SAA Visual Materials Section Invitational Mid-Winter Meeting University Park, MD January 10-11, 2003

Introduction

In looking back at various three-year plans that the Section has proposed, it's clear that we've been talking about having a mid-winter meeting for over 10 years. For the first time, however, it's no longer talk. From Thursday night, January 9, through Sunday morning, January 12, 18 Section members, a handful of interested allied professionals, and our Council liaison participated in the first of what we hope will become an annual Section meeting that provides the Section leadership with good fellowship as well as an opportunity to complete planning activities for the coming year. The document below provides a record of this first meeting.

Participants:

    Arden Alexander: Prints and Photographic Division, Library of Congress, Washington D.C.
    Peggy Appleman: Washingtoniana Division, Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, Washington, D.C.
    Laurie Baty: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington D.C.
    Brett Carnell: Prints and Photographic Division, Library of Congress, Washington D.C.
    Nancy Dosch: Film Archives, History of Medicine Division, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD
    James Eason: Bancroft Library, UC-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
    Nancy Hartman, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington D.C.
    Sue Kriegsman: Office for Information Systems, Harvard University Library, Cambridge, MA
    Alan Lewis: Special Media Archives Services Division, National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD
    Martha Mahard: Historic Fine Arts Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
    Mark Martin: LSU Libraries - Special Collections, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA
    Michael McCormick: Research Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, OH
    Steven Puglia: Special Media Preservation Laboratory, National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD
    Diana Ruby Sanderson: Presbyterian Historical Society, Montreat, NC
    Leslie Swift, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington D.C.
    Paul Theerman: Non-Book Collections, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD
    Sarah Turner: Archives and Rare Books Collection, American Institute of Architects, Washington, D.C.
    Diane Vogt-O'Connor: Office Regional Archives, National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD
    Joel Wurl, University of Minnesota, Immigration Research History Center, Minneapolis, MN
    Helena Zinkham: Prints and Photographic Division, Library of Congress, Washington D.C.

Friday, January 10

    9:00- 10:00

        Introductions
        Review and revise the agenda
        Discuss goals for the meeting

    10:15-12:00 - Two breakout sessions

        Description (MARC, EAD, DC, standards)
        Preservation and Access (including digitization)

        Nitrate negatives and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)

        NFPA 40 - Standard for the Storage and Handling of Cellulose Nitrate Film, now covers code for all nitrate film
        including flat film. There is a growing concern around the archival community that not only should flat nitrate not
        have the same strict regulations as rolled nitrate film, but most organizations can not provide storage that meet the
        new fire code. A task force should be created to work with other related organizations to propose an alternative
        guideline to the NFPA by 2005, which is when the code will be reviewed by NFPA.

        Action items:
                · Create a link from the VM Web site that will list vendors who will duplicate nitrate flat film.
                · Call to participation of VM members to initiate a study and do some fact finding about the NFPA code.

        Cooperative purchase of photographic supplies

        It is becoming more difficult to find acceptable photographic supplies and there was talk of trying to coordinate a
        group effort to purchase special run items from manufacturers. There still probably isn't enough demand from the
        archives community to make the quantity worth while.

        Action items:
                · Keep information active on the VM listserv about alternative supplies that are still available
                · Encourage proper storage for archival collections so there is less need for photo duplication

        Appraisal and management of digital objects

        It appears as though many organizations have moved past the 'how to scan images' and are not onto 'how to
        manage digital objects.' It will be important for members of the VM section to watch how the guidelines and
        standards progress and share the information with the archival community in the form of publications, sessions, and
        workshops.

        Action items:
                · Propose a session on OAIS for the conference in 2004
                · Propose a session about digital provenance, appraisal, and records management for digital objects
                · Contribute to TGM vocabulary for describing born digital objects

    1:30-2:15 - Administration of Photographic Collections – Diane Vogt-O'Connor

        Diane brought copies of the chapter headings for the revised book Administration of Photographic Collections and
        information about how to assist the authors by supplying images and suggestions about where the book should be
        reviewed. Everyone was very pleased to see the revised edition is well under way and in the capable hands of
        Diane, Mary Lynn Ritzenthaler, Marge Long, Helena Zinkham, and Paula Fleming.

        Action items:
                · Once the book is published, VM will create workshops based on sets of chapters
                · Workshops can also be developed before the publication based on the current chapters

    2:15-3:30

        Education and Outreach

        Action items:
                · Ask Richard Pierce-Moses if a copy of the processing manual he wrote can be posted to the VM Web site.
                · Utilize the Web site for sharing information with VM section members and other related communities.
                · Discuss internship opportunities and create a FAQ that will discuss the specifications for internships and
                  provide guidelines for making it easier.
                · Develop an FAQ that discusses the how and why of case studies using as a source the specifications
                  provided by SAA publications.
                · Identify related organizations to add links to the VM Web site.
                · Consider creating a speakers bureau of people from the section.
                · Create a reference sources toolbox on the Web site SAA annual conference.

        The business meeting for the VM section during SAA is an hour and a half long and always feels
        rushed.

