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Cooperative Africana Microfilm Project (CAMP)
Business Meeting Minutes
Saturday, May 10, 2008
9:00 am – 12:00 pm
University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
Present, Executive Committee: Yuusuf Caruso (Columbia U), Vice-Chair; Jill Coelho (Harvard U), Chair; Miki Goral (UCLA), Ex-Officio; Karen Jean Hunt (Duke U), Member-At-Large; Emilie Ngo-Nguidjol (U Wisc-Madison), Secretary; Laverne Page (Library of Congress), Ex-Officio; James Simon (CRL); Ex-Officio
Present, Participants: Judy Alspach (CRL); Shiferaw Assefa (U Kansas); Ruby Bell-Gam (UCLA); Simon Bockie (UC Berkeley); Araba Dawson-Andoh (Ohio U); David Easterbrook (Northwestern U); Mame Ngor Faye (DAS Dakar); Karen Fung (Stanford U); James Giblin (U Iowa); Marieta Harper (Library of Congress); Andrew de Heer (NYPL-Schomburg); Bassey Irele (Harvard U); Al Kagan (U of IL; Urbana/Champaign); Esmeralda Kale (Northwestern U); Patricia Kuntz (Wisconsin); Joseph Lauer (Michigan State U); Lloyd Mbabu (U Michigan); Edward Miner (U Iowa); Tom Nygren (Aluka); Loumona Petroff (Boston U); Charles Riley (Yale U); Regina Roberts (Stanford U); Jason Schultz (UC Berkeley); David Westley (Boston U).
- Introductions & Announcements
The meeting was called to order at 9:05 am
Yuusuf introduced Mr. Mame Ngor Faye from the National Archives of Senegal
Edward introduced Prof. James Giblin, a Tanzania scholar from the University of Iowa
- Approval of Minutes
The minutes of October 19, 2007 were unanimously approved as they stood.
- Reports and Discussions
- CRL/GRN Report (James Simon)
CRL/GRN was founded to provide access to international scholarly resources. They continue to fund new projects; e.g. the Collaborative Initiative for French and North American Libraries (CIFNAL) that digitizes French language materials from CRL; the German-North American Resource Partnership (GNARP). The GRN recently co-sponsored a colloquim at Columbia University “Human Rights Archives and Documentation: Meeting the Needs of Research, Teaching, Advocacy and Justice”. The ICON project is now under the umbrella of GRN. They are planning a Global Resources Forum on News Access & Preservation entitled “On the Record,” to be held October 23-24, 2008 at NYPL. James will keep CAMP posted.
Judy wrote an article that appeared in the March 2008 edition of the Africana Libraries Newsletter which described some of CRL’s digitization work, including some related to East Africa.
- Digital Selection – Aluka Pilot (James Simon)
James gave the background of the project. The sample selection was made available. Tom showed it at the Bibliography Committee meeting on Friday May 9, 2008. According to Tom, the main objective is to collaborate in identifying and digitizing one collection as a test. They used the Tanganyika Regional and District Books. They need to explore cost. The MOU is signed. Aluka agreed to digitize 2 reels as a sample at their expense. The budget and funding is to be determined by the outcome of the sample. Tom gave a description of this collection: the books were assembled in the 1920s; they also captured late 19th Century materials. They provide background information on historical, social, political and economic make up of the British districts. The Tanzania National Archives published a detailed guide in 1973. This collection was recommended because it is very complex. It raises the whole range of issues that can come up, e.g. metadata. Aluka has devised 3 levels of metadata.
Option 1 includes record metadata at the volume level. Option 2 uses the guide and record metadata at the subject level. This option seems like the most viable approach but the subjects are inconsistent and incomplete. Not every item has subject headings. Option 3 includes record metadata at the item level. Each discreet item is treated as a record. This option is a more expensive model. In terms of OCR quality, some images are of poor quality. They are working with OCLC to improve quality. Option 1 costs $16,800. Option 2 is $24,400, and Option 3 costs $34,000.
