PALMCOP Board Meeting 21 January 2003
The quarterly board meeting of Palmetto Archives, Libraries and Museums met
at the South Carolina Department of Archives and History in Columbia, SC on
Tuesday, 21 January 2003 at 10:30 a.m. Attending were Harlan Greene, Sarah
Murray, Sharon Bennett, Grace Cordial, Marie Martin, Nancy Sambets, Debra
Hutchins and Felicia Yeh. Chair Harlan Greene called the meeting to order a few
minutes after 10:30 and thanked everyone for coming. He began the process of
introducing himself, which was carried on around the table. He asked for the aid
of board members in attending to Robert's Rules of Order procedures and said he
would be taking the minutes for Tally Johnson who was unable to come due to
scheduling conflicts.
The next order of business was accepting of the minutes of the last board
meeting of 9 September 2002. Harlan Greene made a motion; it was seconded and
passed that they be accepted as presented. Harlan Greene then said he had copies
of the constitution if others needed them. He then asked if he could interject a
topic into the agenda.
At the annual meeting in November, the membership had voted on allowing
individual members. To make this available, a membership fee has to be suggested
by the board and then approved by the membership. Sharon Bennett made a motion
that the institutional fees be $30.00 and that individuals be charged $15.00.
This will be provisional until approved by the membership. Grace Cordial noted
that some institutions budget line items a year in advance, so that a rise in
dues, approved in November at the next annual meeting, might cause hardship for
institutions paying in December or January. When asked of the amount in the bank
account, Treasurer Sarah Murray answered that it totals $6,168.00.
Plans for the organization for the next year were discussed next. After
reading the mission statement from the constitution and bylaws, Harlan Greene
asked board members to share the topics of concern of their patrons and/or peers
Going around the table, the board members listed the following topics: how to
control or deal with mold; how to maintain a personal photograph collection; how
to repair videos and audio tapes; how to care for family papers; how to store
motion picture film; how to repair books; issues of conversion or reformatting
from one medium to another; how to deal with wet materials; how to read an
archival catalogue; how to prepare family scrapbooks.
After much discussion on these issues, Greene noted that he saw three different
layers of approach, There seemed to be a need for brochures on various topics
that could be dispersed; workshops were needed for professionals; and there
might be a venue for friends groups, etc. to do presentations on family papers,
etc.
Since Marie Hollings has offered her services in writing brochures, Greene
suggested that this topic might be addressed first. Five topics were selected:
dealing with mold; creating time capsules; creating and controlling a family
archives; advertising the PALMCOP environmental packet; and dealing with
photographs. These topics will be given to Ms Hollings for her to work on, as
she can; with mold being the top priority. It was suggested that a one page
front and back, possible tri-fold, document be created. Attention should be paid
to layout and design and good paper. Sharon Bennett made a motion and it was
seconded and carried that Greene could spend up to $500.00 on this project. It
was suggested that a variety of mailing lists be used to send out the final
product; perhaps the state library could help with public libraries; the SHRAB
mailing list could be used; Marie Martin volunteered to get together the mailing
list for academic institutions. Copies could possibly be circulated at the SC
Federation of Museums conference coming up in March. To save money, the group
decided it might be wise to print up and send along masters that institutions
could use to photocopy when they ran out of originals. So an original or master
and some sample copies will be sent to institutions. If mounted on the web page,
Sarah Murray noted, it could serve as a master there, as well. Information about
PALMCOP, its mission and membership would be part of the brochure.
Harlan Greene then addressed workshops, noting that the organization had been in
the habit of giving at least two a year, but that the practice had faltered of
late; he said he is willing to give a book repair workshop in the Charleston
area hopefully before June. The board decided that a fair price would be $30.00
for members and $40.00 for nonmembers. They authorized him to spend funds in a
prudent matter to reprint the book repair manual and to buy necessary supplies.
Felicia Yeh said she would inventory the supplies on hand at the state library.
Seeing that time was going quickly, Harlan Greene quickly brought up the
topic of committees, noting those mandated by the bylaws and which might require
suggestions for next time, he added. The board decided it might be wise to
invite Gloria Kelly to come to the next meeting to discuss her newsletter
committee.
Under old business, Sharon Bennett brought up the idea of reprinting and somehow
distributing the disaster response flip chart that many PALMCOP members such as
Bennett, Greene and Hollings had created and devised. It could be in hard copy
or disk form.
There was no new business.
Two days were chosen as possible meeting dates with Chair Harlan Greene to poll the board members to see which would be best. The days May 6th and 7th were picked, with a consensus to determine which one will be best. Greene then noted that it might be a good idea to now expect board meetings to be an hour and half, since so much needs to be worked on to get the organization up to its former speed.
