November 18, 2005
2:00 - 4:30 pm
Marriot Wardman Park Hotel
Washington, DC

Present: Executive Committee: Peter Malanchuk (Florida), chair; James Simon (CRL), CRL representative; Edward Miner (Iowa), secretary; Jill Coelho (Harvard), vice-chair and chair-elect; Ruby Bell-Gam (UCLA), past-chair; Dorothy Woodson (Yale), at-large; Ned Alpers (UCLA), faculty representative; Marieta Harper (LC), ALC chair; Laverne Page (LC), LC representative.

Participants: Joe Caruso (Columbia); Lauris Olson (U Penn); Maaba Brown (DISA); Todd Bludeau (PraXess Associates); Marc Zeitschik (Praxess Associates); Simon Bockie (UCLA); David Easterbrook (Northwestern); Marion Frank-Wilson (Indiana); Helene Baumann (Duke); Miki Goral (UCLA); David Westley (Boston); Sesan Dipeolu (Sedlic Library and Information Consultants); Esmeralda Kale (Northwestern); Emilie Ngo Nguidjol (Wisconsin); Andrew de Heer (Schomburg); Patricia Ogedengbe (Northwestern); Gretchen Walsh (Boston); Phyllis Bischoff (Berkeley); Loumona Petroff (Boston); Ken Lohrentz (Kansas); Karen Fung (Stanford); Fentahun Tiruneh (LC); Peter Limb (Michigan State); Lloyd Mbabu (Ohio U); Robin Frye (Frank Thorold, Ltd.); Pamela Howard-Reguindin (LC-Nairobi); Deborah LaFond (Albany); Sheri Young (UCLA); Elizabeth Darocha Berenz (CRL).

I. Introductions & Announcements
Olson is welcomed as new ex-officio CAMP Executive Committee member (as ALC chair). Brown Maaba (DISA Content Manager) was introduced. Changes to the agenda were announced.

II. Approval of Minutes
The minutes from the CAMP Business meeting at Northwestern University in Spring 2005 were approved with minor corrections.

III. Election of CAMP Representatives
Coelho announced that the elections for three Executive Committee positions (secretary, member at-large, and faculty representative) will be carried out via e-mail after meeting.

IV. New Proposals
Simon announced that no proposals for new projects were submitted in advance of the meeting. Alpers reported that the director of the Zanzibar Archives expressed interest in doing a preservation project – there are British, German, Arabic, and Swahili materials. Bell-Gam reported meeting the same archivist at the ESARBICA meeting in Botswana in July 2005. The next ESARBICA meeting will be in Tanzania in the summer of 2007; a day trip to Zanzibar is being planned. While in Zanzibar, Woodson visited the Abdul Sharif archives, and found them very well organized. She also visisted the archives of the Civic United Front (the opposition party) – they said they have 16,000 videos of every rally and meeting they had ever held. Miner suggested that CAMP might consider distributing digital copies of CAMP materials to African universities through WiderNet's e-Granary. Bell-Gam reminded the group that all universities have e-resources that could be included in such a project – such as the eScholarship Repository, sponsored by the California Digital Library. This resource includes open access, post-print repository copies for which republishing permissions might be readily available

V. Reports and Discussion

CRL Report
The deadline for voting on CRL purchase proposals is Nov. 12. The CRL has assumed overall administrative responsibilities for the Global Resources Network from the ARL, effective January, 2006. Simon will serve as director of GRN, and in the summer of 2006, he and others will be working on the development of a sustainable business model. CRL has set a goal of creating the capacity to digitally delivera materials by 2009. Berenz reported that under the auspices of the Political Web Archiving Project, CRL collaborated with the Internet Archive in a pilot project of culling Liberian election websites during the period Oct. 13-Nov. 11. They used an open source crawler. This pilot project was free – but this is something CAMP/CRL will pay to have done (there is a small company that culls the websites).

CAMP Financial Report & Project Update
Simon distributed the CAMP Financial Report with final figures for FY 2005 and year to date figures for FY 2006 (through 9/30/05). For FY 2005, the beginning fund balance was $47,892.13. Membership fees and sales brought in revenues of $33,522.50. Total general expenses were $31,774.54. Ending fund balance was $49,640.09.

