PLASC Meeting Minutes 2023 September 20

Public Library Archives & Special Collections Section Meeting 

Society of American Archivists 

Wed., Sept. 20, 2023, 1pm PT/ 2pm MT/ 3pm CT/ 4pm ET 

Minutes

Meeting began at 4:02pm

Present:  Biz Gallo, Catherine Tremblay, Joanna Kolosov

Approve meeting minutes: approved by Biz, seconded by Joanna Kolosov

1. Roster

We were down a Webmaster but had 3 at large members - needed a volunteer to be a Webmaster, Erinn will be the new webmaster.  Link to roster above.

2. Notes from meeting with Jasmine Jones, SAA Section Liaison

  a. Section election (vice chair, secretary) 

  i. Currently struggling with this issue because we’re not in good standing - but not the only ones in that position.

  b. Consider updating bylaws 

  i. We can vote to edit them

  ii. Could have co-chairs rather than a Chair and Vice Chair.  Purpose of having them as they are - for continuity.

  c. Shared Google calendar to track important dates

  i. Should we do this? Could be good for scheduling blog posts and upcoming council meetings.

  d. Section Health Assessment Working Group (SHAWG) - PLASC input

  i. Issued an update/report in July 2023 and it said how the different sections were doing, which ones should consider merging, etc.  But PLASC wasn’t really a part of the discussion because our programs are well attended, etc. 

  ii. Jasmine might drop into one of our future meetings to get our feedback/ input on section participation, etc.

  e. Strategic Plan dashboard

 i. SAA Council will update the dashboard soon and we can provide feedback to any of the specific topics that we might want to learn more about.  We should individually review it and bring our thoughts to the next meeting.

3. Annual report submitted 

 a. Was submitted by Laura Caroll before Sept. 1

4. Survey draft  (Sept. 27)

  a. More like a poll - keep it informal.

  i. Five topics could be ranked 1 - 5. 

  ii. Or assign a 1 - 5 for each topic.  This might be easiest as all items could be priorities.

  iii. At the end - open space for “other” topics - suggested by responders.

  iv. Google form sufficient for this task.

 v. Should it go on social media?  Primarily the listserv.

5. Blog series

  a. Post the Chicago Public Library 150th anniversary about their digital (and probably physical) artifacts blog.  Joanna Russ’s post (see below).

  b. They are hiring for Dir. of Archives! They extended the deadline. 

Schedule upcoming posts:

  c. Get to Know PLASC - Erinn (Oct. 3), Catherine (Oct.24)

  d. Exhibit post by Johanna Russ at Chicago Public Library (Oct.10)

6. #AskAnArchivist - Oct. 11 

  a. Joanna participated in this in the past. 

  b. Catherine T. is considering participating in it.