Friday, March 5, 2004
Town & Country Resort, Sunrise Room
San Diego, CA

Present:

A. Introductions

B. Executive Committee Elections (Bronwen Bledsoe & Sumit G outgoing)

Andrea Singer & Rajwant Chilana proposed - Andrea Singer elected
Lisa Mitchell proposed faculty representative - Lisa Mitchell elected

C. Reports

1. Report of the Chair
   SAMP engaged in a reasonable level of activity for the year. Major activities included the successful submission of two purchase proposals for CRL. These include fill-in runs of the Times of India, moving our holdings closer towards completion of the run. The second proposal was for Church Missionary Society archives for South India, filling in material already filmed by SAMP (thanks were given to James Simon for identifying existing material).
   Other activity included the exploration of title-by-title acquisitions for newspapers. The executive committee examined a number of options for acquiring Urdu newspapers and looking further into film exchanges. The proposed Teen Murti exchange has been difficult to negotiate, and people traveling to the region are encouraged to act on SAMP’s behalf in arranging such agreements. Will Tuchrello has been instrumental in identifying potential cooperative activities with the National Archives of Pakistan (which has recently expressed willingness to cooperate). The Library of Congress is willing to help facilitate agreements, but is looking for direction from this body. He stressed the need for timely action as it is unsure how long the window of opportunity might remain open.
2. Financial Report and SAMP update
   James Simon reported on the SAMP fiscal situation. Due to large approvals at the last meeting, SAMP’s available balance is low. However, the potential increase in dues will help in the consideration of new projects in the next fiscal year.
   Revenues last fiscal year (FY03) were $17,742 and expenditures were $14,605. In FY04, Revenues are $18,302 (reflecting the dues of new member Princeton University) and expenses to date $3,809. Commitments are $39,563, and current available funds are $110.00. SAMP will front income for FY05 in considering new proposals.
   Recent receipts include the third phase of Nepali Newspapers, serials from the collection of Kenneth Jones, and a fill-in reel of the Tribune (Lahore, Pakistan).
   Simon presented an introduction to Intraspect, the collaborative software introduced shortly before the meeting. This is a central repository and working space for SAMP business throughout the year. Members are encouraged to explore, add, and collaborate. Members expressed interest in using it for voting (elections, proposals), but also expressed reservations at having another space to look for material (professionals have many passwords to remember these days). To address this, members are encouraged to treat the new "samplist" as a general listserv (including attachments, etc.), and Simon will maintain the Intraspect archives for the group.

D. Discussion on dues increase

1. Earlier discussions on the need to increase member contributions were summarized and debated. With the severe financial reductions facing some institutions, it is a difficult year to impose an increase in fees. However, the majority of members saw the necessity of needing additional funds and favored an increase of $200 per year (making fees $750 for full members), with the caveat that institutions facing financial hardship might appeal to the executive committee for relief. The committee could propose alternate forms of compensation from those institutions, such as in-kind contributions (e.g. film donations). This was approved and will be presented to participant CDOs for their sign-off.
   A suggestion was made regarding a sliding scale of membership fees, which could be applied to smaller institutions or small South Asia programs unable to afford full membership . This proposal to explore different categories of membership will be examined by a sub-committee of Mary Rader, Ray Lum, and Andrea Singer. [Report by June].

E. Updates on Approved Projects

1. Centre for the Study of Social Sciences, Calcutta film duplication (Simon/Magier)
   After the meeting last year, at which SAMP approved $10,000 for duplication of the CSSSC negative microfilms, the Digital South Asia Library contributed an additional $15,000 to the project. The original approval was intended to support two generations of duplicates – a duplicate negative for SAMP (to be stored and copied on demand) and a positive use copy for CSSSC.
   • Over the year, the CSSSC appealed to the Executive Committee to provide a digital copy rather than film for the Centre. As conditions in Calcutta merit the use of digital rather than film (CSSSC has only one film reader, which is subject to disrepair) and as the material is already preserved, the executive acceded to this request. Digital copies will go to the CSSSC, and film to SAMP. There was some consideration as to whether SAMP should also receive digital copies, but the executive had decided that digital copies should reside at the CSSSC, and that both issues of permission to mount the digital copies and the relatively low use they might receive weighed against digital acquisition by SAMP. Selection of digital copies could be negotiated separately with the CSSSC at a later date, if desired.
   • However, the costs producing digital copies make the project more expensive in the end. The committee agreed in principle that SAMP should continue to support the project, as funds allow, up to the equivalent level of two film copies (approx. $32,000). This was discussed further under New Proposals, below.
   • Duplication of material is underway at RMRL. Sundar has agreed to check the material for signs of wear during the course of duplication. The CSSSC agreed to start with the film of the Bangiya Sahitya Parishat, as suggested last year.
2. Dastan-I Amir Hamza (Nye)
   No progress. Refer to last year’s minutes.
3. Eelakesari (Nye)
   No progress. Refer to last year’s minutes.
4. Kenneth Jones serials (Simon/Bledsoe)
   Project complete, see recent receipts.
5. LC South Asian microfiche (Simon/Mulgaokar)
   Library of Congress has resumed fiche duplication as of this year, since interruption of production in the fall of 1999. The backlog is starting to come in, but at the higher cost of $3.00 per fiche. The committee had spoken in favor of continued acquisition during the year, with costs shared between CRL and SAMP in exchange for access to the complete collection. CRL is negotiating to receive limited quantities per year to ease the hardship of the financial increase of the material.
   • To address issues of access, CRL sent its early cardfile of South Asian fiche to OCLC RetroCon for processing. The results just recently came back with the following information:
     • Total processed 8,129 records
     • Total added holdings 3,593 (45% match)
     • Total already held 107 (1%)
     • Total no matches 4,424 (54%)
   • OCLC added CRL's holdings to the WorldCat records for existing fiche. CRL will go through the updated records and confirm possession of fiche before adding to the OPAC. Following this, CRL will "page" the remainder of the cardfile records (including records not found) and confirm our holdings. In this way, CRL will identify the remainder of the fiche that does not have cards in our collection.
   • CRL is discussing cataloging of the fiche with no records found. With discussion in very early stages, CRL has agreed to work with the Center for South Asian Libraries to process the remaining cards. Through its Ford Foundation grant to create a South Asia Union List in India, CSAL will utilize the cards (and Accessions List, South Asia) to identify titles with no existing records and will create MARC records. These would be loaded into OCLC and the Union List, in return for the credits being applied back to the union list project. CSAL might act as an agent for CRL, adding its holding symbol and sending records to CRL for entry into the catalog.
6. Nepali Newspapers from the Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya, part 3 (Simon/Magier)
   This phase is complete, with 20 reels (11 titles received). SAMP received digital copies of files (on CD-ROM, images only, no index) for phases 1 & 2, but not phase 3. David Magier requested that these CDs be cataloged in some fashion. No proposal was received this fiscal year to continue efforts, but an update on progress was received and is attached as Appendix 1 [not distributed at meeting].
7. Official Publications of India (Nye)
   Funds were approved in 2000 to ship a collection of Official Publications to a specific location for sorting, cataloging, and filming. It appears this transfer will finally take place. Materials will be sent to Chennai. A proposal has been submitted for funds to begin filming this material (see below).
8. Rahbar-i-Dakan (Bledsoe)
   This Urdu newspaper, covering 1920-48, was put on hold because of the Hyderabad flood. It should be ready to get underway this year.

