Present: Executive Committee, Ruby Bell-Gam (UCLA), chair; David Easterbrook (Northwestern), past-chair; James Simon (CRL); Dorothy Woodson (Yale), secretary; Peter Limb (MSU); Joanne Zellers (LC); Al Kagan (U. Ill.).
Members and guests: Helene Baumann (Duke), Phyllis Bischof (UC-Berkeley), Joseph Caruso (Columbia), Jill Coelho (Harvard), Moore Crossey (Yale), Andrew de Heer (NYPL), Gregory Finnegan (Harvard), Marion Frank-Wilson (IndianaU), Patricia Kuntz, Edward Miner (Iowa), Loumona Petroff (BU), Lauris Olson (Upenn), Laverne Page (LC), Charles Riley (Yale), Paul Stuehrenberg (Yale), Gretchen Walsh (BU), David Westley (BU).

1. Introductions

2. Welcome by Dr. Paul Stuehrenberg, Director, Yale Divinity School Library

Dr. Stuerhenberg asked CAMP to suggest possible projects relating to the documentation of world Christianity, for which Yale Divinity Library has significant funds. The Latourette Initative is a proactive microfilming program that seeks to preserve and provide access to materials documenting the history of Christian missions and the development of world Christianity. The Initiative has worked with vendors to identify published and archival holdings, that is, Yale provides the capital and the vendors arrange and negotiate with depositories to do filming.

3. Amendments to Agenda

The Executive Committee met earlier in the morning at the Holiday Inn-Yale and revised the agenda by deferring item 24 (Malian newspapers—Simon/Bell-Gam) until the fall, and by extending item 25 (institutional trips and reports) to include a talk on DISA by Limb. Major changes were made to the agenda which will be reflected in these minutes. In addition, there were absentee apologies delivered from B. Haight, N. Alpers, P. Malanchuk, K. Fung.

4. Approval of the Minutes

The minutes of the meeting in Washington, D.C., December 5, 2002 were approved.

5. Nigerian States Government Documents and CRL Area Studies Collaborative Software Focus Group

Bischof proposed a serials preservation project of the above. Berkeley will prepare a holdings list of approximately 300 titles that will be ready in October. Ideally will need a merged holdings list prior to filming. Simon said CRL has some collaborative software that might be used. Limb suggested first determining what the universe is before compiling lists. Many institutions have significant holdings that are not in their catalogs. Easterbrook will make a master list and the rest of us can contribute with our holdings. De Heer suggested that the Nigerian National Library might already hold everything.

Simon reported that CRL received a Mellon grant for collaborative software. There was a recent focus group demonstration at CRL and it was decided to beta-test the software with one area studies group, such as CAMP. Simon indicated that the product is a far better vehicle than email for joint projects; basically a workspace not for public display.
Easterbrook said that since we were the first are studies group at CRL, it would be appropriate for us to be the first to experiment with the software. Bischof and Easterbrrok will proceed, using the product for the Nigerian project. Olson expressed concerns about the final product. Walsh urged the group to focus on the process for the present. Bell-Gam stated that we do not move fast enough. Simon will provide a cost estimate.

6. Membership Update and CAMP Brochures

Easterbrook announced that the last membership drive yielded eight new members. He wants to target a new list for CAMP in order to raise income for future projects. Whom should we target? Should we do it now because of current budget concerns? Should we approach more Canadian institutions? (Presently only Queens belongs). Coelho asked how we could convince our home institutions to load the CRL catalog into our home catalogs. Finnegan asked if CRL is actually updating records. Simon responded that for CRL this is not a priority but that perhaps they might be able to design a low-tech PDF version that would be easy to edit. Limb, who regularly attends the Canadian African Studies Association meetings, said that Dalhousie is interested, as well as Montreal, and possibly Trent. Easterbrook had an inquiry from the University of Alberta several years ago, but they never joined. Toronto University is contemplating returning. Easterbrook will send out letters to these institutions.

Bischof mentioned that there would be opportunities to recruit members in Europe, such as Frankfurt and Mainz. Caruso cautioned that we should think about competing projects, such as the Harriet Tubman Centre at York University (Paul Lovejoy) that has numerous preservation initiatives. Olson suggested consortial memberships, for example Haverford/Swarthmore/Bryn Mawr. Kuntz suggested targeting North African countries.