Tom showed the homepage and explained how to get to specific collections. Then he explained the content of the collection by showing a typical record. He said that if your institution participates, you have access to the open collection.
James Giblin warned against changing the original order of the materials. If this happened, he would refer students to the microfilm. Historians find subject categories to access the materials (e.g. ethnic group names) by breaking it up by subject. Joe Lauer asked why we are proposing so much metadata and not relying more on keyword searching of text. Nygren pointed out that handwritten corrections are not findable with keyword searches. Jill asked why retype the whole thing by going back and forth rather than hyper-linking to the full text when one cuts and pastes from the guide. Tom noted that it may be much harder to do this. Jill suggested telling people upfront what is in there, rather than misleading people with the guide while the metadata is incomplete. Tom reminded that the full text access will always be there regardless of what option you pick. Al asked the following questions: is the resource available in Tanzania? Has anyone given feedback as to what they want? Karen Jean replied that they haven’t replied to emails. James Giblin asked the group to move cautiously considering the political ramifications rather than moving ahead without getting their feedback. Araba suggested using personal contacts rather than email. Ruby asked whether one gets the benefit of option 1 and 2 if one chooses option 3. Tom replied that they can organize the database in such a way that the more expensive option is not limiting.
James Simon noted that what has been proposed is for CAMP to split the cost 50/50 with Aluka. The cost Tom shared earlier is for the 28 reels. Tom mentioned that they have a representative in Nairobi. If members feel that this representative might help with communication, they should let him know. Karen Jean suggested moving the sample from public view to production.
Jill noted that the only decision we can make at this meeting is yes we continue to explore this, or no we stop. Members voted to continue. Members also decided to take it down from public site right now until some of the issues are resolved. DANT can make recommendations and bring them to the Executive Committee.
- CAMP Subcommittee Reports
- African & Africa-related archives (Caruso)
Just about ready to film the Muslim court archives. The cost is approximately $11,000, which was committed last year. Yuusuf attended a training at Schomburg. Some of us met with Aluka earlier this year to discuss Aluka. Andrew asked why film first if we are digitizing. Yuusuf replied that we are not sure about the longevity of digital formats so we continue to explore the best option as we go. Joe asked why CAMP is informed after members went to a meeting to represent CAMP. Yuusuf replied that he learned about the meeting 3 weeks before the event. David Easterbrook added that he was also invited in a casual way, and he thinks it is good to represent CAMP. According to Al, if we elect our officers, we have to trust them; it is good to represent CAMP and to communicate with members.
- Bibliographic Access (Harper)
The committee has been looking at the list DANT sent them. They are looking at the list of 300+ microfilm titles to identify the ones that don’t have guides. They need about 2 more members to join the subcommittee. They will then prioritize the list of what needs to be worked on. David E. reminded members that the ASA papers have a guide on CD accessible from the Northwestern catalog. Marieta will send a better list after consulting with James. They will send a call for volunteers on the prioritized list.
- Grant Preparation (Caruso)
The 2 grants are still pending partner support. Yuusuf asked if CAMP wants to pursue cataloguing Hidden Special Collections. The deadline for it is June. If anyone has an idea on things that the committee should do, let Yuusuf know. Several members see this as an opportunity to work on the 300+ lit towards this grant. The Bibliographic Access and the Grants Committee should get together to work on this. They need more members to work on this.
- Digitization and Newer Technologies (Miner)
If you want to be involved in the next step, contact Ed to be added to the committee. Tom mentioned that Aluka is interested in creating a collection of finding aids. Right now they have six on their page. Jill referred this to DANT. Aluka has 2 collections, Bantu World and Ivor Wilks Collection on Ghana. They are interested in collaborating on what CAMP may want to partner in.
- Membership Recruitment & Outreach (Bell-Gam)
In a vote taken since the last meeting CAMP members approved the increase in dues by 10-4. Ruby thanked members. They have deferred to this meeting the membership benefits and the possibility of dues or no dues for African institutions. Ruby was not prepared to present anything; the issue is very complex. They have not added new information to what they presented in October. Jill asked to keep our eyes on whether African institutions are using CAMP.
