Wales Higher Education Libraries Forum

Representing Wales

What We Do

The Wales Higher Education Libraries Forum (WHELF) is a grouping of Chief Librarians and Directors of Information Services drawn from all the higher education institutions in Wales along with the National Library of Wales, Amgueddfa Cymru-National Museum Wales, Natural Resources Wales and the Open University in Wales.

WHELF’s mission is to promote library and information services co-operation, to encourage the exchange of ideas, to provide a forum for mutual support and to help facilitate new initiatives in library and information service provision.

WHELF Groups

Each group has representation from WHELF member libraries and completes a terms of reference detailing membership and objectives with a Chair to convene and coordinate meetings and distribute tasks to group members. The work of the groups is directed by the WHELF Action Plan and in turn the groups refer any issues for discussion to WHELF.

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Shared LMS

Members of the WHELF Consortium currently employ a variety of standalone Library Management Systems, and several different discovery systems. With the selection of Ex Libris as a single provider, the Consortium will deliver a single cloud-based next generation library system, delivered on a software-as-a-service (SaaS) basis.

WHELF Board meets three times a year, twice residentially and once in a day meeting or online.

WHELF Members

  • Natural Resources Wales
    Beth Hall, Team Leader, Knowledge Records & Information

WHELF Groups

WHELF has established a number of groups to help provide expert advice and to support WHELF in its collaborative tasks.

Each group has representation from WHELF member libraries and completes a terms of reference detailing membership and objectives with a Chair to convene and coordinate meetings and distribute tasks to group members. The work of the groups is directed by the WHELF Action Plan and in turn the groups refer any issues for discussion to WHELF.

WHELF

Access & Borrowing Schemes

Higher education students and staff can access most of our libraries via SCONUL Access

Who are WHELF?

Action Plan

Our action plan is a working document, and constantly evolving.

Constitution

WHELF has a constitution, which you can ready by clicking here.

Strategic Plan

Read our 2020-2024 Strategic Plan for WHELF.

Meetings

WHELF meets three times a year, twice residentially and once in a day meeting or online.

Annual Reports

Our annual reports can be found on the following page here.

Articles on WHELF

There are many published articles on WHELF, which you can read here.

Read our Latest News

WHELF Strategy 2024-2030 – Engagement Days

Following feedback from colleagues, WHELF is pleased to announce that there will be an online event as well as the already advertised in-person event on 25 March 2024. This means there are two opportunities to come together to hear about, discuss and refine the...

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WHELF Colloquium at Gregynog Hall  – 27-28 June 2024

The WHELF Colloquium returns to its spiritual home, Gregynog, for a two-day residential conference on the 27th and 28th of June. The theme for the conference is “Reflect, Reset, Renew”. It will have a particular focus on the challenges and opportunities we have...

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