Apologies for the hiatus in posting summaries of the CMCAB meetings held in 2019.
2019 was an exceptionally busy year for the NBK team as we worked towards the formal launch of the three Library Hub services at the end of July and continued with post-launch activity. The three CMCAB meetings held in 2019 were a vitally important channel for consultation and advice from our Board members on the direction and delivery of the project.
Key areas of discussion at the meetings centred on the following themes:
- Progress reports on institutional engagement with the NBK, and the communication of key messages via a variety of channels such as roadshows, visits, publications and promotional materials. The emphasis was to promote the advantages of collaboration and respond to community queries and concerns. Board members supported the teams’ efforts to drive engagement and reach data loading targets, using their networks to support the ongoing momentum of the project
- Analysis of outcomes from the work of the NBK Community Data Groups to inform future priorities and strategy
- Consultation on the development of evolving approaches to systems and services, including the revised data model and the development of services from pilot through to launch.
- Issues relating to data ownership and discussions with data suppliers which evolved further to the development of Plan M as a key plank of activity for 2020
- Partnerships with organisations such as OCLC and the British Library plus input from stakeholders such as RLUK, SCONUL and library consortia
- Strategy for future service development and enhancement, ensuring the potential of the NBK is fully exploited with collaboration from the community. An example of this is the ongoing work to develop a standard approach to the coding of retention information which can then be used to drive new functionality in Compare
- Engagement with collaborative collection management initiatives in the sector and support for UKRR
During 2019 there were some changes to Board membership: Thalia Knight and Christine Wise stepped down from CMCAB, following many years of service and were thanked wholeheartedly for their commitment and contributions to the Board’s work. We were delighted that Stuart Hunt agreed to take on the role of Chair. New members will be joining the Board in 2020. A list of current members is available here.
Discussions also took place about the Board taking on a wider governance role for Library Hub services, which will be reflected in revised Terms of Reference . An update on this will be provided shortly.
