Meeting Minutes

Present:
James Anthony (JA) - University College London; Anne Barrett (AB) - Imperial College London; Lyn Bowen (LB) - University of Westminster; Chris Brewer (CB) - Institute of Education; Joanne Kilgannon (JK) - Courtauld Institute; Glyn Price (GP) - London School of Economics; Colin Rennie (CR) - School of Oriental and African Studies; Katie Sambrook (KS) - Kings College London; Christine Wise, (CW) - University of London Library

In attendance:
Catherine Harpham - Imperial College (minutes)

Apologies:
Apologies were received from Judith Preece, University of East London.

1. Welcome & Introductions

1.1 The meeting was opened, chaired by Christine Wise.

2. Minutes of the previous meeting

2.1 The minutes of the meeting held on 13 February 2004 were accepted as a true record.

3 Matters arising from the minutes of the previous meeting

3.1 GP reported that he had been working on the M25 DMG website, and that the technical structure and content had been updated.

3.2 JA reported that the details of suppliers of disaster response products had all been updated on the Disaster Control Plan template, and that he would welcome suggestions for new suppliers.

4 Consortial Disaster Recovery Contracts

4.1 JA reported that he had received detailed costings from a prospective contractor, and had drafted an e-mail to be sent to M25 Consortium members via the M25 DMG Information mailing list. The text of this email was tabled for discussion.

4.2 Costings
The offer would provide Priority User status for an annual fee of £132, providing at least 11 or more M25 Consortium members signed up. Priority Users would be entitled to reduced costs for the contractor's services. The contractor would be willing to do a presentation to the M25 DMG.

4.3 Implications
The M25 DMG would need to consider proposals from other companies to compare potential offers. It would also need to be considered how a contracted company's services connected with an institution's own plan for disaster recovery.

4.4 Draft e-mail text
Alternative and additional questions were put forward for the draft e-mail. These included asking for experience of companies, and whether any Libraries were already in membership via an institutional contract. JA would incorporate suggestions into a revised version of the email.
Action: JA

4.5 E-mail responses
The possibility of an agreement with the contractor could not be progressed unless there were sufficient expressions of interest. Time would have to be allowed for discussions on this proposal to take place within individual institutions. It was agreed that initial publicity would be given at the M25 Consortium Day on 11 May 2004, and that the e-mail would be sent as a follow-up. Responses to the e-mail questionnaire were to be received by mid-June 2004.

5. Training Events In Conjunction With CPD25 2003-2004: Reports

5.1 It was agreed that holding three training events within the academic year had been an excellent achievement, and that all three events had been of a very high standard. The "Running a Disaster Scenario Training Event in your Library" had proved to be very popular, and so had clearly answered a need.

5.2 It was agreed that it would be useful for M25 Consortium members if the powerpoint slides or notes from each of the presentations could be made available on the website, as much detailed content had been provided. It was decided that JA would approach speakers from "Writing a Disaster Control Plan", CB would approach speakers from "Dealing with Damaged Stock", and CW would approach the speaker from "Running a Disaster Scenario Training Event in your Library", as permissions would have to be obtained before publication on the website.
Action: JA, CB, CW

6. Training Events In Conjunction With CPD 25 2004-2005: Potential Events

6.1 Possible themes for events were put forward. These included IT preparedness, writing a disaster control plan, business continuity issues, and raising disaster awareness. With new members joining the M25 Consortium and changes in disaster control planning representatives, there were good reasons to re-run some courses and practical workshops.

6.2 It was agreed that holding three further events in the next academic year would be ambitious, and that guidance on the key skills of writing a disaster control plan could be incorporated into a training event on various aspects of disaster planning. It was likely that a single event could be organised for early 2005. CW would contact CPD 25 to begin detailed planning towards an event.
Action: CW

7. Exchange of Experience Session for Disaster Control Plan Representatives

7.1 It was generally agreed that this event would be best held in the autumn of 2004, rather than in late summer 2004. This would still be early enough in the academic year 2004-2005 to facilitate communication and consult on progress on work on business and service continuity planning. It was decided that CW would canvass dates, with a view to booking a room to hold the Exchange of Experience session in November 2004.
Action: CW

8. M25 Consortium Development Plan 2004-2005

8.1 The M25 DMG content in the M25 Consortium Development Plan 2003-2004 was considered and it was agreed that the existing objectives and ongoing action points were highly relevant and important.

