Meetings & Minutes

North West Libraries Interlending Partnership

The Partnership holds regular meetings and User Groups throughout the year. These meetings provide a mixture of formal speaker presentations and opportunities for attendees to network with speakers and with colleagues and practitioners from other partner organisations in the public and academic sectors.

Conarls

Conarls merged with The Combined Regions (TCR) on 1 st April 2009, and will exist as a Working Group within TCR. Conarls was originally set up as a forum for collaboration between the National and Regional Library Systems in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. As the landscape of regional library organisations has changed, so has the membership of Conarls, however, the organisation's commitment to inter library co-operation, resource discovery and sharing remains. The primary motivation for the merger was the overlap that existed between the two organisations, in both purpose and membership. The combined organisation will provide a single, united voice for libraries throughout the British Isles on matters of resource discovery and sharing, bringing efficiency savings to both organisations, without reducing the activity of either. The NWLIP Manager will continue to work with the new Conarls working Group.

Further information on the Conarls Working Group and its activities is available on www. combinedregions.com/Conarls .

The Conarls Inter Regional Unit (IRU) Scheme is open to any library and is free to join. Participation in the scheme reduces the cost of inter library loans which cannot be supplied within NWLIP. The IRU scheme entitles libraries to obtain items from other participating organisations at a reduced rate, and at a significant saving on the British Library rate. A list of participating organisations is available on the Conarls website.

You will find more details of the Inter Regional Unit (IRU) cost scheme on the Conarls website . If you wish to join the IRU scheme, please use the 'Contact Us' form on the Conarls website.

Forum for Interlending & Information Delivery (FIL)

The Forum for Interlending and Information Delivery (FIL) is an organisation for interlending and document supply personnel, run by a committee of elected members.

The NWLIP Manager works in partnership with a range of libraries and organisations both nationally and internationally through the Forum, and is currently a member of the FIL Executive Committee. Minutes from recent FIL meetings can be found on the FIL website: www.forumforinterlending.org.uk.

For information on NWLIP cost scheme arrangements, please contact NWLIP@Lancashire.gov.uk

The Combined Regions (TCR) Council & Management Board

The Combined Regions is made up of regional member organisations and works in partnership with the current UnityUK service provider (OCLC) to scope, deliver and develop the UnityUK service. The members of TCR Council represent a wide range of library organisations including regional library agencies, national libraries and Share the Vision. The main concern of The Combined Regions Council and The Combined Regions Management Board is to ensure the sustainability and development of resource sharing as a cornerstone of library services in the UK.

The NWLIP Manager is a member of TCR Council and Management Board.