None not appearing as current agenda items.
Three new committee members introduced included:
New Home Page
The Special Collections & University Archives Division has a new home page on the World Wide Web (address http://unixg.ubc.ca:7001/0/providers/spcoll/welcome.html). It includes information about the division's various program areas, published guides providing descriptions of our archival holdings, records management and other divisional policies, information for contacting staff members, a "what's new" feature and links to other archival and special collections web sites.
For-Fee Campus Records Management Projects
Based on the records management contracting policy approved by the Committee, the University Archives has taken on two campus projects -- one for the Dean's Office in the Faculty of Arts and the other for the Alumni Association. According to our policy we provide up to two hours of free consultation on records management and thereafter we charge on the basis of the work to be undertaken. There have been a number of other offices which have expressed interest in our help in this area and we are now looking at the possibility of contracting extra help.
Internship / Professional Experience Projects
Our the summer Marnie Burnham, an M.A.S. student served an internship with us. She carried out a number of projects for the University Archives and we benefited from some excellent work at no cost to us. This fall we are again tapping the resources of S.L.A.I.S. with two archival studies students undertaking professional experience projects. These projects that count toward academic credit are designed to give the students a combination of theoretical and "hands-on" experience. One student is working on policy development including a preservation policy, a general University Archives policy and an access and use policy. The other student is developing a preservation program for our large collection of audio and video tapes.
Historical Photograph Image Database
Early this fall we began work on a new project designed to provide access to our photograph collection through the World Wide Web. To this point we have approximately 5,500 bibliographic records and 1,200 images available on-line. Committee members were invited to a demonstration of the database at the conclusion of the meeting.
Miscellaneous
Erwin has been recommended for a confirmed appointment by the President. Chris is serving as acting head of Special Collections & University Archives Division until the end of the year.
Chris briefly reviewed the situation regarding the Disposition Committee. The University Archives and Records Management Advisory Committee had worked with Chris and Erwin (who had consulted with many individuals in the University community) in the development of a records schedule for the institution's corporate records. The next step in this process is for the University to constitute a University Records Disposition Committee that could approve the schedules on behalf of the institution and also approve the destruction of material not covered by the schedules. This is a case of needing to move from advice to policy. Ruth had talked to Byron Hender before the meeting and he indicated that he would look further into the matter.
The agenda sent out to committee members included an updated chronology of University Archives-related activities over the life of the Advisory Committee. Chris pointed out that despite some difficult economic times, the committee had been very successful in realizing an number of its original objectives. Over the past few years we have been able to conduct a complete survey of University records, have had a Board-approved records management policy passed, hired a professional records analyst/archivist as well as a clerical support position for the University Archives. These achievements are due in some part to fortuitous timing but more importantly to the support of the committee members who, over the years, have been the source of excellent advice and have also spoken very favourably of the importance of the University Archives and the records management program. Hopefully we will have a few more significant achievements to add to the chronology in the not-too-distant future.
In the original terms-of-reference it was suggested that after the committee had been up and running for a while and presumably moved into something more of a maintenance mode that a new terms-of-reference be drafted. Ruth asked Chris to do this and he reported that he would do so for the next meeting of the committee.
Chris pointed that despite some significant successes, the University Archives, to this point still lacks an officially-sanctioned mandate. The Archives is only mentioned in passing in the records management policy as having responsibility for coordinating the development of the program -- it lacks formal recognition as an institutional resource. It was suggested that this would be a good time to push for institutional recognition of the University Archives. During the discussion that ensued committee members suggested a number of elements that should appear in the policy including:
Ruth suggested that Chris consult with Libby Nason who was extremely helpful with the records management policy. Chris agreed to prepare a draft University Archives policy which would be circulated to members before the next meeting of the committee.
At the time of the last meeting of the committee there appeared to be a number of proposals that would likely include space for the storage of records. At that time Chris agreed to prepare a report on this issue. In that none of these projects seem to have proceeded this report has not been prepared. Chris will prepare a report for the next meeting. Ruth reported that the Library would be completing its Master Space Plan and that the need for storage of University records should be included in the master plan.
January 11th, 1996 - Librarian's Office, 9:00-10:30
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