Approval of minutes

Suzanne asked about the first sentence under number VI in the August 10 minutes, where Kate indicated that the Resource Register page on the website had been replaced with a page referring to the listserv. She noted that although this may have been planned, it was never done. Mike moved that this be corrected and the minutes approved as corrected. Elizabeth seconded it and the motion was approved.

Treasurer's Report

Jim reported that we made money on the conference. The money for the endowment was transferred yesterday. The account earns 4.1%, matures in April, and allows one penalty-free withdrawal per month. Jim is currently the only one authorized to withdraw from it, but he has a form to allow someone else to do so. Elizabeth said that the problem is the constantly changing officers. Jim said he had asked the bank if that would be a problem, to change the authorized parties as often as once a year, and they said no. He also ordered new deposit slips for the general account at a cost of $31. Elizabeth has a bill outstanding from the plaques presented at the fall conference, which she will submit to Jim. Jim said that the general account had enough money to sustain SCAA for a year to a year and a half, even if we had no income at all, but that of course we hope to continue to have good conference turnouts and to make money.

Membership Report

Membership officer Henry Fulmer was absent and did not send a report. The membership directory was handed out at the fall conference.

Director's Report

Mike said that the fall conference turned out fairly well, although there were a few mistakes. He suggested purchasing the breakfast food locally rather than bringing it from out of town. The evaluations showed overall good responses. The two afternoon sessions were fairly equally attended. The session on photographs suffered from being in a different room than had been planned for, so it took a while to get the technology resolved. The projector in the room where we ate lunch was not working and had not been tested ahead of time. However, the presenters had thought they would be in the auditorium, so that explained why it wasn't tested. The confusion on the locations of sessions occurred because the speakers from the Department of Education arrived, were not greeted or directed, and, following the printed program, set up in the auditorium by themselves. No one was sure why the student volunteers were not at the desk to help direct them. Mike said that since 50-75% of presentations these days incorporate Power Point, we need to have the technology as foolproof as possible.

Mike went over the suggestions from the evaluations. Someone said that the gap between the morning session and lunch was too long, especially considering that lunch ran long and the afternoon sessions were shortened. Alexia suggested that time specifically dedicated to poster sessions was not necessary. Suzanne said that because so many people wanted to buy Rod Gragg's books after lunch, they delayed the start of the afternoon session. Alexia suggested that if authors wish to sell books, they should get a table in the hall where people can buy them between sessions, etc. Mike noted another comment that the Department of Education speakers did not seem to understand why they were speaking to archivists. Mike said he had explained our interest to them, but that they did not necessarily address it in their presentations.

The lunch menu was discussed. The vegetarian entrée was appreciated on the evaluations, although more variety was also requested. Suzanne said that most of Truly Scrumptious' entrée options are chicken, although there is one roast beef option; she thought they were a good choice of caterer because of affordability. Mike said there was value in using them because they were familiar with our group and the facility, but that we could try the beef entrée. Dorothy, Elizabeth, and Suzanne all made the point that many people do not care for the sweet poppy seed salad dressing that is always provided, and that a different side than the vegetable medley might also be nice. Jim said researching the different catering and menu options in the off-season was a good idea and Alexia suggested the new director could work on that.

The poster session only featured one presenter. Mike said that the presenters lately seem to be exclusively graduate students, although Alexia pointed out that had not always been the case. Jim suggested contacting people early and asking them to present, or asking Connie Schulz to get her students to put something together. As far as the evaluations' suggestions for future programs, Mike said there were not many, but potential topics included appraising for insurance purposes, backlogs, best practices for processing, History Day, and a speaker from NARA's new Atlanta facility. Mike suggested an outing to USC to visit Kate Boyd's digitization project. Jim mentioned that PASCAL would be setting up task forces on digitization and looking for venues to provide training, and that SCAA could be one. Mike said perhaps a conference session on the nuts and bolts of digitization was in order, and that SCLA might also be interested in participating. Another suggestion was internal auditors in archives. It was suggested that this would be a good topic for small libraries or lone arrangers and would go along with the insurance appraisal question.

The idea of hosting an SAA workshop was discussed. Doing so would require more planning ahead and more upfront costs. The subject would need to be compelling to get an enthusiastic response despite a cost twice or more our usual registration. Jim said the workshop would probably need to be a stand-alone event, not in conjunction with a normal SCAA conference. Elizabeth suggested instead bringing in PASCAL to do the digitization training, for the good of PASCAL's ability to help solve people's particular issues. Jim suggested we investigate both possibilities and Mike said he would make initial contacts with the education directors of SAA.

Mike said that Laura Koser, who stepped down as director with her move out of state, had given him the document with the mailing labels for the conference brochures. Mike will add new members and make corrections from the membership directory. He may also post a message on the listserv asking for updated addresses.

Vice President's Report

Elizabeth said that the annual social was a nice outing, although the turnout was very small. The event made $50 net profit. Suzanne said it was nice to have the event in the Upstate for once, and Elizabeth said it had been no problem to make the arrangements from a distance. Suzanne suggested an article for the newsletter and Jim mentioned that he took pictures that could accompany the article.

Newsletter and Webpage

Old Business

A. Audit: Suzanne reported that C.J. Cambre of USC was happy to serve on an audit committee and might even serve as chair. She said we needed one or two people who were not on the Board, preferably with math or accounting experience. Jim said that math experience was not necessary, just objectivity. When he participated in the Palmcop audit, there were 5 or 6 people who divided up the task. Suzanne suggested a standing audit committee, with an audit done annually. The audit committee could include current and past treasurers. Jim said perhaps it would be sufficient to audit each time the treasurer changes. Alexia suggested an outside audit at infrequent intervals.

B. Brochure: Suzanne said that Dennis Taylor will take about 75 SCAA recruitment brochures to SCPRA. She asked if Kate would print up some more and send them to Jim for him to take to SCLA in late November. Dorothy said she would ask Kate to do so.

C. Mailbox: Thanks to Roy Tryon, SCAA now has a mailbox at the Archives. The responsibility for managing it will not fall on Heather South, but on Roy's secretary. We don't expect much mail to come to the box except for scholarship applications. Conference registrations still come to the treasurer. We need to add our mailing address to the webpage and to the scholarship application form.

D. Procedure Manuals: The endowment section needs to be updated, as do the lists of past award winners and officers. Suzanne will try to track down the Word file of the manuals, update them, and print new copies for everyone. Dorothy suggested an extra copy for the SCAA archives. The SCAA archives are currently at the South Caroliniana Library. Jim suggested that since the archives are continually growing, they should have a permanent home, rather than being circulated between the secretaries. Elizabeth said she could see that they were accessioned at SCL. Jim said that the information about the archives should be in the manual.

New Business

None.

Leadership Retreat

Elizabeth, the incoming president, said it could be held at the Archives or at USC in January. If it is held at USC, early January would make for easier parking, since the students will not have returned; however, to be able to have lunch at McCutchen House, we would need to wait until mid-January. Mike suggested earlier so that we could go ahead and figure out spring conference dates. Elizabeth will check the calendar at SCL to see when we could use their space.

Adjournment

Suzanne adjourned the meeting at 12 noon.