SRMA Board Minutes of Meetings
July 18, 2003 Board Meeting
The SRMA Board met on 18 July 2003 in the small conference room at the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library (DPL) in Denver at 10 am.
Members present: Kevin Anderson, Bridget Burke, Leah Davis Witherow, Nancy Freeman, Holly Geist, Ginny Kilander, Rebecca Lintz, Jay Trask, and Brent Wagner.
Membership Chair: Due to Karen Zoltenko’s retirement, Jay Trask expressed interest in fulfilling the obligations of this board position. Unanimously, the SRMA Board approved. Jay’s term expires in May of 2004.
Treasurer’s Report: In Donna McCrea’s absence, the Board accepted her report. SRMA made $241 from the Durango conference and maintains an account balance of $6252.70.
Server Issues: Kevin reported that Terry Ketelsen has asked SRMA to relocate its e-mail “post office.” Ginny will speak with Mark Shelstad, the SRMA Web Guru, about this matter and report back to the Board at a later date. (Mark and the AHC already host the website. It appears logical, thus, for AHC to receive consideration as the new e-mail server host.)
Potential merger: Leah presented the Board with a proposal memorandum created by Jeanne Abrams (President of the CPA) that highlights aspects of a CPA-SRMA merger. CPA is an organization with parallel interests and, roughly, 40 members. Eight core CPA board members, however, function for the organization. After much deliberation pertaining to the probable need for (two?) additional SRMA Board members (to function in preservation workshop/program planning capacities) should the merger go forward, it was decided that Kevin and Jeanne would proceed with the plan to merge by getting together and creating a document for the memberships of both organizations to peruse. This action will be completed by the 2004 spring conference.
COSHRC Proposal: Leah and Brent both expressed an interest in representing SRMA in this effort to improve communication among the many archival organizations across the country. Meetings are scheduled to occur in Chicago, later this year, and Boston, during the SAA 2004 conference. For now, the Board tabled the issue with more formal discussion to transpire at the SRMA 2003 autumn conference in Fort Morgan.
SHRAB Conference: Kevin thanked Board Members for their e-mail input regarding fiscal sponsorship of the SHRAB Conference, which the Board voted not to extend. Instead, SRMA presence will exist in the form of flyers and membership signups that Holly created. (The concern here is SRMA membership money being used to sponsor another organization’s event.)
Newsletter: Ginny cited a MAC survey pertaining to several archival newsletters and the vendor advertising fees involved for procuring space. This topic requires further review, but could end up generating additional money sources for SRMA. Also, guidelines for newsletter submissions need to be outlined and implemented.Ginny will endeavor to expand the scope of the newsletter to include a big picture and/or regional archives tidbits in order to keep everyone the field abreast of current developments.
Membership Fees: The Board raised the specter of increasing SRMA membership fees. A 100% hike ($10 to $20) is not an unlikely possibility. A reading of the by-laws indicates that this measure would require membership notification within thirty days of voting on the act – the vote cannot take place until the next SRMA business meeting (June 2004).
More money: Bridget will investigate pennant, t-shirt, and other tchotchke avenues.
2003 Autumn Conference: CPA will cosponsor the event. Nancy is working with local programming contact Nikkie Carter to finalize details of the 10 October 2003 meeting. The focus is on hazardous materials and disaster control. Gary Scherck, a recognized leader in the HAZMAT field, will offer a two-hour lecture on dangerous archival materials for a greatly reduced fee of $400. Participation certificates will be issued to those attending the conference.
2004 Spring Conference: The Board selected 03-04 June (Thursday and Friday) as the dates for the Laramie (AHC) meeting. On the afternoon of the 3rd, the plan calls for a formal workshop about rare books (preservation/maintenance). For the 4th, an all-day session on archives management issues takes center stage. Topics to explore include security, volunteers, and budget constraints.
Next Board meeting will occur at the Fort Morgan Museum after the 2003 autumn conference on 10 October at 4 pm.
Meeting adjourned at 12 pm.
