*Posted on behalf of the Intute Executive Director, Caroline Williams*


Online survey http://feedback.intute.ac.uk/proposal (available until 9th
September)

You may be aware that Intute is expecting a reduction in funding and
consequently is planning a significant change to the service.  This
email is intended to provide some background and bring you up to date
with our plans for the next few months.  I appreciate that you may have
concerns about what this means for your users, however I hope that I can
provide some reassurance.  

Following the JISC review of spending priorities for the academic year
2010-11, the decision was made to significantly reduce the current
funding to Intute in the context of an expectation that JISC will be
required to find real term funding savings.  JISC will continue to
support some aspects of Intute (to be confirmed in mid October 2009),
and especially its Internet research skills activities, but they have
recommended that we refocus as an organisation and look at our current
business model.  In the current economic climate we expect that this
will just be one of many difficult public funding decisions.
Intute employs a number of people and contributors through agreements
with many UK higher education institutions and key bodies in the sector.
We are currently in a period of consultation with those most affected by
this announcement, in particular in relation to the impact on staff
employed on Intute activity, and are developing a proposal for a scaled
down Intute service to run 2010-2013 which will be considered at the
JISC Infrastructure and Resources Committee meeting in October.
We are acutely aware of the impact of any reduction of service on our
users and especially those organisations which integrate Intute into
their websites, library catalogues and virtual learning environments.
For the 2009-10 academic year it is likely that it will be business as
usual and the current Intute, Virtual Training Suite and Informs will be
available until at least 31st July 2010.

In the meantime we will be gathering information about the impact of the
funding reduction and will develop transition plans.  We expect to be in
a position to give out further information towards the end of this
calendar year.  In order to inform these plans for the future and
support our impact analysis we would welcome your feedback on what you
value most about Intute and how you use it in your work and in support
of teaching and learning.  Also, we are looking for volunteers to
participate in focus group events, and to complete a short online survey
http://feedback.intute.ac.uk/proposal (available until 9th September).
To keep up to date with Intute news and get involved with developing
Intute please join our mailing list ([log in to unmask])
and/or check our website.  

Thank you for your continued interest in and support of Intute.

Caroline Williams
Executive Director of Intute
Email: [log in to unmask]

*****************************************************
Jenny Hall (Admin Officer)
Intute, Rm B159, Information Services, King's Meadow Campus
University of Nottingham, Lenton Lane, Nottingham, NG7 2NR
** 0115 8230572 **
Mon - Thurs (09:45 - 14:45) 


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