OF THE CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION PROFESSIONALS
Annual General Meeting Institute of Education, London Monday 21st May 2007 Present Committee Lucy Gildersleeves (Chair & CILIP Councillor), Honor Hania (Acting Treasurer and Publications Coordinator), Libby Tilley (ELG News Editor), Kathryn Beardshall (Events Coordinator), Hannah Rose (Committee Member) Members Claire Drinkwater (Institute of Education), Gwyneth Price (Institute of Education), Judith Stewart (UWE), Helen Trollope (Felstead School, Essex) 1. Apologies Caroline Cooke (Secretary), Dulcie Pettigrew (Web Page Editor) 2. Introductions Members present introduced themselves. 3. Minutes of 2006 AGM These were proposed by Lucy Gildersleeves, seconded by Libby Tilley and accepted as a correct record. 4. Matters Arising There were no matters arising. 5. Committee and Officers Committee details for 2007 were circulated. The following changes have taken place since the last AGM:
Caroline Cooke has joined the committee as Secretary Kathryn Beardshall is remaining on the committee until Summer 2007 and has taken over as Events Coordinator from Sarah Kennedy who is continuing as a committee member Honor Hania is continuing as Acting Treasurer until a new Treasurer is found Dulcie Pettigrew is no longer able to be Vice Chair but is continuing as Web Page Editor Hannah Rose has joined the committee Mel Eyeons has joined the committee as a corresponding member and joint ELG News Editor Judith Stewart has replaced Alan Bradwell as LISE representative Jo Barber and Christine Love-Rodgers have left the committee
The following posts are currently vacant or will need to be filled in the near future: Treasurer - Honor Hania is currently Acting Treasurer and a new Treasurer could shadow her in the role before taking it on formally. Vice Chair - this is an optional post which involves assisting the Chair and chairing meetings in her absence. There is no obligation to become Chair. A new Events Coordinator is needed from Summer 2007. Anyone interested in taking over the post of Web Page Editor would be welcome.
Lucy Gildersleeves emphasised that anyone interested in taking on one of the above posts or in joining the committee as a member would be very welcome. 6. Membership Survey Lucy Gildersleeves reported on the findings of the 2005 membership survey: Members are located throughout the country. Many are in London and the South East, but there are significant numbers in other areas such as Scotland. Many members commented that travel constraints prevent them from attending meetings. In response to feedback, events are located around the country in areas accessible to members. Alternatives to one day workshops such as the children’s literature evenings are planned. Papers and presentations will continue to be made available on the ELG web page. Topics requested by members range from the strategic and theoretical to practical workshops and general topics such as the Framework of Qualifications. The survey also provided information about areas where liaison with other groups could be useful.
7. Annual Report, Record of Activity and Annual Plan The annual report and the record of activity for 2006-2007, and the annual plan for 2007–2008 were circulated. All reports now cover the period April to March. The following points were highlighted:
Annual Report There has been a slight reduction in membership in common with most other Groups, probably due to the rise in subscription for joining additional Groups. Non-CILIP members, for example teachers, were encouraged to join ELG to encourage networking with other Education professionals. ELG’s response to the membership survey was summarised, for example responding to the needs of Scottish members, taking events to different regions of the UK, and providing events with different time frames. The three training events held during 2006-2007 were summarised – “The changing information environment for education”, a practical IT event, and a legal awareness workshop which it is hoped will lead to an area on the website for members’ queries. ELG News has changed format to an A4 newsletter with brief articles, and links to more in-depth articles on the website. Members’ opinions were invited on the move towards a more electronic publication. With the move towards electronic sharing of information the role of the website and the mailing list, lis-educ, continues to grow. Members were encouraged to join lis-educ. Three new Resource Guides were published during the year. All the guides are available on the website and are updated regularly. ELG’s dialogue with CILIP and with other groups concerned with various aspects of Education librarianship was summarised. Members’ views were sought on the support they would like ELG to provide. Lucy Gildersleeves thanked the committee, welcomed the new committee members, and encouraged ELG members to contribute to the Group by hosting a visit, providing a location for a training day or writing for ELG News.
Record of Activity The record of activity was presented as a brief summary of events (conferences and workshops), publications (ELG News and Resource Guides), and changes to committee membership and procedure during the year. The first virtual committee meeting took place in February 2007. It is intended to use the virtual format at least once a year, with particular emphasis on the involvement of corresponding committee members and international representatives.
