Meeting notes 28.04.15
Agenda items
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Sarah forgot to bring it and couldn’t remember all the things so it wasn’t discussed fully – can be
re-visited if necessary
Contact with Alison Macrina of The Library Freedom Project
o Gave advice on migrating from Google which has been done, email is now hosted by
riseup.net, we have a riseup etherpad to replace google docs and all our info is on our
WordPress site – still require an alternative online community space – both Suzannah
and Helen said they think they can look into that and will feed back at next meeting
National Meeting
o Looks like it will be 4th July in Huddersfield, more discussion required on how involved
we want to be
Oxford event
o More discussion on this, something in August is preferred, will need to think about
establishing an organising committee
Admin type stuff
o If people want rights to post on the blog then let Sarah know
o Key-holder situation – wasn’t talked about, can be carried over
We discussed the fact that so far publicising the group has mostly been online through Twitter
and through word of mouth. We need to look into ways to publicise this more widely
o Sarah to look into a Daily Info ad
o Look into establishing contact with Brookes
o Design a poster? – Hannah?
o Duncan to potentially speak to Outline about a feature/mention (although this is Bod
only)
We were joined by somebody who works in public libraries, which was very exciting – he noted
that public libraries cannot appear too political and as such, although they’re aware of the
group, they feel tentative regarding coming along.
o John has agreed to report back to colleagues about us, hopefully in a positive way!
This sparked a discussion about the name of our group and the style of our meetings – we have
affiliation with a wider organisation so the name needs to stick although we can continue to
discuss this.
o Further discussion on name
o Organise a social and try and run these alongside our ‘safe space’ meetings – check out
the Oxford Libraries Social group on FB
o Work on a definition of ‘radical’ to make us seem less scary
o Sarah will update website with these things
From this we discussed the connotations of radical and that we should work to produce a
statement of purpose (manifesto deemed to political a term) to try and diffuse apprehension
about getting involved
o Collaborate on statement of purpose – if Grace is happy to collate and send her notes or
put them on the pad we can use that as a starting point?
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Helen raised the point we should think about things we can actually do, rather than just focusing
on discussion. We need to think more on this and perhaps try and organise something small
soon. This should also include ways to advocate for libraries/librarians – we need to be more
vocal about our value
o Helen said she would speak to contacts/friends about potential ideas and will feed back
at next meeting
o Sarah will contact other RLC groups about things they have done and feed back
o Continue discussion of how to emphasise value
Discussion points 
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Readers/Customers debate
o Is calling them customers harmful? How does it alter both actual and perceived
relationships between us? Discussion to be continued and a blog post to be written on it
(eventually)
Job titles and organisational structures
o The term ‘librarian’ is a contentious issue, further discussion of how people define it to
occur – do we even require definitions? We’re all ‘librarians’ to readers – does the
distinction matter?
LIS courses and professional qualifications
o Distance learning vs part time vs full time, are they even necessary? Full Masters vs.
PgDip, MA vs. MSc etc. hopefully Jen will write a blog post about her decision to stop
pursuing hers. Discussed Chartership also.
Services offered
o Idea that there’s a distinction between what libraries/librarians should and shouldn’t do
Safety of Oxfordshire public libs
o Relatively speaking Oxfordshire libraries are safer than most public libraries, John
explained this although it would be worth explaining again – is there a trend emerging
where more affluent areas keep their libraries despite deprived areas needing them
most?
Volunteering in libraries
o Feeds into the wider debate about unpaid work, but also an issue for qualified library
professionals – 2 sided coin as volunteers can be useful and volunteering itself can be a
very positive thing – further discussion needed
AOB
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Richard Ovenden will be doing a Reddit AMA on May 1st at 11:30am – could be interesting to
follow along
Duncan raised the idea of having an FAQs section on our site which Sarah will work on
Helen asked how we would make decisions – voting or consensus – this to be decided at next
meeting
Establish themes for meetings? – to discuss next time
Next meeting date provisionally Sunday 10th April – we’re looking to have a less formal, social
type gathering to try and soften our image and get more people involved – potentially at Swan
and Castle – this TBC.