Minutes of the 31st ALLCU AGM
Hadlow College, Kent
17th July 2009
Apologies – Jon Humfrey (Myerscough), Jill Perry (Plumpton).
Minutes of previous meeting – accepted as a true and accurate record.
MATTERS ARISING –
Umbrella organisation :
Roger Mills (Oxford) reported on FIBS/IAALD UK developments since the last ALLCU meeting. With the dissolution of the Aslib Biosciences Group, there has been no focal point for UK librarians and researchers in the biosciences / environmental fields. In April 2009 a small group of interested information professionals from INTUTE, CABI, Oxford and ALLCU met in Oxford to discuss the potential of establishing a UK chapter of IAALD and to start planning an inaugural or launch CPD event for environmental and biosciences researchers, information specialists and librarians. In June 2009 Intute sponsored an online survey which was sent out to ALLCU members and many other information specialists in other organisations. Another meeting is planned for September 2009 in Oxford to review the analysis of the survey and to plan a training event, if enough interest has been demonstrated. (postscript: the meeting was held as planned and a launch event is being planned for February 2010 in London. ALLCU members should contact Roger for more information : mailto:roger.mills@ouls.ox.ac.uk )
ALLCU joined IAALD as an institutional member in January 2009 and renewal of this annual membership was proposed by Jane Keightley (Warwickshire) and agreed by those present.
The IAALD international congress will be held in Montpellier 26-29 April 2010. Roger will send out details to ALLCU members, who may wish to attend.
ELECTION OF OFFICERS
After some persuasion, one candidate, Melanie Fisher (Hadlow), agreed to stand for chair. Her nomination was proposed by Jackie McCarthy and seconded by Kathryn Grieves (both from Harper Adams UC). Melanie was unanimously elected and will take over as ALLCU’s Chair at the end of the meeting.
OFFICERS’ REPORTS
Chair
The Chair, Rachel Hewings (Writtle), thanked this year’s conference host, Melanie Fisher, for such an enjoyable and successful conference. The hands-on experience with Web 2.0 tools and apps was very well received. Everyone will go back to their colleges with lots of ideas and enthusiasm for developing and using blogs, twitter, wikis and INTUTE INFORMS tutorials!
Rachel had brought the ALLCU archives with her and invited the members to go through them after the meeting. The original role of the organisation seems to have been one of advocacy.
Treasurer
Audited accounts were presented to members by Margaret Patterson (Chichester, Brinsbury).
WaterAid and the Brooke Hospital for Animals will each receive £500 as a donation from ALLCU in 2009/10.
There were no information and library science students who applied for support in the coming year and no bursary award applications.
Acceptance of the report and recommendation for charitable donations for the next year was proposed by Sim Taylor (Bicton) and seconded by Kathryn Grieves (Harper Adams University College) and agreed by those present.
ALLCU WEBSITE
Curwen Thomas (Harper Adams UC), web administrator for ALLCU, was not present at the meeting. Problems of updating the membership list and other information on the website have now been overcome.
2010 membership renewals will ask for urls to members’ online catalogues and weblogs, so that the site can be more interactive. Other suggestions for expanding the website included more information and statements from the members on recent developments at their colleges. Having an ALLCU weblog that would be password protected seemed to receive support from a number of members. Jackie and Kathryn will pass these ideas on to Curwen.
Presentations made at the conference will be available on the website as soon as possible.
The password changes each year. Email the secretary to obtain the current password. mailto:jkeightley@warkscol.ac.uk
MEMBERS’ ITEMS
Sarah Gwenian (Aberystwyth University) announced that Land, Life and Leisure database will end in July 2010. She asked members to consider other ways in which the indexing of land-based journals could be done, either collaboratively or by using web-based processes. The entire membership expressed its support for LLL and the work that Sarah and her team have done. Kathryn Grieves suggested a consortium of indexers be set up, led by Aberystwyth staff, to continue to index a core list of priority journals. Concerns were expressed over the fate of the existing database, which goes back to the early ‘90’s and is currently hosted by EDINA.
Members were asked to send their list of journals to Sarah as soon as possible : mailto:ssg@aber.ac,uk
A meeting of the four ALLCU institutions who do indexing for LLL and Aberystwyth was proposed for early autumn to find a way forward.
NEXT YEAR’S CONFERENCE
An offer was made and accepted for the 32ND Annual ALLCU Conference to be held at Bicton College next July. Dates to be confirmed by Sim Taylor, but are expected to be 14th – 16th July 2010. Sim gave a brief, but enticing presentation on the venue, college grounds and LRC, and asked members for ideas about the theme. Suggestions so far: behaviour management, design of LRCs, ILT and accessibility, information literacy including referencing and search techniques and finally sharing good practice with sessions on the outcomes of the 2009 conference (new blogs, tutorials, user education workshops held, etc.) Sim would like to receive any other ideas as soon as possible: mailto:SMTaylor@bicton.ac.uk
No one has come forward yet to volunteer for 2011. Members are to contact Melanie if they would like to be considered or to discuss pros and cons of hosting the ALLCU conference: mailto:Melanie.Fisher@hadlow.ac.uk
AOB
Thanks were given to Rachel Hewings, for her hard work as chair for the past three years.
It was agreed that membership renewals should be sent out by the treasurer, rather than the secretary. This will save passing money from one institution to another and simplify the accounts. Reminders will be sent prior to the conference.
The conference was then adjourned by the chair.