There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned at approximately 11:45.
PALMCOP BOARD MEETING
7 May 2003
The quarterly meeting of the board of the Palmetto Archives Libraries and
Museums met at the South Carolina Department of Archives and History in
Columbia, SC on Wednesday, the 7th of May 2003. Attending were Mike Kohl, Sharon
Bennett, Nancy Sambets, Sarah Murray, Felicia Yeh and Chair Harlan Greene who
called the meeting to order a few minutes after 10:30 AM. He noted that he had
heard from Debra Hutchins and Tally Johnson who could not attend the meeting;
Marie Martin and Grace Cordial arrived a few minutes late. To take the place of
Secretary Tally Johnson, Greene said he would take the minutes.
The first order of business was to approve the agenda as distributed. A motion made by Bennett and seconded by Kohl was passed.
The minutes of the 21 January 2003 board meeting were approved in the same manner.
Sarah Murray then gave her Treasurer's Report, a copy of which is appended to these minutes. After it was approved, Harlan Greene noted that he had a few more expenses to pass onto the Treasurer; they were incurred in buying supplies for the upcoming book repair workshop.
There was no report from the Vice-Chair.
Harlan Greene then gave the report of the Chair. He noted that his report would be circuitous because all the issues he wanted to report on were interconnected. He briefly noted that 20 people had registered for the book repair workshop slated for May 15th. Felicia Yeh said that she had heard from many public libraries that wanted to send staff but could not afford all the work hours off the desk; may requested a similar workshop in Columbia; after much debate, the board decided to tentatively schedule a workshop in Columbia in September. Several options for sites and parking were discussed. Felicia Yeh volunteered to check on these and to later help advertise the workshop through a variety of mailing lists and distribution lists available to many staff members at the State Library.
Greene then remarked that there were short term goals the organization needed to address and more long term ones; among those, he said, is the vital issue of replenishing trainers and members and officers for the organization. More people need to be brought into the process and the program. This stirred a vigorous discussion and Sharon Bennett suggested that one way to train new people and to bring them aboard would be to pay their way to regional workshops if they would agree to then come back to the state and teach similar workshops here. The board liked this idea and began to discuss how this could be instituted. Various points were discussed. It was noted that the attendee's institution would have to agree to allow the employee to then teach; various board members grappled with how to assure that someone with the right skills would get the chance. Instead of trying to create a full-fledged program right away, the board then decided to do a trial effort; all were encouraged to be on the lookout for good training opportunities; Greene said he would check with SOLINET for programs and a possible discount. Once a program is selected, a process to find a person to attend will then go forward. Marie Martin and Mike Kohl volunteered to help Harlan Greene with this process.
The newsletter, ably headed by Gloria Kelley, was discussed next. Reading a report she submitted, the board approved an expenditure of allowing her to buy Pagemaker Software to produce it. The program discussed above could be put in the newsletter, as well as a call for committee members. Greene noted that all committee chairs are not filled and the board agreed to use the newsletter and other ways to proceed to filling gaps. He noted that he and others could quickly produce text for handouts on mold and other subjects, as discussed in the previous board meeting, but the hold-up is the lack of workers to design brochures, etc.
The idea of using students and again pulling more people into the organization lead the board to realize that many key people in allied educational programs and posts may not know of PALMCOP. There was some discussion on pulling together representatives of various constituencies and groups to discuss cooperation on a state-wide level. But the board then agreed that it might be best to first move in a small way before creating a large program. The various educational programs at USC were targeted - such as the applied history program and the masters of library science program. Felicia Yeh will supply the appropriate names and Harlan Greene will then draft a letter to these program heads, notifying them of the educational opportunities presented by PALMCOP. Students can be offered a discount in the upcoming book repair workshop in Columbia; opportunities for publications - such as writing and designing brochures are possible, too.
The board then discussed and approved the plan of surveying the membership through an email notice. Programs discussed above could be told of, volunteers sought and information obtained on what the members want for workshops. A menu list was drawn up. Sharon Bennett volunteered to call those members who may not have email addresses to try to supply them. Harlan Greene said he would draft a survey and send to board members for their input.
Moving towards the topic of new business, Greene then brought up the idea of the annual meeting. Bennett spoke of tentative plans by the South Carolina Archival Association for Conservator Hillary Kaplan to speak on new technologies, how to read a supply catalogue, and to explain much of the jargon and fallacies therein. The board liked the idea and asked Bennett if she would contact that group to gauge interest in a cooperative meeting. (The membership could also be asked in the survey if they favored such an idea.) Mike Kohl spoke of the larger issue of collection care and disaster prevention in our new era of bio- and other terrorism. This could make a good keynote speech, it was agreed, for the annual meeting. No definite decision was made on that topic, but all noted that it would be necessary to decide that at the next board meeting.
