Library and Information Research Group

Present
Linda Banwell, Alison Bramley, Alan Cooper, J Eric Davies, Biddy Fisher (Chair), Carolynn Rankin (Minutes), Noeleen Schenk, Stella Thebridge

1. Apologies
Apologies were received from Juliet Eve, Elizabeth Gadd, Eddie Halpin, Clare Nankivell, Isobel Thompson

2. Chair’s announcements

Alison Bramley was welcomed to the LIRG meeting in her role as Development Officer for SCL.Congratulations were extended to J Eric Davies on his recent engagement and to Clare Nankivell on the birth of her daughter. It was noted that Noeleen Cookman wished to be known as Noeleen Schenk.

Committee Roles & Responsibilities & Elections

It was confirmed that all the current committee members need to be elected by April 2004. This does not affect observers. Those holding the four officer posts (Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, Treasurer) need to be members of CILIP. JED has already been appointed to the Group Councillor post. EG as LIR Editor will also need to be nominated as she is currently on maternity leave.Process for the electionsElection announcements will go out via the RIP newsletter, CILIP Update, CILIP Gazette, and the various mailing lists. A nomination form will also be placed on the LIRG website. Closing date for nominations will be January 31 2004 and a paper copy of the nomination form with signatures needs to be returned to CR as Secretary. Philip Payne and Jo Norry at LMU will be invited to act as scrunitneers should an election be necessary.

Action: CR

3. Minutes of the meeting held on 3 July 2003

The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed as an accurate record.

4. Matters Arising from the minutes of the meeting on 3 July 2003

1) Evidence based web design event – action closed

2) BF confirmed that SCONUL will not be sending an observer to the LIRG meeting; this was SCONUL policy across the board. It was noted that this was the first time the LIRG committee did not include a university librarian and concern was registered about losing this contact.

3) LIRG subscriptions – the CILIP membership renewals will be due soon and this will be an opportunity to promote LIRG to those who may not have heard of the group. It was agreed that the promotional information included in the first issue of RIP will be sent to Debbie Raven for possible inclusion in the first edition of the CILIP Gazette

Action:LB/NS

4) Umbrella Conference and LIRG AGM – it was noted this had been a successful event for LIRG and thanks were extended by BF to those who had been involved. Bob McKee had delivered the annual LIRG lecture and this would be published in the next issue of LIR. ST would follow this up with Bob McKee’s PA to request the copy.

Action: ST

Following the AGM a number of matters are outstanding:

• Need to check contact details for the honorary auditors so that BF can extend thanks
• Electronic copies of the accounts need to go on the website
• Some minutes are still to be added to the website
• LIR 79 still needs contents pages added to the website.

Following the conference all LIRG publicity material was returned to JH at LMU. CR would ask her to please circulate some copies of the new promo leaflet to committee members.

Action:CR

5. Issues from CILIP

5.1 Report from CILIP Group councillor. JED has previously reported on his attendance at the CILIP Council meeting in July 2003 as an observer. He also attended CILIP members day in October, but would be unable to attend the next Council meeting on 10 December. It is not possible to send a substitute, but as any CILIP member can attend as an observer it was agreed that AC would ask IT if she were able to attend and report back to the committee.

Action:AC/IT

There are important issues under discussion about renewing qualifications. It is not yet clear what is going to count as CPD. JED feels this should be as broad based as possible, and there are issues relating to employer support, sole operators and consultants. LIRG committee members were asked to let JED know via email what we feel the spectrum of CPD should contain, specifically from the research angle or in general.

Action: ALL

JED will prepare an item for the RIP newsletter.

Action:JED

5.2 There was no specific report from AC at this meeting, but the committee members were pleased to have the formal CILIP presence.

5.3 CILIP Library & Information Gazette

BF reported on this new publication which is an informal circulation to CILIP members. It includes a calendar feature, available free of charge to CILIP Groups, including entries for the next 3 months. Calendar events will continue in Update at the discretion of the editorial team; this will focus on major and international events and the LIRG Annual lecture would fit this category.

5.4 CILIP paper on professional ethics

This would be included in the RIP. As the Group that represents the interests of those with an involvement in research, investigation and evaluation on all areas of the profession including academics and practitioners LIRG believes that the Code may be usefully strengthened by incorporating guidance that ensures that such investigations are conducted to the highest ethical and professional standards.

BF reported that consultation exercise on the SPECTRUM equal opportunities and diversity. It was agreed that BF draft a response on LIRG’s behalf and will circulate to committee members for comment. It was noted there is a feedback form on the CILIP website for individual comments about this consultation.

Action:BF

6. Events

6.1 Feeder workshop. In the absence of CN and IT there was no progress report on this item.

6.2 Event planning – the year ahead

• E-publishing workshop - as EG was currently on maternity leave it was agreed to leave this on the back burner in her absence.
• Research Methods workshops – it was noted that PP has resigned from the committee but would continue some involvement with the courses. IT would be assuming responsibility.
  
