Saturday, April 21, 2007
9:40 am - 12:30 pm
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Executive Committee:
Present: Jill Coelho (Chair/Harvard); Joseph Caruso (Vice Chair/ Columbia); Atoma Batoma (Member at-Large/U. of IL, Urbana-Champaign); Peter Limb (Ex-officio Member--ALC Chair/MSU); Laverne Page (Ex-officio Member--LC); Judy Eckoff (CRL); James Hill (CRL)
Absent: Peter Malanchuk (Past Chair/U. of FL); Faculty Representatives: Holly Hanson (Mt. Holyoke College) and John Thornton (Boston U.); Emilie Ngo-Nguidjol (Secretary/U. of Wisconsin); James Simon (CRL)

Participants:
Present: Joe Lauer (MSU); Miki Goral (UCLA); David Easterbrook (Northwestern); David Westley (Boston U.); Ken Lohrentz (U of Kansas, retired); Andrew De Heer (NYPL-Schomburg); Patricia Ogedengbe (Northwestern); Gretchen Walsh (Boston U.); Gregory Finnegan (Harvard); Karen Fung (Stanford); Fenta Tiruneh (LC); Loumona Petroff (Boston U.); Ruby Bell-Gam (UCLA); Fehl Cannon (LC-Overseas Operations); Edward Miner (U. of Iowa); Karen J. Hunt (Duke); Miriam Conteh-Morgan (Ohio State); Lauris Olson (U. of Penn.)

Introductions & Approval of Minutes: Jill Coelho (Chair/Harvard) called meeting to order. Following introductions, the minutes of the November 2006 CAMP Business Meeting were approved.

Nominating Committee and Fall 2007 Elections: Jill Coelho (Chair/Harvard) announced elections will be held in October 2007 for 3 offices on the Executive Committee: Secretary, Member-at-Large, and Faculty Representative. Coelho called for volunteers to serve on the Nominating Committee. Gregory Finnegan (Harvard) and Peter Limb (MSU) volunteered to serve. Two potential candidates for Faculty Representative were mentioned: Cheikh Babou (U. of Penn) and Holly Hanson (Mt. Holyoke). Coelho pointed out that current occupants could run for re-election.

Financial Report: Judy Eckoff (CRL) reviewed financial report. Peter Limb (ALC Chair/MSU) asked about procedures regarding firm ordering from CRL. During the past year, an MSU order was delayed for several months at CRL offices because MSU had not first sent a formal request for a price quote from CRL. Limb suggested that this is not a good procedure. Eckoff said she would investigate the matter. Limb also asked if any Title VI funds had been used to pay for the West African Regional Planning Meeting in November 2006. Eckoff stated that the funding came directly from general CAMP funds.
David Easterbrook (Northwestern) mentioned that the $4,000 in allocated Title VI/ CAMP funds for the Nigerian State Government Documents project remains unspent because the project has stalled due to the current lack of an African studies librarian/project manager at the University of California-Berkeley. Berkeley needs to contribute records of their holdings to be added to the collection at Northwestern before the project can proceed. Jill Coelho (Chair/Harvard) asked if Title VI/CAMP members would like to vote to dis-encumber the $4,000. Ruby Bell-Gam (UCLA) argued to wait for her to investigate the situation at UC-Berkeley first. Andrew DeHeer (NYPL-Schomburg) suggested that if there is a need to fill in gaps in the project’s holdings, someone could also contact the National Library of Nigeria to find out if any back issues of Nigerian state publications were available. A poll of Title VI National Resource Center representatives showed that only five institutional reps were present to vote on any allocation. Coelho recommended to defer the issue until Bell-Gam investigates.

CRL/Global Resources Network (GRN) Report:
Judy Eckoff (CRL) announced that the latest issue of the CRL newsletter, FOCUS, is available in PDF format on the CRL website at http://www.crl.edu/default.asp The theme of this issue is “England in Africa”.
In addition, the Spring 2007 issue of the GRN newsletter is available in PDF format from the CRL website at: http://www.crl.edu/grn/newsletter.asp This most recent issue features news about the activities of LARRP, including the role of Faculty Representatives in identifying emerging areas of scholarship.
CRL Digitization:
Judy Eckoff (CRL) described the current CRL Digitization Program which consisted of three “prongs”: (1) Scanning On Demand of pre-1922 monographs and the adding of records of the electronic versions to the CRL catalog ; (2) Mass Digitization is still at the proposal stage, but the emphasis will be on newspapers and other large sets. Latin American newspapers will be the focus of the first phase; and, (3) Planned Scanning has been proposed but this project needs input from Area Microfilm Programs (AMPs) to determine budget and the criteria for selection of items to be digitized both from the current collections and future acquisitions. Ruby Bell-Gam (UCLA) suggested that the Digitization and Newer Technologies SubCommittee (DANT) work with Eckoff on CAMP’s input for the “Planned Scanning” project. Lauris Olson (U. of Penn.) suggested that CRL should provide a list of most requested Africana at CRL to assist the DANT in this work. Eckoff and Jill Coelho (Chair/Harvard) called for volunteers to work with Edward Miner (U. of Iowa) and the DANT to recommend criteria for the “Planned Scanning” project. Peter Limb (ALC Chair/MSU) and Joseph Caruso (Vice Chair/Columbia) volunteered.