Before that date was selected, Sarah Murray asked for board approval in pricing new environmental monitoring equipment for the packets PALMCOP supports. She noted how the prices for new technology have gone down and the ease in replacing batteries, etc. The board asked her to report at the next meeting.
August 12th was chosen as the date for the next board meeting. It will be in the State Archives at 10:30.
Just as he was dismissing the meeting, Greene then asked the members to consider one point. The Archives, a victim of underfunding and staff cuts, has been very generous to PALMCOP. The board then voted to join the Archives Friends Group in a show of support for the organization and to advertise the Friends Group in the newsletter. It was decided for that reason that all mailings from the group would be sent to Newsletter editor Gloria Kelley.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned a few minutes before noon.
Respectfully submitted by
Harlan Greene
For Secretary Tally Johnson
PALMCOP BOARD MEETING
12 August 2003
The quarterly meeting of the board of Palmetto Archives Libraries and Museums
Council on Preservation met at 10:30 a.m. at the South Carolina Department of
Archives and History in Columbia, SC on Tuesday, 12 August 2003. Attending were
Sarah Murray, Mike Kohl, Sharon Bennett, Felicia Yeh, Debra Hutchens, Marie
Martin, Grace Cordial and Harlan Greene. Nancy Sambets had a conflict in her
schedule so she could not attend and Tally Johnson was slated for back surgery.
In his absence, Chair Harlan Greene offered to take the minutes.
As the first order of business, the board approved the minutes of the 7 May 2003 minutes.
Sarah Murray then gave the Treasurer's Report. She presented a recapitulation of expenses ($1178.05) and income ($750.00) from the May 2003 Book Repair workshop. The great amount of expenses was explained by the buying of large number of supplies, creating 100 book repair manuals, etc. that will be used over time. She also showed a report showing all activities since the last meeting. The board accepted her reports, copies of which are attached to these minutes.
Chair Harlan Greene then reported on his activities since the last meeting.
He gave an update on the Newsletter. Editor Gloria Kelley has been giving her
attention to her husband who suffered a stroke; but editing of the newsletter
was passed on by Ms Kelley to a secretary; proofs should be available soon.
Greene also reported on the success of the May 15th book repair workshop and
passed out copies of a letter he had written to the USC Library School, calling
for collaboration with PALMCOP. In discussing this, the board decided it might
be a good idea to offer PALMCOP's services in teaching the Preservation Course
in the Library School and to ask Pat Morris, the former teacher of the course,
and former head of PALMCOP to speak to the School about this. Greene then
reported on his talk with Julie Arnott, head of SOLINET's preservation program.
This was regarding PALMCOP's proposed scholarship program to send someone to a
preservation workshop if he or she will agree to stage a similar one in SC.
Arnott knew of no upcoming specific workshop she could recommend, but she did
agree to give PALMCOP a good price if the person attended a SOLINET workshop.
Greene spoke of the upcoming book repair workshop in Columbia at the State
Library on September 18th; the State Library will be able to send a staff member
for free for helping host it. Greene also mentioned the membership survey that
can go out anytime. The board accepted the Chair's report.
The next order of business was a discussion of the annual meeting. Two
suggestions were discussed. One would be based around a presentation by Hilary
Kaplan of the National Archives on Interpreting Preservation Catalogs. It could
focus on buying strategies, understanding terminology, etc. and presenting new
technologies. It would hinge on her availability and would incur costs of air
transportation, etc. The other suggestion focused on documenting minorities in
SC. It could feature lectures on the booming interest in slave badges, buying
African American collectibles, etc. and the danger of forgeries. It could
present status reports from the new slave museum plan in Charleston and maybe
other ethnic and minority groups in the state. A report on the latest census
could show the different demographic groups such as larger Hispanic populations
now in the state. It could also focus on reinterpreting collections
organizations may already have; organizations may not be aware that they have
materials already in house that can document other ethnic groups. Many
suggestions were thrown out, and there was not a total focus, but Greene noted
that time was slipping away, so he asked if the board would authorize him to
tease this theme out for a November meeting. They agreed.
The need for a nominating committee to replace those rotating off the board
was noted. Greene said he would attend to that and asked those board members
rotating off to help think of others who could replace them in their districts.
There was no old business.
