SCAA Executive Board Meeting

South Carolina Department of Archives and History Columbia, SC

June 22, 2005

Present: Alexia Helsley, Suzanne Singleton, Aimee James, Sarah Murray, Elizabeth West, Brian Fahey

  • Call to Order

    Alexia Helsley called the meeting to order at 10:10 a.m.


  • Minutes

    Elizabeth West distributed copies of the minutes for January 10, February 16, and April 20, 2005. The board reviewed the minutes and made corrections. Helsley moved the minutes be accepted as amended. Aimee James seconded. The motion passed unanimously.


  • Treasurer's Report

    Helsley distributed the Treasurer's report on behalf of Jim Cross, who was unable to attend due to the death of his father. The board decided to send Cross a sympathy card. Elizabeth West will send it on behalf of the board. The board reviewed Cross's report. West moved that the report be accepted. James seconded. The motion passed unanimously.


  • Membership Report

    West relayed a message from Henry Fulmer regarding a problem with the SCAA website. The membership information page still lists Lauren Decker as the Treasurer and instructs people to send their membership application and payment to her. A new member contacted Fulmer about this when she did not receive a response regarding her application. West will contact Nancy Piester about correcting the page.


  • Other Reports

    he board complimented Fahey on the recent newsletter. Fahey thanked West for her help in locating articles for the issue.


  • Continuing Business

    A. Light Impressions Helsley stated that Sharon Bennett was supposed to look into the arrangement with Light Impressions. The board believes SCAA is supposed to receive a percentage of the orders by SCAA members. Light Impressions says it only arranged to give SCAA members a discount. West commented that there was no documentation on the arrangement in the archives. Sharon is supposed to contact former president Jeanette Bergeron, who made the arrangements, to see if she has documentation on it.

    B. Fall Conference James confirmed that the fall conference is set for October 13 at SCDAH. Helsley expressed concern that both of the directors are leaving. The board decided come back to this subject later in the meeting.

    C. SAA representative Jim Cross will be attending the Society of American Archivists meeting and will act as the SCAA representative.

    D. Other continuing business West relayed some questions from Nancy Piester about the SCAA webpage. The board agreed to ask Nancy to remove the minutes from the page that are more than a year old. Fahey asked about the outdated membership list, which is still on the website. West will ask Fulmer to send Piester the updated list to put on the site. The board also decided to remove the proposals page entirely, since it has outdated contact information and has not generated any proposals for conference subjects from the membership. The board decided to leave the photographs on the website but remove any outdated announcements. West asked who had the original digital photos, since there are no photos in the archives. No one knew. West will look into it and make arrangements to store the images. Helsley suggested that the website needs a list of past award winners that people can refer to when making future nominations. The board discussed whether to move the site to the url of the Archives and History Foundation (www.palmettohistory.org). James stated that the board would have to change the url address on all the forms, publications, and stationery. Helsley asked if the board is required to move it, and if it is moved, will there still be a link from the State Archives site. West will ask Piester about it.


  • New Business

    A. Election of Two Directors

    Helsley stated that Bennett was going to research the requirements for directors– whether one of them has to be from outside the Midlands. James said that the by-laws allow the board to appoint someone to fill the unfinished term of a director. James' term expires at the end of 2005. Sarah Murray's term expires at the end of 2006. James stated that one of the director needs to be from the Columbia area, because it would be too difficult to coordinate and plan the conference if both directors were in other parts of the state. The board discussed several possible replacements. Murray will take a leave of absence from the board for maternity leave and will return to complete her term. Helsley suggested it would be good to have Murray's replacement be someone who had done it before, instead of having two new directors. James stated that the directors should know that there is a new requirement for all speakers to bring their own laptops and other equipment since the older equipment at the State Archives caused some problems at the 2005 spring conference.

    Helsley asked what steps should be taken to contact replacements for the directors positions? West suggested that that board select a first and second choice from the names discussed. Murray stated that Bennett, as chair of the nominating committee, would contact people for the slots. To replace Berry, the board proposed Nick Butler as the first choice and Mike Kohl as second choice. To replace Murray, the board proposed Brian Collars as first choice, since he has had the longest break since serving, and Steve Tuttle as second choice.

    B. Fall Conference

    Helsley asked what the board needs to do next in planning the conference. Berry stated that one of the suggested topics was dealing with problem patrons. West suggested contacting Tucky Taylor (head of circulation at Thomas Cooper Library) since they have had to deal with a lot of problem patrons. Helsley suggested that there could be a panel to discuss different experiences: someone from a public library, Steve Tuttle from SCDAH, and maybe Tucky Taylor. They could discuss their experiences and policies. Singleton suggested a speaker she had seen a few years ago, who was the public safety person for the Mecklenburg County library. He talked about techniques and strategies and was a very good speaker, but he does charge. Helsley suggested he may be a good keynote speaker. Singleton will check on it.

    The board reviewed other suggested topics from the evaluation forms, including grants and digital collections. West said she would contact Kate Boyd, the USC libraries' digital activities librarian, to talk about USC's digital collections projects. She may also be able to find someone to talk about metadata.

    A session on corporate archives has been suggested before. James said they had trouble finding speakers before. Helsley asked which SCAA member is a corporate archivist, but no one knew.

    C. New editor for SCAAzette

    Fahey's term is ending as editor. It is a two-year term; the editor attends board meetings but is not an official member and does not have a vote. Geoff LoCicero is currently doing the layout for the newsletter. Fahey gives him the articles and images. West suggested that Kate Moore at USC's Political Collections may be interested, since she does the Caroliniana Columns newsletter. Fahey stated that the new editor will need to get the email list. It is a mass email, not a listserv. He asked if the board wanted to look into a listserv. Singleton stated that some SCAA members are not getting announcements from the email list. Fahey suggested that the problem could be spam email settings since the messages go out to dozens of people. Fahey will look into getting a moderated listserv.


  • Other business

    A. Summer Social Singleton reported that the summer social made $210. Twelve people attended, though fourteen had paid. California Dreaming was full, so they had lunch at the Motor Supply Company bistro.

    The meeting adjourned at 11:15.