Preservation Committee Meeting Minutes

September 23, 2002

Outcomes

1. Additions/changes to the agenda
   Discussion of length of committee meetings added to fifth agenda item.
2. Review Role and Work of the Preservation Committee
   Facilitator Cunningham led discussion of the role and work of the committee as well as that of the Preservation Production Group and other preservation stakeholders in the Libraries (i.e., subject and functional teams). The purpose of the exercise was to determine if the Preservation Committee has outgrown its usefulness. Cunningham's transcript of the discussion points is below. The outcome of the discussion was a clear understanding of the committee's critical role in identifying and prioritizing needs throughout the Libraries. McCarthy will draft a revised charge for the committee that other members will review and revise as necessary.
3. Review how members are chosen
   Lively discussion of the composition of the committee as currently configured ensued. Permanent members include the Collection Manager; Preservation Production Group Leader; Collections Conservator; and Brittle Materials, Reformatting, and Mass Deacidification Team Leader. The members with terms of up to four years include representatives for Government Documents, Special Collections, Science and Technology Team, Social Sciences Team, Arts and Humanities Team, Access Services, and Digital Libraries. Members concluded that the current composition, hypothetically at the very least, is representative of all the Libraries' constituencies. We agreed that those rotating off of the Committee in 2003 will recruit a new member to represent their group. That means that Gloria Chawla will find a new member from the Science and Technology Team, Beth Alvarez will do the same for Special Collections and Mary Scott for Access Services. The committee will reevaluate membership after completion of priority setting in Spring 2003.
4. Decide Meeting Guidelines
   The committee members will continue to rotate meeting roles. All members will contribute to setting agenda by sending agenda items to Preservation Committee reflector (preservationcom@umail.umd.edu).
5. Decide how often we want to meet. Set meeting dates that work for everyone
   Committee members determined that it is only necessary to meet in March, April, May and June in order to set priorities for FY 2004. At that time, members whose terms have expired will be off the committee, and new members will replace them. Meetings will remain ninety minutes in length. After new members are selected, the Preservation Production Group Leader will poll committee members to determine a regular day and time that will work for these monthly March through June meetings.
6. Set agenda for next meeting
   Items for the agenda of the March meeting include reviewing the priorities-setting process with the new committee members, making assignments for contacting constituencies to survey their preservation priorities, setting deadlines for completing Preservation Priorities Questionnaires. An additional item is the discussion and approval of the new committee charge.

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