• E-measures event summer 2004. PP is planning an event on this topic. ST reported that CIRT is also planning an e-valued conference on 16 June 2004 and would not want to duplicate efforts. ST would contact PP to discuss this.
  Action: ST
  
• LIRG AGM and Annual Lecture 2004. BF reported on a proposal from Sue Brown at CILIP that the LIRG Annual Lecture become the L. Mumford lecture. It was recognised that this could be a way of branding the LIRG annual lecture, but following considerable discussion the committee felt this would not benefit LIRG and regrettably declined the invitation.
  Action: BF
  Arrangements were discussed for the AGM 2004. Maggie Haines, President Elect of CILIP, has kindly agreed to deliver the annual lecture. CR would contact MH to agree a suitable date between April – June 2004. Proposed venues are CILIP HQ or the Bloomsbury Theatre at UCL
  Action: CR

6.3 Research Landscape

Sarah McNichol from CIRT joined the meeting to lead a discussion on the Research Landscape report commissioned by CILIP. Research is interpreted in different ways, and 93 different funders had been identified. The research agenda lacks direction and there is a need for longitudinal research. All members of the research community should be involved in setting the agenda. BF asked AB if there was a research agenda emerging in the public library sector and reference was made to work being undertaken by LASER and also the Bright Young Things project. AB and NS would discuss how the LIRG SCL contacts can be integrated.

Action: AB/NS

There is an issue about dissemination of research activity. ST reported that public libraries have been encouraged to contribute to the LIRG Research Register. BF would contact Bob McKee and the CILIP President elect Maggie Haines to discuss how the research register could be promoted.
Action:BF
Ultimately this should be a web based resources and there could be a public library section. There is a template for contributors to use. AB will promote the register via the monthly newsletter to SCL.

Action: AB

The agenda for research needs to be more strategically focussed and significant funding is needed to help progress the profession. BF will contact Bob McKee to follow up the discussions from the LIRG committee.

Action: BF

There is potential for developing toolkits for research competencies and research methodologies. It was suggested that the LIRG website could be the place to pull together all these resources. NS would start an email discussion via the LIRG committee list.

Action:NS

7. LIR

7.1 Report from Assistant Editor

• LIR 87 on the topic of evaluation in libraries is being guest-edited by John Crawford
• LIR 88 preparation in hand with a number of articles already received
• .LIR 89 ST would welcome contribution and ideas
• LIR 90 was to be guest-edited by Maggie Haines, but in view of her CILIP commitment now likely to be a practitioner in the health sector recommended by her.

The next meeting of the LIR Editorial Board is on 14 January 2004 in Birmingham.

A guest-editor is sought for the winter 2005 edition, possibly a public library practitioner. JE suggested David Lightfoot as a contact. If the public library issue is not viable, BF suggested looking at the cross sectoral developments resulting from the work of the regional MLACS.

LIR printing costs – following contact with the LIR editor it was noted that Barry Clark at CILIP maybe able to offer competitive printing costs and ST would follow this up to investigate costings. It was agreed that EG and ST should concentrate on their editing role.

Action: ST

7.2 LIR Authorship confirmation issue

BF and JED had been involved in resolving an issue regarding authorship of an article. The name of one author was left off an article in the last issue in LIR, and a correction will appear in the next issue. The LIR editor EG has reviewed the process and the documentation had been revised to ensure there is less likelihood of this situation happening again.

8. Treasurer’s Report

JE was unable to attend the meeting and had circulated a report in advance. JE had met with Rowena Wells from CILIP to discuss issues relating the capitation, VAT etc. We have been paid capitation of £800 for the first part of this year. Bank account change has still to be completed.

9. Web pages report

The contents listing for LIRN/LIR is now complete.The Committee minutes needs completing (coverage of past 18months)Web Development at CILIP. A programme definition for the new web pages is being determined. A decision will be put to December Council. Final version expected end of 2004. Branches and Groups will be consulted.The Group expressed their view that the value of AC on the committee is considerable and thanked him for his continuing work on the LIRG web pages.

10. Awards and prizes

NS tabled a paper for discussionNS reported 7 entrants for Elsevier prize. JED plus one other to judge. BMF to adjudicate.Student awards are still dynamic. IT and CN to judge, BMF to adjudicate.JED would investigate alternative and additional sponsorship.

11. Publicity officer’s report

11.1 Report on recent activity

LB has asked the treasurer about the budget for the RIP newsletter. It was noted that the unit production costs for the first issue were high, but circumstances at the time required a quick turn around. Various production options were discussed and LB will investigate costings. Address labels for distribution can be obtained from CILIP and JH (for non CILIP members) LB will consider the best way to organise the distribution. Consideration needs to be given to how long RIP will appear as a paper copy.

11.2 Production of the next newsletter – mid January 2004

Content was needed for the next issue of RIP and all committee members were asked to contribute. The idea of pen portraits of committee members was suggested and BF would provide the first.JED would provide some items on the LISU statistical tablesAC reported that the CILIP marketing department have material that can be used, and the contact is Louisa Myott

12 Any other business

JED raised the WILIP2 report and its dissemination through a CPI Seminar. The Committee agreed that a lower cost option should be available and suggested that Resource and LIRG might wish to co-operate in hosting such an event. (For next cttee agenda)BMF raised the notion of an annual Daphne Clarke seminar for the dissemination of research in practice. To be discussed at next committee meeting.

Date of the next meeting

7 April 2004 at Leeds Metropolitan University