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M25 Consortium of Higher Education Libraries
MINUTES of the
Consortium Annual General Meeting
held at Wellcome Library
for the History and Understanding of Medicine
Present: Robert Hall (Surrey) – Chair
John Akeroyd (South Bank), Judy Atkinson (Royal College of Nursing) Nick
Bevan (Brunel), Graham Bulpitt (Kingston), Liz Chapman (UCL), Doug Dodds
(National Art Library), Phillipa Dolphin (Birkbeck), Suzanne Enright
(Westminster), Neil Entwistle (Queen Mary), Sarah Gerrard (RHUL), Maggie Haines
(Kings), Denis Heathcote (Greenwich), Maire Lanigan (St Mary’s College), Marina
Logan-Bruce (SGHMS), William Marsterson (Middlesex), Di Martin (Hertfordshire),
Julia Munroe (Reading), Joan Pateman (Goldsmiths), David Pearson (Wellcome),
Chris Pedley (Heythrop), Anne Poulson (SOAS), Debbie Shorley (Sussex), Geoff
Smith (BL), Neil Thomson (Natural History Museum), Maureen Wade (LSE), Mary
Wilkinson (Imperial War Museum), Roy Williams (London Metropolitan), Christine
Wise (ULL), John Wolstenholme (TVU), Jean Yeoh (Kings)
Apologies:
Mary Auckland (London Institute), Paul Ayris (UCL), Brendan Casey (City), Sue
Clegg (Surrey, Roehampton), Margaret Coutts (Kent), Vanessa Crane (CADISE), Mary
Davies (UEL), Elizabeth Davison (London Institute), Helen Edwards (LBS), Brian
Furner (LSHTM), Richard Golland (Imperial War Museum), Peter Hassell (RCA),
Graham Higley (Natural History Museum), Chris Hunt (ULL), Simon Jackson (RVC),
Clare Jenkins (Imperial), Linda Lisgarten (School of Pharmacy), Brian Murphy (QMC),
Anne Peters (IOE), Sue Price (Courtauld), Pete Ryan (Canterbury Christ College
UC), Sasha Shaw (Goldsmiths), Irene Sims (Buckingham Chilterns UC), Jean Sykes
(LSE), Nicky Whitsed (OU in London), Jules Winterton (SAS)
In attendance:
The Chair welcomed David Bradbury (ALCL), John Gilby (M25 Systems Team),
Graham Fisher (LLDA), Sue Howley (Resource), Fraser Nicolaides (M25 Systems
Team) and Fiona O’Brien (LLDA).
1. Introduction
It was noted that the meeting was part of a full day meeting of Members
focussing on issues in relation to 3 areas: VLEs, a key strategic driver for UK
higher education; the Wider Information and Libraries Issues Project (WILIP) and
progress on the regional agenda. There had been a series of 5 presentations
designed to help update Consortium members and to help clarify their thinking,
both at a local and consortial level.
- Sarah Gerrard, Librarian and Deputy Director of Information
Services, Royal Holloway University of London provided an overview of
VLE issues in the context of the corporate information environment.
Reference will be made to WebCT, Blackboard and
Learnwise.
- Paul Hudson, Learning Technology Consultant, University of Hertfordshire
provided an overview and demonstration of StudyNet (the managed learning
environment at the University of Hertfordshire) with a student-centred
perspective on how and why and what next.
- Graham Fisher, Director LLDA provided an update on both regional issues
and on LLDA activities.
- Fiona O’Brien, Development Manager LLDA provided an update on, and
demonstration of, WiLL (What's in London's Libraries).
http://www.londonlibraries.org.uk/will/ - Sue
Howley, Policy Adviser, Re:source provided an update on the Wider
Information and Libraries Issues Project
(WILIP).
WILIPJan04.ppt
2. Minutes
2.1 The minutes were approved from the Consortium Meeting held
on
Wednesday 4 June 2003 at 10am at the Imperial War
Museum
2.2 The minutes were received from the Steering Group meeting held on 17 June
2003 at University of Westminster.
The minutes were received from the
Steering Group meeting held on 2 October 2003 at London School of Economics
2.3 The minutes were received from the Steering Group meeting held on 3
December 2003at University of London Library.
3. Matters arising
3.1 Change of Treasurer:
3.1.1 It was noted that Keith Webster, M25 Consortium Treasurer,
has left SOAS. Members recorded their thanks for his work over the past
few years, not only as Treasurer but also in trying to progress the
legal issues in relation to the constitution and status of the
Consortium.
