Archives Task Force Meeting: March 10, 2025

Zoom / Conference Call

Members attending: Alex Altan (Prairie State College), Jeannette Bruno (City Colleges of Chicago), Rebecca Fitzsimmons (Illinois State University), Matthew Gorzalski (Southern Illinois University Carbondale), Ashley Howdeshell (Northeastern Illinois University), Marcella Lees (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville), Elaine Fetyko Page (Elmhurst University), Meghan Ryan (National Louis University)

Member absent: Pam Hackbart-Dean, chair (University of Illinois Chicago)

CARLI Staff attending: Elizabeth Clarage, Martin Kong

Decisions

• The February 10th minutes were approved with edits.
• The Committee Charge for our newly approved committee was edited to say “physical and digital archives” in response to board feedback. The motion was put forth by Rebecca Fitzsimmons, seconded by Alex Altan, and passed unanimously. 

Tasks Assigned

• Marcella was late so minutes were initially assigned to Matt Gorzalski then taken over by Marcella Lees when she arrived.
• Elizabeth and Martin will create a new subcategory on our resources webpage under the “preservation” section for the scrapbook resources Alex has compiled.
• Alex will check to see if there are free versions of the scrapbook resources he found that are behind a paywall and will send those to Elizabeth and Martin if so.
• CARLI staff are going to start advertising the digitization workshop.
• Marcella Lees, Pam Hackbart-Dean, Meghan Ryan, Elizabeth Clarage, and Martin Kong will meet in the coming month to work on the in-person Processing workshop.

Announcements

• Member Announcements:
  • Rebecca Fitzsimmons (Illinois State University): Milner Library has had a successful Dean search and hired Dr. Carrie Forbes to be their new dean effective July 1st. Dr. Dallas Long will be finishing out his term on June 30th. 
• CARLI Announcements:
  • On April 15th there will be a CARLI AI Symposium. The last section being offered “The Preservation of Trustworthy Digital Records: 25 Years of InterPARES Research” may especially be of interest.
  • It has not yet been announced and registration is not yet available, but on June 9th the CARLI Preservation Committee will be offering a burn simulation and recovery and fire suppression training at the fire institute in Champaign.
  • On April 9th the CARLI Preservation Committee will be hosting a workshop titled “Snakes in the Library! Book Snakes and Other Preservation-Related Crafts for Library Outreach.” 
  • On May 1st the CARLI Preservation Committee will be hosting “Ask a Preservation Expert” office hours from 10:00-11:00am.

Discussion

• Update on ATF Committee proposal
  • Our proposal to become a committee was approved! 
  • Elaine Fetyko Page stepped in for Pam Hackbart-Dean to present our proposal to the board.
  • The board requested that we specifically include digital archives in our committee charge.
  • The task force decided on a minimal change to address this concern which has now been made and approved.
• Digitization webinar May 14 and 15, 2025
  • The title of the webinar has been finalized as “Building Digital Archives with Minimal Staffing” and the topics being covered have been finalized as well.
  • Elizabeth asked if there was a preference to have one registration for both days or separate registrations so that additional people can attend (Zoom meetings are capped at 300). Rebecca, Ashley, and Marcella agreed one registration would be easiest for attendees.
  • CARLI staff are going to start advertising the workshop.
• In-Person processing workshop, June 6, 2025
  • No updates but the group working on it will be meeting Friday, March 14th to discuss next steps.
• Archives and Special Collections Resources update 
  • Alex has compiled a list of resources on Scrapbook Preservation and Digitization to be added to the resources page.
  • The task force discussed where these resources would best fit and agreed that these resources should go under the “Preservation” section of our website as its own subsection.
  • Martin and Elizabeth expressed concerns that some of the resources are behind a paywall, so Alex is going to look into if there are free alternatives before these resources are added to the webpage.
• Past workshop The Power of Appraisal: Selecting Archives, January 31, 2025
  • Since Matt was out last month he asked about feedback and Ashley was able to direct him to the survey results.

Next Meeting Dates and Deadlines

The Archives Task Force will meet next on April 14, 2025, at 10:00 a.m.

Task Force Meetings:
April 14, 2025: Minutes taker – Elaine Fetyko Page
May 12, 2025: Minutes taker – Meghan Ryan
June 9, 2025: Minutes taker – To be determined 

Deadlines:
May 30, 2025: Task Force Annual Report