F. New Proposals

1. CSSSC revisited; (Simon/Magier)
   As discussed above, the duplication project needs additional funds to be completed. Costs would take about $32,000 to complete two copies of film, or $41,000 for 1 copy and digital copies. SAMP had committed to funding this project over time, and can approve more as funds allow. Consistent with the costs to reproduce two film copies, SAMP is asked to consider approving an additional $7000 to the project.
   It was worth noting that the BSP collection was not completely microfilmed. Less than 25% was completed before filming was terminated.
2. India Land Settlement reports (Bledsoe/Johnson)
   As was proposed in 2002, there are additional Land Settlement Reports available on film from the British Library. The proposal was originally approved but non-funded. Bledsoe compared the holdings of the University of Minnesota to the list, and found they do not overlap. Therefore, it was suggested SAMP purchase the available film from BL ($1944). Two other sources can be considered later: Minnesota and possibly the official publications collection coming to RMRL.
3. Diaspora Press (Bledsoe)
   Publications of the Diaspora have been subject to spotty preservation. The India Tribune is a major Midwest resource, published since 1982. Most collecting institutions routinely discard issues, though, and only one institution (Chicago Historical Society) has kept issues (back to 1998). Other parallel titles have been preserved, such as India West (preserved by U.Washington) and India Abroad (Government of India publication preserved by NYPL). The proposal for 5 years filming is $5044. Members asked if this title was included in Ethnic Newswatch. The other two titles are, it was believed.
4. Itihasa Sangraha (Simon)
   This title was proposed by Sumit Guha. This “monthly” journal contains many important documents from the Marathas period of the 17th and 18th century. The British Library holds a near complete collection from 1908-1916. Costs to film the collection approximate $850.
5. Official Publications of India (Nye)
   As discussed above, materials will be received and are eligible for filming. It is unsure at this point how much of the material has already been filmed. Perhaps a sub-committee can begin to work in advance of arrival to determine some film priorities. Material includes survey reports, commissions, or annual reports. Jim Nye proposed that $2000 - $10,000 be provided for filming of unpreserved material in the collection. Filming could begin this year.
6. Urdu newspapers: (Bledsoe/Nye)
   In keeping with the focus on Urdu newspapers, the University of Chicago (via LC and other institutions) has received a run of Tej (1950-1961), an extremely brittle newspaper. The title could be sent to the Urdu Research Centre in Hyderabad for filming. LC has filmed 1962-1966 and portions of 1953. Costs for the remainder equal $3500.

G. Pending / Developing Projects

1. SAMP Film Exchanges
   a) Nehru Memorial Museum (Nye/Thrasher/Chilana)
   Not much has materialized, as discussed above.
   • Members raised the question of acquiring South Asian dissertations. This was brought up last year, but had not been acted upon. Jim Nye mentioned the work of Vidyanidhi, an Indian theses database from the U of Mysore. At present, the project is focusing on citations; the plan is to provide full-text these and dissertations online. In keeping with its mission to provide access to international dissertations, CRL may be interested in supporting the projects underway to provide better access to foreign material [CRL is currently working with the Database of African Theses and Dissertations, hosted by the Association of African Universities].

Project Voting:

• Itihasa Sangraha $ 850 - $850 Approved
• India Land Settlement $1944 - Tabled, for reconsideration at a later date
• India Tribune $5044 - Removed from consideration.
• Tej $3500 - $300 approved for shipment, pending decision by ICON or LC New Delhi to film.
• CSSSC Material $7000 - $5850 Approved, up to $7000 if funds are available
• Official Publications $2000-$10000 - $2000 approved, subject to increase after above proposals (incl. CSSSC) have been funded.

Total Approved - $9000 Subject to increase if funds are available.

The Chair thanked Sumit Ganguly, in absentia, for his participation in the project.

Submitted by James Simon 3/8/04.

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