SCOTTISH LANGUAGE DICTIONARIES LTD

Transcription

1 SCOTTISH LANGUAGE DICTIONARIES LTD MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD ON 10 SEPTEMBER 2010 IN THE CONFERENCE ROOM, DAVID HUME TOWER, GEORGE SQUARE, EDINBURGH PRESENT: Mrs J Anderson (SLD Member), Ms P Cairns-Speitel (Senior Editor, SLD), Ms A Ferguson (Editor, SLD), Ms E Finlayson (Editor, SLD), Mrs S Forde (SLD Member), Dr A Grant (Editor, SLD), Mr H Gratwick (Editor, SLD), Professor C Kay (Convener, SLD Board), Mr J Lonie (Company Secretary & Treasurer, SLD Trustee), Dr C Macafee (SLD Member), Mr W Mack (SLD Trustee), Dr M Mackay (SLD Trustee), Ms J MacMillan (Scottish Government), Dr P G B McNeill (SLD Member), Mrs R Martin (Administrator, SLD), Dr C Robinson (Director, SLD), Ms E Small (SLD Trustee), Mr J Stuart (SLD Member), Ms E Webster (Education & Outreach Officer, SLD) 1. Professor Kay welcomed all present to the AGM of Scottish Language Dictionaries. Professor Kay took the chair in the absence of Richard Wilson, the outgoing Honorary President who had proffered his apologies. Professor Kay welcomed all Members of the Company and the staff of SLD, especially those new members of staff who had joined SLD since the AGM held last year, namely Elaine Webster and Ann Ferguson. Professor Kay welcomed Jean Anderson who had agreed to stand for election as a Trustee. Mrs Anderson is an expert in computing, and has considerable experience of working on major electronic projects. Professor Kay also welcomed Janet MacMillan from the Scottish Government, who has been in regular contact with SLD. Professor Kay noted that one reason that numbers of Trustees attending this meeting were depleted was because this meeting was clashing with the AGM of the Scottish Text Society. This has happened before, so this year Professor Caie is attempting to negotiate to ensure that different dates are chosen for the respective AGMs next year. Professor Kay noted that it has been a good and productive year. SLD now has the full complement of staff, the financial situation is considerably more stable, and the move to the new premises has been accomplished. Professor Kay gave an update on the situation as regards Trustees. She reminded the meeting that when SLD was set up, bringing the Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue together with The Scottish National Dictionary Association, a transitional agreement was made whereby the six Scottish Universities that had supported the dictionaries were given the right to appoint trustees to the Board, and, when one of those trustees retired or resigned, the right to appoint a new trustee in their stead. In return, SLD received the rights to the royalties from DOST. Recently it had begun to appear that this arrangement had run its course. During the course of the last year, Professor Kay consulted with the six University Secretaries. They were all of the same opinion that as those people who had been involved directly with DOST retired, it was becoming increasingly difficult to recruit new people to these posts. It was agreed that the agreement would cease, and thus the Board and Membership now control the whole Board of fifteen Trustees. The remaining University Trustees will continue to the end of their current term. It is hoped that the Universities will continue to supply a substantial number of trustees, but on the basis of individual interest rather than right. Professor Kay expressed the thanks of the Board to the six universities for their interest and support over the years, and their flexibility in this matter. Dr McNeill asked if there was any need to alter the constitution to take account of this development. Professor Kay confirmed that no change was required.

