Collaboration and Partnership Working Group - Meeting Minutes

Minutes of the Meeting held at Senate House Library, University of London

Present: Mary Davies (Chair), Sara Gould, Brian Murphy, Ann Sainsbury, Christine Wise (Secretary)

By Invitation: Michael Clarke, Director, LLDA and Sarah Dodgson, COOLPerStor project, UL/M25 Consortium of Academic Libraries

1. Apologies for Absence

Penny Dade, Adam Edwards, Fiona O’Brien

2. Minutes of the meeting held 3 November 2005

These were accepted as a true record, subject to the following amendment:

Under item 5, London Olympics 2012, the second sentence was amended to read, “BM would attend a forthcoming meeting of representatives from London Boroughs”.

3. Matters arising

The following matters arising were noted:

• Under item 4, MD would circulate a copy of the draft Public Library Strategy to Working Group members for their comments and would raise this issue at the next M25 Steering Group meeting. ACTION MD
• Under item 4, MD would invite Graham Fisher to speak to the Working Group again circa March 2006 regarding the MLA Strategic Framework. ACTION MD
• Under item 5, FOB would circulate the Manifesto for London Libraries 2012 to Working Group members. ACTION FOB
• Under item 5, MD would arrange for copies of the new M25 Consortium flyer to be circulated to Working Group members and to organisations such as ALCL. ACTION MD
• Under item 6, MD reported that the M25 Advocacy Working Group was considering representation for this Working Group.

4. Presentation: Michael Clarke, Director, LLDA

MD welcomed Michael Clarke, Director, LLDA, to the meeting to present the paper LLiL migration to INSPIRE: a discussion paper.  This paper outlined the strategic and operational considerations regarding migration of the Libraries and Learners in London regional service (http://www.llda.org.uk/cms/contentpage/llil ) to the national INSPIRE programme (http://www.inspire.gov.uk ).

LLDA had been contributing to the National Steering Group for INSPIRE.  Following pilot schemes in the West Midlands and the North West, INSPIRE would be expanding rapidly as part of the Framework for the Future (http://www.culture.gov.uk/global/publications/archive_2003/framework_future.htm ) published by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

In discussion, the following points were raised:

1. Some Colleges of Further Education already benefited from associate college status in relationship to some higher education institutions; a widening of such status could be perceived as a potential loss of benefit.
2. Students from Further Education Colleges could be disappointed by failing to find HNC studies materials in university libraries.
3. The need for promotion of libraries and their collections in the further and higher education sectors continued.  A relationship developed through the INSPIRE framework between further education and higher education institutions would benefit from a formal understanding or compact regarding services and expectations.
4. For reasons of security or insurance, it might not be possible to accommodate students aged 16 or under from Further Education Colleges in Higher Education Libraries.

Michael Clarke thanked Working Group members for their comments and indicated that a revised version of the paper would be circulated in due course to Working Group members. ACTION FOB

MD thanked Michael Clarke for his presentation.  She noted that participation in the INSPIRE programme was an issue of Consortium-wide interest and that she would raise this issue at M25 Steering Group and Consortium levels. ACTION MD

5. Presentation: Sarah Dodgson, COOLPerStor project

MD welcomed Sarah Dodgson, COOLPerStor project, UL/M25 Consortium of Academic Libraries to the meeting.

Working Group members discussed the key points raised.  Sarah Dodgson reported that the final project report would be published in due course.  [Secretary’s note: this is available from the M25 website ]

A COOLPerStore presentation is also available . 

MD thanked Sarah Dodgson on behalf of the Group for her presentation.

6. Action Plan – reports from members

ALCL

AS reported that the next ALCL meeting would take place on 13 January 2006.

ALM London

MD reported that she had recently attended several ALM London Board meetings.  The Board had considered the MLA Review and the new Strategic Framework.  Arising from this, ALM London would have a brief specifically for public libraries.  MD had registered disappointment on behalf of the M25 Consortium that academic libraries were not directly included.

The British Library

SG proposed a future presentation on how the British Library could engage with the M25 Consortium on areas of mutual interest, including an event at the British Library in Spring 2006 for M25 Consortium members.  SG and MD would discuss how this could be taken forward. ACTION SG and MD

SG noted the recently-launched British Library’s Higher Education e-newsletter, and encouraged Working Group members to sign up.  [Secretary’s note: to register, send name and email address to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ].

Committee of Departmental Librarians

MD continued to liaise with Peter Griffiths regarding key strategic issues.

HE / FE liaison

FOB reported that the proposed second joint HE/FE seminar, “London Knowledge City”, had been deferred until 24 January 2006.  The event would be held at the British Library Conference Centre.  [Secretary’s note: full details are available from http://www.llda.org.uk/cms/contentpage/conferences ].

LLDA

The key current strategic issue, migration of the service Libraries and Learners in London to INSPIRE was reported under item 4 above.

London Higher

MD would invite Dr Michael Reynier to give a presentation at the next meeting Working Group meeting. ACTION MD

London Olympics 2012

CW reported that she had represented the M25 Consortium at a meeting on 1 December 2005 which had been convened by ALM London to discuss the participation of archives, libraries and museums in the region in the cultural programmes.  The M25 Consortium continued to work with LLDA and the ALCL on this initiative and would participate in future focus groups to be convened by ALM London.

Regional library consortia

AE continued to advise Working Group members of new initiatives.

7. Any other business

BM reported that he was in the process of contacting several libraries which had expressed interest in joining the M25 Consortium and would report back in due course.

8. Date of next meetings

[Secretary’s note: subsequently confirmed by email as Wednesday 15 February 2006, 10:00, Senate House Library, University of London].

Christine Wise Secretary to M25 Collaboration & Partnership Working Group
February 2006