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Collaboration & Partnership 10 May 2004

Meeting Minutes

Minutes of the Meeting held on Monday 10 May 2004 at the University of London Library

Present: Mary Davies (Chair), Penny Dade, Adam Edwards, Brian Murphy, Fiona O'Brien, Rachel Redrup.

By invitation: Michael Reynier, London Higher

1. Apologies for Absence

Apologies for absence were received from Christine Muller, David Ward and Christine Wise.

2. Minutes of the meeting held 29 March 2004

These were accepted as a true record, subject to the date in Minute 7 being changed to 10 May 2004.

3. Matters arising

Regarding links with the British Library, DW will approach Jan Wilkinson about BL representation on the Group. Regarding links with MLA, MD will invite Chris Batt to attend a meeting of the group, possibly in the autumn.

4. London Higher: presentation by Michael Reynier, Projects & Policy Manager, London Higher

MD welcomed Michael Reynier (MR) to the meeting. MR gave a presentation on the work of London Higher which was mainly in the advocacy and promotion area at present. A particular focus was on the launch the next day of London: the knowledge capital, an advocacy publication on the economic and wider impact of London's universities and higher education colleges. MD and the M25 Consortium chair had been invited to the launch.

[Secretary's note: The full text is available for the presentation given by Michael Reynier. ]pdf Get Acrobat Reader

Discussion

In discussion, the following points were made:

  • The effects on London of top-up fees likely to be introduced from 2006 needed consideration. The costs of being a student in London were an issue and a factsheet was to be produced.
  • The international student market is still growing but it was wise not to be too dependent on one particular area.
  • London Higher had links with the Association of London Colleges regarding widening participation. Noted that the brochure being published did not cover this area. Also noted that widening participation students tended to go to their local university.
  • MR would be interested in receiving information about M25 Consortium libraries for potential mention in future publications.

MD thanked MR on behalf of the Working Group for his presentation.

5. Mapping with other library consortia

AE had circulated notes of his work on mapping M25 activities with those of other library consortia.

Reported that the work of the M25 Consortium seemed to be in advance of other consortia and little or no information had been found about activities in some regions. Most information had been found about the North West (NOWAL) and the East Midlands (EMUA).

Noted that the EMUA was a Vice-Chancellors' group and a Librarians' Group and an IT Task Group reported to it. This might provide a good model for joined-up working.

It was further noted that the BL was working closely with the Yorkshire and Humberside region.

Adam was thanked for his work and would continue to keep a watching brief over the activities of other consortia.

6. M25 Annual Report 2003-04 and Action Plan for 2004-05

MD had circulated the draft annual report on progress of the M25 Development Plan during 2003-04. This included an update on the WG's activities. Discussion centred on items that might be included in the WG's plans for 2004-05 and the following were suggested:

  • The aim should be to have more focused action points
  • There was a perceived need to progress and prioritise the link with London Higher
  • There should be two ALCL/FE/LLDA/M25 events a year
  • Liaison with the British Library should be progressed
  • The task of the Group to consider potential new Consortium membership should be added
  • The Group should provide input into the work of the LLDA
  • The Group should also encourage participation in the work of ALM London e.g. the initiative in the area of business information and SMEs (on which LLDA was leading)
  • Consideration should be given to extending membership of the Group to representatives of other partner organisations
  • There should be at least 5 meetings of the group

It was further noted that the task of liaising with the NHS had passed to the Joint Working Group.

Noted the need to recruit a senior M25 Consortium member to take on the task of liaising with ALCL now that MD was on the LLDA Board and a Trustee of ALM London.

A member of the group would also be needed to take on the task of liaising with potential new Consortium members.

Agreed that MD and BM would draft the actions for the 2004-05 plan and circulate to the Group before submitting it for inclusion in the Consortium's plan for consideration at its June meeting. Action: MD/BM

7. Action plan - reports from members

UK libraries Plus AE reported that City University, SOAS and the University of the Arts London were all joining UK Libraries Plus.

SEUL AE reported that the next meeting of SEUL was to be on 11 June.

ALCL/FE event FO'B reported on the ALCL/FE/LLDA/M25 event to be held on 7 July. The programme was progressing though all speakers were as yet not confirmed. Part of the programme would involve break out sessions to consider shared issues which might inform themes of future events. FO'B was thanked for her work on the event.

LLDA FO'B reported on a recent INSPIRE presentation in Birmingham where there were issues similar to LLiL regarding low take-up. The Birmingham scheme also covered FE. Issues of monitoring were considered as it was suspected that take-up was actually higher than the figures suggested. A 'welcome pack' was to be considered (for LLiL?). While the London Libraries website received a large number of hits these did not seem to convert to much increased use of HE libraries.

FO'B also reported that the recent Who's in charge? report on public libraries had been based on Cipfa statistics 2002. Since that time use of public libraries appeared to be increasing.

The LLDA was considering a bid to the Laser Foundation (which recently issued a call for proposals) for £25k to extend the London Libraries website to include subject collections. A possible additional bid could be to extend WiLL to include interlibrary loans and access by mobile devices. The M25 Systems team would be involved in these bids.

FO'B reported that MLA was funding (£500k) People's Network Services, an online enquiry and reference service to support e-learning and access to e-government services. Noted that it might be useful for a representative of the e-Envoy to attend a WG meeting, given the remit was changing. It was noted that London Connects was to develop a London portal which would connect to WiLL.

CDL MD reported on a meeting with Peter Griffiths and the M25 Systems Team to discuss the possibility of creating a CDL catalogue search system. CDL were also in touch with CPD25 and interested in interacting with the work of the Disaster Management Group. The difficulties of the FOI Act for them were an issue and possibly M25 libraries could help with access to government publications.

ALCL FO'B reported on the ALCL/LLDA marketing campaign 'get your teeth into the internet' on London underground trains. BM had attended a recent ALCL meeting.

8. Date of Next Meeting

To take place in July after the ALCL/FE event. [Subsequently arranged for 19th July at 2.30 p.m.]

BM 13 May 2004

 

 

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