3.1.2 It was agreed that Nick Bevan (Brunel University), who is a member of
the Steering Group, take on the role of Treasurer for the rest of the year. It
was noted that a formal election would be held as part of the June 2004 AGM.
3.2 Relationship with ULC
(University of London’s University Libraries
Committee) Members noted that:
3.2.1 The Consortium Secretary has been formally invited to attend meetings
of the University (of London) Libraries Committee to update ULC members on
Consortium issues on a regular basis.
3.2.2 The Consortium Secretary has been invited to contribute to, and to
support, three proposals put forward by the ULC to prepare the region for
possible areas of collaborative development (the proposals are in relation to
collaborative collection management, collaborative journals store and online
training in research methods). Jean Sykes (LSE) is leading on this initiative
and chairs the London RSLG Group which originated from ULC.
3.3 Access issues:
3.3.1 Members noted that the Steering Group has stood down the Access Working
Group and Members recorded their thanks to them for their efforts in setting up
and embedding a range of access schemes, which have now been incorporated into
national schemes under SCONUL Research Extra and INSPIRE. Members also noted
that work by Caroline Lloyd (Birkbeck) and Vivien Robertson (KCL) to mesh the
Consortium scheme into SCONUL Research Extra is on going recorded their thanks
for these continuing efforts. Concerns remain about M25 institutions not in
SCONUL and so not in SRX and it was noted that these have been taken up with
SCONUL.
3.3.2 Members received a report on access activity for 2002/3 from Caroline
Lloyd (Birkbeck), which gives a picture of overall usage based on a pragmatic
approach to the issue of statistics.
It was noted that:
a) The original intention was to collect statistics relating to usage by
month and according to 4 different bands of borrowers. However it quickly became
obvious that this was not going to be practical for libraries to provide this
level of detailed information. It was therefore decided to concentrate on usage
by those in Band A (staff and research postgraduates from M25 institutions) and
in particular, enrolments in this band. Libraries were encouraged to return this
information even if they could not provide the other figures.
b) The overlapping of schemes had led to some under reporting. For example
some institutions only counted borrowers as 'M25' if they actually presented an
M25 card.
c) Since the report was completed LSE have re-examined their statistics and
reported that its figure included taught postgraduate and undergraduate students
from University of London institutions (rather than only research postgraduates
and staff). These figures cannot easily be separated and go someway to
explaining the difference between the return from LSE and other libraries.
d) As might be expected, centrally located libraries have had more activity
than those further afield.
e) Activity within the M25 is being identified as part of the SRX statistics
collection. Most M25 libraries seemed confident that the difficulties that arose
in compiling statistics for this report have been resolved for the SRX
collection.
f) The list of access contacts has been updated and it was agreed that
Caroline Lloyd would remain the contact for access issues.
Members were again reminded that there remains a substantial body of
institutions that remain outside UK Libraries Plus and these are encouraged to
take part in the scheme, if only on a trial basis so as to widen access for
part-time, placement and distance learning students. Evidence from elsewhere has
indicated this is an important service for a small number of students. London
remains the region with the largest number of non-participants.
3.3.3 Members noted that a small Task Force had been convened by
John Wolstenholme (TVU) to consider the potential development for the
Consortium to develop access arrangements in support of nurses on
placement. The issue was referred to UK Libraries Plus, which has
changed its procedures to incorporate this group into the normal access
arrangements. The Task Force has therefore been stood down.
3.3.4 Members noted that future Consortial access activities would be
considered by the Student-centred Support Working Group, chaired by Graham
Bulpitt (Kingston University).
3.4 Health libraries:
Members noted that, following the successful event organised to launch London
Health Libraries (LHL) to the HE community in July 2003, a new Joint LHL/M25
Working Group to facilitate pan-London working between M25 Consortium libraries
and Workforce Development Confederation libraries has been set up. Members will
be sent the terms of reference and information on how the group will operate in
practice.
4. Update on progress with implementation of Development Plan 2002/3 –
2005/6
4.1 Members received an
interim report for the year, providing an update on recent progress
related to the main aims and objectives for each of the main areas of
Consortium activity. It was noted that a full report and revised
Development Plan is to be submitted to the Consortium meeting in June
2004.
interanrptjan04.pdf
4.2 Members noted in particular that:
4.2.1 The Disaster Management Working Group has recently been considering
how the concept of the M25 global Mutual Support Agreement may
best be developed for the benefit of all M25 Consortium members. A new
model, using the subject strengths reported by member libraries on
InforM25 was proposed for preliminary
discussion.
