Members Council Getting to work

Introducing the Chair, Vice-Chair and Treasurer of the Europeana Network Association Last year you heard Europeana commit to put the Network at its heart. Members of the Network, new and old, joined in and elected 25 Councillors to form the first Members Council. We want to tell you a bit more about what has happened since the elections, and what is next on the agenda.

Europeana Members Council, CC0

Members Council: represent the breadth and diversity of the Network

Europeana have created the Europeana Network Association to give a clear identity and a formal role to the Network. As part of its governance structure a Members Council of 25 Councillors were elected by the Network. In 2015 this will increase to 50 to truly ensure it is representative of the breadth and diversity of the Network. As your representatives, we will be working to ensure that our work is shared openly and regularly. We want to make sure that our decision making is effective and transparent. And most importantly, we will do our best to make sure that the full breadth and diversity of the members of the Network are represented at every opportunity.

Management Board: take responsibility for working with the Foundation

To oversee the work of the Members Council, the Councillors nominated a Management Board made up of six Councillors: Johan Oomen, Joke van der Leeuw-Roord, Max Kaiser, Merete Sanderhoff, Paul Keller and Rolf Kallman. The Management Board are responsible for ensuring that we are all working towards achieving our objectives as well as provide direct input into the governance of the Europeana Foundation.

Leading the Network: Introducing the Chair, Vice Chair and Treasurer

We’re Max Kaiser (Head of Research and Development at the Austrian National Library), Merete Sanderhoff (curator of digital museum practice at Statens Museum for Kunst) and Paul Keller (director of Kennisland). We’ve been appointed to be your Chair, Vice Chair and Treasurer respectively and we’re really looking forward to the year ahead! We want to start the year by passing our thanks, on behalf of the entire Members Council, to Nick Poole and Johan Oomen for their hard work in their previous roles as Chair and Co-Chair of the the Network. We will endeavour to continue their great work in and with the Network.

Whats on the agenda for February?

On the 3rd February the Members Council will have our first official meeting in the Europeana Offices in the Hague. We’ve got a lot to discuss and a few decisions to make. Because we are all new in our roles, there are a number of things we need to decide: how we manage going forward, how we work together and with the Network. Then there is the real business at the heart of the Association - defining our objectives for the year so that they support the objectives of Europeana, putting together working groups and overseeing the work of the task forces. There are some large tasks on our agenda - and we’ll be sharing more about those, and a report on the Members Council meeting, soon. In the meantime thanks for reading, we’re looking forward to working with you in 2015! Best, Max, Merete & Paul