South Carolina Archival Association Executive Board Minutes

Archives and History Center, Columbia, South Carolina

February 22, 2007

    Present: Debra Bloom, Jim Cross, Dorothy Hazelrigg, Mike Kohl, Kate Moore, Suzanne Singleton, Heather South, Elizabeth West

  • Welcome

    President Elizabeth West called the meeting to order at 10:12 a.m. and thanked everyone for coming.


  • Approval of minutes

    There were no corrections to the minutes. Kate moved to approve them and Debra seconded. The minutes were approved as distributed.


  • Treasurer's Report

    Jim distributed copies of the report. There was little change since January's meeting. The Certificate of Deposit at BB&T rolled over; it next matures on October 30. The current interest rate is 2.57%, which is half what it was previously. The Treasury CD, which contains the Hart Endowment funds, matures on April 24.


  • Membership Report

    Membership officer Henry Fulmer was absent. Elizabeth reported that he will send renewal brochures to those on SCAA's membership and past attendees mailing list, but not to those on the broader mailing list that includes SCLA members, etc. Mike suggested that we should send conference brochures to the larger list, because the digital/exhibit theme of the spring workshop should appeal to librarians as well as archivists. Any non-members who attend the workshop can then be invited to join, and they would have a better sense of what SCAA does, having attended, than if they simply received a brochure in the mail. It was suggested that conference brochures be mailed, but with the green membership brochures tucked inside, and that they be sent to the larger list. This brought up the question of how current members renew their memberships; do they receive a letter or simply the brochure? Elizabeth said that Henry only mailed the brochure. Dorothy asked how the recipients knew that the brochure signified that their specific personal memberships needed renewing, instead of just thinking that SCAA was sending brochures out in a general mailing. Jim suggested a personally addressed letter to members who need to renew, with an attached form to be returned.


  • Director's Report

    Heather suggested that the “who we are” information from the green brochure could simply be added to the conference brochure, avoiding the necessity of sending two brochures. She had mocked up a version of the spring workshop brochure including this information. She expressed concern that, unlike in the past, the Archives cannot provide us with help from a graphic designer for the brochure this time. However, everyone liked Heather's design very much. Heather said that we could also add a line on the conference brochure for people to pay for membership and get the discounted conference rate.

    Mike asked that we make sure to ask on the conference form about the vegetarian lunch option. We also plan to include a place to indicate whether a registrant wants to attend one of the hands-on sessions, because they have limited space, first come, first serve. Mike said that Kate Boyd can handle 15 participants, Bryan Collars can handle 5, and Elizabeth can handle 5-10. He said we will need to let registrants know if they cannot attend the hands-on sessions. The other afternoon session will focus on “exhibits on a shoestring”, but not necessarily with an exclusively digital focus. Heather will handle getting the brochures printed, addressed, and mailed. Jim checked the treasurer's records and found that Freedom Printing has handled them in the past. The time slots for the sessions were discussed. Since we do not know how many attendees we can expect, it makes it harder to plan, but it was decided that the registration would begin at 9:30 and the plenary session would run from 10 to 11:45. There will not be dedicated time for poster sessions or vendors, but lunch will last for 1 hour and 15 minutes, allowing time for these if there are any. Unlike at a conference, the workshop lunch will not feature a keynote speaker. This will help avoid any delays and allow flexibility for transporting participants to USC. It was decided that the afternoon sessions would run from 1:30 to 3, and those going to USC would leave at 1, since there will be multiple destinations (the South Caroliniana Library and Thomas Cooper Library). Those who will be going to the hands-on experiences at USC will be sent information on parking, etc., in case they want to drive themselves and leave for home directly from there. Dorothy suggested that the exhibits session could be in the Wachovia room, instead of the auditorium, so that she and Susan Hiott could set up exhibit cases, panels, etc. where they could more easily be seen up close by the audience.

    Mike, going over the items on the to-do list for conference planning, said he would print up the biographical information on the speakers for the session packets. Elizabeth said that she and Kate Boyd would bring a laptop for their morning presentation. Mike suggested getting the brochures mailed about 6 weeks ahead of the event (i.e. next week). Students need to be recruited to help with registration. The caterer reservation needs to be made about a month ahead of time and confirmed a few days before the event. He will purchase refreshments and paper products for the morning coffee. Heather said she could help Mike with the nametags; Kate Moore will handle the photography. On the morning of the event, someone needs to set up rooms and tables, start the coffee, and set up any AV equipment being borrowed. Afterward, the rooms need to be cleaned, evaluation forms tallied, and thank-you notes written to speakers.


  • Newsletter and Webpage

    Kate said that a “special edition” winter newsletter was just sent to Geoff LoCicero, who does the layout, and that it should be up early in March. The list of award recipients should be up on the website. Kate said that Geoff had had little time to work on the website design or our new logo, but he is supposed to have more time available now. Kate handed over to Heather 200 additional membership brochures that she had had printed, which can be used on the public information table in the Archives lobby, or given to visitors, etc.

  • Old Business

    Audit: Suzanne has not heard from C.J. Cambre about the audit, but assumes he is waiting on us to get the process started. Elizabeth asked if anyone knew Lauren Decker, one of the past treasurers, who had been suggested for the audit committee. She is no longer a member of SCAA, and no one knew where she works. Elizabeth said that she would ask C.J. if three committee members is enough, and remind Beth Bilderback that she had agreed to serve, along with Jim. Jim requested that the audit process not start until after April 12, as he will be busy dealing with the workshop registrations.


  • New Business

    Debra asked to discuss the annual social. She is considering planning a trip to the York Historical Center. Her suggestion is a morning tour and program at the Historical Center, lunch, and then an afternoon walking tour of York, possibly led by the mayor. Elizabeth said that usually the fees charged for the social cover the day's expenses (admissions, etc.) and make a small profit for SCAA. It was decided that a Saturday in late May or early June would be best, avoiding Memorial Day. Heather suggested selecting a definite date as soon as possible, and that we could set up an informational table on the social at the spring workshop. Everyone thought this was a great idea.


  • Date for next meeting

    No one felt that another meeting was necessary until after the workshop. April 23-24 are the target dates, with the definite date to be set via email later on.

  • Adjournment

    Elizabeth adjourned the meeting at 11:55 a.m.