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South Asia Microform Project (SAMP)

Business Meeting Minutes

Business Meeting Minutes
Honolulu, Hawaii
April 12, 1996

Lygia Ballantyne (LC), Usha Bhasker (NYPL), Merry Burlingham (Texas), Monica Ghosh (Hawaii), Donald Johnson (Minnesota: Chair), Irene Joshi (Washington), Ved Kayastha (Cornell), Krishan Khera (Toronto), Raymond Lum (Harvard), David Magier (Columbia), Avinash Maheshwary (Duke), Suzanne McMahon (Berkeley: Recorder), David Nelson (Pennsylvania), James Nye (Chicago), Marlys Rudeen (CRL), Om Sharma (Michigan), Gurnek Singh (Syracuse), Allen Thrasher (LC), Lynette Wageman (Hawaii).

I. The 1995 minutes were reviewed and approved.

II. Financial report (Rudeen)

  • Rudeen distributed the financial report and reviewed its contents with the members present at the meeting (see attachments to official minutes). Records created on SAMP's NEH special projects are loaded into OCLC under CRL's symbol. SAMP receives a credit for these records, but Nye clarified that, because of NEH regulations, the credit can only be spent on NEH funded projects and asked that credits be maintained on a separate budget line.
  • After honoring all current commitments and setting aside $10,000 for purchases recommended by the Newspaper Subcommittee, SAMP will have about $5000 left for new projects this year. After membership fees are collected that amount will be much greater. The group agreed to maintain a $2500 cushion in the budget so we can take advantage of opportunities for purchase of material. If $2500 turns out to be too small an amount, the cushion will be increased to $5,000.

III. Membership

  • Johnson reported that we have two new SAMP associate members, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and the University of North Carolina.
  • The SAMP brochure will be ready soon. The text is almost finished and Rudeen has a graphic designer working on the layout.

IV. Report on SAMP special projects

  • Nye had previously distributed a report on the SAMP special projects (see attachments to official minutes). Cooperation with Bombay has been good and they will be able to film 9000 rather than the projected 8000 records under the current NEH grant.
  • Camera for Bombay: Nye proposed that SAMP purchase a camera for Bombay so that they can continue with microfilming projects on their own when the current project is completed at the end of 1997. The cost would be about $3000. Maheshwary suggested we leave the current camera with them, but Ballantyne clarified that the camera belongs to LC and that LC is not allowed to give presents in India. Another suggestion was to put a camera in Bombay on permanent loan from SAMP, but the University would have to agree to the arrangement. A proposal was put forward that Nye begin negotiations with the University of Bombay about a permanent camera. That Proposal was voted on by those present and Approved. No dollars authorized at this point.
  • Positives from non-NEH filming of National Bibliography of Indian Literature (NBIL) titles done with U. S. India Fund (USIF) funds - SAMP now gets a negative and a printing copy of the rnicrofilms. Nye proposed that SAMP also purchase a positive copy using SAMP funds accumulated from the OCLC credits for loading records that were created on non-NEH projects. The cost would be about $1,300 a year. This would save USIF funds and make it possible to extend the project. Approved.
  • Punjabi Project at British Library: The project has begun to catalog titles filmed between 1986 and 1989. By the end of the summer the film should be ready for distribution and they should have the records loaded in OCLC. Nye proposed naming the collection in honor Ken Jones, who, along with Jerry Barrier, proposed the project initially. Ken Jones has inoperable cancer. The collection name could be included in an 830 field. Approved. Jim Nye agreed to notify Ken Jones. Don Johnson sends thanks to Ken for all he's done.
  • AIPS Pakistan project: Nye has applied for a $30,000 dollar grant from the American Institute of Pakistan Studies (AIPS) to begin microfilming 19th and early 20th century Urdu imprints from Pakistan. Titles would be microfilmed at the Anjuman Taraqqi-e-Urdu in Karachi and the Panjab Public Library in Lahore. The project would be jointly sponsored by SAMP, LC, and AIPS. The LC office in Islamabad will coordinate the project and will continue to use the project equipment after the AlPS project is completed. AIPS has to wait for CAORC approval. The project is contingent on approval by SAMP and Library of Congress. That Proposal was voted on by those present and Approved.

V. Progress report on current projects

  • Newspapers from the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (Nye): Project is underway
  • Buchanan-Hamilton papers (Rudeen): The films of the papers have been received and cataloged
  • Newspapers at the Forbes Gujarati Sabha (Nye): Difficult to keep the commitment to film because they have no camera available. Future microfilming may be possible at the University of Bombay.
  • South Asian-American Newspapers Union List (Joshi): Joshi reported that it may not be possible to mount the list on the South Asia Gopher. The University of Washington has devoted substantial resources to the preparation of the list and wants to recover some of its investment through publication of the list.
  • Filming South Asian Diaspora Literature (Joshi): Ray Boylan started a project to film ethnic press titles a number of years ago. He obtained permission to film but the project never took off. The University of Washington films "India West" without publisher's permission. Allen Thrasher thought that LC might by filming "News India Times". Joshi suggested that CRL film the titles. Rudeen clarified that CRL is not filming any ethnic titles, but would check on the possibility and report next year.
  • "Economic and Political Weekly" (Rudeen): LC filmed v. 1-5; CRL has sent v. 6-15 to be microfilmed. CRL will accept unbound issues to fill in gaps.
  • Family genealogies at pilgrimage centers (Khera, Johnson): Krishan Khera and Don Johnson brought up the topic of filming genealogies at pilgrimage centers. The general opinion was that since these genealogies were the pundits livelihood it was unlikely that they would give permission to have them filmed. David Magier suggested Khera contact Mel Thatcher, of the Genealogical Society of Utah, who has also been pursuing this possibility.