For FY 2006 (through 9/30/05), the beginning fund balance was $49,640.09. Membership fees and sales have brought in revenues of $23,800.00. Total general expenses have been $1,249.97. Outstanding commitments total $59,400.40, which includes items on order, materials approved for purchase, and non-material expenses. Available funds at present are $12,789.72.

Bell-Gam pointed out that the Swahili Manuscripts microfilm has a detailed website. You can look at facsimiles of manuscripts and listen to audio recording of text.

CAMP Subcommittee Reports

Africa and Africa-Related Archives: Caruso reported that the subcommittee had met the previous day. The subcommittee wants to make a list of possible projects, and make recommendations from them to the Grants Preparation subcommittee for the development of funding proposals. Olson pointed out that Intraspect is really useful for monitoring discussions of other subcommittees. Caruso asked if the proposed subcommittee charges are automatically accepted by the Executive Committee? Coelho replied probably yes, unless they contained anything egregious.

Bibliographic Access: Harper said that the subcommittee hadn't convened, but they would like the opportunity to do so. Walsh suggested that the Spring meeting might be a more opportune time for subcommittees to meet face to face.

Grant Preparation: Frank-Wilson said that the subcommittee had met face to face the previous day to review their charge. They decided that by Jan. 1 they want to compile a list of potential donors/funders. Two members will work on developing standard language to describe CAMP activities that can be plugged into grant proposals. Simon pointed out that the Grants Preparation subcommittee will not be expected to write grant proposals as such.

Digitization and Newer Technologies: Miner reported on the subcommittee charge, which takes the position that CAMP approach digitization not as a viable preservation reformatting option for print materials, but rather for non-print materials and also as a means of access and delivery. A brief discussion on this ensued. Bell-Gam said that we shouldn't exclude anything with digitization – could it actually be a more viable preservation reformatting treatment in some African contexts? What would we say to an African partner who wanted to digitize for preservation?

Membership Recruitment and Outreach: Bell-Gam reported. Subcommittee members had raised the issue of what real benefits African universities derive from a $5 membership that doesn't include borrowing privileges? The subcommittee will bring the issue to the CAMP membership at a future time. Do we need to change our by-laws to conform to some new model wherein African institutions can get sponsorship for substantive membership? In that case, there would be costs of shipping and environmental concerns to take into consideration? Limb stated that CRL's goal of digital delivery is a practical way of offering substantial membership benefits to African institutions.

Newspapers: Woodson reported. The subcommittee had met the previous day, and plan to finalize their charge within the next couple of weeks. Woodson will replace Easterbrook as permanent convener. The subcommittee would like to ask what piles of newspapers do we have at our libraries already? There are such newspaper piles at LC-Nairobi, for example. The subcommittee wants to coordinate information gathering while also keeping track of what microfilming that LC and commercial microfilm publishers are undertaking. They would want to coordinate cancellations, so that not everyone cancels the same newspapers. They also want to remind people of the usefulness of AFRINUL for these purposes. Woodson mentioned that while old newspaper holdings are in AFRINUL, current newspaper receipts are not.

Cooperative Archives Projects

Liberian Presidential Papers: Frank-Wilson reported that since the postage for shipping the Liberian Presidential Papers came in under budget, Title VI funds will be used to microfilm two other sets (the personal papers of Bai T. Moore and E. Reginald Townsend, respectively). Another proposal will be going to the next Endangered Archives competition.

Senegal/West African Preservation Program: Caruso reported that the Archives subcommittee had drafted and distributed to CAMP members a proposal to fund a regional planning meeting in Dakar. Caruso met with the new director of the Archives Nationales du Senegal (ANS) in July (Bell-Gam had been there a few weeks before). The director readily embraced the idea of CAMP organizing a 3-day regional planning meeting, which would lay the groundwork for regional collaboration in a multi-year microfilming/digitization project. So the planning meeting would only be the first phase of a larger project for CAMP. A standing committee of CAMP and ANS representatives would work over several years to develop projects to fruition. Separate projects would be run in individual countries, although Senegal might partner with other national archives in some of them. Materials preserved would also be made available to CRL.