2 During the course of the year three Trustees have retired. Two of these were University Trustees, namely Professor R Johnstone (Stirling University) and Mr J D McClure (Aberdeen University), and both have agreed to join the Advisory Committee for SLD. Mr Scott Rae has also resigned from the Board following his retirement from Morton Fraser. For many years the dictionaries have enjoyed the benefit of his legal expertise, and staff are delighted that he has agreed to continue to answer queries on legal Scots. Professor Kay thanked all the retiring trustees for their service over the years. Professor Kay confirmed that the meeting will be asked to approve the proposal to elect two new trustees, Jean Anderson and Jeremy Smith. Professor Smith is a Professor at Glasgow University, and has considerable expertise in medieval languages including Scots, and an interest in modern Scots. Professor Kay announced that William Gillies has now agreed to be re-appointed as a Trustee. Professor Gillies had given valuable service on the Board before he resigned last summer on his retiral from Edinburgh University and ahead of his departure for a year at Harvard. Unfortunately, his agreement came too late for his name to be included in the voting papers sent to members. Professor Kay stated that, according to the Memorandum and Articles, as founder members of the company, she and Mr Lonie have the power to appoint, and dismiss, members of the Board. Dr McNeill confirmed that it is quite usual for trustees to have the power to assume new trustees. Professor Kay agreed that the Articles also say specifically that should there be a vacancy on the Board, the Board has the power to fill it. The meeting agreed that Professor Kay should propose that William Gillies should resume his seat on the Board. Motion to appoint William Gillies as a Trustee, proposed Professor Kay, seconded Mr Lonie. It was agreed that this appointment should be put to the AGM next year for ratification by the membership. 2. APOLOGIES Apologies had been received from: Mr W Aitken (SLD Trustee), Mr D Ansdell (Scottish Government), Professor G Caie (SLD Trustee), Professor J Corbett (SLD Trustee), Dr J Coull (SLD Member), Sir James Craig (SLD Member), Mrs M Dareau (Principal Editor, SLD), Mr B Elliott (SLD Member), Mr Matthew Fitt (SLD Trustee), Professor A Fowler (SLD Member), Professor W Gillies (SLD Member), Mr M Glen (SLD Member), Dr F Hughes (SLD Member), Mrs M McGowan (SLD Member), Dr M Munro (SLD Member), Professor R Ó Maolalaigh (SLD Trustee), Mrs A Outram (SLD Member), Dr R Purdie(SLD Trustee), Dr D Sellar SLD Member), Professor J Smith, Dr J H Williams (SLD Member), Mr R Wilson (SLD President). 3. MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 11 SEPTEMBER 2009 (circulated). Dr McNeill proposed that the wording of item 5 be amended from Regular attendees at.. to Those regularly attending. This wording was agreed. Professor Kay proposed that the minutes be accepted as a true and accurate record of the meeting, seconded Dr McNeill. There were no Matters Arising. 4. APPOINTMENT OF PRESIDENT. Professor Kay reminded the Board that the appointment of the President of SLD is in the power of the Board. Mr Richard Wilson, the actor, has been Honorary President for the last four years, and while he was always friendly and supportive, and was willing to offer help, for example by donating items for auction, he has never been able to attend meetings or visit SLD. In the course of correspondence with Professor Kay, Mr Wilson agreed that it would not be a good idea to run for a second term, and accepted the invitation to join the Advisory Committee on giving up office. This left a vacancy, and the Trustees felt that it would be better to have someone who was on the spot. Professor Kay was pleased to announce to the meeting that Dr Margaret Mackay had agreed to fulfil the role of President. The meeting formally approved the appointment of Dr Mackay as President of SLD. In accepting her appointment, Dr Mackay said that she considered it a great honour to be invited to hold the post, and that she is looking forward to continue working with SLD. At the start of her career at The School of Scottish Studies at 27 George Square, her early mentors included David Murison and Jack Aitken. In due course, Jack Aitken and Angus McIntosh supervised her PhD, and she is grateful for the association with the dictionaries over the years.

3 5. REPORT ON THE YEAR S ACTIVITIES (Dr Christine Robinson, Director of SLD). On behalf of the staff, Dr Robinson welcomed the appointment of Dr Mackay as President of SLD. Dr Robinson presented her report on the year s activities: Since the last AGM, we have recruited Elaine Webster as our Outreach and Education Officer (working three days per week) and Ann Ferguson (full time) joined the editorial team and is mainly working on the online Dictionary of the Scots Language (DSL) alongside Peter Bell, the IT Officer. For much of the year, Peter Bell has been working additional hours and has completely restructured the electronic version of A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue. This is now being tested online but refinements are still being made. It is now a great deal easier to search and it will eventually be possible for editors to update it without external IT support. Part of the test version is being made available to the University of Glasgow Enroller Project. The process will be repeated for the Scottish National Dictionary. The DSL revision seems to be a good candidate for additional funding and opportunities are being explored. Work is progressing steadily on the re-editing of the Concise Scots Dictionary with the combined efforts of Mrs Dareau, Mrs Cairns, Dr Grant, Mr Gratwick and Dr Robinson. The revised Scuilwab is now online and will be available to teachers by the end of this month. After a feedback period, we look forward to launching the website formally later in the year. It has been revised with the Curriculum for Excellence very much in mind. Work has begun on a school grammar book to replace the Grammar Broonie and additional funding for this is being applied for. Outreach encompasses everything from Nursery Schools to postgraduate teaching at Edinburgh University and visits to community groups. A co-operative project with the SLC and Liz Niven has produced a Continuing Professional Development Powerpoint for teachers, available online. Dr Robinson and Michael Hance of the SLC did a joint presentation on Scots language to members of BBC staff earlier this week. Dr Robinson has been attending meetings of the Scots Working Group, a body convened with the purpose of offering recommendations to assist the government to carry out its stated policy of encouraging and developing the language. It is hoped that the centrality of dictionaries in any language planning policy will be clear from the final report. Several members of staff attended the Enroller Symposium in Glasgow and Dr Robinson and Ms Lorna Pike of Faclair na Gàidhlig attended the Euralex Conference in Leeuwarden at which a paper was given comparing and contrasting the progress of Faclair na Gàidhlig and the SLD s Dictionaries. The last of our Scottish Arts Council transitional funding was exhausted in the first quarter and we are grateful to them for their support over the years. The new arrangement with the Scottish Government is greatly beneficial in that it enables us to focus on our core activities and we have now built an excellent team with lexicographical expertise and a range of relevant complementary specialisms. Finally, I d like to congratulate Dr Grant on the publication of The Pocket Guide to Scottish Placenames published by Richard Drew at 3.99 and this year s must for the Christmas stockings. Dr Robinson invited those present to have a look at the test version of the new electronic DOST at the end of the meeting, when Ms Ferguson would be on hand to answer queries. 6. TREASURER S REPORT (Mr James Lonie, Company Secretary and Treasurer, SLD). Mr Lonie presented his report referring to The Report and Accounts for the Year ended 31 March 2010 (circulated): What I have to say is concerned with the Accounts ie the material which begins with section 5 Financial Review, on page 6. That section is a useful summary of the position. It shows that we finished the year with a positive balance of 78,739 in total funds. At the start of the year that balance was 11,115. These figures are shown again and further analysed in the Balance Sheet on page 9 and the Income and Expenditure Accounts on page 8. Total income over the year was 287,336. Of this the principal component by far was the Grant in aid from the Scottish Government, 200,000. There was also transitional funding from the Scottish Arts

