AGM - Minutes 2004

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the UK Serials Association
held on Tuesday 30 March 2004 at UMIST, Manchester

1. Chair's Introduction and Confirmation of Quorum

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

2. Apologies for absence

Apologies were received from De Montfort University and Celltech R&D Ltd.

3. Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the UK Serials Association held on 8th April 2003

The minutes of the previous annual general meeting of the 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 referred to his written report and reiterated that it is increasingly difficult to find a suitable venue for the conference. 2004 had been a sell-out and consequently a few minor problems had been experienced. He apologised for any inconvenience to delegates and pointed out the conference would be returning to Heriot-Watt in 2005. He offered particular thanks to members of the main and sub-committees for their efforts and reported that Serials and Serials-eNews continue to flourish. New events, the e-Journal Technical Updates, had been introduced this year, and a Risk Management policy was being developed to monitor key risks to the organisation and establish a risk management culture. Keith Courtney also thanked Alison Whitehorn and Karen Sadler for their work in producing the conference.

5.2 Secretary

Lesley Crawshaw thanked the members of the committee and particularly Alison Whitehorn for their help in her first year as secretary.

5.3 Treasurer

Paul Harwood reported the 2003 budget had returned to surplus following the success of the 2003 conference at Heriot-Watt. He noted the importance of educational events and seminars in generating additional income to support the group. He pointed out that Serials and Serials-eNews remain a flagship for UKSG, and reported that Ally Souster is now working exclusively on Serials and a book-keeper has now been taken on. He underlined that in line with existing UKSG policy sufficient reserves are being kept to meet the group's single greatest expense, being the cost of the conference. He noted thanks to Ally Souster for her previous work on book-keeping, and to Alison Whitehorn for her assistance in his first year as treasurer.

Paul Harwood was questioned by Gordon Burridge as to whether the interest bearing account currently being used to invest the greatest part of the group's funds was providing a sufficient interest rate. Paul Harwood explained that alternative accounts were currently being investigated, but that as interest rates generally were very depressed, return on investment was not as good as had previously been experienced.

5.4 Education Officer

Ross MacIntyre explained that the Education Committee had taken on new members and thanked them all for their efforts throughout the year. He pointed out that the Serials Resource Management seminars had been successfully re-vamped and that Library School Roadshows continued to attract good-sized student audiences. He mentioned the forthcoming seminar - Day in the Life of an e-Resources Publisher to take place at Oxford University Press in June, and that the newly-launched E-Journal Technical Update courses were almost sold out, with more venues to be announced later in the year.

5.5 Marketing Officer

Ian Middleton reported that website usage was consistently up on the previous year. He thanked Lesley Crawshaw for her work on Lis-e-journals. He mentioned the membership survey being conducted at the conference, and later to appear on the website, and asked for members' assistance in completing the survey. He thanked all members of the Marketing Committee for their assistance.

5.6 Serials Editors

Helen Henderson reported the successful transfer of Serials from Ingenta to MetaPress, and thanked Beverley Acreman and her staff at Taylor & Francis for their assistance in this. She reminded the membership of the decision made last year to go e-only in 2005, and reported that print copies would still be available at extra charge. A survey will be sent out to establish estimated print quantities required. Helen Henderson also reported that all back issues over one year old are now available free. She thanked the Editorial Board for their assistance.

6. Appointment of the Honorary Officers

One nomination only had been received for each of the three Executive Officer posts and the following appointments were therefore re-elected unopposed:

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

The elected members of the Committee for 2004/5 were announced as follows:

Christine Fyfe (University of Leicester), Ross MacIntyre (MIMAS, University of Manchester), Graham Stone (Bolton Institute), Jill Taylor-Roe (University of Newcastle).

Continuing their tenure on the committee will be Nancy Buckley (Blackwell Publishing), Richard Gedye (Oxford University Press), Tony Kidd (University of Glasgow), Alison McNab (University of Nottingham), Ian Middleton, (EBSCO Information Services) and as ex officio members, the editors of Serials, Helen Henderson (consultant) and Hazel Woodward (Cranfield University).

8. Any Other Business

None.

Keith Courtney declared the meeting closed.