New Mercian Steering Group Elected

The results are in, and we are delighted to announce the new Steering Group Officers for the Mercian Collaboration.  Following the first ever Mercian Collaboration elections, long-time Chair and Treasurer, Caroline Taylor (Leicester) and Robin Green (Warwick), have stepped down from their leadership roles.  Caroline and Robin have been instrumental in leading the UK Midlands based university library regional collaboration since its initial conception in late 2014.  Both will retain their strong links and support for the Collaboration, through their capacities as members of the Mercian's Directors Committee.

Meanwhile, the incoming Officers have, for the first time, been elected through a ballot of member organisation library directors.  Consequently, the new Mercian Steering Group will be led by its new Chair, Dave Parkes, Director of Library and Learning Services at De Montfort University.  Dave will be supported in his role by the newly elected Mercian Vice-Chair, Diane Jobs (University of Birmingham), and incoming Treasurer Paul Reynolds (Keele University).

The Officers will be further supported by three Steering Group Members, also elected from among the 22 member representative library directors.  These are Phil Brabban (Coventry), Fiona Parsons (Wolverhampton) and Emma Walton (Loughborough).  All Officers and Members are elected to serve a two year term, as per the Collaborations' Terms of Reference.

The Steering Group will continue to be supported by its Collaboration Development Officer, Gareth (Gaz) J Johnson, to whom requests for further information on this or any Mercian Collaboration matter, should be directed.