4 Council, of 57,955. Together these make up almost 90% of income and graphically illustrate our reliance on public sources. Expenditure amounted to 219,712. That is broken down in Notes 4 and 5 on page 11 and, as expected, the major item of expenditure is salaries and associated costs amounting to 181,662 or 83% of the total. The outcome, therefore, is a surplus of 67,624 (which becomes 78,739 when the carry forward from 31 March 2009 is added). In a commercial organisation this would be good news. In one such as ours it might be considered, by our funders at any rate, to represent a degree of over provision. This is dealt with in note 12 on page 13. In essence there was a build up of funds due to the delay in recruiting and training the additional staff for which our funding had been agreed. But the staff complement is now in place and these funds will be substantially used in paying salaries and running costs during the current year. It is important to stress that the situation of surplus is temporary. This financial year, with a full staff complement, we could make a deficit of some 40,000; and after a further year, other things being equal, the surplus will have gone. And other things might not be equal. We do not know what public funding will be available to us in the future and in the current financial climate it might be rash to be optimistic. This is not to sound a note of panic. It has always been envisaged that our funding would continue to be a blend of public core grant supplemented by project finance and other contributions raised at our own hand. Work is in hand to this end. The surplus gives us the space and time to seek out donors and to structure applications accordingly. This is welcome but it is important that we succeed and everyone in the organisation is fully aware of that. Professor Kay invited Ms MacMillan to comment. Ms MacMillan noted that as everyone must be aware, the Government is facing a spending revue, and no-one can know the position until the UK spending revue is completed. She hoped that everyone would take heart from the fact that The Scottish Government does have broad cross-party support for the commitment to support the Scots Language. Professor Kay thanked Mr Lonie for making his report, and for his work throughout the year. 7. REPORT ON THE QUESTIONNAIRE CIRCULATED TO MEMBERS (Elaine Webster, Education and Outreach Officer, SLD.) Professor Kay reminded the meeting that at the last AGM the question of whether SLD members should be called members or friends was discussed. Before making any change to the structure of the organisation, it had been decided that the membership should be asked how they felt about the matter and a report offered to this meeting. Professor Kay invited Ms Webster to report on the survey of the membership which she conducted. Ms Webster reported that during March the Membership Questionnaire was ed to 50 members, including SLD Trustees, and posted to a further 56 members. In all, 21 responses were received. In question 4, members were asked to give their opinion of the advantages and disadvantages of a name change from member to friend. Generally, the responses suggested that members felt that a name change would not make a big difference. Those who did see an advantage felt that it would accurately reflect their level of commitment; those who were not in favour suggested that the term was too informal. The company controls the organisation, and making such a change would involve rewriting the Constitution. On balance the responses suggested that the membership preferred to retain the term member. Other feedback which staff have taken on board from the responses to the questionnaire included comments on our websites and on the Newsletters. Ms Webster suggested that the whole exercise had been very useful, stimulating contact between the membership and the organisation, and she offered thanks to all the members who took part. Professor Kay thanked Ms Webster for her report, and confirmed that the Board is recommending that no change be made. 8. ORDINARY RESOLUTIONS. Mrs Martin reported that two proxy votes have been received, both of whom voted for the resolutions.

