staff in M25 libraries and publicity for the launch of a reference access service in Spring 2010.  Another meeting had been scheduled for January 2010.


6.Update on library consortia
TC reported on the updated paper he had prepared on UK library consortia. JG would contact consortia representatives to gauge their interest in an exchange of experience session facilitated by the M25 Consortium. ACTION JG.
GS would review and report back on best practice in US library consortia. ACTION GS


7.London health libraries: M25 Consortium engagement and current developments
DH reported on the recent NHS/HE conference, held 26 November 2009.  It is intended that this will be an annual event.
There had been a meeting of the London Health Libraries Council in October 2009, which had focussed on the Library Quality Assurance Framework (LQAF).
DH noted that changes were underway to the primary care trusts in the London area, which would have an impact on library provision.  She reported that the NHS was looking to join the UK Research Reserve for back-runs of healthcare journals.


8.Review of Working Group’s web pages on the M25 Consortium website -
TC reported that the website content was generally current, with the exception of the minutes of the meeting held on 29 September 2009.  CW would investigate publication of these minutes. ACTION CW
TC would review the content of the web pages in relation to those of other working groups, to see what further comparable information could be added.  It was noted that the list of organisations the working group liaised with was out-of-date and could be updated and that the web pages could contain data and papers of interest in addition to the minutes of meetings. ACTION TC
JG noted that the M25 Support Team was reviewing the M25 web pages and that this would be brought to the attention of the M25 Steering Group in January 2010.


9.Updates for the M25 Consortium Action Plan
AM noted that the M25 Action Plan would be posted on the M25 web pages.  For this Working Group, key activities included the launch of Inspire London and liaison with other library consortia.


10.Any other business
There was none.


11.Date of next meeting
AY offered to host the next meeting during the last three weeks of February 2010 at the Horniman Museum.  CW would canvass for dates. ACTION CW