Lone Arrangers Roundtable
SAA 2008 San Francisco
Wednesday, August 27th, 5:30-7:30 pm
Lively small group discussions focused on the themes of "cheering for the team" (communications), "running the race" (day to day management), and "getting off the ground" (new programs). Photographs courtesy of Nancy Freeman (2008).
Meeting Minutes
The meeting began at 5:30 as outgoing Roundtable Co-Chair Nancy Freeman welcomed all and laid out the agenda for the meeting.
Carla Summers is the outgoing SAA Council liaison to the Lone Arrangers Roundtable and spoke of how the Roundtable can work with the Council liaison. She introduced Rosalye Settles as our new contact to Council. Carla then left the meeting while Rosalye stayed for the business portion.
Geof Huth, a member of the 2009 program committee, gave a brief presentation regarding proposals for the Austin conference. The theme is sustainable archives.
Nancy Freeman updated the group on the leader meeting on August 26. One topic focused on “how to get things done in SAA.” Basically, the Roundtable contacts the liaison. Not much is written in stone at SAA so the meeting stressed communication to Council if any SAA member has a problem or concern.
A big topic at the leader meeting concerned the requirement that a roundtable have at least 50 members. If the number goes below 50, the roundtable may be in danger of losing status in SAA. SAA members may only be a formal member of two roundtables and this declaration is done at membership renewal time. Currently, a member can only do the declaration with the on-line renewal form. Soon SAA will have the paper form corrected to allow for this in hard copy renewal.
The Roundtable is not in danger of going below the 50 number; however, all members were urged to sign up formally to make sure everyone is counted. A concern with the Roundtable has always been that many lone arrangers can not afford to join SAA but could join the Roundtable. Currently such members do not qualify as officially part of the Roundtable. Nancy asked for a show of hands of anyone the meeting who isn’t a member of SAA, and no one raised their hand. She asked that anyone with a concern about this issue see her after the meeting.
Courtney Yevich passed out biography information and ballots for co-chair election candidates for Nancy Freeman’s position. The four candidates are Tiffany Loiselle, Andrea Sheehan, Alison Stankrauff, and Christina Zamon. Alison Stnakrauff won by a very slim margin.
Nancy Freeman announced that steering committee members, continuing from last year, are Susan Rishworth, Christina Zamon, and Courtney Yevich. Nancy asked for more volunteers and that anyone interested contact her after the meeting.
Courtney Yevich updated the group on the Roundtable’s web site. She also asked for content material, basically anything that would be helpful to other lone arrangers. Addiotionally, Christina Zamon set up a ning and handed out bookmarks with the information: http://lonearrangers.ning.com
Nancy Freeman discussed the issue of by-laws or guidelines for governance for the Roundtable. The topic came up several weeks ago on the Roundtable listserv, specifically asking if voting for co-chairs could be done in absentia from the annual meeting. It seems an on-line election could be easily done through SAA and the group liked the idea. Also, it is probable the original guidelines set forth by the Roundtable in 2004 do not match the SAA roundtable guidelines revised in 2007. The group agreed the Roundtable needs by-laws or guidelines or whatever they need to be called. Nancy asked anyone interested in working on the by-laws see her after the meeting.
Participants then divided into small discussion groups and Nancy Freeman laid out general guidelines for respectful discussion. The group’s moderator was asked to take notes, and report back to the group at large after 45 min. of discussion. The notes will also be put on the Roundtable web site. Participants divided into the following groups, modeled after the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics:
Cheering for the Team: Discuss ideas for relating to the external and internal communities that you serve. Promotion and public relations ideas, newsletters and communication vehicles. Moderator: Holly Geist.
Running the Race: Discuss budgeting, staffing, day to day survival as a lone arranger and the problems of having no or limited staff/assistance, how to maintain sanity. Moderator: Courtney Yevich
Getting Off the Ground: Starting a new program, designing space, looking for support, finding your niche in the structure. Moderator: Alison Stankrauff
Giving the Fans What they Want: Digitization projects, problems, how-to’s, equipment/software, and techniques. (No group formed for this topic)
After sufficient time for discussion, the small group moderators reported back to the group at large.
The formal meeting ended at 7:30; however, about 15 members of the Roundtable went to dinner as a group.
Minutes by Nancy Freeman, Co-Chair.
Lone Arrangers Sessions
The panelists for the lone arranger session "The Reluctant Administrator, or How I Learned to Love Management." Shown left to right are Courtney Yevich, Alison Stankrauff, Colleen McFarland, and Nancy Freeman. Photograph courtesy of Courtney Yevich (2008).
103: Leveraging Outreach to Further Your Goals: Tips for Small Repositories
Thursday, August 28th, 8:30-10:00 am
Susan Gunn Pevar, Commentator
Lincoln University of Pennsylvania
Darlene Richardson
US Department of Veterans Affairs (VHA)
"The Basics of Creating an Internship Program for Your Archives"
Melinda McMartin
Ferris State University
"Working with the History Department to Develop a Student Work Program"
Allaina Wallace
National Snow and Ice Data Center, CIRES, University of Colorado
"Promoting Analog Collections through Online Digital Collections and Web Development"
“That’s a great idea, but how do I get started? I don’t even have time for my regular work!” If you find yourself overwhelmed with work demands that inhibit your willingness to try something new and different, this session is for you! You’ll hear ideas from three different repositories that have successfully leveraged outreach to further their work goals. You’ll come away with ideas, tips, and reassurance that it can be done!
408: The Reluctant Administrator, or How I Learned to Love Management
Friday, August 29th, 2:30-4:00 pm
Nancy Freeman, Chair
National Wildlife Research Center, USDA, Colorado
Alison Stankrauff
Franklin D Schurz Library, Indiana University South Bend
Courtney Yevich
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Colleen McFarland
McIntyre Library, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Many lone arrangers and small-shop archivists associate the verb “manage” with its synonyms “cope” or “get by,” rather than with its primary meaning: “to direct.” Some professional literature even discourages archivists working in small repositories from seeing themselves as managers. How, then, do the professional identities of archivist and manager fit together? Three solo archivists who see themselves as managers first and archivists second discuss how they reached this seemingly inverted conclusion.
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LAR pages maintained by Courtney Yevich,
Last updated: 15 September 2008
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