Legal Deposit User Forum - Terms of Reference
Background
The text below sets out the terms of reference for the Legal Deposit User Forum, which seeks to bring together a cross-section of the UK Legal Deposit Libraries’ user communities to represent the interests of all existing and potential users of UK Legal Deposit. Its role is to support the understanding of different user needs and perspectives, to communicate these to the Legal Deposit Libraries, to inform and provide feedback on developments in legal deposit infrastructure and services, and influence decision making.
Purpose
Scope
The User Forum will focus primarily on the Non-Print Legal Deposit (NPLD) service but can also consider the wider Legal Deposit landscape as necessary. All sites where Legal Deposit material is accessible are in scope, including Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, Cardiff University and the Advocates Library.
The User Forum is encouraged to evaluate and amplify the outcomes of relevant user research and user experience testing, but is not expected to administer or undertake such activities itself.
It should take a broad approach to who is, or potentially could be, a user of the NPLD service and should consider non-academic communities (e.g. public libraries, local history groups etc.).
The work of the User Forum can be guided to some extent by issues referred to it from other Legal Deposit governance groups. This may take the form of formative feedback that could, in turn, influence the work of other Legal Deposit sub-groups. Forum members will however have autonomy to set their own agenda and to focus on issues that they deem to be of particular importance to user communities.
The User Forum will operate on an indefinite and open-ended basis.
Membership
The User Forum will consist of a maximum of 20 members drawn primarily from existing Legal Deposit user communities. Representation from each community should be spread as evenly as possible across the Legal Deposit institutions. Ideally, the membership should reflect the diversity of users of the service; e.g. academic staff and students, independent and early-career researchers, leisure interest users, business users, family historians etc. Membership should also reflect a range of subject areas and interests and be representative in terms of age, gender and ethnicity. It should also include print and screen disabled users.
Whilst it is recognised that individual members will be able to reflect the diversity of audiences that legal deposit aims to reach, it will be charged with taking on board diverse perspectives and views, to listen to a range of opinions, and not to assume a specific user perspective.
Members will meet at least twice a year virtually and may be invited to attend Legal Deposit events (e.g. an annual symposium). Members should be willing and able to commit to a term of at least two years to ensure continuity and the ability to report on ongoing activities and projects.
The User Forum will also include a representative from the Legal Deposit Reader Services Group to provide general information and support and to ensure join-up with other governance groups. This representative will not be permitted to take on the roles of Chair or Secretary of the User Forum.
Governance
The User Forum is an advisory group rather than a decision-making body. The Chair will provide a report (consisting of minutes and highlights) to the Legal Deposit Implementation Group (LDIG) after each meeting of the User Forum. The Chair may also be invited to attend occasional LDIG meetings.
Members of the Legal Deposit sub-groups can be invited to specific User Forum meetings if this proves useful in the evaluation of proposed changes to the implementation of Legal Deposit legislation and future service developments.
Communication
It is envisaged that User Forum members will communicate primarily by email and will share and store documentation using an appropriate and secure online platform. Social media should be used to encourage constructive engagement with user communities and other stakeholders, and as a recruitment channel for new members.
