Over the past few months Datasets has been discussing the name, membership, purpose and scope of our group.  The group is currently comprised of myself as Manager / Resource Acquisition, Helen as AUL Access and Collections, Anne as University Librarian, Janette N as previously Acting Manager Research Services supporting Stuart as he learned this aspect of his role, Alison M as Academic Liaison Manager, Stuart as Manager Research Services and Peter H as Information Resources Coordinator (eSubscriptions).   Our discussion has also been informed by:

• changes in the (previously named) Academic Liaison team with the disestablishment of the Collection management portfolio
• a desire to improve relevant organisational culture causal factors – Total Influence; Employee Involvement; Interaction Facilitation; Task Facilitation; and Communication for Learning

Accordingly the following changes have been agreed:

• Name of group to change from Datasets to the Information Resources Working Group or IRWG.  Rationale: to more accurately reflect what the group gets involved in and to avoid confusion with other meanings of “Datasets” or “Data sets” such as Research data sets
• Membership to be expanded to include two subject librarians.  Either Alison or Stuart would step down when subject librarians join
• Adding or inviting additional members or attendees as necessary – for example Wendy Wu’s involvement with eBooks, MB’s role in New Zealand purchasing and areas where there is mutual interest such as the College of Arts
• Scope to include: oversight to ensure information resources expenditure is focused on maximising value for UC, journal subscriptions, eBook collections, databases and trust funds
• Increased use of upgraded SharePoint site for wider sharing of information [summary of changes].  Relevant subject groups can receive automatic updates relevant to their area as tags related to the respective colleges will be added to the entries
• Meetings in the first half of the year will focus on specific colleges in turn.  There would be a planning meeting in December looking at wider changes across the university and a sense-checking meeting in July before subscription changes are presented to the Information Resources Advisory Group (IRAG).

Questions/comments are most welcome.  Tim Stedman