Society of American Archivists - UT Student Chapter

Society of American Archivists
University of Texas at Austin Student Chapter

8 March 2005 MEETING REPORT

Meeting opened at 4:00pm

In attendance:
Courtney Chartier
Keri Hull
Stephanie McFarland
April Norris
Zach Vowell
Ben Bahlman
Megan Peck

Topic: SAA-UT's Financial Status
April asked Keri if there had been any progress made in determining the Chapter's financial status. Keri indicated that she was waiting for Mary Anne MarDock to provide her with the pertinent information.

Topic: April's Meeting With Dr. Gracy
April reported on her meeting with Dr. Gracy, which involved general discussion about the SAA Chapter and Archives Week next fall. April expressed her preference that the Board should book speakers and other formalities this semester so that the Board can focus on publicity as Archives Week approaches. Juggling both the speaker arrangements and publicity last year proved to be extremely difficult.

Topic: SAA-UT Membership Update
It was agreed by all that the Chapter should update and clarify its membership. Some strategies discussed for accomplishing this task included: contacting old members, keeping better membership records, and starting the fall membership drive earlier.

April emphasized the need for all board members to join the national SAA, and then asked for a board member to head up the membership update project. Courtney volunteered to take on the task.

Topic: SAA-UT Bulletin Board
Stephanie volunteered to be in charge of the bulletin board for the entire year. April outlined her ideas of the bulletin board, in that it should contain rotating content, rather than static content. "Archives in the News" was suggested, as well as some sort of "Membership Drive". Courtney offered her help for this project.

Topic: SASI iSchool Week Meeting
Both April and Courtney reported that the meeting with SASI revealed that virtually all of the iSchool Week events had already been set by the beginning of the meeting. The Board's place, then, will be more concerned with promotion and advertising than event planning. Another important function of the Board will be to bring in archivists' participation in iSchool Week.

April has also contacted candidates for the iSchool Week luncheon planned for March 30th. She is focusing on bringing in archives-related professionals, and invited ongoing suggestions of other candidates.

In other SASI-related matters, it was pointed out that SASI is planning a potluck near the time of Dr. Gracy's next potluck on April 8th.

Topic: Ideas for Spring/Summer Activities
April suggested that, in general, each Board member should keep an officer activity journal, to help identify concrete officer roles and make them available to the subsequent Boards.

Several possible activities were suggested by various Board members. Stephanie suggested putting together an archives-centered career forum. April added that Ron Pollock should be actively involved in any such activity. It was further suggested that Brenda Gunn might be interested in participating in such a forum. Stephanie felt that someone from the LBJ staff might also be interested. Courtney and Stephanie will ask around and find out if there is any interest in participating. It was pointed out that schedules need to be carefully coordinating when planning.

Courtney asked what it would take to conduct an EAD Workshop. Would there be any possibility of including Kris Kiesling in such a workshop? It was emphasized that any such workshop should model the professional workshops, and impart more than what Kiesling traditionally teaches in Dr. Gracy's Organization of Information class.

April suggested a tour of the State Archives, possibly in the summer. It was agreed that a tour of the Archives, and the Capitol, would be worthwhile events. She also asked if there was any interest in contributing a Chapter edible book to the Edible Book Festival. Funds will most likely be available. The Board as a whole supported the proposition but did not decide on any specific ideas. Ben explained that the edible book does not have to be desirable on any level to eat; it just has to be possible to eat.

April also suggested reviving the Journal Club to discuss the current issue of American Archivist. Zach added that the Club could generate letters to the editor of AA, to articulate our reactions to certain issues and possibly gain recognition for the Chapter. A tentative date and time for the next Journal Club meeting was set for Friday, May 13th, around 4pm.

It was agreed by all that an effort should be made to make the national SAA conference in August as a Board, and that we should actively recruit other Chapter members to attend. It was acknowledged that the trip may be expensive, but that fundraising might be an option. This will be another reason, aside from establishing Chapter membership, to contact past members.

Another fundraising option to consider might be selling Chapter t-shirts, similar to the recent SASI t-shirt sale. Suggested design ideas included a t-shirt centered around a question familiar to every iSchool student: "What Is Information?"

Topic: Wrap-Up
April charged everyone to continue thinking about what each Board members goals are, and what the Board wants to accomplish.

Four important events to remember:

March 30th: iSchool Week luncheon

April 1st: Edible Book Festival

May 13th: Journal Club meeting

Summer 2005: State Archives/Capitol tours

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Society of American Archivists - University of Texas at Austin Student Chapter
E-mail: saa@ischool.utexas.edu