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Minutes of a meeting held on 17 June 2002

Present: Margaret Coutts (Chair), Gail Downe, Peter Guildford, Julia Munro (Secretary), Margaret Oldroyd, Julie Parry
Apologies: Nick Bevan, Mike Day, Christine Fyfe, Anne Murray

02/18 Welcome

The Committee welcomed Margaret Coutts as the new Chair.

02/19 Minutes of the previous meeting (21 February 2002)

These were accepted.

02/20 Matters arising from the minutes.

02/03 (01/43, 01/20)	Structure charts. Sue Clegg had emailed to report that she was progressing with this and hoped to send material to SCONUL in June. It was agreed that GD would copy what was received to MO and JM to maintain input from the committee. Action: GD to copy material to MO and JM for possible comment before publication. The committee was grateful to Sue for her continuing work on this.

02/03 (01/43, 01/32)	Staff development policies paper. JM confirmed that this paper was now advertised via a 'taster' resume on the web site. GD reported that it was selling well, several to personal rather than institutional addresses. MO would mull on whether there were any particular themes or threads emerging from this paper which the committee should consider in future. Action: MO to mull!

02/03 (01/52)	Training together 7 (24 June 2002). MO and JP gave an update on this. Arrangements and organisation were all well under control. 45 paying customers had booked, so it was hoped the event might make a profit! There was UK wide interest, with attendees from Ireland and Scotland. Action: MO and JP would give an evaluation of the event at the next meeting; JM to agenda for next meeting.

02/04	'Deputies' mailing list (lis-sconuldeputies). It was agreed that SCONUL should be the list owner administrating this list, but that two members of the list should be sought to enliven and facilitate discussion on the list. Action: JM to draft a message on the above lines for GD to send out to the list.

02/06	Publicity for management courses. PG reported that the publicity leaflet had not been completed yet. Also that the middle management course running later in June had not recruited well this time. Various possible reasons for this were discussed. It was agreed that lis-sconul should be circulated to seek possible feedback on the lower level of attendance and maintain awareness of this course. Action: JM to email lis-sconul; PG to complete publicity leaflet
	PG reported that the introductory course in May at Edinburgh had gone well. For the first time there had been more computing/IT staff attending than librarians. The course would be running again in December 2002 and in May 2003.
	HESDA was thanked for its continuing support on the management courses.

02/08	Management for strategic change course content. CF and AM had not yet been able to meet and discuss this. It was agreed that a meeting with Aston University staff in October should be aimed for. PG confirmed that Aston would be happy with this. Those involved should be MC, CF, AM and PG. But before this could happen it was still necessary to reconsider the content of the course. Further agreed to ask CF and AM if it would be possible for them to produce 2-4 pages with suggestions on content, structure, audience and factors to consider, based around the lessons learned from the strengths and weaknesses discovered in the previous courses. This to be circulated to the committee by end of September, for email comment by mid-October, in time for the proposed discussion with Aston. Action: JM to email CF and AM as above, suggesting also that Pat Noon might still be willing to help, and asking that if the proposed timing is impractical for them they should say so without embarrassment!

02/10 (01/51)	Performance indicators for staffing. Pat Noon's paper reporting on his discussion with Stephen Town was discussed. It was agreed as a first step that existing standards and tools which might be useful to libraries should be explored (eg recent isNTO work, IiP, EFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management) before moving on to specific aspects of staff performance/development. It was suggested that NB might be asked if he would be willing to work on this in liaison with Stephen Town and report back to the next meeting. Links to useful standards might be made via the web site. Action: JM to ask NB on behalf of committee.

02/21 SCONUL Award Scheme

Criteria:
Pat Noon's amended paper was agreed. It was noted that an appropriate manager's support in the applicant's institution should be evident in the application. Also that the application form should limit CVs submitted to a single side of A4.

Topic:
The practical implications of widening participation, and the impacts of the new disability legislation were suggested.

Timetable:
Information to be sent out by end of June if possible, with deadline for applications by mid-October.

Action: JM agreed to seek to finalise information, amend application form, organise poster and send out by the above timetable if possible.

02/22 Evaluating success of working paper on staff development policies

It was agreed that this was still worth pursuing and that an email should be sent to lis-sconul and lis-sconuldeputies seeking general feedback on the staff development working paper via about four broad questions. SCONUL's publication committee should be alerted to this action.
Action:
AM to devise questions and send email in early July seeking feedback over the summer;
GD to alert publications committee?

02/23 Committee membership

The list of names previously circulated was considered against relevant factors such as CURL representation, geography, sector (eg old/new university), grading, converged/non converged service. No decision was reached at the meeting and it was agreed that MC would consult with JM as to the first two names to approach. The committee would be kept informed via email.
Action: MC and JM to consult.

It was also agreed that a list of such interested volunteers should be kept for possible use on future tasks or projects the committee might wish to undertake. GD commented that such lists are kept by SCONUL.

02/24 SCONUL task force on access for users with disability

JP reported on this task force, convened by Mark Brown (Southampton), of which she is a member. Its outcome is to be a briefing paper to be produced at the end of July. Members are working on different aspects - JP on training and development.

In response to JP's request for any relevant information or comment to feed into her thinking, MC described recent activity of the M25 consortium in this area. CLAUD is also a useful group.

It was noted that institutions might be setting down their own guidelines and all committee members were urged to keep in touch with JP over the summer with any useful institutional news.

02/25 Executive Board report

GD reported on a recent Executive Board meeting:

use of email lists to be encouraged (for ACoS includes lis-sconul, lis-sconuldeputies, lis-sconul-staffdev);
use of ad hoc task forces using volunteers to be encouraged;
RSLG has 'taken on board' SCONUL Research +;
Advisory Committee chairs to be invited to attend Executive Board on occasion (to reciprocate Executive Board representation on Advisory Committees);
SCONUL having to consider the possibility of VAT on the subscription (on advice of new auditor).

02/26 Consortial staff development

Philippa Dolphin's paper was discussed. It was suggested that the paper should be sent to secretaries/official contacts of the consortia mentioned for their information and especially for any comment on the recommendations, lest there is something that could be taken forward via the committee, (eg guidelines on job exchanges ...?).
Action:
JM to ask Philippa for contact names;
MC to send paper to contacts;
JM to ask Jackie Skinner to add consortia links on ACoS web pages.

It was agreed that this should be a discussion item at the next meeting, including how information might be made more visible on the SCONUL web site.
Action: JM to agenda for next meeting.

The committee much appreciated Philippa's work on this paper.

02/27 HEFCE HR strategy funding

MC emphasised this as an area that ACoS should keep a watching brief on. Management development/strategy is likely to be a national thrust for which there might be funding and which might define a need for a fuller raft of management training.
Action:
JM to agenda for next meeting;
MC to consider a discussion paper

02/28 ACoS News Digest

Agreed that the next News Digest would be discussed by MC and JM post the appearance of these minutes.
Action: MC and JM to discuss

02/29 Date of next meeting

To be canvassed via email [later agreed Monday 28 October, 10:30, SCONUL Offices]. JM to invite Jackie Skinner (ACoS web coordinator)
Action: JM