Woodson has received temporary agreement from her colleague at Yale in the Near East Collection to prepare a brochure in Arabic. Caruso commented that the brochure in English is very much out of date. Simon agreed, but said there are no plans to update right now. Coelho thought an insert might work. Bell-Gam will update the current brochure and give to Woodson to use for the preparation of the Arabic brochure.

7.CRL Report

Reporting on dissertations, Simon announced that there has been impressive progress with 146,000 now catalogued. In addition, CAMP arrears are disappearing. CRL is organizing a conference for the summer, “Preserving America’s Printed Resources”. Regarding the project to archive international political web sites, Simon stated that Fung has captured Nigerian elections materials sites.

8. CAMP Budget Report

Simon distributed the CAMP Budget Report for FY 2003 (through 4/30/03). The beginning fund balance was $28,898.33. Membership fees and sales brought in revenues of $27,771.00. YTD expenses have been $9002.08. Outstanding commitments total $28,818.17, which includes material on order and materials approved for purchase. Available funds are at present $18,849.08.

Simon also distributed a list of CAMP materials received as well as a list of materials recently cataloged.

9. Timbuktu Manuscripts Project

Simon announced that the Timbuktu materials have been digitized. As soon as the TIF files are made Web ready, mounted and the metadata created, we will be able to advertise their availability. Funding for this is a potential CAMP/Title
VI project. The need for this funding will be discussed at the next
meeting.

10. Newspaper Projects

Simon stated that CRL is working with New Delhi to get the newspaper projects relating to Malawi, Tanzania, Liberia and Mali filmed.

11. Senegal Project

Caruso reported that filming of the colonial administrative records is nearly done. Delays were due to illnesses and camera breakdown. While he was in Senegal in February he randomly checked several reels and the quality appears to be excellent. This aspect of the project should be finished in May and the materials will be shipped to CRL for duplication (one negative and two positives will be made/ a master and positive will be returned to Dakar). If shipping costs aren’t inordinate, this will probably not need approval from the Executive Board. Caruso emphasized the necessity of building on this momentum by drafting a grant proposal to Mellon and other foundations for a major infusion of funds. (TICFIA has a new round of funding, with applications due in the fall.)

Caruso said that the Senegalese archivists are eager to move into digitization projects, but not for anything that is being or is anticipated being filmed. He would like a member of the CAMP Executive to work with him to create a list of viable funding sources.

Limb cautioned that Mellon has chosen DISA as one of their major projects and that they are more attuned to Africa-based projects than US based, Africa-related projects.

12. Archives Task Force

Caruso reported that the committee met yesterday and decided to prepare a list of potential projects, a strategic plan for African university libraries, and a manual of best practices for preservation projects. Six areas were identified as strategic:

• Prepare the list first and prioritize. For example, the University of Dar es Salaam has excellent photo archives and they are actively filming. DISA is another example of a successful archival project in Africa.
• Capacity building is of utmost importance.
• Need to maintain better contacts with our faculty.
• We need new partners outside North America.
• Need to be flexible about issues of preservation and access and keep a close eye on digital archiving—we really need to develop this sort of discourse among ourselves.
• We very much need to know how to approach the various funding agencies.

Limb cautioned that L.C. has similar interests, so we need to be open in our discussion of some of these issues, such as preservation. Page said that LC is talking with the National Library of Mozambique about filming/digitizing a small collection of field reports from the 1930s to mid 1970s issued by nine rural administrative districts. Simon said we need to pick up the pace in terms of leveraging with our overseas contacts. Bell-Gam encouraged the Task Force to work harder so that we can get something done by the fall. Caruso urged moving forward with approaching foundations for funding of the Senegal Part II project.

Miner will be visiting the Ghana National Archives and will be on the lookout for CAMP projects.

13. IDC List of South African Newspapers

Woodson has checked Yale’s holdings against the list and will send to Simon for electronic distribution to Fung, Limb, Easterbrook, Page and Coelho for checks against their library catalogs.