MutualSupportJan04.pdf
Christine Wise introduced the proposed model, explaining that instead of
inventing a whole series of subject specific mutual support agreements (which
are time consuming and difficult to specify in relation to subject areas) the
Disaster Planning Group proposes the Consortium expand the global mutual
support agreement as this ties in more with institutional risk work and
recognises the access landscape has radically changed since 1999. The new
approach is to be based on a framework/generic agreement whereby subject areas
each member will support are as defined by InforM25. This will get round
issues about bilateral versus multilateral agreements and builds on
existing/agreed definitions of subject strengths.
Following discussion, the Disaster Planning Group was asked to address two
issues:
a) Provide help with the "best endeavours" approach, and so minimise the
amount of negotiation which would have to take place in the event of an
emergency. The Group will prepare a template such that each member will commit
in advance to certain services. However, it was recognised that some
negotiation about the level of service will also have to take place, depending
on the nature of the subject, the numbers of students involved, the time of
year, etc;
b) Minimise the bureaucracy involved in arranging short notice access to
libraries on a temporary basis
Members were asked to provide comments back to Christine Wise by mid
February for further discussion at the March 2004 Steering Group meeting.
4.2.2 CPD25 is conducting an online survey on academic staff development
within M25. This has been done in collaboration with NoWAL, SALCTG Consortium
and Oxford University and is based on a design from La Trobe University
Library, Melbourne, Australia. It will provide up to date information on staff
development and training policy and practice and will enable Members to
benchmark local practices against a broad range of academic libraries.
4.2.3 The Steering Group has set up a new
Quality Working Group to provide a forum for quality and
performance measurement issues in a Consortial context, taking on board
the priorities and concerns of M25 members. The Group will assess and
report on the existing extent of service quality measurement activity in
M25 libraries, e.g.
* Service Level
Definitions (with or without monitoring & reporting)
* User
satisfaction and book availability surveys
* "Mystery
shoppers" or other qualitative service measures
* Benchmarking
The Group will facilitate exchange of
experience between libraries already using these measures and offer advice
to other interested libraries. It will develop templates and documentation
on best practice and develop relevant training and staff development
activities. In addition, the Group will develop a consistent survey
methodology for M25 working groups to use.
4.2.4 John Gilby gave an oral update on M25 Systems team activities
and progress.
4.2.4.1 The new ‘Visit a Library’ service (formerly known as AET) has
been launched as a pilot. More work needs to be done to the interface and
underlying data but proof of concept is there. Feedback is welcome. A
funding bid to JISC Call 1/04 is to be prepared for an XML-based access
definition scheme for national use, building on work done to date, to
parallel the collection description schema.
4.2.4.2 InforM25 is working reliably.
4.2.4.3 The M25 website now carries the new logo and strap-line and has a
redesigned home page. Each Working Group has a series of pages and work
continuing on building content. The cpd25 domain is established and the
website is live.
4.2.4.4 The consultancy for Project WILL ends on 30 March 2004.
4.2.4.5 The M25 Bath profile project is coming to an end.
4.2.4.6 The team are acting as consultants on cataloguing e-journals for
SUNCAT project.
4.2.4.7 The CC Interop Project has progressed well but comes to the end
of JISC funding in April 2004; the report on investigation into user
behaviour is due out soon and will be publicised to Members.
4.2.4.8 The team are working on a new 2-year service delivery plan
4.3 In addition, Members noted that:
4.3.2 An update report from Graham Fisher, Director of London Libraries
Development Agency (LLDA) on regional developments was given in the
morning session.
4.3.3 Mary Davies (University of East London), Chair of M25 Collaboration
and Partnership Working Group, is to take up position as M25 Consortium
representative on LLDA Board and as an ALM London Trustee. Brian Murphy was
thanked for his contribution to both the LLDA and LMAL over the past few
years.
5. Constitutional and membership issues
5.1 Members received an oral report on constitutional issues. It was
noted that the Consortium’s application to the Charity Commissioners has been
re-submitted. Progress is tied up with the new banking arrangements (see 7
below). An application for limited company status will then follow. It is hoped
this will all be finalized soon.
