Terms of reference

To make recommendations to the HE Funding Bodies*, the British Library and the National libraries of Scotland and Wales on a national strategic framework and mechanisms for promoting collaboration in, and integration of the development and provision of library collections, their long-term management, and services to support research.

This should include the following:

1. Further development of the distributed national research collections through stronger collaborative arrangements between HEI's, the national libraries and other research collections of national significance.

2. Within this context to receive relevant reports on library and information matters referred by the HE funding bodies, and recommend action. In addition to provide a focus for building on studies already commissioned by the BL/HEFCE Task Force and relevant RSLP supporting actions.

3. To recommend options for long-term scheme to support integrated access to resources of national importance in the light of experience with the RSLP access model.

4. To review ways of taking forward, scaling up and deepening the impact of the access and collection co-ordination strands of the RSLP initiative in a UK-wide, co-ordinated way.

5. Further development of a co-ordinated strategy for and provision of materials in printed, electronic and digitised form.

6. To assess and make recommendations on how best to use the resources of JISC and the DNER team to facilitate this strategy.

7. The development of a strategy for improving the availability of information about research materials and their description, building on Full Disclosure.

8. The development of a UK-wide strategy for preservation, including digital preservation to support research and scholarship alongside the preservation of printed materials, and the requirements for technical capacity.

9. Commissioning of specialist studies in support of this agenda.

*The Higher Education Funding Council for England, Scottish Higher Education Funding Council, Higher Education Funding Council for Wales and the Department of Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment (Northern Ireland).

Last updated 24 October 2001