New Conference Group Members (2022) Wanted!

Could you help organise the regions premier academic library conference for 2022? Then the Mercian Collaboration Conference Group may want to talk to you!

With a number of group members standing down from the organising committee, the Conference Group are now keen to recruit a range of new people to help plan, organise and deliver the 2022 conference. This is both a fantastic development opportunity to expand interpersonal, planning, communicative and collaborative skills, alongside working to deliver a shared project goal with a dedicated regional community.

As previously agreed by the Directors Board, Conference Group members are expected to contribute some salaried time to deliver on the goal of organising the annual conference. An initial meeting of the new Conference Group committee will be held in late November, with event planning commencing from January 2022.

All Conference Group members are expected to:

• Attend a minimum 4-5 (online) planning meetings annually*
• Facilitate, participate and assist in hosting the conference event
• Participate in periodic ad-hoc discussions via email and video conferencing.
• Take individual/shared responsibility for one of the group’s core roles [1]
• Support other groups members tasks as needed

*Likely to be online for the foreseeable future

Support, guidance and advice will be provided throughout by the group Chair, Vice Chair, Steering Group Sponsor and Collaboration Officer. A dedicated mailing list is also available for mutual support and to facilitate communication. [2]

Prospective members may also want to familiarise themselves with past Group minutes and reports.

Nominations

As in past years, formal nominations need to come from Library Directors – and staff who might be interested in participating are strongly encouraged to make their management aware of their interest.

To explore more about what it means to be on the conference group, please contact either the Group Chair or the Mercian Collaboration Officer:

Chair: Deborah Munro (D.Munro@bham.ac.uk)
Officer: Gareth J Johnson (mercianlibrariescollaboration@gmail.com).

In the event the number of nominations exceeds the places on the group, the Steering Group Sponsor and Group Chair will make the call on who will be formally invited to join.

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Endnotes

[1] These currently include: Speaker Liaison, Sponsor Coordinator, Venue/Platform Coordinator, Delegate Liaison, Marketing & Communications.

[2] Where members find themselves unable to contribute at this level they may ask, or be asked, to stand down from the group.