cpd25 Steering Group Meeting
17th October 2008, 2.30pm, 300B, LSE Library

1. In attendance:
Mary Nixon (chair); Judith Cattermole; Vicky Falconer (administrator); David Gee, Janet Smith.
Apologies:
Carole Pickaver; Michelle Wake

2. Minutes of previous meeting:
Approved.  Noted that no planning had yet taken place for Senior Management course.

3. Financial Update:
With the merging of M25 and CPD25 finances, the issue of what happens with subscription money will have to be resolved. The group anticipated that once the subscription money had been received, Caroline would transfer the balance into the operating budget. It was pointed out that in practice, the subscription money effectively paid the administrator’s salary. In that case, perhaps the full subscription money did not need to be transferred – rather, only any difference between the two. Either way, each year in the meantime, CPD25’s own reserves will cover costs associated with events.
MN to confirm arrangements with M25 Treasurer

4. Task Group reports:

 4.1 Task Group 1:
There had been a further decrease in booking for the Chartership programme. Despite many heads of service finding it highly desirable to have staff working towards Chartership, it seems that many staff who have been through library school do not see it as an essential career move. It was agreed that eight out of the ten topics could be rebranded as ‘introductory’ sessions and advertised as such on the website. DG to propose new title for Chartership Programme

The day on applying to Library and Information Science remains popular.

Suggetions were made for speakers at the Career Progression Day. It was also suggested that if the day is repeated next year, different specialist libraries, perhaps in art and/or law, could be chosen for the afternoon visits.

Topics for the three half-days for SDOs were discussed – two suggestions were ‘training through a period of restructure and after’ ‘training for working with shared services’.

 4.2 Task Group 2
In the absence of the Chair of TG2, the Group went briefly through the information that they had submitted. It was felt that two of the half day events seemed to have a disproportionately large number of speakers and that more time should have been allowed for discussion. JS explained that the proposed visit to Imperial would not be possible.
JS to communicate with TG2 about Imperial visit.

 4.3 Task Group 3
In the absence of the Chair of TG 3, the Group went through their programme.  Some concerns were raised over the practicality of a generic ‘basic inquiry skills session’ in view of the different systems operated by member libraries.  The question of the Group’s adherence to its remit was also raised.
  
 4.4 Task Group 4
JC reported that dates are still to be set for the Coping at the Counter Series and the New Manager Series.  It was agreed that it would be desirable for the Administrator to keep a database or list of suitable trainers and speakers for the use of TG members planning events.
All to send details of trainers known to them to VF

The Emotional Intelligence event is confirmed and ready to be publicised; the planning of the Effective Meetings event is well under way.

 4.5 Task Group 5
JS reported that the visit to Reading Special Collections is now fully booked; she also updated the group on progress with the Celebrating the NHS/HE Partnership event.  There may be some changes to the programme for the InforM25 event, which is now specifically targeted at Liaison Librarians.
The Collaboration Software event will look at things like wikis, blogging etc, and will be aimed at Liaison Librarians. When organising the event, the need for individual workstations for each participant would need to be kept in mind.

The Future of Librarians conference was felt by the group to be a really interesting and relevant topic, and MN expressed her interest in speaking at the event.

MN offered  suggestions of people who could speak at the CILIP Rare Books event. The group agreed that the event ought to be held in Central London.

More thought needs to be given to the possible event for Systems Librarians; it should be on generic topics, such as the future of library management systems, choosing a new software suppliers, or how catalogues can be used as a communication tool. It was thought that the best way to undertake an event like this might be to plan a sort of taster ‘day’ during which a mix of issues were introduced and explored.

5. Task Group Membership:
Michelle Wake will be leaving her task group due to work commitments, and Janet Smith will be retiring. Two replacement task group chairs will be needed imminently therefore.  The group considered in the first instance if any of the current task group members might be interested in taking on this additional role.  A senior member of staff at a member institution had asked to join a task group and might be a suitable chair.  New members will be needed in TGs 1, 2, 5 and possibly 4.  One of the tasks to be allocated would be to organise the new Exchange Scheme.  Agreed that this would be offered to existing TG members first.
MN to contact TG members about the Exchange Scheme.
MN to draft a job description for task group chairs; JS to draft a job description for task group members. MN to contact possible Chairs and advertise for new members.

6. Chair’s update on M25 matters:
cpd25 will not order any more specially printed stationery in the way of folders and so on. M25 stationery will be used, with the exception of items that can be printed out in-house, which will retain the cpd25 brand (invoices, course information and certificates). M25 folders when reprinted will have cpd25 contact details.  cpd25 stationery will need a strapline to explain that cpd25 is part of M25.

It was agreed that the cpd25 review day should take place after the M25 planning. However, it should be left up to the individual task groups to schedule their own meetings.

The permanent post of cpd25 Administrator would be advertised shortly. There were some concerns raised about the reduction in hours to 0.8 fte both in terms of workload and the pool of potential applicants. MN suggested that it might be an attractive option for someone who is attending library school for one day a week. The group agreed, but pointed out that the person specification thus far did not included library experience, and should therefore be amended to make this very clear.
MN to convey the Group’s views to John Gilby

7.   Travel Prize
It was agreed by the group that in future perhaps it should be made more clear exactly what is being provided in the way of expenses each year. Otherwise some trips may prove to be very expensive.