5.2 Members received an update on membership of the Consortium
memberissuesjan2004.pdf
5.2.1 Members endorsed the recommendation to offer membership to the
following institutions:
- Anglia Polytechnic University
- Natural History Museum
- Open University in London
- Royal College of Nursing Institute
- Royal Society of Chemistry
- University of Sussex
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (observer status)
It was noted that HEFCE is now looking to improve collaboration between
small specialist institutions and larger HEIs. This may have implications for
the Consortium in the future.
5.2.2 Members noted that the Steering Group has agreed that a new document
outlining rights and responsibilities of Members would be helpful. The
Secretary will draft this for approval at the Members’ meeting in June 2004.
5.2.3 In addition it was noted that a new Bloomsbury Consortium
involving six University of London institutions comprising Birkbeck College, Institute of
Education, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Royal Veterinary
College, School of Pharmacy and SOAS is under discussion.
6. CPD25: Staff development and training
Members received a draft business plan for the period 2004/5 to 2005/6
cpdbusplan(draft).pdf
It was noted that CPD25 continues to be very successful, with high levels of
participation across the events, visits and Chartership programmes, providing
excellent VFM for Members. The structure of having five themed task groups is
working well, the website has been redesigned (cpd25.ac.uk) and the relationship
with LMN is ongoing. Questions were raised as to accrediting courses in the
future which is under consideration.
Members endorsed the draft so as to facilitate 3 key areas: continuation of
administrative support arrangements; introduction of a new funding basis from
2004/5 (see 7.3 below) and introduction of a new award scheme.
Members thanked Jean Yeoh for her continuing strong leadership of CPD25.
7. Treasurer’s report
Treasurers_reportJan04.pdf
7.1 Members received an update and report from the Treasurer on finances for
2001/2 to 2003/04. It was reported that currently the budget is on target and
the policy of building up reserves is well underway. The Treasurer is in the
process of changing the banking arrangements so invoices have been delayed.
7.2 Di Martin (University of Hertfordshire and Chair of the Resource
Discovery Working Group (RDWG) introduced a series of recommendations from the
Steering Group in relation to future funding of the M25 Systems Team. It
was noted that the key issue was one of sustainability but there is a need for a
period of stability and to give time to a systematic review of what should
happen next in relation to developments institutionally.
Members endorsed the following recommendations:
7.2.1 That there should be continuing financial support for the M25 Systems
Team for a period of two years (2004/5 and 2005/6) to give stability and
continuity for the team staffing levels. This will include an element for
inflation at, say, 3% p.a.
7.2.2 That the Consortium should not underwrite other costs which might be
funded from external agencies.
7.2.3 That in return for this funding the RDWG should draw up a work plan
for service delivery over the next two years. It is recognised that the Team
is moving from project management to delivery of services and there are
changing Consortium priorities and balancing demands.
7.2.4 That RDWG should draw up an exit strategy with regard to InforM25
services. This should cover succession planning, the future management of
web-based services, a more secure way of providing systems support for M25
services and how services might integrate with VLE developments.
Members also recorded their thanks to the LSE for hosting the InforM25
service and housing the M25 Systems Team.
7.3 Members considered a report from a Task Force set up to review the
current Consortial funding model and
discussed the proposed financial
models.
m25subsJan04.pdf
Members approved the following recommendations:
a. That the subscription model moves to an un-weighted banded structure.
b. That subscription rate for HEFCE-funded members is based on the JISC
bands which relate to institutional income.
c. That there should be 10 bands (or whatever number JISC operated in
future).
d. That there should be a change to the structure of the three bands for
non-HEFCE funded members.
e. That the subscription rate for observers should remain unchanged for
2004/5 but should be subject to increase linked to inflation in future.
f. That the subscription model for CPD25 remains its mixed economy
approach, but that the subscription element is based on the new banded
structure applied to the general Consortium subscription. The subscription
element will therefore be based on 10 JISC bands rather than headcount.
8. Any other business
8.1 It was noted that the next Consortium meetings will be held as follows:
- 11 June 2004 (National Art Library at V&A)
- January 2005 (tbc)
- June 2005 (possibly Royal College of Nursing)
8.2 Members were asked for ideas and themes for the June 2004 meeting which
would again be a one-day meeting with a mixture of keynote speakers and
interactive sessions. The Steering Group will discuss this further.
Suzanne Enright
Secretary
18 February 2004
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