Under the heading of new business, the board agreed to approach the board of the SC Archival Association to see if they would agree to joint meeting of the two organizations next year. This would be exploratory only — to see if such cooperation is possible and beneficial.
Since no annual meeting date was definitely decided on and since it would be necessary to know that date before setting a board meeting date should the board want to meet before the annual meeting, setting that date was deferred.
With no other business, the chair adjourned the meeting at noon.
Respectfully submitted
Harlan Greene
For Secretary Tally Johnson
PALMCOP BOARD MEETING
15 October 2003
The quarterly meeting of the board of Palmetto Archives Libraries and Museums
Council on Preservation convened just shortly after 10:30 am at the South
Carolina Department of Archives and History in Columbia, SC on Wednesday 15
October 2003. Attending were Marie Martin, Michael Kohl, Felicia Yeh, Sarah
Murray, Sharon Bennett, and Harlan Greene who volunteered to take the minutes
for the absent Tally Johnson.
The agenda was approved, as were the minutes of the 12 August 2003 Board Meeting.
Sarah Murray gave the treasurer's report next, noting that the last book repair workshop had made a profit of $623.13; and profit from the two workshops combine, discounting the large dollar amount paid for the large inventory of book repair manuals, came to $195.08. She also noted a new member and payment for the software package Pagemaker for the organization's newsletter.
Harlan Greene then reported briefly on the success of that repair workshop held at the State Library in Columbia. Sharon Bennett suggested that PALMCOP might want to be present at the next annual meeting of School Media association and to communicate our programs to them -specifically book repair and other topics.
Greene then showed the board copies of the printed brochure for the annual meeting and submitted invoices for their design and printing. After discussion, it was suggested that board members take as many brochures as they needed to send out to a dozen or so of their colleagues in their area. Sarah Murray said she could distributed both hard copy and electronic versions of the brochure to PALMCOP and SCAA members, with Jane Bryan able to supply labels and Brian Fahey able to provide the list serve addresses of the latter organization. Sharon Bennett noted that a "Save the Date" brochure had already been distributed at the SCAA annual meeting. Harlan Greene noted that Grace Cordial, in an email previous to the meeting, had written that she may have contacts within the SC Library Association. He said he would contact her to see if the mailing list of its special collections or local history round table could be obtained. Felicia Yeh volunteered to take some brochures to the upcoming SCAA annual meeting. She also offered to be go-between for various list serves available from the state library. Harlan Greene said that the notices would also be distributed to CALM and that he would see to a notice being sent to the list serve of the library science students. He also said he would contact Connie Schultz to see if there is a similar list serve for applied history students.
The topic of lunch for the annual meeting was discussed next. Several people commented on the good quality of the lunch recently served at the SC Archival Association meeting; Steve Tuttle at the Archives apparently did the local arrangements so Sarah Murray, who generously agreed to take care of lunch, said she would contact him. All stressed the importance of the annual meeting in it being the prime point of contact with members, so if the meeting runs a small deficit, it should be no major concern.
At the last annual meeting, the membership approved changes in the bylaws that allowed for individual members. Since membership votes on the dues levels, it will be necessary to submit a proposal to the members. The board agreed to suggest that the membership level be rated at $10.00 - and that be the level proposed at the annual meeting for the members to approve or not.
Marie Martin suggested that it might be wise to tell members what they would be getting for their membership in the coming year. The board decided that it could safely announce that a book repair workshop would be held, and that it appeared very likely that there would be a joint meeting with SCAA on wise consumer shopping for archival products, and there will likely be a workshop on disaster preparedness as well. It will be necessary, v Greene and Bennett recommended, to enlist the help of others to teach these workshops and thus learn how to do them. Announcements can be made regarding PALMCOP's scholarship program as well.
The discussion then moved to the survey. The board decided to have the survey
circulated and returned at the annual meeting. This would be a vehicle to gain
member input on a number of issues. After some discussion, the board decided
that it might be good to offer members the opportunity of signing up for a list
serve that would send along occasional preservation news of note and interest.
This could also be a perk of membership. Harlan Greene reported that board
member Grace Cordial volunteered to help draft the survey and conduct that part
of the annual meeting.
In a final point, Greene asked the board if a special price could be offered
students who might want to attend. The board agreed that students can attend for
free, but if they want to be included in the meals, their price would be $12.50
-half the member cost.
There was no old business.
Under new business, the board suggested that the new dean of the library school be invited to PALMCOP's annual meeting. Harlan Greene said he would see to this.
With their being no further business, Greene adjourned the meeting at 11:45 after thanking retiring board members Michael Kohl and Sharon Bennett for their service.
Respectfully submitted
Harlan Greene
For Secretary Tally Johnson