1. Welcome & Apologies for Absence

2. Approval of Minutes

The minutes from the previous meeting held on 16 April 2008 were approved.

3. Action Update & Matters Arising

There were no actions recorded at the previous meeting and also no matters arising.

4. Project Progress Report

JG gave a verbal update on project progress:

• The Feasibility Study report by Curtis & Cartwright had been accepted by HEFCE, subject to final amendments as discussed at the last meeting. These edits had been completed and the final version (1.2) delivered to JISC/HEFCE.
• The Decisions Workshop facilitated by Curtis & Cartwright on 30 April 2008 was well attended and successfully produced information and agreement for incorporation into the draft Final Outcome Report.
• There had been further revisions to the delivery date for the Final Outcome Report to JISC/HEFCE due to communications with HEFCE and their requirements regarding data on efficiency savings. The agreed date was now 27 June 2008.
• The feasibility study recommended that there be eight partners for the pilot project/service and to that end, MW had approached three potential M25 libraries about joining the project should funding for the next stage be granted.
• MW noted that she had responded to an email on the SCONUL list that more was being done on the HAERVI initiative. MW had brought WAM25 to members attention and had received a few messages in reply expressing interest in what we were doing. MW volunteered to keep SCONUL informed on progress with WAM25.
  
• JG commented that in JF's absence, the Final Outcome Report should be delivered to MD.
  

5. Review of Draft Final Outcome Report

MW and JG introduced this item explaining that Curtis & Cartwright had written an early draft of the document using outcomes from the Decisions Workshop. JG had sent the early draft to JF for comments which had been received and JG tabled these along with an additional update from C&C onthe efficiency savings section.

The group reviewed the draft report and agreed a number of specific edits to finalise the document.

6. AOB

There was none.

7. Future Meetings

It was not clear when the relevant HEFCE committee meeting was due to be held to consider funding of the next project stage, but the group agreed that ideally, a quick decision on further funding for WAM25 would be welcomed to allow time for staff recruitment.
Action 7.1 JG to ask about a possible funding decision during July 2008 when delivering the Final Outcome Report.

MW briefly spoke about membership of the Steering Group during the proposed pilot project phase and suggested that it may be appropriate that partner directors attend the group to represent their institutions and make decisions, and that existing group members would still be involved in tasks associated with developing the pilot service.
Action 7.2 All to discuss WAM25 Steering Group membership with their library directors and inform JG of names for the Steering Group for the project's next stage.

Further Steering Group meetings will be arranged once the outcome of the bid is known.

Minutes by JG