PLASC Meeting Minutes 2020 October 14

Public Library Archives & Special Collections Section Meeting

Society of American Archivists

October 14, 2020, 4pm EST

Meeting Minutes

Present: Angela, Laura, Heather, Patrina, Patricia, Dylan

Notetaking doc

Introductions

Approve September 9, 2020 meeting minutes. No changes, moved, approved.

Updates

Chair, Angela Stanley - Submitted end of year report. Prepared a copy of responses. Include how specifically how our work met the goals. 

Newsletter, Patricia Delara - Sent out deadline for Fall newsletter for October 29. No submissions thus far, will put out reminder post. Members should feel free to contribute and share your work. 

Social Media, Dylan Gaffney - increased followers by 50% last year, best way to increase engagement would be to increase posts with media. Explore offering members a chance to host the SAA PLASC account to increase awareness, advocacy, content but want to be sensitive about people’s workloads and work environments. 

Website, Johanna Russ - not present, will send along minutes for updates, additional info.

Survey Working Group, Catherine Oseas & Heather Lanctot - Great amount of data to parse, mapped zip codes which showed there was sparse representation or no representation geographically in some areas. Will send out info on those areas so that we can try to get some data from those areas. If members know particular individuals in those areas and wouldn’t mind reaching out, perhaps we can devise a plan and gather info on outreach in those areas. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fl8wRJCl1qsM3UaSH8Km_qigFZ9WKr_r/view?usp=sharing

https://www.easymapmaker.com/map/03c75b3c8fd49f462fe5e4904f4dd77c

We may have had some entries from non-public library archivists so we may want to devise some language for intro to specify that it is designed for public libraries. Is the wording of the Covid questions (references to May 2020 specifically) dated at this point? How can we keep in mind the current state of the archives worlds, with increasing furloughs, etc. Can we update language or add more open text field to better capture where people who are responding to survey are right now? If we alter form, how can we merge data? We will create a new folder within the survey folder and dump the results into it. Highlight geographic areas that need better representation and look at updating email language. Assess which organizations were actually contacted to find out who we have yet to reach out to. Consult our organizations doc and note which organizations were contacted.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1T0JNKp-oCyZPpP_b3Pu7_eaAPkw-L8AVNMvileLMwag/edit?usp=drive_web&ouid=100909560442151562182

Old Business

Survey re-release on October 26th. Deadline: Friday, November 20th

New Business

How can we lead some of these advocacy charges? Is there some sort of criteria document we can workshop that would indicate what a minimum level of staffing is? Demonstrating or analyzing the cost of deferred maintenance. Analyzing the very real costs of not having your content manager there to manage and collect. 

https://www.conservation-wiki.com/wiki/Ten_Agents_of_Deterioration#Custodial_Neglect_.26_Dissociation

2020-2021 SMART goal setting per SAA Strategic Plan:

• Goal 1: Advocating for Archives and Archivists

  • PLASC Action Item: Demonstrate the real costs of what it costs to not have staffing. Create a document which shows the real effects, advocates for labor, and demonstrates the consequences of cuts. How can we convey our points in language that non-archivists will understand and also appeal to the archives audience through a publication like American Archivist.

• Goal 2: Enhancing Professional Growth

  • PLASC Action Item: How can we offer professional development and opportunities for growth beyond the annual meeting. Does it mean a webinar, an informal chat, a mentors and mentees program within PLASC? Project based mentoring might lighten the length of time commitment and provide practical direct help for specific challenges within public libraries. How can we market the program to perhaps avoid the mentor/mentee terms. How can we share some of our feedback and monthly chat ideas and echo it back on twitter to help members who may have similar questions.

• Goal 3: Advancing the Field

  • PLASC Action Item: This could be addressed by above for Goal 1.

• Goal 4: Meeting Members’ Needs

  • PLASC Action Item: This could be addressed by above for Goal 2.

Action Items

• All committee members will update spreadsheet by 10/26 with additional contacts to share re-released PLASC survey

• Angela will update draft email language for survey to include an emphasis on PLs

• Laura will draft and share a document with possible ideas for PLASC-hosted member chats

• Heather will edit survey to remove COVID questions and include an open response question about changes brought on by the pandemic

• Angela will share approved minutes with Jo to post to microsite

Adjourn