Meeting Minutes

Present:
Christine Wise (Chair), William Alexander (Sussex), Chris Brewer (IOE), Glyn Price (LSE).

Apologies:
Anne Barrett (Imperial College), Chris Brewer (Institute of Education), Colin Rennie (SOAS), Katie Sambrook (KS) (Kings College)

1. Welcome and introductions

The Chair welcomed members of the M25 DMG to the meeting, kindly hosted by William Alexander at the University of Sussex.  This meeting was a welcome opportunity to visit the University of Sussex and, following the meeting, to visit the Jubilee Library in Brighton with a particular focus on disaster management and preparedness.

2. Minutes of the meeting held Tuesday 15 March 2005

These were approved as an accurate record.

3. Matters arising from the minutes of the meeting held Tuesday 15 March 2005

There were no matters arising.

4. Consortial disaster recovery contracts: update on recent discussions

The Chair reported that she had recently discussed with a disaster recovery supplier the possibility of extending the preferential rates available to Consortium members in the London area to those Consortium members physically located outside the geographic area of the 33 London Boroughs.  These discussions were ongoing and she would report back to the next M25 DMG meeting.

5. Strategic planning within the M25 Consortium: to note the new format for the M25 Consortium Strategic Plan 2005-06 – 2008-09 and the draft M25 Disaster Management Group Operational Plan 2005-06

The Chair gave an oral introduction to the new format for the M25 Consortium Strategic Plan 2005-06 [Secretary’s note: this has subsequently been made available at M25StratPlan0508.pdf .  The Operational Plans for all M25 working groups would therefore follow this format.

The Chair introduced the draft M25 DMG Operational Plan 2005-06.  This was generally agreed, with the addition in particular of action points relating to the development of further web content relating to archives, e-learning, e-resources and resilience.

With these enhancements, the revised M25 DMG Operational Plan 2005-06 would be presented for endorsement at the next M25 Steering Group meeting.  The Chair thanked M25 DMG members for their contributions to this new planning process.

6. M25 Web Review Group: to receive an update on the work of the Group

The Chair gave an oral report on the work of the M25 Web Review Group.  In her capacity as Chair of the M25 DMG, she had been invited to join the M25 Web Review Group to contribute to the strategic review of the M25 Consortium website.  The outcome of this process would be the launch of a newly-enhanced web interface during the academic year 2005-06.

7. Business continuity planning: to review the strategy and direction of work so far; to consider the related area of risk assessment in this work; to consider further areas of research; to agree a timetable for content creation and the launch of web-based content

The Chair gave an oral update on the continuing work of the sub-group.

8. Training events in conjunction with CPD25 2005-06: to develop plans for the following: introduction to disaster planning: institutional and library disaster plans; and insurance of collections

In line with the action points in the M25 DMG Operational Plan 2005-06, it was agreed to pursue and develop seminar topics on the interface between institutional and library disaster plans and the insurance of collections.

9. Review of the M25 Disaster Management Group membership: further invitations to join the Group

The Chair reported that expressions of interest to join the M25 DMG and other working groups of the M25 Consortium were sought via the M25 Consortium Directors’ list.  New members would greatly assist in taking the work of the M25 DMG forward.

10. Any other business

The Chair reported that she had recently received and accepted an invitation to join the Advisory Panel of the AHRC-funded project Safeguarding heritage at risk to represent the M25 Consortium.  The project is led by Professor Graham Matthews and colleagues at Liverpool John Moores University.  She had recently attended the first meeting.  A survey on disaster preparedness had recently been sent to archives, libraries and museums in the United Kingdom and results would be made available in due course.  She would attend the next meeting in December 2005 and report back in due course.

Members of the M25 DMG conveyed their good wishes to William Alexander on his forthcoming retirement and thanks for his contribution to the Working Group.

11. Date of next meeting: to consider a meeting date in late September / early October 2005

[Secretary’s note: the date was subsequently confirmed as Wednesday 12 October 2005].