Subgroups Back from the Ashes?
The Copyright, and Marketing and Communications, Groups have gone quiet for a long time: so now it's time to try revitalising and reviving their operations!
It might not have escaped some members notice, that a couple of our subgroups have been rather quiet the past couple of years. Due to the prevailing and challenging circumstances, activities from both the Mercian Copyright Group, as well as the Marketing and Communications Group, have rather fallen by the wayside. This is a pity, given the vitality and interest both subgroups originally commanded in their formative days.
Following much discussion, at last week’s Steering Group it has been agreed to explore relaunching these groups with a new core committee team. These new teams would be responsible for planning a number of committee meetings each year, as well as directly shaping any other related activities each subgroup might want to explore. It is a golden opportunity for anyone with an interest in developing their committee skills, while offering a considerable benefit to their colleagues across the region too.
Both copyright, marketing and communications have been crucial areas of activity across the region’s libraries during the past two, Covid-besmirched, years. As such the Collaboration suspects there is a genuine value in getting staff with a shared expertise back together once more to share experiences, consider challenges of mutual interest or plan for potential workshop events. Each of these activities speak to the heart of the Collaboration’s strategic aims to continue to develop regional staff, while forging valuable linkages between colleagues at disparate institutions alongside seeking potential routes to shared efficiencies too.
What Are We Looking For?
In essence, for each group, we’re looking for a Chair, Vice-Chair and Admin Officer*. The Chair leads on operations and calls meetings, and usually works closely with the Collaboration’s ever-enthusiastic and effective Executive Officer. They will also be able to call on the advice and support of their subgroup sponsor – a member of the Collaboration’s Steering Group – to guide them in their activities. Vice-Chairs generally work to support the subgroup chair, while preparing in turn, after a year of two, to step into the leadership role. Admin Officers have the pleasure of collating agendas and minutes, as well as keeping each group’s operations advancing in the most advantageous direction.
How Do I Get Involved?
To kick things off, we’ve sent a message out to all the current email list members to seek their interest. However, given the time which has passed since these groups last met, we suspect there may be new regional library staff out there with a burning interest in helping out who might have missed their chance to join. Which is why we’re sharing this call for involvement publicly!
So, if you’re a copyright guru, or a marketing whizz based within one of the Collaboration member libraries and want to help us get these groups back up and running again – please, make yourself known! Drop a line, with no commitment, to the Executive Officer, Gareth J Johnson (mercianlibrariescollaboration@gmail.com), indicating which group you want to get involved with, and we can take it from there (ideally no later than Wed 9th March ’22).
In the meanwhile, here’s to the hopefully lively and exciting 2.0 existence of both of these subgroups! We look forward to seeing where they each go next!
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Past meetings and minutes from both of these groups are available.
Marketing & Communications Group
*Exact title may vary by group