Preservation Committee Meeting: August 14, 2026

Conference Call / Zoom

Members attending: 

• Liz Bloodworth, Illinois Wesleyan University
• Stephanie Gowler, Northwestern University
• Dan Green, University of Chicago
• Alia Lizotte, Millikin University
• Sata Prescott, Northern Illinois University
• Kat Rowe, Southern Illinois University Carbondale
• Amy Sherwood, University of Illinois Chicago
• Jason Smith, Lewis University

Member absent: 

• Joseph Taylor, Knox College

CARLI Staff attending: 

• Elizabeth Clarage
• Nicole Swanson

Tasks Assigned

• Minutes taken by Jason Smith.
• Review the Community Agreement and suggest edits and/or additions.
• CARLI staff will confirm with those not able to attend today’s meeting if the decided upon meeting time works for them.
• In-Person Hands-on Book Repair Workshop:
  • Committee members: Identify and reach out to individuals who can lead a session for the book repair workshop, particularly those who have expertise in hinge, tip-in, evaluation rubrics, workflow expertise, and/or mold/water damage.
  • Sata will add details to the proposal and bring back to the committee at its next meeting.
  • Committee will finalize proposal at its next meeting to submit to CARLI Program Planning Committee by the end of September.
• Committee members will look at and begin curating the Preservation Resources webliography, evaluating for accessibility and relevancy.
• Develop ideas for blog posts under the theme of “Advocacy.”
• All committee members will consider and bring back for discussion at the September meeting blog post topics for the upcoming year.

Decisions

• The June 2026 minutes were reviewed and approved.
• The committee agreed to host its meetings for the year on Zoom.
• The meeting’s minute taker will be determined alphabetically by last name, starting after today’s minute taker.
  • September: Dan Green
  • October: Alia Lizotte
  • November: Sata Prescott
  • December: Kat Rowe
  • January: Amy Sherwood
  • February: Joseph Taylor
  • March: to be determined
  • April: to be determined
  • May: to be determined
  • June: to be determined
• Meetings will be held every second Friday of the month from 1:00PM to 2:30PM.
• The committee’s preferred date to hold the hands-on book repair workshop on March 22, 2027.
• The Preservation Resources webliography will be pulled down by the end of the month while the committee members develop standardized criteria for evaluation.
• The committee decided to continue the work of the Severe Weather and Emergency Response Subcommittee. 
  • Stephanie will coordinate. Amy, Jason, Liz agreed to help. 
  • Others interested should let Stephanie know before the next meeting.
• The next year’s blog series will be on the theme of “Advocacy.” 
• The committee planned an Ask-a-Preservation Expert session for November 19th, 2026 at 10 a.m.

Announcements

• Member Announcements:
  • No member announcements
• CARLI Announcements:
  • CARLI’s Annual Meeting will be on November 10th, 2026 in Champaign, IL. This year’s theme is advocacy.
  • The keynote speaker will be John Chrastka from EveryLibrary.
  • Registration is now open and closes on November 3rd. 
  • Availability of committee-led table talks is unknown.

Discussion

• The committee discussed housekeeping items and introduced themselves, welcoming new members.
• The committee reviewed and discussed its charge.
• The committee reviewed and discussed the CARLI Committee Guidelines.
• The committee recapped the Digital Possibilities webinar series which occurred throughout the summer.
• The committee discussed Sata Prescott’s proposal for the hands-on book repair workshop. The specific date will be locked in on Monday (8/17), but committee members leaned towards holding the workshop on the March 22nd date.
  • If supplies are purchased for the workshop, they should be sent to the NIU Library.
• Committee members discussed the current state of the Preservation Resources webliography and its future. Discussion centered around determining the best path forward to evaluate the webliography and its current resources.
  • These four questions were proposed to consider in evaluating the resources:
    1. Is this page valuable at all?
    2. Is it valuable to put in the work to identify continuing problems from a technical level?
    3. Is it useful to argue for that value?
    4. Would it be worthwhile to request an archival exception?
• The committee discussed if it is worthwhile to continue the Severe Weather and Emergency Response Subcommittee.
  • Topics discussed for future articles include reminder what to do about building shutdowns during institutional breaks (spring)and cybersecurity (fall).
• The committee discussed the next blog series, working to identify a theme for the year. 
  • Discussion centered around the theme of advocacy, in-line with CARLI’s Annual Meeting theme. Some ideas that fall into this theme were discussed:
    • Internal and external advocacy
    • Preservation Week
    • Tips for advocacy for places that do not have sufficient personnel
    • Advocacy for cultural heritage
    • Advocacy for space usage and adequate space for collections
    • Developing relationships with other departments at one’s institution
    • Working with library team (circulation) to proactively identify mold and other environmental damage
• The committee reviewed the list of future programming ideas from the 2025-2026 committee cycle. The list will continue to be discussed at future meetings.

Next Meeting Dates and Deadlines

The next Preservation Committee meeting will be September 11, 2026 at 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. <update with approved time on 9/11>

Future Committee Meeting Dates:
September 11, 2026, minutes taker: Dan Green
October 9, 2026, minutes taker: Alia Lizotte
November 13, 2026, minutes taker: Sata Prescott
December 11, 2026, minutes taker: Kat Rowe
January 8, 2027, minutes taker: Amy Sherwood
February 12, 2027, minutes taker: Joseph Taylor
March 12, 2027, minutes taker: TBD 
April 9, 2027, minutes taker: TBD
May 14, 2027, minutes taker: TBD
June 11, 2027, minutes taker: TBD

Deadlines: Develop ideas for blog posts by the September meeting.