There are 3 issues with membership: (1) providing digital copies of what members need; (2) if we are going provide membership for free, how do we limit geographically? (3) How do we define developing countries?
- Newspapers (Simon): No report
- Cooperative Archives Projects
- Liberian Presidential papers (Frank-Wilson): No report
- Liberia Photo Project (Frank-Wilson): No report
- Liberia Archives Symposium (Caruso)
Yuusuf attended a Liberia Archives Symposium at the Schomburg. He saw this as an opportunity to bring us to a new day. It was a brainstorming session on where Liberian collections are located right now, both in private and public collections. They tried to envision what a Liberian archive might look like. The group is moving on certain issues raised at the meeting. They are concerned about the broader issues related to public education. Yuusuf’s role was simply to listen. He mentioned that as Vice-Chair of CAMP, we has to tell us what they are working on. He also said that as a group concerned with Africa, we would support what they do. He did not commit anything. He asked how to proceed and whether anyone wants to join him in this liaison work. A liaison task force including Karen Jean, Marieta and Yuusuf was formed. Yuusuf has a list from the National Archives of Record Administration of Liberia. He asked how to share it. He will scan it and post it to the CAMP list.
Jill reminded members that we have elections coming up for 2 posts: Faculty Representative and Vice-Chair. She will appoint a nominating committee by September.
- West African Archives Training Pilot (Caruso)
Yuusuf is happy to welcome Mame Ngor Faye from the Division of Senegalese Archives in Dakar. He is visiting UCLA, University of Iowa, and Columbia. He has been exposed to and participated in microfilming and preservation activity. They emphasized hands-on. He scanned and did other sort of things, working in ongoing projects. In general, it has been a good experience. Yuusuf thanked Titles-6 for funding this pilot. A full report will be coming out in the fall. It was very intensive phone work in planning and arranging this. They tailored things to what he needed. Laverne asked what has been the most useful to Faye personally.
Through a translation by Ruby, Faye expressed his deep appreciation to CAMP giving him this opportunity. He reported that he gained a lot of experience, participated in a lot of activity (conservation, digitization, preservation, access, metadata and others.) It has been a very enriching experience for him. His visit of Heritage Microfilm in Cedar Rapids was very useful to him. He also visited the médiathèque where he learned a lot about digitization from film. His first stop was Columbia where Yuusuf took him to visit the museum at Schomburg and Columbia library. Then he went to UCLA where he met Your Excellence (Ruby). The visit at the Getty was very useful. He thanked everyone who has participated to make this happen.
Yuusuf added that this is the beginning of something. Mr. Faye is our investment because in the future, he will not have to come here. He will just have to cross the street to the National Archives to do the work.
- Other Archives Projects
From Verlon Stone’s email:
The news on the Tubman front is all good. Nine boxes of Tubman papers have been sent to Hudson Micrographics and the rest are about to be sent. The British Library approved the test reel of microfilm for technical acceptability and after some intense discussion the British Library and the Liberian Collections Project agreed on the terminology in the 25-page folder list. (A cross-cultural experience involving the ISAD(G) and the DACS standards that are supposed to be coordinated until one gets down to details.) All that's past now and production of the microfilm is underway.
The last week of March, the British Library's Endangered Archives Programme notified me that the project to digitize the Tubman Photos had been approved. The LCP is now in the process of staffing up for that project, which should be starting before the end of May.
I still have to invoice the CRL for the various amounts of funding that we agreed on earlier. (Everything outstanding but the actual microfilming contract.) Those too should be coming before the end of May.
Of professional interest to the ALC/Title VI Librarians'/CAMP was the Liberian Archives Symposium at the Schomburg Center in NYC on April 26th. Several Liberian Collections Project Advisory Board members were in attendance as well as myself. CAMP Vice Chair Dr. Yuusuf Caruso attended also and can report his impressions to the ALC. It turned out to be an excellent symposium and President Sirleaf mentioned it when I spoke to her.
- Membership Structure and fees
See 3.v. above.
