Preservation Committee Meeting: September 6, 2024

Conference Call / Zoom

Members attending:

• Liz Bloodworth, Illinois Wesleyan University
• Diane Fagen, Rockford University
• Patti Gibbons, University of Chicago
• Stephanie Gowler, Northwestern University
• Gabriel Hamer, Newberry Library
• Heidi Marshall, Columbia College Chicago
• Bonnie Parr, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, co-chair
• Shelby Strommer, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, co-chair
• Bradley Wiles, Northern Illinois University

CARLI Staff attending:

• Elizabeth Clarage
• Nicole Swanson

Tasks Assigned

• Minutes taken by Bonnie Parr.
• Checking links on the Preservation Resources Website: Elizabeth will check to ensure last year’s additions have been added.
  • Assessment Planning (Patti)
  • Audio-visual Preservation (Analog & Digital) (Diane)
  • Book Repair and Conservation (Gabriel)
  • Digital Preservation and Digitization for Preservation (Liz)
  • Disaster Planning and Response (Stephanie & Brad)
  • Exhibits (Liz)
  • General Preservation and Conservation Resources Sites (Heidi & Bonnie)
  • Glossaries (Patti)
  • Grants and Development (Diane)
  • Legal issues (Heidi)
  • Library Binding (Shelby)
  • Mold, Pests, and the Environment (Shelby)
  • Protective Enclosures and Storage (Bonnie)
  • Social Media (Stephanie)
  • Special Collections and Archives (Brad)
  • Supply Vendors (Gabriel)
  • Training (Gabriel)
• Monthly Preservation Tips articles:
  • September - Intro to this year’s topic/focus (Shelby)
  • October - How Preservation has changed over the years (Diane)
  • November/ December - Intro to the survey/why/goals? (Patti & Shelby)
  • January - 2015 Survey Re-cap and actions (Heidi)
  • February - How to host your own preservation outreach event looking toward national Preservation - Caring for your family heirlooms (Bonnie)
  • March - Preservation crafts (Gabriel)
  • April - Promoting collections care and handling in an academic library / to students (Liz)
  • May - Exhibits/loans/displays (Stephanie)
  • May/June - Wrap-Up - Survey Results (Brad)
• Brad will follow up with Jamie Schumacher about scheduling the Digital Preservation 101 workshop.
• Shelby will send out a poll for scheduling an “Ask the Preservation Expert” program for the Fall so that it can be announced in September/October.

Decisions

• June meeting minutes approved.
• Minutes will be taken by committee members in alphabetical order of their last names, starting with Bonnie Parr to the end of the alphabet, followed by names starting at the beginning of the alphabet.
• Committee members preferred Zoom as the platform for meetings.
• Except for October, future committee meetings will be held from 1:00-2:00 p.m. on the 3rd Friday of every month.
• Monthly preservation tips will cover preservation-related outreach and public engagement activities and will tie into an updated Preservation Survey for CARLI members.
• The Committee will hold two (Fall and Spring) Ask the Preservation Expert “office hours” programs.
• The Committee is planning to launch the new Preservation Survey in December or January.

Announcements

• Member Announcements:
  • Diane Fagen (Rockford University) – She announced the September 8 opening of a travelling exhibit about the history of women in baseball.
• CARLI Announcements:
  • CARLI Annual Meeting is October 22, 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.; registration is open now.
  • An in-person Book Repair Workshop on September 16, 10:00 -11:30 a.m. at Romeoville Branch Library is open for RAILS members.
  • The CARLI Archives Task Force is hosting a webinar on September 18, 1:00-2:00 p.m. – “Developing an Archives: Embracing the Messiness of the Real World”; the Task Force is interested in planning more workshops.
  • Professional Digital Alliance (PDA) is extending an invitation to collaborate on a preservation/digitization series for next summer, after the success of their recent digital content webinar series.

Discussion

• Elizabeth and Nicole gave an overview of the purpose, activities, and communication links for the Preservation Committee.
• The schedule for future meetings was discussed; the decision to hold in-person meetings was tabled.
• Committee members chose which sections of the Preservation Resources Website they will check links.
• There was a recap of last year’s Committee activities – Disaster Planning 101 (monthly preservation tips project), PDA webinar “Poison in the Stacks? Ongoing Research on Heavy Metals in 19th Century Books”, and Gabriel gave an overview of the August 15 Newberry Library Tour.
• Gabriel was thanked for all his work organizing the tour.
• Brainstorming for this year’s projects, including continuing planning for a workshop at the Illinois Fire Services Institute (IFSI), scheduling the Digital POWRR: Digital Preservation 101 workshop, developing and launching a Preservation Survey – 10 Years Later, monthly preservation topics, and Ask a Preservation Expert “office hours.”
• IFSI workshop – CARLI will fund this workshop, but setting a date is pending availability at the IFSI.
• Digital POWRR: Digital Preservation 101 workshop will be rescheduled.

Next Meeting Dates and Deadlines

The next Preservation Committee meeting will be October 4, 2024 at 1:00-2:00 p.m.

Future Committee Meeting Dates:
October 4, 2024, minutes taker: Shelby Strommer
November 15, 2024, minutes taker: Brad Wiles
December 20, 2024, minutes taker: Liz Bloodworth
January 17, 2025, minutes taker: Diane Fagen
February 21, 2025, minutes taker: Patti Gibbons
March 21, 2025, minutes taker: Stephanie Gowler
April 18, 2025, minutes taker: Gabriel Hamer
May 16, 2025, minutes taker: Heidi Marshall
June 20, 2025, minutes taker: TBD

Deadlines:
Meeting minutes – 7 days after the Preservation Committee meeting
Preservation Tips/blog articles – by 15th of the month for review/input by committee members; by 20th of the month for newsletter submission