SCONUL

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SCONUL (Society of College, National and University Libraries) is the professional association for academic and research libraries in the UK and Ireland, irrespective of size and mission.

Contents

SCONUL provides leadership and support to its community through advocacy, policy development, sharing knowledge and good practice and direct services to members.

History

SCONUL was founded in 1950 as the Standing Conference of National and University Libraries. In 1994 when British polytechnics became universities it merged with COPOL, the Council of Polytechnic Librarians, and in 2001 it extended its membership to libraries of Colleges of Higher Education and changed to its current name. [1]

Aims

SCONUL states its aims as:

For the benefit of our libraries and their users we aim:

Activities

SCONUL's activities include advocacy for the higher education library community, training and sharing best practice, making arrangements for reciprocal access to libraries, [2] and the collection of statistics. [3]

SCONUL groups are made up by representatives from the member institutions. Groups include the Content Strategy Group, [4] Organisational Development Strategy Group, [5] Technology and Markets Strategy Group, [6] Horizon's Strategy Group [7]

Structure

Its members include libraries in higher education institutions (not only universities but also higher education colleges and specialist schools and conservatoires); the British Library and the National Libraries of Ireland, Scotland and Wales; and libraries in national museums and other specialist institutions. [8]

SCONUL is governed by its members whose Representatives meet twice a year, and between meetings by an elected Executive Board. SCONUL is a registered charity. [9]

The SCONUL Executive Director, from 13 September 2010, is Ann Rossiter [10] and the SCONUL office is based at 94 Euston Street, London, UK, NW1 2HA.

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References

  1. "History of SCONUL". SCONUL. Archived from the original on 1 November 2012. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
  2. "Access to external libraries 3: SCONUL access". Leeds University Library. Retrieved 3 November 2009.
  3. Creaser, Claire. "UK Higher education library statistics (abstract)". Library Statistics for the Twenty-First Century World. pp. 261–272. Retrieved 3 November 2009.
  4. "Content Strategy Group | SCONUL". www.sconul.ac.uk. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
  5. "Organisational Development Strategy Group | SCONUL". www.sconul.ac.uk. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
  6. "Technology and Markets Strategy Group | SCONUL". www.sconul.ac.uk. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
  7. "Trends and Futures Strategy Group | SCONUL". www.sconul.ac.uk. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
  8. "SCONUL Annual review" (PDF). 2007. p. 2. Retrieved 3 November 2009.
  9. "SCONUL Annual review" (PDF). 2007. p. ii. Retrieved 3 November 2009.
  10. "SCONUL Announces Appointment of Ann Rossiter as new Executive Director". SCONUL. Retrieved 19 October 2010.