Annex A
Research Libraries Network
FUNDERS GROUP
Memorandum of Understanding
1. The seven sponsors of the Research Libraries
Network (RLN) working jointly as the RLN Funders' Group are pleased
to announce their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
2. The establishment of the RLN reflects
the sponsors' joint commitment to promoting world class research
across the UK. Focusing on information infrastructure and dissemination,
it is consistent with their shared goals of supporting research
innovation and collaboration, recognising the crucial links between
research and enterprise which are of benefit to the entire UK
community.
3. The RLN will be set up in the course
of 2004 for a set period of three years in the first instance.
A statement of the mission and scope of the RLN and terms of reference
for the Funders' Group and Advisory Board are set out in the following
annexes.
The establishment of the RLN will be supported
and led by the RLN Executive Unit. The RLN Executive Unit will
be accountable to the Funders Group (see Annex C for terms of
reference), and strategically advised by the Advisory Board (see
Annex D).
4. The RLN executive unit will provide unified
and focussed strategic leadership to create a cohesive national
framework, or network, of the existing interdependent information
providers. It will promote the development of comprehensive sustainable
approaches to help meet the developing information needs of professional
researchers and to provide fast-track access nationwide to cutting-edge
supporting technologies.
5. The MoU affirms existing collaborative
relationships between the UK higher education funding bodies and
the national libraries, and establishes the basis on which they
will work together as the RLN Funders' Group. The group comprises
representatives of each of the seven sponsoring bodies listed
below:
Higher Education Funding Council
for England (HEFCE).
Scottish Higher Education Funding
Council (SHEFC).
Higher Education Funding Council
for Wales (HEFCW).
Department for Employment and Learning
(DEL), Northern Ireland.
National Library of Scotland.
National Library of Wales.
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