        Action items:
                · Try to use the VM listserv to begin discussions about sessions prior to attending the annual meeting then the
                  section meeting can be used for business and a speaker or presentation.
                · Encourage people to bring completed session ideas to the section meeting

        This year several VM related sessions were selected to be at the 2003 annual meeting but not all of
        them were brought to the VM section for endorsement. It might be a good idea to alert other sections of
        the interest VM has in encouraging, and endorsing, VM related material for the annual conference.

        Action items:
                · Send an invitation to other section leaders to attend the VM section meeting

    4:00-5:30 - Breakout session reports

    5:30 - End

Saturday, January 11

    8:00-9:00 - Arrive

    9:00-10:30 - VM 3 year plan

        The current 3 year plan was reviewed and revised.

        Action items:
                · Post the new plan to the VM Web site.
                · Publish the new plan in the April 2003 Views

    10:30-10:45 - Break

    10:45-12:00

    Ideas to bring to SAA (proposals for education)

    There were several ideas for sessions; some new, some old.

        Action items:
                · Re-instate Basic Administration of Photographic Materials to be held every year at the annual meeting
                · Try to hold the Basic Administration of Photographic Materials workshop at least in one regional location
                  during the year
                · Ask SAA to look to an outside vendor to have a management skills workshop
                · Create a workshop about re-formatting options
                · Hold a workshop on working with color images – Henry Wilhelm
                · Rights and reproductions possibly based on the workshop held by AMIA
                · See how VM can tap into regional archive organizations to glean sessions and workshops

    In addition to ideas to bring to SAA there were also several ideas about ways to expand education for the section
    and other interested people outside of SAA

        Action items:
                · Post information to the VM Web site about archival education programs that offer courses in visual materials
                · Post information to the VM Web site about job switching or sabbatical options
                · Encourage VM members to become involved with their local archive education programs
                · Encourage VM members to offer student internships
                · VM will have a sections member become a member the Archival Educators Roundtable (AER) (Martha
                  Mahard will attend the AER during the annual meeting)

    12:00-1:30 - Lunch

    1:30-2:00 - Assignment of tasks (based on previous day's discussions)

    2:00-3:00 - Begin work on tasks (break into groups)

    Newsletter and Web site

    Raise the Web visibility of the VM/VMCAR Web site and encourage members with collections and/or institutional
    Web sites to link to VM section site. The more pages linked to a site, the higher its relevancy rating in “Google” and
    other search engines.

        Action items:
                · Use Views and the listserv to suggest linking after the site is moved to the SAA server.
                · Work on a search engine for the Bibliography and Index to make information more accessible to users.
                · Look at related organization's Web sites to gather ideas for formating the VM/VMCAR site
                       o VRA
                       o AMIA
                · Add a section to the site for software evaluations and reviews
                · Develop a set of FAQ pages to have up in the 2004-2005 year. Examples of the pages will be brought to
                  the annual meeting in Los Angeles, August 2003.
                       o Education: where to find training and what are the basics.
                       o Digital Resources: where are digital resources and how to choose a collection.
                       o Description: how to describe a picture or number negatives. How to choose a finding aid style.
                       o Architecture: storage for oversize materials, what is in a set of drawings.
                · Update the Bibliography and make it more user friendly for the Web site.
                       o Talk to Richard and John to verify current scope of the bibliography
                       o Re-define/confirm scope
                       o Update and redesign for the Web site rather than hard coding it in HTML
                · Digitize the back issues of Views
                       o Identify all existing issues of the newsletter by 01 April
                       o Digitize those issue currently existing in hard copy only by 01 May
                       o Migrate to Page Maker and PDF by the end of June
                       o Mount on Web site by 01 July
                · Index entire run of Views
                       o Set up categories and examples of things we want to pull out and mount on other parts of the Web site,
                          i.e. book reviews, by the end of February
                       o Create Excel template for indexing by 15 March
                       o Using the template, index 1 or 2 issues each (6 total) by 31 May.
                       o Mount index on Web site, demonstrate at Annual, use as recruiting tool for more indexers
                · Seek new editor for Views
                       o Establish editor/editor-elect structure with two-year terms and one-year overlap, i.e. the chair and
                          chair-elect serve together for a year, the chair-elect moves up to chair and trains the chair-elect, repeat
                          the cycle endlessly
                       o try to have this new structure in place for the 2004 – 2005 cycle
                · Move to electronic-only issue with hard copy on demand for those with no Internet access, recycle postage
                  saved into Internet connection fees at Annual

    Annual meeting

                · Wrote a perpetual calendar for the section leadership. It will be posted on the VM Web site
                · Identify a speaker for the LA meeting
                · Move the committee reports to outside the Section meeting to allow more time for speaker/program and
                  time-sensitive items

    3:00-3:30 - Break

    3:30-5:00 - Continue working on tasks (break into groups)

    5:00-5:15 - Break

    5:15-6:00 - Report to SAA (outline the 2-day goals, objectives, and accomplishments)     6:00 - End

    6:30 - Dinner

Sunday, January 12 - Out of town folks return home

Please feel free to contact Mark E. Martin, current web weaver for the Section,     with any questions or comments.

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Last updated -- 07 March 2003