| Advocacy Working Party 15 July 2004 |
Meeting Minutes
Notes from the meeting held at the London School of EconomicsPresent: Máire Lanigan (St. Mary's & Chair), John Gilby (LSE - Minutes), Julie Howell (London Metropolitan University), Nicholas Martland (SOAS), Janet Percival (UCL), Rachel Redrup (Reading). Apologies: Marysia Henty (LSE), Ginny Malone (Greenwich), William Marsterson (Middlesex), 1. Introduction of Group MembersML introduced herself as the new Group Chair and other attendees also introduced themselves and outlined their roles within the group. 2. Previous Meeting Minutes & Matters ArisingThe minutes from the meeting on 9 March 2004 were agreed as a true and accurate record. The following list is an update on the actions from the previous meeting and also matters arising:
All other actions from the previous meeting not contained in the list above are covered in subsequent agenda items below. 3. Approval of Agenda and Additional Items.The Meeting Agenda was approved with the addition of two issues that are minuted below. 2004 Staff Awareness Survey JH reported on the recently completed Staff Awareness Survey. The survey was essentially the same as the survey carried out in 2001 using the same questions to gauge changes in awareness of M25 activities. Most areas of the Consortium's activities were covered such as the web site, disaster preparedness, training, etc.. JH had carried out an initial analysis of the results. Compared to 2001, there was much more awareness of the web site, training programme and particularly, InforM25. JG commented that the CC-interop Project User Behaviour Study carried out by CERLIM based at MMU, also was encouraging on the promotion of InforM25 which tied in with the survey findings. JG also informed the group that there were plans to create better web statistics both for InforM25 and the static web pages, and that when available, the requirement specification would be passed to the group for comment. Action 3.1 JG to send group the CC-interop CERLIM Report URL. Action 3.2 JG to send group draft web statistics requirment specification for comment. Action 3.3 JH to draw up a list from the survey results of CPD courses taken up and forward to CPD25. Action 3.4 All group members to inform their link working groups of the survey findings. M25 Consortium Annual Report ML raised a query about the M25 Annual Report (2002-3) that was contained within the Welcome Packs as there was now a new Annual Report (2003-4) available. In reply, JH related the history of the design and content of the welcome packs working with Suzanne Enright (Westminster) and the designer. After a short discussion, ML agreed to take the issue of the Annual Report to the Steering Group to see if they wish the 2003-4 report to be similarly designed and printed. Action ML to ask M25 Steering Group if they wish the AWG to commission work to print the 2003-4 Annual Report. 4. Membership of the GroupIt was announced that Nicola Wright (Imperial) had stood down from the group and all agreed a vote of thanks for her many contributions to the work of the group since its inception. Additionally, it was noted that RR would not be available until Spring 2005. The list of AWG members and their links to other working groups is summarised below:
It was noted that currently, there was no AWG contact for the Working Group on Quality and that NM would take over the Collaboration and Partnership WG from RR during her absence. ML expressed a desire to increase the membership of the AWG and this was supported by all those present. All agreed that potential new members with appropriate skills would be benificial. Action 4.1 All to consider anyone with the necessary skills who may be approached for AWG membership and report back to the group. 5. Top Ten FactsML enquired as to the background of the Top Ten Facts document. The group related the document history and confirmed that it was aimed at people outside of the Consortium. RR mentioned that something similar had been done at the University of Reading. It was noted that Paper 1 was the most recent. There was a discussion on whether to use comparators within the text and the group concluded that comparators would be useful on facts 3, 4, 5 & 8. Action ALL to suggest suitable comparators via email to the group. JH commented that the numbering of the facts was off-putting and the group agreed that the numbers should be replaced with some form of graphical bullet such as a chevron or arrow. ML & JH queried whether the web version of the document could have specific words or phrases highlighted. In reply JG stated that this was easily achieved. It was noted that the Top Ten Facts within the Welcome Packs was an earlier version and that it was within the AWG remit to keep the document up to date. 6. Welcome Pack for New MembersMuch of this agenda item was covered elsewhere but ML raised the issue of sending the pack to new members of staff recently taking up a post at established M25 member institutions. It was noted that the Consortium Chair or Secretary liaise with new Consortium members (including sending out the Welcome Packs) but that the AWG need to send packs to new staff at current member institutions. JG suggested that this could be tied in with the activities to update the "M25 People & Contacts" page. Action JG to discuss procedure for sending Welcome Packs to new staff members with M25 Secretary. 7. Publicity and Promotion ActivitiesThis item began with a discussion on the differences between editing and writing copy and all agreed that the group can assist the Consortium with writing texts for promotional purposes. The Disaster Management WG are keen to have their new Disaster Management Plan promoted, for example by CILIP and the Journal of Academic Librarianship. NM was happy to assist with reviewing the DMG draft text and it was hoped that MH could also help. 8. Action Plan ReviewFollowing a brief discussion, it was agreed that reviewing the group action plan be deferred to the next meeting. Action ML to circulate to the group the AWG contribution to the M25 Annual Report 2003-4. 9. Future Work - M25 Web Site ReviewML introduced this item stating that a planned activity for 2004-5 was a complete review and updating of the Consortium web site. ML had heard that the person who was responsible for updating the LMN web site would be useful to talk to. The M25 Steering Group view was that external effort would be necessary for the web site re-design. JG queried which elements of the web site were to be reviewed: the "static" web pages on www.m25lib.ac.uk; the (relatively recent) www.cpd25.ac.uk site; or the currently being created www.inform25.ac.uk services site. JG commented that changes to the layout, colours, overall look-and-feel to the live services pages would need careful consideration. Action ML to seek clarification from the Steering Group which 'web sites' are expected to be included in the review. The group thought that it would be helpful if staff from LMN could come and share their recent experiences to assist with planning the M25 web review. JG recounted what had been done with the various M25 web pages with respect to accessibility considerations. He explained that it is not simply testing individual pages with appropriate software thought this is an important task. The site navigation and usability also requires assessing. 10. AOBJG updated the group on the M25 Systems Team staffing for August 2004 onwards. ML suggested that the group ought to meet again before the next M25 Steering Group meeting scheduled for 7 October 2004. Action 10.1 ML to circulate dates for next meeting to group. Minutes by JG. |
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