Membership Fees: Jill Coelho (Chair/Harvard) asked if CAMP members wanted to discuss raising membership fees. The vote was nearly unanimously in favor. Coelho pointed out that any decision would not affect membership fees until July 2008. Coelho stated that the fees would rise from $500 --to $800 or $1000. Three models on fees structure to consider: (1) tiered structure of fees with non-members paying more than members; (2) flat rate, equal fees for members and non-members, regardless of membership in parent body, CRL; (3) “governance”--voting rights and eligibility for elective office tied to membership. Coelho also mentioned the idea of consortial agreements for smaller size institutions joining CAMP without membership in CRL. Some participants expressed skepticism about consortia; others recommended the option for “African” institutional members. Discussion led to a consensus that not enough information was before the meeting to reach a final decision. Coelho charged the Membership Committee with working with the CAMP Executive to compile all of the relevant information from CRL in preparation for a final vote in October 2007.

Update on Senegal Regional Planning Meeting: Joseph Caruso (Vice Chair/Columbia) spoke at length about the outcome of the November 2006 meeting of West African archivists in Dakar, Senegal. Caruso presented an English language summary of two project ideas drafted by the West African “Provisional Advisory Committee”, a body inaugurated at the conclusion of the Dakar meeting. The summary is entitled: “Draft Outlines of Two West African Cooperative Preservation and Digitization Programs.” Caruso also presented for discussion a draft proposal, “Digitization Training Pilot for West African Cooperation.” The documents are available on the CAMP Members’ Space (Intraspect). Caruso asked members if they would lend their general support to the two project ideas. The consensus of the members present was that Caruso could go ahead and develop the ideas into more formal draft proposals to be shared with the Grants SubCommittee, James Simon (CRL), and the President of CRL--Bernard Reilly. Since there were only 5 out of the 12 members of the Title VI library cooperation representatives present at the meeting, it was decided that Title VI African studies librarians will have to try to reach a decision over e-mail on the question of financial support for the “Digitization Training Pilot” estimated to cost $10,000. Caruso asked that the decision be made by the end of May 2007. As the coordinator for Title VI African studies librarians, Lauris Olson (U. of Penn.) agreed to do the necessary follow-up.
Laverne Page (LC) recommended that CAMP investigate grant opportunities for archives through programs offered through the US Embassy. Peter Limb (ALC Chair/MSU) reminded Caruso and others about major grant deadlines in October and November 2007.

CAMP Subcommittee Reports:

(1) African and Africa-related Archives: The preceding update on Senegal reflects the work of the subcommittee since November 2006.
(2) Bibliographic Access: Gretchen Walsh (Boston U.) reported that the committee had begun work on a list of recommendations for CAMP collection guides, existing guides to be digitized, and those guides needing revision.
(3) Grants: Ruby Bell-Gam (UCLA) spoke on behalf of Marion Frank-Wilson (Indiana U.) to say that a list of grant organizations had been compiled.
(4) Digitization and Newer Technologies: Edward Miner (U. of Iowa) reported that the subcommittee will compile a list of potential digital projects based on current and future CAMP holdings and prioritize them. In addition, Miner suggested that CAMP institutional members in Africa should be offered access to CRL’s digital collections in the future as an incentive to build up membership and collaboration between US and African institutions. Lauris Olson (U. of Penn.) suggested that CRL needs to provide a list of most frequently requested Africana items. This information could be combined with the work of the Bibliographic Access committee on guides and CAMP involvement in CRL’s digitization program. Peter Limb (ALC Chair/MSU) seconded Olson’s suggestion and recommended that CAMP get more involved specifically in CRL’s “Planned Scanning”.
(5) Membership: Patricia Ogendengbe (Northwestern): The CAMP brochure in English, French, and Portuguese was being revised; Arabic translation to be added. The U. of Notre Dame is currently being asked to join CAMP. A list of other potential institutional members in the U.S. is being compiled. Coelho reminded the subcommittee that they should also help the CAMP Executive to assemble all relevant information about the membership fees issue. Ruby Bell-Gam (UCLA) recommended that an abbreviated version of the brochure be formulated which can be used in e-mail correspondence with potential members, overseas partners, and others.
(6) Newspapers: Laverne Page (LC) spoke on behalf of Dorothy Woodson (Yale) to say that LC is supplying James Simon with nearly complete information (photocopies of records) of African newspaper holdings at the Library of Congress (on microfilm and bound) to facilitate data collection for the AFRINUL project. James Hill (CRL) reported that the AFRINUL data clean-up was nearly complete. Records from UCLA, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Northwestern had been received and were being loaded. Caruso asked if Hill would send out an e-mail reminder about the need for entries and a review of entry contribution procedures for participants in the project.

