Minutes of recent committee meetings
Committee Meeting
6 September 2007
Minutes
Present: Rose Goodier, Gillian Wilson, Mike
McGrath, Tracey Jackson, Peter Robinson,
Marjory Lobban, Graham Titley, Joanne Findlay, Sarah Washford
1. Apologies
Carol Marshall, Alan Cooper
2. Minutes of Previous Meeting
Carol did check that accounts had been paid for Interlend
06 but was never asked to pursue a refund.
3. Matters Arising from Previous Minutes
No matters arising.
4. Financial Report
a. Report from the Treasurer
The financial report was circulated by Carol to all committee
members prior to the committee meeting. Of the 9 outstanding
invoices, 8 were for new members so had only recently been
sent. Only 5 invoices remain outstanding from the conference
and if all invoices are paid we will have covered costs for
the conference without making a profit which is the ideal
situation. Other notable expenditures of 2007 so far are the
IFLA conference, the ILDS conference, the newsletter and committee
meeting expenses.
It was noted that there is a healthy net balance in the account.
The committee felt that rather than having such a large net
balance in the account this money should be used to provide
more events or improve the quality of the events already on
offer such as the annual conference. It was also noted that
a small error was present on the report as it should read
£450 under outstanding membership fees
b. Vouchers for New Members
A proposal for vouchers for new members for reduced renewal
was proposed as members joining as a result of the marketing
campaign would receive less than 6 months membership for their
first year’s subscription. It was agreed that new members
joining as a result of the campaign would receive a voucher
offering a reduction on the following year’s subscription
when they renew.
Action: Carol to be asked to action this.
5. Membership
a. Membership report
The current membership figure stands at 204. This is down
on the previous figure as although we have had 12 new members,
Carol has been chasing members who have not paid recent subscriptions
and this has resulted in some cancellations of membership.
The current figure is correct for all members who have paid
their 2007 subscriptions. The 12 new members were a result
of the marketing campaign and it was noted that the membership
secretary has had a further number of enquiries as a result
of this campaign. All new members were from academic libraries
rather than public libraries.
The membership database is now completely up to date and
will be forwarded to Gill to update on the website.
A new administrator is required for the FIL mailing lists
as Nina has been doing this for quite some time after leaving
the committee.
Action: Rose to take over administration
of the FIL mailing lists.
b. Recruitment Campaign
Mike has sent out 956 direct mail letters and we have had
a 1.2% response in the form of new members. As we are still
getting lots of enquiries it is hoped to hit 2% which would
be average for this type of direct mail marketing. The campaign
has also raised out profile in the library community. Total
cost of the campaign was £554. We also now have a memory
stick containing an excel database of members and non-members
so that direct mail in future will have a foundation to work
from.
The committee then discussed promotion ideas: our product
is interlending and we should be responding to the MLA report
when it comes out especially to chief librarians including
public libraries. We could point out how similar schemes overseas
have had a dramatic effect. Mike will draft a response letter
from FIL to the MLA following the report as we need to have
more of an advocacy role.
An advert in Update was suggested and Mike will
investigate rates and possible design.
More events are also needed especially as we have finance
to fund training days etc
It was suggested that Mike’s direct mail letter also
goes to the LIS-ILL mailing list to reach ILL practitioners.
Action: Mike to draft a response letter
following the MLA report
Mike to investigate rates and designs for an advert in Update
Mike to send the direct mail letter to the LIS-ILL mailing
list.
6. FIL Website
Work is ongoing to keep everything on the website up to date.
The conference papers from the 2007 conference have now been
uploaded.
Gill has produced a website calendar to cover when things
need to be done to the website. It was agreed that nomination
papers for the FIL committee would go on the website with
information on how to join the committee. There will also
be a plea for articles for the newsletter on the website with
information on how to contribute.
Following feedback from the conference, a discussion forum
for the website is under investigation. Gill and Sarah have
offered to moderate a forum once it has been set up and the
forum would be open to FIL members only. It was noted that
the list of committee members on the website needs updating.