Annual Plan Much of the annual plan is ongoing from previous years. Feedback from members was invited on any new points they would like to see included. The development of online communication and publication was emphasised, including the promotion of lis-educ, development of the website, and the move towards online publication of ELG News. A more proactive approach to contributing to, informing and responding to national initiatives concerning education and lifelong learning was also emphasised.
8. Forthcoming Events Forthcoming events were advertised. Members were asked to note the changes from the list provided with the agenda: o Thursday 28th – Saturday 30th June 2007 – ELG programme at Umbrella o Tuesday 10th July 2007 – Practical IT workshop - UCL o September 2007 – continuing programme of Children’s Literature evenings at Seven Stories o October 2007 – Library design workshop, Friends Meeting House, Manchester o Spring 2008 – “Librarians learning to teach” (UWE?) Suggestions were invited for future events or visits. An event was proposed on the applications of gaming and social software such as “Second life” to teaching. Phil Bradley was suggested as a contact. It was suggested that this could be run as a virtual training in response to comments in the members’ survey.
9. Honorary Treasurer’s report The Treasurer’s report prepared by Honor Hania, and the balance sheet as at the end of December 2006 were circulated. Lucy Gildersleeves thanked her husband for his help in processing the accounts and preparing the balance sheet in the format required by CILIP. ELG finished 2006 with a credit balance of £4,787. There is also £447.48 in the related COIF account. The balance of the current account is reducing slightly each year. Attention was drawn to the cost of producing the Resource Guides although this expense will not continue when the series is completed in Summer 2008. The profit made from events was £1,302, a reduction on previous years. A saving was made by holding a virtual committee meeting in February 2007. The reduction in CILIP capitation means that new ways of financing the Group will need to be explored, for example by organising more events, holding virtual committee meetings, and investigating less expensive ways of distributing ELG News. The Treasurer’s report and balance sheet were proposed by Libby Tilley and seconded by Claire Drinkwater. The full accounts are to be audited and will be available to members on request – contact Honor Hania.
10. Election of Auditors Gwyneth Price proposed the re-election of the auditors, Joanna Snelling from Corpus Christi College Oxford and Joanna Ball from Trinity College Cambridge, and approval of their work. This was seconded by Libby Tilley and agreed by the committee.
11. Comments from Members There were no comments from members. 12. Any other business A discussion was held on the future of LISE and of Education librarianship: Judith Stewart explained the history of LISE as a membership organisation for the Chief Librarians of Education libraries, which expanded over the years to include library representatives from the new universities and higher education colleges. The future of LISE in a situation in which teacher training no longer takes place in separate institutions, and in which librarians often have responsibility for a wider range of subject areas was discussed at the recent LISE AGM. The role of LISE needs to be redefined given the changing nature of teacher training and education librarianship. LISE has a strong history of publishing and conference organisation, started the British Education Index, and has a healthy bank balance. However, the publishing role has declined due to the web, and there is difficulty in maintaining active membership. It was decided at the LISE AGM to elect new officers for a fixed period of one year with the authority to discontinue LISE at the end of this time if appropriate. The following were elected: o Chair – Dorothy Vuong o Vice Chair – Judith Stewart o Secretary – Sue Chubb o Treasurer – Claire Drinkwater The new officers, together with a planning group, were given the remit of organising a conference sponsored by LISE in London in June 2008 to discuss the future of Education librarianship and the type of organisation(s) required. Judith invited suggestions and ideas for topics for debate to take Education librarianship forward across all sectors and to pool the limited resources available. It was suggested that there could be a new role in online peer reviewed publishing, along the same lines as Education-line. Lucy Gildersleeves said that ELG would be interested in taking part in the conference and discussions and advised making sure all relevant groups are included. Lucy pointed out that the LISE conference should be arranged to avoid a clash with the SLA conference, also held in June. She also mentioned that that SLG hold a biennial conference at the beginning of April in even years and that a joint SLG/YLG conference with possible ELG involvement is proposed for 2010, ten years on from the SIGs millennium conference.
The AGM was followed by a talk and discussion about social software and the changing nature of library inductions and user education at the Institute of Education led by Claire Drinkwater and Gwyneth Price.