Cooperative Archives--Liberian Presidential Papers: On behalf of Marion Frank-Wilson and Vernon L. Stone (Indiana U.) and as the Title VI librarians’ coordinator, Lauris Olson (U. of Penn.) explained two requests received via e-mail from Stone for Title VI/CAMP funding: (a) $14,000-$26,000 needed to complete the microfilming of the Tubman papers (accompanied by a list of US microfilming vendors) ; (b) $6,000 contribution towards a Tubman Photograph Collection project. The bulk of funding for the photograph project may come from the British Library Endangered Archives program; Stone is waiting for a final decision in late May 2007 on the grant proposal he submitted to the program. Discussion: Ruby Bell-Gam (UCLA) asked for a clarification on the question of service copies of the Tubman Papers. Olson pointed out that Stone’s e-mail states that he will recommend to Liberian institutions that they pursue a separate funding proposal for purchasing service copies and microfilm readers. Consequently, only 4 out of an original total of 8 service copies mentioned in the original grant proposal will be produced with the current British Library Endangered Archives grant and Title VI/CAMP funding. Action: Olson recommended that Title VI librarians commit up to $26,000 towards the Tubman Papers project, taking into account that the final cost will depend on which US microfilm vendor is sourced. Olson also recommended that they defer a decision on the Tubman Photograph Collection project.

Congo Newspapers Proposal: Jill Coelho (Chair/Harvard) introduced project proposal submitted by Pamela Howard-Reguindin (LC-Nairobi) to film 160 Zaire/DRC newspaper titles (1985-2005), est. 69 reels, film cost: $17,600--plus shipping, supplies, and copy for LC, or total cost: $21,702. CAMP voted to commit $5,000 and to ask for contributions from individual CAMP members. Coelho will send e-mail to call for contributions.

African Missions, Education and the Road to Independence (Sudan United Mission records and publications) from Adam Matthew: Lauris Olson (U. of Penn.) presented his proposal to CAMP to consider purchasing this set at a cost of $13,700. Proposal notes that U. of Wisconsin, Emory, Ashbury Seminary already have parts 1-3. Olson stated that U. of Penn. bought two parts only. After some discussion about procedures for CRL-wide purchase proposal and shared purchases, and about the possibility that more individual US institutions might buy some or all of this set, a decision on this proposal was deferred.

Liberian Newspapers: Joseph Lauer (MSU) presented his proposal to film a collection of 4 Liberian newspaper titles (1992-2006), film cost: $3,200, plus supplies and 1 copy for MSU, or total: $3,616. CAMP voted to approve expenditure. Lauer stated that MSU has other titles, but he may be able to obtain funding from elsewhere.

German Colonial Archives: Jill Coelho (Chair/Harvard) stated that CAMP members will need to be reminded to tell their institutions to vote for the final installment of this set in the next round of CRL-wide purchase proposals.

O.R. Tambo Papers: Ruby Bell-Gam (UCLA) reported that no further progress had occurred since November 2006. For more details, see CAMP Business Meeting Minutes, November 17, 2006.

Other CAMP projects: Judy Eckoff (CRL) reviewed CAMP Commitments (See CAMP “Financial Statement, April 19, 2007”), items on order and recently received (See “CAMP, As of April 5, 2007: On Order and Received”).

Library of Congress Preservation Efforts: Fehl Cannon (LC-Overseas Operations) stated that he had already reported on this matter at the Africana Librarians’ Council Business Meeting of April 20, 2007. See: http://www.loc.gov/rr/amed/afs/alc/
For details, contact Fehl Cannon, e-mail: fcan at loc.gov

Minutes submitted by Joseph Caruso (Acting Secretary & Vice Chair/Columbia)