Meeting Minutes

Notes from the meeting held on 9 March 2004 at the University of Westminster

Present: Suzanne Enright (Westminster Chair), Carole Enright, John Gilby (LSE), Marysia Henty, Julie Howell (London Metropolitan University), William Marsterson (Middlesex), Nicholas Martland (SOAS), Rachel Redrup (Reading), Nicola Wright (Imperial)

1. Apologies

Apologies received from Janet Percival (UCL) and Ginny Malone (Greenwich). Welcome to Marysia Henty who is joining the Group from LSE and to Carole Enright, attending the meeting for items 4 & 5. Items 4 & 5 taken first.

4. Checklist/welcome pack for new members

CE showed the designs for the welcome pack. Following discussion it was decided that:

• information on CPD25 should be included with a request to the new member institution to nominate a training and & development rep. CE will contact Caroline Holebrook for copy. Action CE
• A flyer for InforM25 should also be included. Action JH

JH will do a final proof read. The Group will send comments to Julie to sort and send onto CE by 15th March. SE will check the formatting of the Annual Report. JH will circulate the checklist of contents to the Group. Actions JH, SE, All

The pack will go to all new members and the LLDA.

5. Re-design of leaflets/other PR materials

Following discussion of the existing leaflets and flyers, it was decided to:

• Update the promotional text for the InforM25 service. CE will design something strong to hand out at information points to users.
• Stop promoting the Union List of Serials as a specific service, it will be promoted under the umbrella of the InforM25 service.

NW will work with CE on the revision with the aim of including the new flyer in the Welcome Pack. Action CE, NW

The Welcome Pack will be circulated by the end of April.

JG reported on the developments with the Disaster Control Plan website. He is waiting for further information from the Group before taking action to help with the promotion side.

Suzanne introduced the issue of the Access & Borrowing Scheme, which due to limitations with the Sconul scheme, is to be re-introduced. The Group will be called on to design the flyer and card for the scheme in the near future.

2. Minutes of last meeting

Corrections:
Item 3, the online booking form for CPD25 has been done.
Item 6, Action is for NM not NW.

3. Matters arising

Item 4 Website.

• Introduction has been done.
• Investigations are under way to improve the accessibility. Costings will follow.
• Budget for the website is held by AWP.
• Action on NW to be carried over. Action NW
• JG is now the LIS-M25 list owner.

Item 6 Key Facts - actions are carried over. Action WM, NM

Item 7 Leaflets and PR materials - action carried over. Action NW

Item 8. Links with other groups. WM reported that health groups are developing but the final structure is not clear. He will keep a watching brief and report back to the Group.

Item 9. Action plan. Archives. Action on JP re SLAIS student carried over. Action JP

6. Member's Survey

The Group discussed the options:

• To re-run the survey?
• To ask a professional survey company to design something new?

The purpose of the survey would be to find out if the advocacy work has been effective. If it has we should see an improvement in the awareness of the consortium.

Following discussion, it was agreed to repeat the original questionnaire, updated where necessary, in May. This will give a direct comparison on which to test awareness. Action SE will update the questionnaire.

7. Update on other work

WM pointed out that with the increase in numbers of institutions joining the M25, including those from outside of SCONUL, it was going to be increasingly time-consuming to prepare statistics for the "10 key facts". WM suggested a broad/general statement of numbers be cited, and that making comparisons (such as 10 x the number of visits to the Tower of London) would be more useful. SE agreed with this.

MH asked what was the purpose of these facts. MH also pointed out that people did not want to be swamped with figures. JG suggested cutting some of the statistics in the "10 key facts" and emphasise the richness of the collections. JG said the borrowing statistics should be kept. WM would consider what was best to put into the "10 key facts". WM also suggested changing the title to "Headline points" or similar rather than "10 key facts". Action WM

The existing text of the "10 key facts" (after amending the number of member institutions and libraries) would go into the Welcome Pack, if the text could not be completely rewritten by the deadline.

8. Links with other Consortium groups

SE informed members of the committee needed to liaise with their relevant Working Groups.

9. Action Plan for 2003/04

SE recommended that discussion of the Action Plan be left until the next meeting. Agreed.

10. AOB

SE said the Powerpoint presentation on the M25 had been updated and would be sent to the Steering Group for comment.

SE said this year's budget is £5,000. £700 had been spent so far; funds would be needed for the Welcome Pack and leaflets; £1,050 had been spent on the website.

SE informed the committee that she would be standing down to take up the Chair of SCONUL. Maire Lanigan from St.Mary's is the new chair.

MH would prepare a press release about new members. Action MH

11. Date of next meeting

The date of the next meeting would be 12 or 20 May. Dates and times to be confirmed.

Minutes by NW and NM.