AGM - Minutes 2006

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of UK Serials Association
held on Tuesday 4 April 2006 at the University of Warwick

1. Chair's Introduction and Confirmation of Quorum

The Chair welcomed members and confirmed that the meeting was quorate.

2. Apologies for absence

No apologies were received.

3. Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of UK Serials Association held on 12 April 2005 at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh

The minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting of UK Serials Association, held at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, were accepted as a true and accurate record of the proceedings.

4. Matters Arising

There were no matters arising.

5. Annual Reports of the Officers

The Officers' reports had previously been circulated to the members. The officers highlighted certain items as follows:

5.1 Chair Keith Courtney noted that the biggest single issue for the group was to continue to find a suitable venue for a growing conference, with over 630 delegates in 2006. He confirmed that the University of Warwick was firmly booked for 2007 - the 30th anniversary conference, with an option for 2008. Alternative venues were being investigated for the future. Keith Courtney referred to the fact that it was his final year as Chair and he would be retiring from the committee. He thanked all committee and sub-committee members, Alison Whitehorn and Karen Sadler for their help during his tenure.

5.2 Secretary Lesley Crawshaw reiterated her thanks to the committee for their support.

5.3 Treasurer Paul Harwood reported that the biggest single expense the group had to encounter was the cost of providing the conference and that any surplus income generated was used to meet additional services provided by the group. He noted that costs would be carefully considered when evaluating alternative future venues. Income generated from the provision of training events by the Education Subcommittee was also significant. Paul Harwood thanked Alison Whitehorn for her assistance in his term as Treasurer.

5.4 Education Officer Ross MacIntyre told the meeting that the group had organised 14 events in the past year, being twice as many as were held annually three years ago. Links were now being explored with City Information Group for joint initiatives in the corporate market. The Usage Statistics course, launched in December, was to be repeated in June in Manchester, September in Edinburgh or Glasgow, and November in Oxford. Roadshows continued at various library school locations and it was intended to extend the offer of these to publishing courses. Ross MacIntyre welcomed the six sponsored students who were attending the conference and thanked the Education Subcommittee for their assistance at the end of his spell as Education Officer.

5.5 Marketing Officer Ian Middleton reported that the Marketing Subcommittee had set up a conference blog and invited the meeting to contribute to it. He pointed out that the website usage continued to grow, with statistics showing a 35% increase. He thanked Lesley Crawshaw for her contribution to lis-e-journals and welcomed Louise Cole who would be working with Lesley to co-manage the list in future. Ian Middleton thanked the Marketing Subcommittee for their work and informed the meeting they had lots of new ideas for 2007.

5.6 Editors of Serials Helen Henderson thanked all the Editorial Board members for their contribution throughout the year on Serials and Serials-eNews. Thanks were also expressed to Ally Souster for her work, and to Taylor & Francis for their support. Helen Henderson reported that Volumes 8-12 of Serials had been digitised and usage statistics were encouraging. Digitisation back to Volume 1 was now being considered. A deal had been struck with NASIG to provide Serials-eNews to their members and it was understood that this had been well received.

Advertising revenue from Serials-eNews was proving to be greater than that previously received from Serials when it was in print. Jill Taylor-Roe, Graham Stone, Jayne Burgess and Ally Souster were thanked for their work on the new E-Resources Management Handbook.

Helen Henderson also noted that it was intended to publish more peer-reviewed articles in Serials. A special print edition of Serials had been produced for the conference packs, showing the top five articles, which represented a wide range.

6. Appointment of the Honorary Officers for 2006/7

One nomination only had been received for each of the three Honorary (Executive) Officer posts and the following candidates were therefore elected unopposed:

7. Announcement of the Results of the Election for Members of the Committee for 2006/7

The five elected members of the Committee for 2006/7 were announced as follows:

Bev Acreman (Taylor & Francis), Lesley Crawshaw (University of Hertfordshire), Christine Fyfe (University of Leicester), Richard Gedye (Oxford University Press) and Kate Price (University of Surrey).

Continuing their tenure on the committee would be Terry Bucknell (University of Liverpool), Ross MacIntyre (MIMAS, The University of Manchester), Graham Stone (The University of Bolton), Jill Taylor-Roe (University of Newcastle) and, as ex officio members, the Editors of Serials, Helen Henderson (Ringgold Ltd) and Hazel Woodward (Cranfield University).

Keith Courtney thanked all those candidates who stood for election and reported that four co-options would be made to the committee in due course. He encouraged potential candidates to stand again in future years.

8. Any Other Business

No other business was recorded.

Keith Courtney declared the meeting closed.