Meeting Minutes

Minutes of the Meeting held on Monday 19 July 2004 at the University of London Library

Present: Mary Davies (Chair), Adam Edwards, Brian Murphy, Fiona O'Brien, Rachel Redrup, Christine Wise (Secretary).

1. Apologies for Absence

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

2. Minutes of the meeting held 10 May 2004

These were accepted as a true record.

3. Matters arising

There were no matters arising.

4. Building Learning Partnerships event - report by Fiona O'Brien, LLDA

MD invited FOB to present her report on the Building Learning Partnerships event which had been held at the British Library on 9 July 2004.

FOB reported that the event had been successful and that good feedback had been received. Overall, the event had provided a welcome opportunity for networking. Social inclusion and widening participation strategies had been of great interest to the delegates, linking to programmes such as the HEFCE Active Community Fund and careers pathways. She would circulate the URL for presentations arising from the Building Learning Partnerships event, when it became available.

AE mentioned the Swiss libraries' co-operative access model, www.bibliopass.ch/index.html, which had recently come to his attention, as a programme germane to this discussion. Other successful regional partnerships, such as the library at Chatham, managed jointly by the Universities of Kent and Greenwich and Canterbury Christchurch University College; and the Knowledge Spa at Truro, a co-operative initiative between the local public library authority and the NHS, were discussed.

Following on from the success of this event, the organising group had decided that there was considerable potential for a follow-up seminar, to be held in November 2004. It was agreed that the programme for such an event would be discussed at the next Working Group meeting. Action CW for Agenda

MD thanked all members of the organising group, speakers, and the British Library for their contributions to a most successful event.

5. ALCL representative

MD reported that a representative, at M25 Director level, was needed to represent the M25 Consortium at meetings of the Association of London Chief Librarians (ALCL). It was agreed that interest in representing the M25 Consortium at these meetings should be canvassed at M25 Director level. Action MD

In order to inform future representation at and discussions with ALCL, further mapping of the M25 Consortium's Development Plan against the business plans for London local authorities and consortia would be required.

6. Action Plan - reports from Working Group members

ALM London

MD reported that a Search Committee had been set up as part of the process to appoint an external, high-profile Chair for ALM London (http://www.lmal.org.uk/).

MD further reported that the recruitment process was underway for library advisor posts.

The British Library

DW would contact Jan Wilkinson, who had recently taken up her post as Head of Higher Education at the British Library ( http://www.bl.uk/jwilkinson.html ) to meet with her and to invite her to attend future meetings of the Working Group. Action DW

Committee of Departmental Librarians

MD reported that a meeting had recently been held with Peter Griffiths and the M25 Systems Team to discuss the possibility of creating a CLD catalogue search system.

Details of CDL contacts in specific areas, such as disaster management, were awaited.

LLDA

FOB reported that Jemima Johnstone had taken up the post of Acting Director of the LLDA for a period of six months. Jemima hoped to attend a future meeting of the Collaboration & Partnership Working Group.

FOB reported that a bid for £70K had been submitted to RLAG, the Regional Libraries Advisory Group, for a national co-ordination post for Inspire (http://www.inspire.gov.uk/home.htm). The longer-term strategic aim for LiLL, Libraries and Learners in London was that it should in time become part of Inspire.

FOB reported that a recent bid to the Laser Foundation for funding for the posts of Digital Assistants to support work on WiLL, What's in London's Libraries (http://www.londonlibraries.org.uk/will/), had been unsuccessful, but that a further speculative bid to the Foundation was being prepared.

FOB reported that recent statistics from CIPFA, the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (http://www.cipfa.org.uk/) had indicated a 5 million increase in the total number of public library visitors in England and Wales during 2003-2004. There had been a 1.8 million increase in London. LLDA was currently preparing press releases to advertise this welcome news.

FOB reported that an increase of 9% in public library visitors had been registered during the recent month-long publicity campaign run by ALCC to promote use of public libraries in London. The direct costs of the publicity campaign had been some £35K, with an LLDA contribution of some £5K. 30 of the 33 London Boroughs had participated in the campaign.

Other recent collaborative publicity work included an extension to the Poems on the Underground programme (http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tube/arts/poems/), referring to public libraries; and the Sure Start programme (http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/Database/early.html).

FOB reported that the LLDA's priorities for the next six months had been agreed. These included:

• London Libraries' manifesto
• Promotion of the regeneration agenda
• Participation in the London 2012 Olympic Bid via a reader development campaign timed for the bid assessment in March 2005

On 9 September 2004, the LLDA would host a breakfast seminar on learning communities, at which the Minister would be present.

London Health Libraries & M25 Consortium Joint Working Group

BM reported that a meeting of this Working Group (http://www.m25lib.ac.uk/m25sec/business/health/healthhome.html) had recently taken place, and that a seminar on health information issues was being planned.

London Higher

MD reported that she and CW would arrange another meeting with representatives of London Higher (http://www.studylondon.ac.uk/about/) to follow up topics of mutual interest. Action MD

RR had forwarded some interim statistics relating to the membership, strategy and operations of M25 Consortium members to London Higher. Once a full current statistical summary was available, MD would forward these to London Higher. MD and CW would confirm course of action at their proposed meeting with London Higher.

Regional library consortia

AE reported that he had attended a recent meeting of SEUL, South East University Librarians Group, at which a constitution for the group had been agreed and adopted.

AE reported that he awaited receipt of the draft business plans for NOWAL, the North West Academic Libraries (http://www.nowal.ac.uk/) and EMUA, the East Midlands Universities Association (http://www.emua.ac.uk/index.html) to enable further mapping of the M25 Consortium's strategic objectives against those of other regional library consortia.

Research Libraries Network

A recent announcement had been made regarding the Research Libraries Network. The summary information was available from the BL website, and further information was expected in due course. The Working Group would keep these developments under review.

WILIP - Routes to Knowledge

MD reported that Suzanne Enright had recently become, in a personal capacity, a member of the Routes to Knowledge Steering Group. (Routes to Knowledge is the new title for the current stage of the WILIP, the Wider Libraries Project). MD would obtain an update on current work in this area and invite Andrew Stephens to give a nother presentation to the Working Group. Action MD

7. Final Action Plan for 2004-05

MD reported that, following the last meeting of the Working Group, some final adjustments had been made to the action plan for 2004-2005. These would be incorporated into the M25 Consortium's Development Plan and would shortly be placed on the web pages. Action MD, CW

8. Any other business

MD gave a brief report on the major outcomes arising from the M25 Consortium Steering Group meeting held 1 July 2004. The unconfirmed minutes of the meeting were available for information at http://www.m25lib.ac.uk/m25sec/business/steeringgrp/minutes/sgminsjuly04.html.

RR reported that the preliminary results of the recent M25 Consortium awareness survey, which had been sent to staff in Consortium member libraries, would shortly be available. Although further analysis would be required in order to provide a full report, she would forward the preliminary results to Working Group members for information. Action RR

9. Date of Next Meeting

A date in mid-September 2004 would be confirmed.

[Secretary's note: following discussion at this meeting and subsequently, the date of the next meeting was confirmed as Wednesday 15 September 2004, 14h00, at Senate House Library, University of London].

Christine Wise Secretary to M25 Collaboration & Partnership Working Group August 2004