Society of American Archivists - UT Student Chapter

Society of American Archivists
University of Texas at Austin Student Chapter

10 February 2006 MEETING REPORT

Meeting opened at 12:05 pm

In attendance:
Sarah Quigley
Lisa Schmidt
Grace Coy
Hope Rider
Sidney Tibbetts
Gabby Redwine
April Norris
Melissa Guy
Ed Sevcik
David Gracy
Clifford Allen

Topic: Vision and goals for SAA
Sarah checked with all new Board members to make sure everyone had gotten a chance to speak with his or her predecessor.

Sarah raised three primary concerns: (1) make sure that SAA members stay involved and active, (2) coordinate with other groups to put on events, and (3) increase visibility university-wide. Sarah asked for a commitment from the Board to accomplish these objectives.

Sarah cited the recent low attendance at Dr. Vincent's 1/31 talk (about inclusion and cross-cultural effectiveness) as an example of lack of involvement on the part of iSchool students and faculty. Gabby suggested that part of the reason Dr. Vincent's talk was so poorly attended was because it was held during the day on a Tuesday, which was a time that conflicted with many people's work and class schedules. Sarah recommended that at least one member of the Board be present at as many iSchool talks and/or events as possible. This would be a way of increasing the SAA's visibility within the iSchool and making sure our members stay involved and in touch with what's going on.

Ed proposed that we maintain a list of the talks/events an SAA representative should attend. One person could attend and then report back to the group.

Working with other campus groups and departments was mentioned as a way to increase SAA visibility and involvement on campus. Dr. Gracy mentioned that in the past SAA has had a booth/table on the West Mall to advertise Archives Week.

The following departments and groups were suggested as possible co-sponsors for events: Middle Eastern Studies (because of the iSchool's dual degree program with this department), the Law School, Women's Studies (Sarah has been in touch with the Graduate Coordinator), the College Art Association (CAA), iSchool alumni, and regional SAA members.

Sarah mentioned the possibility of working with Phi Alpha Theta, the History Honor Society, to arrange for SAA members to talk with History students about archives as a career option. Sarah has a contact on the History faculty who might be able to help us set up something.

Sidney suggested that the SAA could build the local mentoring program. Kris Toma at the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary was mentioned as someone who has been an enthusiastic supporter in the past.

Melissa brought up the El Corazon de Tejas chapter of REFORMA (National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking Community) as a group that has a mentor program in place and is devoted to increasing access to information for the Spanish-speaking community.

Another idea was to talk to Ron Pollock in Career Services about expanding the existing mentor program for general libraries to include archives.

Topic: Archives Week 2006
Sarah broached the idea of gender in the archives as the theme for this year's Archives Week. The range of possible approaches include employment, subjects for collection, the role of women in archives (both as archivists and as the generators of documents), and the representation and presence in archives of marginalized communities. The hope is that this topic would have the potential to connect the iSchool and the SAA with the campus community at large.

Possible grant funding for this theme could come from the Texas Committee for the Humanities. Eric Lupfer is the contact for that. The TCH might be especially interested in funding a project that would reach beyond the university and attract a wider audience.

The goal of Archives Week is to get the value and concept of archives out to the public at large.

Dr. Gracy raised the concern that the theme of gender in the archives might be perceived as focusing more on the archivist than on archives.

Ed added that the issue of gender was not just about the leadership of archives (i.e., the gender of the people in positions of power) but also about the creation of documents, given that many documents were produced by female secretaries and librarians, in addition to women who kept diaries.

Melissa added that the way documents are collected and housed allowed for historians of women, gender, and/or sexuality to make these things available to the public.

April suggested that we consider who uses these studies and think of ways to encourage different people to visit archives.

Ed suggested that the gender theme could be phrased as a conversation about how these contemporary issues about gender facilitate new types of study and research and usage of archives.

At the SAA national meeting this past year, one of the three objectives was diversity and leadership. Dr. Gracy added that Mark Duffy, of the Episcopal Archives (in Austin), is on the SAA council, and that we should talk with him about these ideas.

Dr. Gracy mentioned that he, Dr. Galloway, and the SAA will be holding an Organization of Information Curriculum Forum to discuss the recent changes in the Org. offerings at the iSchool and to get input from SAA members and students about how the Org. course should be structured in the future.

Topic:Activities for Spring 2006
Because of time constraints, discussion of Spring activities will be postponed until the next meeting.

The next Board meeting will be held at 3 p.m. on February 17

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