Action: Gill to circulate website calendar
to committee
Gill and Sarah to moderate forum on website
Sarah to send list of committee members to Gill
7. Interlend 2007
Tracey circulated evaluation forms from the 2007 conference
to the committee prior to the meeting. It was particularly
clear that halls of residence were not cleaned thoroughly
and were not ready for occupation when delegates arrived.
Delegates also commented on the breakfast which was very limited
and poor.
The committee discussed whether we should continue to use
halls and academic venues for the conference or investigate
alternative conference venues. It was felt that alternatives
should be considered for 2008. It was also agreed that a letter
should be sent to Kings College London outlining the delegates'
comments and our disappointment at the standard of accommodation
with a specific request for comment from the conference office
as we did not receive a response to our letter to University
of Southampton last year.
All responses to the library tours were good or very good
and people really appreciated the cost of tube travel to the
libraries being covered by FIL. It was useful to have a venue
with options for interesting library visits. Overall everything
but the accommodation had a positive response despite the
late promotion and organization of the conference.
There may be a need to move away from the public/academic
split on workshops and have 2 sets of issue based workshops
as the small number of delegates from public libraries in
2007 made these workshops less useful.
There were some comments on the relevance of speakers to
the conference topic and the relevance of the topic to interlending
but overall the response to speakers was very good.
The Thames boat trip also received a good response.
It was agreed that better planning and accommodation are
the two things for the committee to take on board for next
year’s conference.
Actions: Rose to write a letter to Kings
College London about the accommodation.
8. Interlend 2008
Following on from the comments about Interlend 2007 the committee
discussed the venue for 2008.
It was considered that we should state, when booking, that
inadequate levels of cleanliness will result in our withholding
part of the fee if dealing with university accommodation again
but the alternative could be a conference venue in Scotland
or North of England such as a hotel.
It was agreed that the conference sub-committee would investigate
venues and make the decision on behalf of the committee with
input from the treasurer.
FIL could subsidise a more expensive venue so that fees are
not affected by change of venue since the FIL bank balance
is very healthy. We could also look at offering an option
for people to have double rooms and bring their partners for
an additional charge if a hotel venue was chosen.
The committee discussed the ideas for Interlend 2008 that
had come out of this year’s conference. It was decided
that the working theme would be Managing the Gateway:
redefining interlending for the 21st century.
Subjects may include: SED, e-signatures and licensing, copyright,
marketing your services internally and externally, promoting
interlending especially with financial constraints, direct
delivery to end users, understanding organisational aims and
visions and how our departments fit in, the role of the ILL
librarian in the education of the user and communication of
free resources.
Suggested speakers were:
Anthony Brewerton, University of Reading (marketing)
Tim Padfield (Digital rights, scanning and repositories) (scanning
to distance learners etc)
Charles Oppenheim, Loughborough Uni (copyright issues and
CLA scanning licences)
Phil Bradley (web 2.0 eg how services are looking to meet
their users – speaker or workshop leader)
Robert Krall, University of Pennsylvania (trends in interlending
and future of the service)
Dennis Massey, OCLC
Terry Kendrick (marketing masterclass or practical session)
Someone speaking on new technology – eg Paul Miller
(Talis), Lorcan Dempsey (OCLC), Stephen Abram (SirsiDynix)
Someone from one of the countries already offering direct
ILL to end users to speak about the practicalities of the
MLA report
The venue and date were chosen as follows:
1st choice - Peebles Hotel Hydro
2nd choice – Edinburgh University
1st choice - 30th June - 2nd July
2nd choice - 7th July - 9th July
We will ask for quotes for 100 delegates (residential)
Conference Sub-Committee
Marjory
Joanne
Sarah
Gill
Tracey
Conference Promotion Timetable
The theme, dates and venue will be confirmed by the end of
November along with most of the speakers.
There should be monthly updates to the FIL and LIS-ILL mailing
lists to build interest.
Timetable
It was agreed to stick to the timetable used for the 2007
conference with visits on Tuesday afternoon and workshops
on Wednesday morning.
Action: Conference sub-committee to oversee
planning and feedback to the committee
Website
After discussion of how the conference would be promoted on
the website it was queried why the website is hosted by CILIP
as this can involve a wait before updates.
FIL chose CILIP to host the website as they were considered
reliable, it was free and the website is already organized.