8.2 Additions for 2004-2005
It was agreed that the issue of consortial disaster recovery contracts should be identified as a major piece of work. Further proposals included adding the areas of work in risk management and analysis, and in business continuity. It was agreed that CW would add in the points arising into the document, and then circulate this for comment.
Action: CW

9. Mutual Support Agreement: Update Ahead of M25 Consortium AGM

9.1 CW reported that M25 Consortium Directors had recently been canvassed regarding proposed enhancements to the Mutual Support Agreement, and that much valuable feedback had been obtained. The revised Agreement would be completed and proposed at the M25 Consortium AGM on 11 June 2004. A presentation on the Agreement and the revised Disaster Control Plan template would be given at the AGM: CW and GP would take the lead on this, and would consult John Gilby of the M25 Systems Team regarding his participation.
Action: CW, GP

10. M25 DMG Disaster Control Plan Template: Review Revisions and Additions

10.1 GP reported that the feedback he had received on structural changes had been implemented and that the revised template would soon be ready to be made available via the M25 Consortium web pages. The browser compatibility problem had mostly been solved. With the amendments to the content of the Disaster Control Plan template, the value of the content of the website in general would be considerably enhanced.

10.2 New content
Several proposals were put forward relating to changes that needed to be made to the content of the template and to additions to it. KS and CR had prepared new text relating to IT and Special Collections. The updated list of suppliers prepared by JA would be inserted, and references to and URLs for other documents, where applicable. It was agreed that any proposed additions and changes to the text should be communicated to CW for forwarding to GP before 28 May 2004, to enable the revisions to be made in time for the launch at the M25 Consortium AGM on 22 June 2004.
Action: ALL

10.3 Intellectual property rights
As substantial changes had been made to the text since it had been originally written by Susan Baker, it was considered that the statement of ownership should be amended. It was agreed that the text should state it had been revised by the M25 DMG, but that Susan Baker should continue to receive acknowledgement for her work on the original content. CW would contact Susan Baker to agree a suitable form of words.
Action: CW

10.4 Presentation on disaster planning at Bournemouth University
AB would be representing the M25 DMG by giving a presentation on disaster planning at Bournemouth University on 7 July 2004. She would consult with colleagues nearer the time regarding content for this presentation.
Action: AB

11. Business and Service Continuity Planning

11.1 KS and AB reported on the meeting of the sub group on business and service continuity planning which had taken place on 22 April 2004. Although scoping was in the early stages, considerable work had already been carried out and the sub group would continue to meet to progress this work on behalf of the wider M25 DMG.

11.2 CW reported that she had given a briefing on progress to date to the M25 Consortium Steering Group meeting on 6 May 2004. She estimated that a further 18 months' work would be required to prepare a template. She had discussed with John Gilby of the M25 Systems Team the creation of technical infrastructure similar to that of the Disaster Control Plan.

11.3 Research
It was discussed whether it would be useful to get involved in a programme of research about business and service continuity. There might be opportunities for collaboration with a research programme in an academic course, and via SCONUL at a later stage.

12. Review of the M25 Disaster Management Group Membership

12.1 CW announced that William Alexander, of the University of Sussex, a new member of the M25 Consortium, had accepted a recent invitation to join the M25 DMG.

13. Any Other Business

13.1 The possibility of having a speaker address the group every other meeting was put forward. It was suggested that Mario Aleppo, Head of Conservation at the National Archives, should be approached, and AB agreed to contact him.
Action: AB

14. Next Meeting: Consider Date and Venue for October 2004

14.1 It was agreed that Imperial College would host the next meeting in October 2004, and preferred dates were for the week beginning the 18 and 25 October 2004. CW and AB would liaise on the detailed arrangements.
Action: CW, AB