People's Network Procurement Strategy Group in England

MLA has made a firm commitment to develop and deliver e-services through the People's Network as part of the Digital Citizenship strand of Framework for the Future - the 10-year development strategy for England's public libraries. Services are being delivered through the developing People's Network Service . While public-sector content created through initiatives such as, nof-digitise , or local and regional programmes form a key element of the service, of equal importance is the ability of public libraries to provide access to commercial electronic datasets.

In order to address this agenda, Reference Online was launched in February 2006, providing access to agreements with suppliers of commercial datasets negotiated by MLA on behlaf of public libaries in England. Whilst no budget is available from MLA to subsidise such agreements, agreements should deliver value for money and efficiency savings to library services.

The Strategy Group is the decision-making body advising MLA on this programme of work.

Background information and presentations from briefing sessions February – March 2005

  Procurement of electronic content for public libraries briefing sheet June 2005 (Word 838KB)
Procurement of Electronic Content and English public libraries: a briefing note on MLA’s work Feb 2005 (Word 266KB)
Procurement of electronic resources and English public libraries: briefing session for library staff Feb 2005 (PPT 125KB)
Procurement of electronic resources and English public libraries: briefing session for suppliers Feb 2005 (PPT 261KB)