Although it is not possible for Gill to update the website
immediately, information is usually updated quickly.
We could consider an Interlend website that could be separate
from the main website and easily updated and contributed to.
Committee to consider options for this.
Update See http://interlend.pbwiki.com
for the Interlend 2008 wiki that has been created.
9. Future Events
The FIL and LNW (Libraries North West) event at The John
Rylands Library, Deansgate (Manchester) is planned for Wednesday
12 December. It will be a half day tour of the building including
a close up look at some of the treasures and historical items
that form the collection. There is space for 40 people in
2 groups of 20 and Deansgate are not charging us for this
event so FIL and LNW will only have to cover the cost of refreshments.
The event will be open to LNW and FIL members free of charge
and will be advertised on both websites.
In 2008 there are possibilities for events in the East Midlands
and South regions.
The provisional date for FIL at BLDSC in 2008 will be 14th
March and there has been a request for an alternative to the
library tour such as an additional speaker or workshop for
people who have previously attended.
10. Union Catalogues
UnityUK are currently looking at ILL charging as they are
hoping to offer a charging scheme within the UnityUK integrated
ILL system. Information from the national and regional user
groups is available on the UnityUK members’ website.
11. Article on FIL for CILIP Update
It was agreed that article should be promotional and will
make use of some of the material from the marketing campaign.
It may also be a response to the upcoming MLA report on national
interlending if appropriate.
12. FIL Newsletter
The next newsletter will contain articles from UnityUK and
Talis and a report on Interlend 2007 by Helen Trollope.
Future newsletters will include an article from Betty Lowery
and a ‘What do they do all day?’ from Marion Hesketh.
It was requested that all committee members write a similar
piece so they can be included in future. There may also be
an article from IAML and one from Deansgate.
Next newsletter dates will hopefully be:
November 2007
Feb 2008
April 2008
The timetable of adding the newsletter to the website was
discussed. It was agreed that the contents page should be
freely available on publication but there should be an embargo
on current issues for a year as these are part of the benefits
for members.
13. IFLA Report
Rose attended the IFLA conference in Durban and is now secretary
to the committee and also the newsletter editor. She will
submit a report on the conference to the FIL committee. There
are proposed changes to the iFLA voucher scheme under discussion
such as placing an expiry date on the vouchers. Rose will
keep the committee informed and pass the proposal to the FIL
membership for feedback.
Next year's IFLA conference is in Quebec and there is a proposal
for a pre-conference ILL session in Boston.
Action: Rose to circulate notes and report
on IFLA committee and conference.
14. CONARLS report
Prior to the meeting, Gill had circulated the report from
the AGM and the minutes of the previous CONARLS meeting. There
was a further CONARLS meeting the day before this committee
meeting and Gill reported on the items discussed. The MLA
report on national interlending is due to be published soon
and Gill will inform the committee as soon as this is available.
CONARLS are also looking at the issue of ILL statistics, why
they are collated and what they are used for in the regions
still collecting them. There is a potential for CONARLS to
provide a workshop at the FIL conference and Gill can circulate
information prior to the next committee meeting via the CONARLS
committee mailing list. It was agreed that information about
IAML could be circulated on the FIL mailing list and vice
versa.
Action: Gill to inform the committee when
the MLA report has been published.
15. BL Report
The BL report was circulated prior to the meeting.
The HE scanning service (HESS) is now available offering
a scanning service for material for course packs to holders
of a CLA HE Photocopying and Trial Scanning Licence.
Update Further details available
on the website at www.bl.uk/reshelp/atyourdesk/docsupply/productsservices/hescanning
All standard service requests can now be chased in 10 days
rather than 14 days, this means that customer services can
resend SED items without having to rescan them. It was also
noted that Customer Services could only look up orders placed
in the last 3 months so any queries need to be addressed promptly.
This does not apply to requests on waiting lists or on order
waiting lists.
A customer services review is in process, focusing on document
supply, and conclusions will be made available to customers
in due course.
16. Date and Place of Next Meeting
The next meeting will be held on Wednesday 9th January 2008
at the BMI.
17. Any Other Business
There was no other business.
Back to top
|
guidelines