Meeting Minutes

Notes from the meeting held on 14 January 2004 at the University of Westminster

Present: Suzanne Enright (Westminster – Chair), John Gilby (LSE), Julie Howell (London Metropolitan University), Ginny Malone (Greenwich), William Marsterson (Middlesex), Nicholas Martland (SOAS), Janet Percival (UCL – Minutes), Rachel Redrup (Reading), Nicola Wright (Imperial)

1. Apologies

There were none. The Chair welcomed the two new members of the Group, and outlined previous activities.

2. Minutes of previous meeting

Were agreed.

3. Matters arising

JG confirmed that the AWP web pages were up to date. The introduction needs re-writing (action SE). The CPD25 online booking form had not yet been completed because assistance was not available from the LSE Library IT staff until the end of January.

4. Website

The map no longer appeared on the front page. Radical overhaul of the site must wait until the Group has a new Chair. Issues to be determined include content, management system, hosting, support and design. There was discussion on whether the present ‘volunteer’ approach is adequate, or whether an external company should take on the revision of the site. Action: SE agreed to investigate the cost of getting an external company to do this.

JG announced that Visit a Library went live before Christmas as a pilot. It was agreed that local advocates were needed to publicise pilot projects. The local CPD25 contacts were best placed to do this. It was suggested that CPD25 offer a session on M25 services. Action: NW, as CPD25 contact person, would approach Caroline Holebrook about this. JG volunteered to take over as list owner of the Lis-M25 list for all staff in M25 institutions, with RR as co-owner.

Much of the site did not meet accessibility standards, but it was not considered worth it to spend a lot of money at this stage.

5. Welcome pack

JH had circulated and received comments on her drafts of pack, targeted at Directors, including a list of contents, checklist and covering letter. SE had done more work on the welcome letter, and recently circulated a draft.

6. Key facts

The list has not been updated. The membership of the M25 consortium had now increased beyond that covered by the SCONUL statistics, which posed difficulties in gathering information. Action: WM and NM agreed to produce a draft by the end of February of Key Facts for 2004.

7. Leaflets and PR materials

It was agreed to spend £2k-£3k on pens in the M25 colours. Action: NW would approach Karen Bedwell’s supplier.

8. Links with other groups

Link people for M25 groups were:

• NW: CPD25
• GM: Disability; the group has been in contact with her
• JP: Disaster Management: the Group has now re-invented itself, allowing scope for development
• JH: Access Group: She attended one meeting, but the group has now been disbanded. Some of its functions would pass to Graham Bulpitt’s Student Centred Services Group
• WM and JG: Resource Discovery.
• WM had also been associated with a now defunct Health Librarians’ Group. If nothing develops, this should be referred to the Student Centred Services Group
• Collaboration and Partnership: RR agreed to take this on
• Creative Arts: NM agreed to serve on this

9. Action plan

The LLDA had produced a leaflet for us over the summer. The LLDA would continue in some form after the formation of the new Regional Authority (ALM London). A publicity campaign with Library Schools was suggested. A publicity campaign for InforM25 was suggested. Action: JG agreed to look at the leaflet.

• Internal communication strategy: NW agreed to review this.
• Archives: More information from the web pages should go to the archives. Action: JP agreed to approach SLAIS to see if a student was prepared to be employed to list the archives in relation to the website.
• Survey: SE agreed to re-visit the existing survey rather than produce a new one.
• Budget: The Group had £6k plus some sponsorship money: this should be put towards revising the website.

10. AOB

There was none.

11. Date of next meeting

9 March 2004 at 14:30 at the University of Westminster.

Minutes by JP.