Archives Committee Meeting: September 8, 2025

Zoom / Conference Call

Members attending: Brandi Fialek (Harper College), Rebecca Fitzsimmons, co-chair (Illinois State University), Matt Gorzalski, co-chair (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

• The August 4, 2025 minutes were approved by unanimous vote. The minutes have been accepted with all edits and will be posted to the CARLI homepage by CARLI Staff.
• As co-chairs, Matt Gorzalski and Rebecca Fitzsimmons will alternate agenda topics to lead the meeting.
• The committee is planning on hosting a general “Ask An Archivist” webinar on Monday, October 27, 2025.

Tasks Assigned

• Minutes taken by Brandi Fialek.
• Matt Gorzalski and Brandi Fialek volunteered to begin work on a late semester webinar for appraisal of born digital materials.
• Rebecca Fitzsimmons will reach out to the Preservation Committee for collaboration on disaster preparedness response resources.
• Elaine Fetyko Page will draft a topic proposal for the CARLI Annual Meeting on collection management tools used. Elizabeth Clarage and Martin Kong will send the proposal forward for consideration.
• Steven Szegedi and Elaine Fetyko Page will review the new submission for Archives and Special Collections Resource page.

Announcements

• Member Announcements:
  • None
• CARLI Announcements:
  • Reminder of CARLI’s Annual Meeting to be held on October 21, 10:00 AM-3:00PM. CARLI Staff added that there will be a “Curious Collections Contest” during the annual meeting.

Discussion

• Matt Gorzalski called the meeting to order and began by reviewing the meeting agenda. Brandi Fialek was confirmed as the minute taker for this meeting.
• Matt Gorzalski and Rebecca Fitzsimmons will alternate agenda topics to lead the meeting, with Matt beginning by moving to approve the meeting minutes from September 4, 2025. The minutes were unanimously approved.
• CARLI Staff discussed that the minutes were approved with visible edits in the document. Rather than have the minute taker update the document, CARLI Staff would accept all visible edits and publish this as the final minutes version.
• The committee reviewed the “Committee Brainstorming Notes” from the last meeting and considered projects to focus on for Fall 2025 and Spring 2026.
• Members of the committee discussed events for prioritization in Fall 2025. Interest was expressed in an “Ask An Archivist” webinar, born digital records workflow, and a possible collaboration with the CARLI Preservation Committee in disaster preparedness planning. CARLI Staff provided that Elizabeth Clarage also served as a liaison to the Preservation Committee and gave details on how that committee’s “Ask A Preservation Expert” webinars were conducted last year. Rebecca volunteered to reach out before their next meeting, Friday, September 12, 2025.
• Committee members furthered the conversation about disaster preparedness, citing the recent Society of American Archivists Annual Meeting having regional approaches to this topic and that perhaps we should identify “Illinois” specific threats. Other committee members supported an “Ask An Archivist” webinar with a topic recommendation of migration.
• The question was raised if a recent membership survey was completed, and if the survey included requests from membership for specific training topics. The survey was determined to be recent (2023), prior to the formation of the Archives Task Force, and is housed under the “Archives Task Force” folder in Box. There is also a copy on the CARLI website.
• The Committee decided on hosting a general “Ask An Archivist” webinar on October 27, 2025 to align with American Archives Month.
• The Committee also decided in favor of a professional development webinar to be held at the end of Fall semester (date TBD) about born digital record management. Matt Gorzalski volunteered to begin this project, highlighting Northern Illinois University, “Digital POWRR Institute” and the University of Illinois faculty as potential speakers. Brandi Fialek volunteered to assist.
• Committee members agreed that bulk of the topical working sessions would be held in Spring 2026 to allow for more lead time in planning, to include research into need for a CARLI Archives consortium pricing on archival collection management tools.
• Matt Gorzalski moved committee members' discussion on the “Talk Table” at the CARLI Annual Meeting. Several committee members plan to be in attendance. CARLI Staff specified that this year’s event requires a proposal for “Talk Table” topics. Committee members discussed possible proposal topics and settled on “What collection management tools are you using?” Elaine Fetyko Page volunteered to draft proposal language for committee approval. CARLI Staff will forward the final proposal for consideration.
• One submission was received for the Archives and Special Collections Resource page. Steven Szegedi and Elaine Fetyko Page will review the submission as part of maintaining the Resources page.
• The decision on an in person meeting in Fall 2025 or Spring 2026 was tabled until the next meeting.
• The meeting was adjourned.

Next Meeting Dates and Deadlines

The Archives Committee will meet next on October 13, 2025 at 10:00 a.m.

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.