ECF Council - Controversial Issues

[Roger de Coverly]

There's a bit more on adjudications at the SCCU website

http://www.sccu.ndo.co.uk/let.htm

I'm not sure where the prospective ECF President stands on the issue, but opinions are divided in one of the last bastions of traditional league chess where you establish a winning or drawing position and eke it out to the required minimum move count.

[Roger de Coverly]

There's a new report by the Chairman of the Finance Committee

http://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-conte ... r-2014.pdf

In it he mentions the difficulty of recruiting a new office manager because of the uncertainty where the office is to be located. I'm aware they moved from Hastings to Battle because the lease on the Hastings property was due to expire and the building redeveloped. Why though are they contemplating moving from Battle? It does become an issue from time to time in ECF elections, that the ECF Office is "too far south" and was there something in amongst the grandiose plans of last year's brief President about moving the ECF Office?

Also in this report is mention of

the seeming disfunctionality of the ECF Board in a number of areas

One of the symptoms of this is the lack of reporting on what is decided or discussed at Board meetings. The latest report is of the meeting of 15th July.

[John Upham]

Roger,

The ECF is moving office to allow yourself to pop in for a chat and to provide advice and guidance on a daily basis.

The proposed new location is somewhere in the High Wycombe area.

They are hoping you might consider a membership sevices assistant role amongst others.

[David Sedgwick]

There's a new report by the Chairman of the Finance Committee

http://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-conte ... r-2014.pdf

In it he mentions the difficulty of recruiting a new office manager because of the uncertainty where the office is to be located. I'm aware they moved from Hastings to Battle because the lease on the Hastings property was due to expire and the building redeveloped. Why though are they contemplating moving from Battle? It does become an issue from time to time in ECF elections, that the ECF Office is "too far south" and was there something in amongst the grandiose plans of last year's brief President about moving the ECF Office?

From the Chief Executive's Report:

The ECF Office under-staffing situation is not sustainable. We are examining the benefits and costs of moving the office to a more accessible location with similar not-for-profit organisations, which should ultimately improve oversight and performance. Council will be given a verbal update.

The National Chess Library must move out of its two locations in Hastings no later than March 2015. Potential solutions range from combining the National Chess Library with the ECF Office ...

[Roger de Coverly]

From the Chief Executive's Report:

. We are examining the benefits and costs of moving the office to a more accessible location with similar not-for-profit organisations, which should ultimately improve oversight and performance.

Haven't they already lost staff to the English Table Tennis Association, also based in Hastings?

As the ECF shrinks, it could look back in time to how the BCF office grew. Until the move to Hastings following the acquisition of the BCM, the office was wherever the General Secretary, a paid employee, happened to live.

But it sounds as if the proposal is going to be to "ground share" with someone else. Running a library or even housing a usable collection is going to need a bit of space.

[John Upham]

Some time ago the predecessor to Andrew Walker (Sophie) migrated to the then English Table Tennis Association.

The ETTA (very sensibly) rebranded with the aid of substantial funding from Sports England to become Table Tennis England.

Table Tennis England relocated to a very much better location in Milton Keynes.

I believe that Sophie no longer works for Table Tennis England.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

"The National Chess Library must move out of its two locations in Hastings no later than March 2015"

Since when? How long has this been known for? I was under the impression the National Chess Library's location in Hastings was permanent.

There was a report in 2008 on the ECF website when it opened:

http://www.englishchess.org.uk/national-chess-library/

"The National Chess Library, the third largest public chess library in the world, was officially opened yesterday at the University Centre Hastings by former Home Secretary, Charles Clarke MP. The English Chess Federation library now has a permanent home in Hastings [...] This was a landmark occasion in the history of chess and the best way to secure the future of the library is to invest in its continued growth. I appeal to everyone who can help to do so by donating their own collection of chess books to the National Library. This can be done by individual donations of duplicates, if you are downsizing or by legacy."

So what happened?

[John Upham]

I suspect a lack of resources at its current home to provide cataloguing helped to bring about the state of affairs.

I've no idea if the ECF paid any management fees to Hastings Library: I suspect not.

Then there is the issue of transporting items from the ECF Office to the library and dealing with multiple duplicates.

Who has the knowledge to say what is valuable and what is tat?

J.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I visited the National Chess Library in the Resource Centre at the University Centre Hastings when I went to the Hastings tournament in 2010-11. Most of the books on display were crammed onto bookshelves in a small room, but they weren't in boxes in a basement. 7000 looked about right. There were some very old (and very valuable) books there. From what I remember, the items had been catalogued. Not sure if that is online, but I definitely remember using the catalogue there to find and look up the oldest chess books they had. It was a perfectly usable resource. Has that changed in the three years since?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

OK, I've now found the official thread on this over here:

http://www.englishchess.org.uk/Forum/vi ... ?f=4&t=191

'National Chess Library' by Phil Ehr.

Which was posted about nine days ago. I suppose it is necessary to follow both forums. <sigh>

And probably to ask there as another question popped up when I re-read that thread 'The Library Committee' - never heard of that before. Can't find any current record of it on the ECF website anywhere.

The question I would have is why the current location was trumpeted as a 'permanent location' when it seems it has turned out not to be so. If it requires specialist librarian services, or funding, to promote the resources, why was that not considered at the time? (I will register over there at some point, but am trying to calm down first).

[David Shepherd]

National chess library: Would it be possible to house the collection in another university library or one of the National libraries such as the National Library of Wales?

[Paul Habershon]

I visited the National Chess Library in the Resource Centre at the University Centre Hastings when I went to the Hastings tournament in 2010-11. Most of the books on display were crammed onto bookshelves in a small room, but they weren't in boxes in a basement. 7000 looked about right. There were some very old (and very valuable) books there. From what I remember, the items had been catalogued. Not sure if that is online, but I definitely remember using the catalogue there to find and look up the oldest chess books they had. It was a perfectly usable resource. Has that changed in the three years since?

Ask Bernard Cafferty.

[Mike Gunn]

I'm guessing, but I believe that what has happened is loss of interest by the institution based on a fairly small number of people visiting to make use of it (I visited it once in 2008). I have spoken to someone who has used it since and he complained that much of the material had been moved to a basement (for reasons of space) which made it a lot less convenient to use. A subsidary problem is that a lot of recently received material is stored in a rather musty room/ storage facility owned by Hastings Council and we are about to lose use of that too (I think).

The National Chess Library is a real asset and it will be a great pity if a home can't be found for it. I believe that Nigel Short and David Anderton are on the library committee and Cynthia Gurney used to be.

[Roger de Coverly]

The National Chess Library is a real asset

If it didn't exist, why would you want to invent it? Anything from about 1990 onwards, if not earlier, is presumably held by the author or publisher in electronic form, so the need to safeguard the physical objects is less necessary.

The implication seems to be that the University of Brighton and Hastings Council have now rather lost interest in it.

If it's an intention to safeguard chess works, then the Bodleian in Oxford, the British Library in Holborn and the University Library in Cambridge are likely to already contain many of the titles. The British Library has a comprehensive catalogue
http://catalogue.bl.uk/primo_library/li ... ?vid=BLVU1

[Carl Hibbard]

Be nice to see the minutes up to date before the AGM what are the chances do we think?