5 Resolution 1 That the documents constituting the Accounts be received. Resolution 2 That Graham Caie, who retires by rotation, be re-elected as trustee of the Company. There was no requirement for a vote and the resolution was passed. Resolution 3 That David Robb, who retires by rotation, be re-elected as trustee of the Company. There was no requirement for a vote and the resolution was passed. Professor Kay noted that both these Trustees had originally been University appointees, but would now be sitting as Trustees appointed to the Board in their own right. Resolution 4 That Christian Kay be re-elected Convener of SLD. Resolution 5 That James Lonie be re-elected Depute Convener of SLD. Resolution 6 That Jean Gilmour Anderson be elected as trustee of the Company. Resolution 7 That Jeremy John Smith be elected as trustee of the Company. Resolution 8 That Baker Tilly Tax & Accounting Ltd be appointed as auditors of the company, and to authorise the trustees to fix their remuneration. Professor Kay reported that the Trustees were satisfied with the work of Baker Tilly, and moved that they be re-appointed as auditors. The resolution was passed. 9. AOCB 9.1. Mrs Forde checked that interested schools should be given contact details for Ms Webster, and suggested that, perhaps by means of the newsletter, all members should be reminded to encourage contact between schools and SLD Mrs Forde asked if there is publicity material for SLD that she could take with her on speaking engagements. Dr Robinson assured her that this could be provided, and suggested that she contact the SLD office to confirm numbers involved, and arrange to collect packs. Professor Kay encouraged everyone to make use of SLD publicity material, and the meeting agreed that the postcards are particularly useful and have proved to be popular Dr Mackay suggested that exhibition materials assembled to show the history of dictionary making in Scotland could be an asset, showing people how dictionaries were compiled in the past, and demonstrating how they are made now. People could be reminded of how the public can be involved in word collection. Perhaps through the Newsletter, we could seek materials and suggestions for venues. It might be possible to raise funding for such a project Mrs Forde asked if anything had ever been done in prisons. She suggested that there might be an opportunity to encourage prisoners to take a pride in their language, as well as giving them materials to work on. Staff were able to assure her that in the past good connections had been established with different prisons, and that in particular Ms Cairns-Speitel had had considerable success working on different projects with prisoners. Dr Robinson stressed that such projects were very labourintensive, and that staff have to be able to concentrate on the main task of making dictionaries. It was agreed however that SLD is happy to support the education staff in prisons Referring to the fact that major digital resources such as The Kist o Riches/Tobar an Dualchais (the major project preserving and ensuring access to the sound archives of

6 the School of Scottish Studies), and the Campbell of Canna collection belonging to the National Trust for Scotland will be going live later this Autumn, Dr Mackay pointed out that a wealth of Scottish data will increasingly be being made available in an accessible form, remotely. As the Trustees heard earlier, approaches are being made to link SLD as an associate institution with Edinburgh University, and perhaps other universities. Dr Mackay expressed the hope that everyone associated with SLD will remain alert to the possibilities connected with the new resources becoming available and to funding opportunities possibly available for work associated with these resources. Professor Kay agreed that there is a growing body of large resources becoming available, opening up possibilities for co-operation, such as the corpus of Scots writing that is been being assembled in Glasgow, and the ENROLLER project. Mrs Anderson explained that the ENROLLER project is bringing digital resources, including the Historical Thesaurus of English, the Scots corpora being put together in Glasgow, DOST, and eventually SND, together into one interface, where people can look for words and phrases in one search across all the available resources. The project is due to be completed next Spring, but is already usable. Mrs Anderson commented that projects bringing together resources are proving popular with funders. Professor Kay agreed that projects promoting knowledge exchange and transfer are popular with funders, as are partnerships between different kinds of organisations, including those outwith academia. Professor Kay also pointed out that these projects are making the works available to a worldwide audience that we couldn t expect to reach with printed volumes. Professor Kay suggested that the next SLD newsletter might make mention of these other projects, and that SLD might make links to other electronic projects available on our websites. Dr Robinson confirmed that it is hoped to make SLD s Word Collection available to the public in some form, however there are technical difficulties to be overcome. 10. VOTE OF THANKS. Mr Lonie proposed the Vote of Thanks. He thanked Professor Kay for chairing the AGM once again, and also offered thanks from everyone to Professor Kay for her work as convener of the Board throughout the year. Mr Lonie expressed appreciation of the expert and multi-skilled staff team that has been brought together at SLD under Dr Robinson s leadership. He also thanked Ms Cairns- Speitel for organising the Refreshments to be offered following the meeting. At the end of the Meeting, the Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2010, and the Letter of Representation required by the Auditors were signed off.