- CAMP Financial Report & Project Update (Alspach)
Judy presented the financial report. CAMP revenues and expenses leave us at $6,049.36.
About $26,000 is expected in membership fees
CAMP plans to spend approximately $12,000, which leaves a balance of $26,000 to work with.
Judy noted that what we get from CRL is already in the budget.
Judy also presented a sample of a new tool for collaboration that is wiki-like and will supersede Intraspect. Everyone currently on Intraspect will be migrated over. Part of it will be password-protected and part open to the public like meeting minutes. Judy will be assigning usernames and passwords in the next few weeks.
- New Proposals Under Consideration
- Gaskiya (Easterbrook)
Included for information only, as Executive can approve items costing under $600.
- Mauritius and Tanzania Newspapers from the Library of Congress (Howard-Reguindin)
Laverne presented 2 proposals from Pamela: Mauritius Newspapers and Tanzania Newspapers. Pamela is hoping that these can be filmed by CAMP. Judy added that Pamela suggested that the 2 Mauritian titles can be split.
Jill explained that we cannot commit 100% right now considering the amount of money we have. She also asked members to keep in mind the potential contribution to Aluka in the coming fiscal year.
Joe said Michigan State supported the filming of Tanzanian newspapers but not those from Mauritius. He pointed out that Tanzania is a much larger country and that Mauritius as a relatively prosperous country could be expected to preserve its own heritage..
Ruby argued in favor of Mauritius papers because they are rare and in poor condition. She asked if CRL is doing current subscription on Africa. They are not. So Ruby asked if they can help with preservation of these papers since they are not subscribing to current papers from Africa as they do for other areas. Karen noted that if we spread over 3 years, we will spend $12,000 minus whatever we pick up. Jill asked members to find out how much money they can contribute. She also asked Laverne to ask Pamela to prioritize the list of titles and pick a third of the most vulnerable quantity. Given that there was not enough CAMP funds to cover the entire proposal, Jill asked members to find out how much extra money they can contribute as was done with the Congolese newspapers.
Ruby proposed to commit now a third of the requested funds. The group voted 15-0 to pay for 1/3 (or $6557) for filming the Tanzanian newspapers; and they voted 13-2 to pay for 1/3 (or $5647) for filming the Mauritian newspapers.
Jill will send a call for contributions.
- Pending / Developing Projects
- O.R. Tambo Papers (Bell-Gam)
Nothing has happened on the O.R. Tambo papers. The project is going to be dropped off future agendas.
- Other Projects
- Updates on Approved Projects
- Nigerian State Documents (Schultz and Easterbrook)
Those involved in the Nigerian state documents met on Friday May 9, 2008. David will send an email about the meeting
- Archives des tribunaux musulmans de Saint-Louis (Caruso)
- Other Projects (Alspach) see CAMP Report.
Since the last meeting, several institutions have contributed to the fund to microfilm the Congolese newspapers. The contributing institutions are listed below:
UCLA $1,000
Columbia $2,000
Harvard $2,000
Iowa $1,000
Michigan $1,000
Michigan State $1,000
Northwestern $1,5000
Pennsylvania $2,000
Princeton $2,000
Wisconsin $2,000
Yale $3,000
- Other Reports
- Library of Congress Preservation efforts
Laverne reported, on behalf of Pamela, that LC is building on the momentum of 2 successful proposals to CAMP for microfilming Malawian and Congolese newspapers and Madison Council funds earmarked for older Africana newspapers. They collated and sent some 150,000 pages of newsprint to PhotoDup for filming. They are very grateful to the Madison Council for allotting $64,000 for filming these older papers that have been accumulating in the office for over two decades. They are still overwhelmed by the backlog of newspapers in the office and members’ consideration of the Mauritius and Tanzania papers proposals is much appreciated. They lost their newspaper collator and a packing assistant due to budget cuts.
- AFRINUL Update (Easterbrook, Simon)
If you are not actively contributing, James can get you going. He anticipates getting more papers included.
Meeting adjourned at 12:05 pm
Respectfully submitted,
Emilie Ngo-Nguidjol
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