Universities, Colleges and Research Libraries Section [UCRLS]

Annual Report 1998

President: Janine Tan
Secretary: Carol Dungey
Treasurer: Julie Burns

Members: Jordana Arezina, Alan Bundy, Philip Keane, Amanda Nixon and Jenny Quilliam

In January this year UCRLS (SA) was contacted by Susan Bray (Vic) to inform us that we were the National Section by virtue of the Biennial Conference being held in SA. The Section experienced extreme frustration in obtaining any minutes or paperwork from previous National Sections. Susan eventually referred our request to Colin Bates, the Secretary and other Committee members, again with a nil return and also reported that prior to this Victoria was unable to get records from NSW about any AGM or meetings of the National Section.

This state of play was confirmed for us when we received a memo from the Manager, Policy Development and Support, at Head Office stating "We have recently been updating Division information held in ALIA National Office and I notice that minutes for meetings of the University, College and Research Libraries Section (National Group) have not been received for several years ... As permanent official records of Division Meetings, it would be appreciated if you could arrange for ALIA National Office to be placed on the mailing list for copies of the ... minutes".

The SA group as the National Group has held meetings concurrently and activities have been reported with the minutes of the local Section. Marie Murphy at Head Office supplied a copy of the operational guidelines for National Sections which explained most of what we needed to do/our responsibilities. And on 27 July this year our treasurer did receive the hand-over of accounts from Victoria.

Our chief activity this year as the National Group has been the organisation of the AGM and social event for Adelaide '98 (SF3). The cocktail party was a very successful event attended by 55 members, and included the launch of "Academics online" edited by Peter Clayton, editor of AARL. As well we have responded to policy matters which have been directed to the National Group for comment and have had the Group's details updated on ALIAnet.

We also received a request from UCRLS (NSW) president, John Rodwell, who had been approached by the local RAISS Committee who were organising the RAISS National Conference in Sydney in October 1999 inquiring whether UCRLS would join them in running the conference. He felt that as it was a national conference, the National President and Committee needed to make the decision. Committee felt that it was very difficult to help organise such a conference from interstate, but offered help in suggesting/organising speakers and in promotion of the event. We did not receive any further communication on the issue and as the Conference has been advertised as a RAISS event we presume they have decided to "go-it-alone".

Other state Sections were invited to contribute items to the agenda for the AGM. Western Australia responded that they were interested to learn how the National UCRLS operates and what role it plays. They are keen to share ideas for programmes with other sections, and wonder whether perhaps an informal email list would be of benefit. This was an agenda item for the meeting. The secretary will contact interstate sections regarding its setup.

The Group has decided to hand-over the reins to the ACT group at the end of this year as they are the convenor of the next ALIA biennial. There does not appear to be a precedent set for the hand-over date. UCRLS does not hold a national conference (as RAISS and some other Sections do in the alternate year to the biennial conference) so this seemed the logical and sensible progression. It allows them better planning time for events associated with the 2000 biennial. Thus ACT will be the National Group for the period 1999-2000.

One of the first communications the president received as National President of UCRLS was from Peter Clayton, editor of AARL, informing her that as President she was also ex-officio on the AARL Editorial Board, and the principal responsibility, apart from representing the Section's interests, was to look out for material which could or should be published in AARL, and to assist with refereeing or reviewing as needed. To this end Janine refereed an article for publication and also provided a book review of Cataloguing and classification: trends, transformations, teaching and training. We also provided contact details of people interested in being offered books for review in the future, and of persons interested in submitting articles. Peter kept us advised of the review of financial management, production and distribution and other Board matters. Unfortunately the Editorial Board Meeting, was not able to be held at Adelaide '98, but was held at the time of the CAUL meeting in Sydney and the President was not able to attend. However minutes of the meeting have been sent and Peter provided a short report on AARL at the AGM.

The President was also involved in the ALIA Board of Education forum "Leading the profession into the 21st century: library and information services" and subsequent outcomes from this forum. We were given the option of only receiving the progress reports or of both receiving progress reports and being involved in any consultation process. We opted for the latter. We were also given advance notice of the meeting to be hosted by the Board on 25 October in Adelaide, with the theme "Library and information sector: distinctive or dispensable". The president liaised with Alison Batterham, Administrative Officer regarding venue, catering, publicity and other requirements for the meeting and also represented the Section at the meeting itself.

Much appreciation must be expressed to the hard working 1998 Committee, in particular Carol Dungey, our Secretary and Julie Burns, our Treasurer.

A steep learning curve, a broad range of activities and further demonstrations of a reputation for collegial support which is so characteristic of the Section locally! We wish ACT all the best as they take the reins and offer any support necessary in the transition.

Janine Tan
President