Meeting Minutes

Minutes of the Meeting held on Monday 9 February 2004 at the University of London Library

Present: Mary Davies (Chair), Christine Wise (Secretary), Penny Dade, Brian Murphy, Fiona O'Brien, David Ward.

By invitation: Jane Glanville, Director, London Higher.

1. Apologies for Absence

Apologies for absence were received from Adam Edwards, Christine Muller, David Pearson, Geoff Smith .

2. Minutes of the meeting held 9 December 2003

These were accepted as a true record.

3. Matters arising

Under item 3, Matters Arising relating to criteria for membership, BM tabled a paper consisting of an extract from the Articles of Association of the M25 Consortium. Working Group members agreed that these provisions should be borne in mind when future applications for membership of the M25 Consortium were under consideration. Suzanne Enright, Secretary to the M25 Consortium, was preparing a paper on rights and responsibilities of M25 Consortium members, for discussion at the M25 Consortium AGM in June 2004.

DW reported that an expression of interest in M25 Consortium membership had recently been received from the British Institute in Paris.

MD reported that Graham Fisher, currently Director of the London Libraries Development Agency (LLDA), had been appointed to the post of Director, Archives Libraries Museums London (ALM London). His start date would shortly be announced. MD expressed best wishes to Graham Fisher on behalf of the Working Group.

4. Presentation by Jane Glanville, Director, London Higher

MD welcomed Jane Glanville, Director, London Higher to the meeting.

[Secretary's note: The full text is available for the handout tabled by Jane Glanville. ]

MD thanked Jane Glanville on behalf of the Working Group for her presentation and invited questions from Working Group members.

Working Group members expressed much interest in the areas of StudyLondon, business and service continuity planning, economic impact analyses and contributions to the Olympics bid. More generally, the Working Group indicated strong interest in the opportunities for collaborative work with senior staff across HEIs, and for the M25 Consortium to develop a formal liaison and to work in partnership with London Higher in relevant areas. Jane Glanville welcomed these comments and indicated that a follow-up session on specific work such as StudyLondon could be arranged for a future Working Group meeting. Action: MD, CW

5. Report from M25 Consortium of Academic Libraries Business Meeting, 29 January 2004

As MD was unable to attend the M25 Consortium of Academic Libraries Business Meeting on 29 January, she had asked CW to give an oral briefing on the main outcomes. CW reported as follows.

• Nick Bevan, Brunel University, had taken on the role of Treasurer for the M25 Consortium. This was endorsed by the Consortium membership, prior to a formal election at the AGM in June 2004.
• Suzanne Enright, Secretary to the Consortium, had been invited to attend meetings of the University Libraries Committee of the University of London.
• John Wolstenholme, Thames Valley University, gave an oral report on the new joint London Health Libraries / M25 Consortium Working Group which had been set up to facilitate pan-London working between M25 Consortium member libraries and Workforce Development Confederation libraries.
• CW spoke to a paper proposing revisions to the global Mutual Support Agreement for M25 Consortium members. Instead of negotiating subject-based agreements in future, the proposal was to use the subject strengths reported to the Consortium for each member library as part of the directory for InforM25. There was general endorsement of this proposal, and comments on the actual level of support which could be provided by a host institution in the event of an emergency, as well as on operational issues. Directors had been invited to send further comments to CW; and a revised proposal would be circulated in advance of the M25 Consortium AGM, after which, it was intended that the enhanced global Mutual Support Agreement would be endorsed and come into effect.
• The new M25 Consortium Quality Working Group had been set up, with Maureen Wade, LSE, as Chair.
• New members were welcomed into membership of the Consortium: Anglia Polytechnic University; the Natural History Museum; Open University in London; Royal College of Nursing Institute; Royal Society of Chemistry; University of Sussex; and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, as an observer.
• The strategy for the future funding of the M25 Systems Team was endorsed.
• A new subscription model based on the JISC banding system was endorsed.
• There was a general discussion on access arrangements to M25 Consortium libraries and how these relate, or otherwise, to the SCONUL Research Extra (SRX) arrangements. This issue was prioritised as an area for further discussion.

6. Action Plan - reports from Working Group members

The Research Libraries Network BM reported that the Research Libraries Network (RLN) was in the process of development.

Links with The British Library DW reported that he continued to liaise with colleagues at The British Library.

Links with Further Education MD and PD reported on the joint ALCL/LLDA/M25 seminar which had been planned for 25 March 2004. Unfortunately, it had not been possible to draw up a full programme for this event. MD, PD and FOB would meet shortly to take planning forward towards a re-scheduled May 2004 date. The emphasis would continue to be on adult education in public libraries and links with higher education, with strong encouragement for cross-sectoral networking during the event. Action: MD, PD and FOB.

Links with Government libraries and other consortia MD reported that she planned to meet shortly with Peter Griffiths, Chair of the Committee of Departmental Librarians (CDL), in order to progress the list of agreed issues of mutual benefit. Action: MD

Working Group members noted that Adam Edwards was continuing to map the M25 Consortium's plans on to those of other library consortia, including that of the South East University Librarians group (SEUL). Members agreed to consider AE's paper at the next meeting of the Working Group. Action: CW for agenda

Links with ALM London, LMAL, LLDA and ALCL. MD reported that she had been appointed a trustee of ALM London, on behalf of the M25 Consortium via the LLDA. She noted that the recruitment process was underway for public trustees. The draft ALM business plan had been circulated to M25 Directors. MD and BM had prepared comments on behalf of the M25 Consortium, which would be forwarded to Graham Fisher.

FOB reported that comments were welcomed on the draft LLDA business plan. She reviewed current priority work for LLDA, including Inspire; reader development initiatives in the Chinese mother tongue and for refugees and asylum seekers; basic skills training; and Get London Reading. BM reported that he had attended the final meeting of LMAL. He spoke to his tabled report on the ALCL Autumn meeting, which had included a seminar on cross-domain working.

Links with health libraries and groups Further to the report under 5 above, BM reported that he had attended the first meeting of the new joint London Health Libraries / M25 Consortium Working Group which had been set up to facilitate pan-London working between M25 Consortium member libraries and Workforce Development Confederation libraries.

7. Any other business

There was no further business.

8. Date of Next Meeting

Monday 29 March 2004, 10.00 a.m., Dr Seng Tee Lee Centre for Manuscript and Book Studies, seminar room, University of London Library.

Christine Wise - 25 March 2004