Limb reported on a South African newspapers seminar he recently attended. One of the participants from the South African Library complained that CAMP was destroying his business, but Peter Lor, the National Librarian defended CAMP. The seminar also covered issues such as internet databases of newspapers (e.g. Factiva). Both DISA and Microfile gave reports as well. Limb suggested CAMP consider combining digitization with some of the microfilm projects. Simon indicated that there would be major copyright issues to consider, i.e. just because we have the film does not mean we can necessarily digitize it. Crossey gave an historical story relating to the British Library and relevant to the discussion, but he didn’t think much came of it.

Limb continued that the SA seminar included a report on the DISA2 project will include digitizing 170,000 pages of the African newspaper, Ilanga.

14. Ghana National Commission for Democracy documents

Bell-Gam reported that the idea has not gone anywhere. Mbabu was not able to locate the important parts or the custodians of the materials. A faculty member (from Ohio) has agreed to return to Ghana and get more information. We will therefore drop the project until there are new developments.

15. Early Zulu Newspapers

Limb reported that the Killie Campbell Library and the South African Library are willing to cooperate in providing two of three newspaper titles relating to mission work. He also spoke about the effort DISA is making to incorporate African “heritage” publications in its database. There is also the possibility that a digital version of certain Zulu newspapers could be made available in JSTOR.

16. Onitsha Market Literature

Deferred. Lohrentz not present.

17. Various Newspapers

Woodson proposed Berhana Selam, 1925-36 (Ethiopia) – approved for purchase
Woodson proposed the Namibian. Birgitte Jansen may have holdings of the Nambian for comparison. Will be followed up after contactingN. Ross, and
Bell-Gam for Malanchuk recommended Monitor (Kampala). Need to film 1998-2002.
Woodson proposed pursuing filming of Wal Fadjri (Senegal).
Simon reminded the group about the online purchase proposal form at CAMP

18. Hans Cory Collection

Caruso saw a fiche of the title in Dar es Salaam and reported that the filming is complete and that the funding was provided by the University of Bergen. Caruso will attempt to acquire the guide to the collection and will look into whether they would be willing to copy the fiche for us.

19. See 5
20. See 6
21. See 5
22 See 5

23. CRL Purchase Proposals and Ballot: Ensuring Africa representation

Bell-Gam stated that recent purchase proposals from CRL contained nothing for Sub Saharan Africa. We need to not have this happen again. We must ensure Africa representation—we should suggest titles to Bell-Gam or Simon as soon as possible, or submit the online form.

24. Malian Newspapers Database proposal (from the University of Georgia)

Simon/Bell-Gam deferred due to lack of information.

25. Suggestions for new purchases and projects

This item has been covered in numerous above.

26. African doctoral dissertations, DATAD

Deferred until next meeting

27. List of past CAMP officers

CAMP’s historian, Finnegan is currently working on this list.

CAMP Chair, Bell-Gam expressed thanks to Dr. Stuehrenberg for his generous hospitality.

The meeting adjourned at 1:25PM

Submitted by Dorothy Woodson, 8/11/03

CAMP - Received

MF-13266
Séminaire sur l'histoire du Rwanda (1998 : Butare, Rwanda)
Rapport de synthèse du Séminaire sur l'histoire du Rwanda : Butare, 14-18 Décembre 1998
[Butare, Rwanda : s.n., 1999]
At head of title: Université nationale du Rwanda, Faculté des lettres, Département d'histoire.
Microfilm. Bethlehem, Pa. : Microfilmed by Preservation Resources for Cooperative Africana Microfilming Project ; [Chicago, Ill. : Available from] Center for Research Libraries, 2003.
OCLC # = 51775417
Paid: 02-20-03 $97.14

MF-13225 Neg. MF-at lab
Echos (Bamako, Mali : Daily)
Ed. quotidienne de Jamana
Bamako, Mali : Ed. Jamana
Microfilm. Bethlehem, Pa. : Microfilmed by Preservation Resources for Cooperative Africana Microfilming Project ; [Chicago, Ill.] : [Available from] Center for Research Libraries, 2002- microfilm reels ; 35 mm
Center has:
MF-13225 CAMP (2 reels) 1999: Jan. 4, 6, Feb. 1-Mar. 4, Mar. 8-June 7, June 9-18, June 23-July 19, July 21-Aug. 20, Aug. 24-Nov. 11, Nov. 15-Dec. 31
OCLC # = 51508852

Return to CAMP Recent Meetings Page