Library hub community advisory board

Advising on the development of Library Hub services, the operational impacts of the National Bibliographic Knowledgebase (NBK) and related initiatives.

Membership reflects the range of libraries who contribute to the NBK and benefit from Library Hub services and members are senior practitioners or managers from the academic, research and specialist library community, reflecting a diverse range of roles, both practical and strategic, across institutions.

Core aims

  • To provide an advisory role for the NBK, Library Hub service developments, and on issues broadly related to the management and exploitation of library collections data
  • To advise Jisc on the development of services for the library community, especially those relating to collection lifecycle management, discovery, and bibliographic metadata management
  • To actively provide feedback and comment on service proposals and developments
  • To represent the views of the community and work in partnership with other Jisc and non-Jisc groups to ensure that strategic developments are informed by community needs
  • To support and facilitate the development of a community to share good practice, support the development of a skills base and capture requirements for future services
  • To advocate for the development of a cooperative approach to the management of both monograph and serials collections and bibliographic data
  • To promote the importance of efficient and fit-for-purpose bibliographic data flows as a key driver for effective collection lifecycle management

Board members

Chair

  • Hannah Mateer, head of collections services, University of Edinburgh (representing SCURL)

Members

  • Sandra Bracegirdle, associate director: collection strategies, University of Manchester
  • Joanne Dunham, deputy librarian/associate director, University of Leicester
  • Elizabeth James, head of National Art Library collections, Victoria and Albert Museum
  • Mark Hughes, head of libraries, Cardiff Metropolitan University (representing WHELF)
  • Adele Lavery, head of metadata, British Library
  • Tracey Middleton, collections and digital development manager, Bangor University
  • David Prosser, executive director, RLUK
  • Ann Rossiter, executive director, SCONUL
  • Jane Saunders, head of collections services, University of Leeds
  • Gary Ward, head of capacity management, University of Sheffield
  • Jennie-Claire Crate, library hub product manager, Jisc
  • Neil Grindley, director of content and discovery services, Jisc
  • Bethan Ruddock, library hub senior product owner, Jisc

Terms of reference

Governance and organisation

Jisc will act as the convenor and secretariat for the board. The board will meet not less than three times per year. Meetings will primarily be online to allow for greater regularity, inclusivity, efficiency, cost-effectiveness and to minimize the environmental impact. However, at least one face to face meeting per year will take place where circumstances allow.

Membership structure

Members will be senior practitioners or managers from the academic, research and specialist library community reflecting a diverse range of roles, both practical and strategic, across institutions. Representatives of relevant community or professional organisations may also be represented.

The board will ensure that it reflects the range of libraries who contribute to the National Bibliographic Knowledgebase and benefit from Library Hub services. If beneficial, the board may choose to form ad-hoc, time-limited working groups from a subset of members (and co-opted external parties if helpful) to tackle specific questions and tasks. Guests may be invited to participate and input into specific meetings if an opportunity or a need arises.

The board will routinely consist of:

  • Chair
  • Deputy-Chair
  • Up to 12 senior members from across the academic research and specialist library community library community, including:
    • Representation from SCURL
    • Representation from WHELF
    • Representation from SCONUL (the Executive Director or their delegate)
    • Representation from RLUK (the Executive Director or their delegate)
  • Relevant Jisc staff as appropriate

Term of membership

Membership will be for a term of three years, with the option for renewal.

The appointment of members from the academic library community will be by nomination, invitation or application and will be approved by the board. In order to ensure a balance of membership representing the diversity of UK academic libraries, the call for nominations may focus on particular groups.

The process for appointment will be reviewed every two years.

A member will be considered as having stood down if:

  • The member has two un-notified and subsequently unexplained absences in a row (“un-notified” means the member did not make contact with Jisc or with anyone else on the board before the upcoming meeting to indicate they would be absent)
  • The member (or their delegate) has three notified absences in a row

Responsibilities of members

Declare to the board any interests in or significant commitments to other companies or organisations, which may relate to areas of work or interests that the board is discussing and/or providing advice to Jisc.

Act in good faith towards the wider board membership and Jisc.

Meetings and administration

Dates for all three meetings of the year will be scheduled annually.

Dates for all three meetings of the year will be scheduled annually.  

Agenda and papers will be circulated not less than one week prior to meetings.  

Action list will be circulated no more than one week after meetings. 

The board’s time is more effectively used if information/papers are circulated and read in advance, so that time in meetings is given to discussion of issues and actions rather than sharing information. 

Papers presented will follow a consistent approach, based on a framework: 

  • Recommendation
  • Discussion points
  • Request for action

Record of meetings to consist of notes of actions and decisions, plus a meeting summary that is informative but concise. Timeliness and traceability are the emphasis rather than the production of a verbatim narrative record of discussions. 

Communication and administration will be supported via a closed LHCAB Teams site.  This will facilitate discussion and information sharing outside meetings plus easy access to documents etc. 

The board will have a presence on the Jisc website to include:

  • Board members, and terms of office
  • Terms of reference 
  • Meeting dates 
  • Brief meeting summaries