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ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 42 | December 1999


Kinetica Advisory Committee meeting

The Kinetica Advisory Committee met in the National Library on 11 and 12 November, the major topic for discussion being the business plan currently under development. This plan will set the business and strategic directions for Kinetica until 2003.

The committee considered the impact of decreasing funds for acquisitions on the Australian resource-sharing environment. Despite the expected reduction in spending on monographs, members suggested that the value of Kinetica for resource sharing could be increased in this period by an extension of services to provide full text content. Other associated topics covered were the role of expert advisory groups in contributing to Kinetica’s business directions, the information needs of small special libraries, and the important collections held in special libraries. Charging models for 2000–01 were also considered and will be the main topic for discussion at the next Kinetica Advisory Committee meeting. The complete business plan will remain confidential, but it will include a strategic directions statement and an action plan for 2000, to be made available publicly.

As this meeting was the last to take place within the elected terms of Jan Maslen and Sally Anderson, the committee examined the procedures for an election, to be held before the end of 1999. Both Ms Maslen and Ms Anderson are eligible for re-election. In Kinetica elections, all Kinetica customer libraries are entitled to nominate candidates and to vote. Nominations to chair next year’s Annual Users Meeting will also be called for at the same time.

The Kinetica Advisory Committee took the opportunity to review the 1999 Annual Users Meeting and the responses to the evaluation survey which followed. In considering the comments made in the survey, committee members made a number of suggestions about the agenda and format for next year’s Annual Users Meeting, to be held in Melbourne on 28 and 29 August. These suggestions include a reduction in the number of presentations by National Library staff, greater involvement of expert advisory groups, and changes to the manner of responding to questions on notice.

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Please address any comments and enquiries to The Editor, Gateways: lkirwan@nla.gov.au

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