First Designing Libraries Advisory Group Meeting

The board meeting was chaired by Designing Libraries Chief Adviser, Karen Latimer, and attended by: 

They agreed to invite four extra specialists, with wide-ranging sector expertise, to join the Group. The following have since been appointed and will be invited to future meetings:

A representative from the university library sector will also be invited to join the board, which will meet two or three times a year - twice online and once in person, to coincide with another event. 

Members agreed the board’s remit was to: 

• provide specialist knowledge from different sectors to support the development of the Designing Libraries Community Interest Company (CIC)
• offer insight, advice and ideas to the Designing Libraries team
• advise on and act as a conduit for content through contacts
• evaluate and challenge as a critical friend
• help to ensure the sustainability of the Designing Libraries CIC

The Group discussed several topics including governance and administration, capacity and staffing, marketing and communications, and setting up a Linkedin group.

The main topic for consideration was the design and content of the Designing Libraries website. The need to improve navigation and grow content was of prime concern. It was agreed that a full assessment of the website could only be carried out once all Designing Libraries content had been migrated to the new Content Management System. The board set a deadline for completing the content transfer of 30th November 2023. 

Once confident in the quality of the site, a date for the launch could be set - possibly in conjunction with the Green Libraries conference. Future developments such as an awards process, a research strand and the publication of how-to-guides were also discussed.