Title: Archives Committee Meeting: August 4, 2025

Zoom / Conference Call

Members attending: Brandi Fialek (Harper College), Rebecca Fitzsimmons (Illinois State University), Matt Gorzalski (Southern Illinois University Carbondale), Melody Hauf-Belden (Principia College), Ashley Howdeshell (Northeastern Illinois University), Elaine Fetyko Page (Elmhurst University), Meghan Ryan (National Louis University), Steven Szegedi (Dominican University), Erin Zimmerman (Heartland Community College)

CARLI Staff attending: Elizabeth Clarage, Martin Kong

Decisions

• Zoom was chosen as the meeting platform.
• The monthly meeting schedule is tentatively the second Monday of the month from 10:00-11:00 AM.
• Rebecca Fitzsimmons and Matt Gorzalski volunteered to co-chair the committee.
• Taking minutes will be rotated among the committee members alphabetically by last name. See schedule in the Next Meeting Dates minutes section.
• The Committee will continue to discuss its work for 2025-2026 in September.

Tasks Assigned

• Minutes taken by Matt Gorzalski.
• Elizabeth Clarage and Martin Kong will update the meetings template to include future meetings and minutes takers.
• Committee members will continue to brainstorm project ideas for 2025-2026 and consider an in-person committee meeting.

Announcements

• Member Announcements:
  • Rebecca Fitzsimmons (Illinois State University): Dr. Carrie Forbes became Dean of Milner Library effective July 1. 
  • Matt Gorzalski (Southern Illinois University Carbondale): Dr. William Walters became Dean of Library Affairs effective July 1.
  • Brandi Fialek (Harper College): Michelle Harrell became Dean at Harper College.
  • Matt Gorzalski (Southern Illinois University Carbondale): Special Collections received an Illinois State Historical Records Advisory Board (ISHRAB) grant to support film digitization.
  • Brandi Fialek (Harper College): Harper College has had success with community support/ donations to fund film digitization.
• CARLI Announcements:
  • CARLI’s annual meeting and 20th anniversary is scheduled for October 21, 10:00 AM–3:00 PM, at the I Hotel and Illinois Conference Center in Champaign. Registration is on the CARLI website for in-person or virtual attendance.

Discussion

• The Committee began with welcome and introductions.
• CARLI staff reviewed the minutes template and expectations for meeting minutes. Matt Gorzalski volunteered to take minutes.
• CARLI staff discussed committee resources including the committee’s email list and identified other CARLI email lists of possible interest to Committee members.  There was an overview of Box and the Committee’s working folder.  A brief history of the Archives Task Force was shared. The Committee chose Zoom as its meeting platform.
• The Committee debated having an in-person meeting. Rebecca Fitzsimmons expressed interest in ISU hosting the meeting. The topic was tabled until next meeting.
• Rebecca Fitzsimmons and Matt Gorzalski volunteered to co-chair the Committee. The Committee decided to tentatively meet monthly on the second Monday, from 10:00-11:00 AM.
• CARLI staff reviewed the Committee Guidelines on the CARLI website and the Committee charge. Both are available on the CARLI website.
• Committee members summarized the Archives Task Force’s 2024-2025 work and reviewed the programs from the past year including the September 2024 Developing an Archives: Embracing the Messiness of the Real World webinar, the January 2025 Power of Appraisal webinar, the May 2025 2-day Building Digital Archives with Minimal Staffing webinar, and the June 2025 in-person workshop Behind the Scenes: An Introduction to Archival Processing. The events were well-attended, and feedback was largely positive.
• The committee discussed 2025-2026 project ideas.
  • The Committee reviewed the Task Force’s suggestions and liked the idea of “Ask an Archivist” and a webinar on appraising born-digital records. 
  • The Committee noted the CARLI Governance Board’s interest in activities related to born-digital records. 
  • Proposed webinars included data migration and instituting records management policies and procedures.
  • The committee discussed CARLI providing more archives-specific tools among their offered Products and Services.  CARLI staff provided information about the procurement process, and the Committee decided to table the discussion until CARLI’s new Director is hired.
  • The committee discussed collaboration with other committees such as Preservation for a disaster preparedness workshop.
  • Also discussed was review and update of the Archival and Special Collections Resources page.
    • Elaine Fetyko Page and Steven Szegedi expressed interest in that task.
    • There was a question about usage statistics for the Resource page. CARLI staff will find out if statistics are available for the CARLI website.

Next Meeting Dates and Deadlines

The Archives Committee will meet next on September, 8, 2025 at 10:00 AM.

Committee Meetings:
August 4, 2025: Minutes taker – Matt Gorzalski
September 8, 2025: Minutes taker – Brandi Fialek
October 13, 2025: Minutes taker – Rebecca Fitzsimmons
November 10, 2025: Minutes taker – Melody Hauf-Belden
December 8, 2025: Minutes taker – Ashley Howdeshell
January 12, 2026: Minutes taker – Elaine Fetyko Page
February 9, 2026: Minutes taker – Meghan Ryan
March 9, 2026: Minutes taker – Steven Szegedi
April 13, 2026: Minutes taker – Erin Zimmerman
May 11, 2026: Minutes taker – to be determined
June 8, 2026: Minutes taker – to be determined

Deadlines:
May 29, 2026 – Committee Annual Report due to the CARLI Governance Board.