PLASC Meeting Minutes 2019 February 14

Public Library Archives and Special Collections (PLASC)
Section of the Society of American Archivists

Meeting Minutes

Teleconference (WebEx)

February 14, 2019

In attendance: Lauren Algee, Suzanne Im, Petrina Jackson, Heather Lanctot, Angela Stanley

Purpose of Meeting: Share findings and recommendations for moving forward with creating and implementing our outreach/communications plan.

1. Finalizing plans for implementable products from our outreach / advocacy explorations

• Lauren: Discussion of Twitter handle options.

  • Angela agrees Twitter handle could be more descriptive. Angela votes for PubLibArchives.

  • Lauren to send out poll for steering committee members to vote on handle.

• Angela has been investigating options for advocacy. 

  • Considering putting together a Quick facts document built on some samples and models from Georgia State Library.

    • Could have more versatile use rather than conveying a specific message.

    • Shared Georgia Public Library Service infographics: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1yI0C43ycrsyvvv7gnS-1KhuTrT5dhzA7

    • Angela unsure what PLASC’s inaugural message should be. 

      • Who is our intended audience? Membership or agencies?

      • Lauren cited survey respondents wanted guidance on how to advocate within as well as outside of their organizations.

  • Public library-specific elevator speech.

    • Angela will send a draft of elevator speech. 

    • There is not a lot of national aggregate data about public library archives, so Angela is finding it difficult to come up with an impact statement. She sees the need for a broader/national dataset. Will Keep on backburner for next year.

    • Heather asked about conducting a survey through SAA to obtain datasets on public library special collections and archives. Lauren says there may need to be a more organized effort as well as funding to obtain a better sample size.

    • Angela will make a list of datasets she wishes she had to make the Quick Facts document. 

      • Can use it to make a narrow list of questions in case the section decides to pursue funding for a larger survey.

• Heather found an ALA PDF document called the Library Advocate’s Handbook that can be used to inform PLASC’s advocacy toolkit

  • Tried to find other advocacy resources that exist.

  • Tried to check for dead links on the legacy PLASC wordpress; she questioned how much hyperlinking would be beneficial? 

  • Lauren: Suggested submitting advocacy page to Internet Archive to ensure longevity.

  • Heather is getting a template together for bookmarks in Microsoft Word format

• Suzanne learned from Matt Black that:

  • All Steering Committee members have edit permissions on the microsite by default.

  • There is no microsite comment notification system.

  • It is possible to add the PLASC SAA connect page onto the microsite manually.

    • One could manually add a link to community page either in the body of a page on the microsite or using the group menu links that appear on the right sidebar.

2. Preparing for elections / next year's staffing (intern?)

• Web coordinator (committee member) can just be appointed by PLASC steering committee. Options: put a call out on the listserv, or PLASC can add in via next election.

• Possible projects for intern (SAA funded): 

  • Evaluations 

  • Research /environmental scan around public library archives?

• Petrina will follow up on how much time is given to intern positions.

3. Looking ahead to this year's annual meeting

• Annual meeting: Lauren and Angela plan to be in attendance. 

• Discussion of outreach in Texas to bring more public library archivists to the section meeting.

  • Organize a local event to bring together section members? 

  • Collaboration with Austin Public Library? 

  • Lauren called on steering committee to think about what kind of program, lightning talk, or other type of session should be planned for the annual section meeting.

• Angela suggested tabling at the conference for PLASC as an outreach endeavor.

4. Other business

• Petrina: Had a virtual council meeting. The date for SAA elections has been extended. 

Next meeting: 

Lauren will send out Whenisgood poll for next meeting, and will touch base with Patricia.