Bell-Gam suggested that the librarians at the Touba library be included. They had reached out to Allen Roberts (Director, African Studies Center, UCLA) to have discussions about preservation possibilities. Roberts and Bell-Gam had gone on to meet with the director of the ANS to see how they could help. It was agreed with the ANS that the Touba library would always be included in future preservation discussions. Limb suggested that the Touba library be considered a participant in the regional planning meeting (be placed in the budget proposal) but maybe not as a member of the standing committee. Caruso responded that they might be a project undertaken by the ANS. Limb stated that the purpose, however, should be a focused meeting among national archives. Touba could perhaps be invited as an observer. Alpers said that perhaps after the regional planning meeting, national archivists should see how they can connect other archives into the planning. Olson stated his approval of restricting the meeting to national archivists, and thus not changing Caruso's proposal. Ogedengbe pointed out that the CAMP representatives at the meeting can point out important projects like Touba. Page stated that while ESARBICA is well organized, its West African counterpart is not. This would be a great chance to get them together to build relationships. Limb stated his strong support of the proposal as written. Walsh pointed out that it has to be clear that it isn't a meeting of national archivists, but a meeting about the preservation of rare and/or endangered archival materials. Costs not stated in the proposal presumably will be covered by the Senegalese government, like hotel, interpretors, rapporteurs, etc. It is moved, seconded, and approved that CAMP (not Title VI) money be approved for the proposal, with the stipulation that regional planning meeting agenda include an item about how national archives are to build relationships with other archives in their countries.

Alpers suggested that CAMP might benefit from a formalized relationship with ASA.

Arquivo Historico de Mocambique (AHM): Bell-Gam reported on Young's update at the Title VI meeting, and distributed an old list of equipment requested by the AHM for CAMP members to show their library preservations officers for possible updates/suggestions. She also brought a list old Mozambican newspapers the AHM has compiled for preservation. There is also another list of titles compiled for preservation. Tembe (director, AHM) will organize a new proposal for submission to CAMP. The new archives buildings are almost finished. Once we get dollar amounts for an updated equipment list, we'll consider the new proposal from Tembe at the Spring meeting.

Presentation on the Pan-African Archives at the Freedom Park Project
Brown Maaba talked about the background of the Freedom Park project. The Pan African Archives are planned to be largely digital. They will include Pan African parliamentary documents as well as the personal papers of statesmen. Also, documents in state archives and police stations that need to be preserved. Could it also include OAU Liberation Committee documents? Oral history? The project wants to attract younger people to a career in archives. A discussion ensued about how related archives in and outside South Africa could be incorporated into or coordinated with the Pan African Archives.

Other Reports
There is a title list of newspapers collected at the LC-Nairobi office. LC-New Delhi wouldn't take them for microfilming because they weren't camera ready, and now they have no camera time. Should CAMP allocate some funds annually to enable the new LC-Nairobi director to incrementally microfilm them? Page asked whether the Newspapers subcommittee should take this up. Simon announced that LC-Nairobi has already sent Malawi newspapers to CRL. The Newspaper subcommittee will work up a proposal.

VI. Pending/Developing Projects
Baumann reported that the German Colonial Archives will come out in 5 parts as a CRL purchase proposal. Members should lobby to get their institutions to vote for them. Other area studies selectors might be supportive.

Simon reported that CRL has had logistical problems getting permission from the ANC to duplicate the O.R. Tambo papers. ANC wanted more details about CAMP and how it addresses issues of intellectual property rights. The ANC archivist is very supportive, and is trying to get permission from superiors to duplicate.

LC-New Delhi has microfilmed 1991-1997 of Hadas Eretra, and plans to microfilm additional years. So does CAMP want to acquire? The Newspaper subcommittee will investigate and make a proposal.

Malanchuk reported that the Monitor in Uganda for 1994 has been filmed at UF (using Stanford holdings), and CRL will acquire copy.

Simon reported that passwords have been passed out to AFRINUL participants, and invited them to start updating their holdings information.