VI. New Projects

Proposals a-g were block approved.

  • "Kaiser-e-Hind" (Thrasher)

    University of Manchester needs to clear this material out right away and SOAS has expressed concern about its fragile condition. CRL could film it on SAMP funds. It will cost $1,000 to ship it to CRL. Filming charges could be determined later. Approved

  • "Peace Review" (Magier)

    Magier discovered a run of "Peace Review" stored in the Geology Department at Columbia and would like to film it. He estimates that the run is about 1000 pages long and will take $350 to film. Approved

  • Bene Israel Titles, 1920-1930 (Joshi)

    University of Cleveland has filmed some of their holdings, from the late 1800's to the 1930s. Joshi's holdings will fit into a Princeton file and she proposed filming them. Estimate $500. Approved

  • "Gorkhapatra" (Thrasher)

    "Gorkhapatra" is the oldest newspaper in Nepal, having begun publication in 1901. For many years it was owned by the government and continues to be the newspaper of record for the official point of view. Mary De Chene plans to purchase a camera and to donate it to an institute in Nepal, so it many be possible to film Gorkhapatra. The issue is a sensitive one. Approved

  • Gadar Party (McMahon)

    This collection is about to be transferred to the Bancroft Library at Berkeley so it can be stored under more archival conditions. Before the transfer McMahon wants to be sure unique items have been filmed. She proposed approving $500 a year until filming is complete. Approved

  • Himalayan Collection (McMahon)

    Proposal withdrawn.

  • "Crime in India" (Nye for Oldenburg)

    Proposal to dedicate $300-$400 for filming. Approved

  • Purchase of newspaper films from the British Library (Joshi, Nye, Thrasher)

The subcommittee to review SAMP's newspaper holdings (Joshi, Nye, Thrasher) distributed their report and recommended that SAMP undertake a program of newspaper acquisition with an annual expenditure of $10,000 for four years. This would include the purchase of $5000 in film from the British Library, $2000 in film from the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, and $2000 in film from the Bangiya Sabitya Parishad's newspapers. These purchases would deepen the range of coverage for the 18th and 19th century. The subcommittee also recommended strengthening collections in areas not currently covered, for instance, Sri Lanka. Publications in regional languages need to be emphasized. South Asian diasporic publications deserve attention (see attachments to official minutes). The "Civil and Military Gazette" was discussed and it was suggested that gaps be filled in if possible, since Kipling was editor for a few years and Winston Churchill was a reporter during a later period.

The proposal was made to approve the plan and concept and to approve $10,000 per year for four years ($1000 of which was for Kaiser-e-Hind, separately considered by the membership and described above in 6a). Approved

Joshi asked for priorities from the group for purchase proposals to CRL. Marlys clarified that CRL has two programs that allow members to request purchases. On the "demand purchase" program, SAMP members can ask CRL to purchase films up to $2000 per year to fill in gaps in holdings of CRL's current subscriptions. Marlys asked that members not overdo these requests. On the "purchase proposal" program members can request any large microform set as long as the cost is between $1000 and $20,000 and priorities are determined by ballot.

VII. New Business

  • American Institute of Pakistan Studies proposal (Nye)

    Discussion described above under agenda item 4. Proposal Approved as noted in item 4.

  • Paying for positive copies of the non-NEH filming of titles from the NBIL done with U. S.-India funds (Nye)

    Discussion described above under agenda item 4. A proposal was made to purchase the positive copies with money earned by OCLC credits for records loaded. Proposal Approved as noted above.

  • Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. Board of Foreign Missions. Correspondence and reports, 1833-1911 (Johnson)

    IDC has filmed these items from the Presbyterian Church archives in Philadelphia. David Nelson thinks he has already purchased this film for Penn and will check.

  • Nepal manuscripts in Germany (Magier)

    Magier proposed exploring the purchase of manuscript microfilm copies from the Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project. These microfilm copies were made by the German Oriental Society (Deutsche Morgenländische Gessellschaft or DMG) in conjunction with the Nepal Archives. A copy is held in Berlin. Magier withdrew the proposal when it was pointed out that the microfilm was not available for purchase because of agreements between the Nepal and German governments.

  • Electronic Catalog for SAMP? (Rudeen)

    Rudeen asked what special materials in the SAMP collections need be listed for bibliographic access? Suggestions included selections from the vernacular press, settlement reports, lists of religious texts, personal papers that haven't been filmed, regional papers. Burlingham suggested setting up a special mailing list for SAMP representatives.

  • Election Results

    David Nelson and Jim Nye were elected to the SAMP executive committee. The executive committee stayed after the general meeting and chose Jim Nye as chair.

The meeting was adjourned.

SAMP: Received
Since April 1995

AGRAVALA JATI KA ITIHASA / [AUTHORS C.R. BHANDARI ... ET AL.]
Bhanpura, Indore, India: Agrawal History Office, 1934.
OIOC shelf mark: 14157 pp. 2.
34052340
RECORD # = b14437776

THE JOURNAL OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL [MICROFORM].
Calcutta: The Society, 1832-
REC'D: FICHE #83-92 PT. 3-3; VOL.6, PT. 2; JULY-DEC. 1837 P. 501-1105.
No charge - material had been paid for previously but not received
15188536
RECORD # = b1385267x

OSAVALA JATI KA ITIHASA / [AUTHORS S.R. BHANDARI ... ET AL.]
Bhanpura, Indore, India: Osavala Histri Pablisinga Hausa, 1934.
OIOC shelfmark 14157.i.16.
Paid for with "Agravala jati ka Itihasa" above.
34052369
RECORD # = b14438458

REPORT ON NATIVE PAPERS IN BENGAL FOR THE WEEK ENDING ... [MICROFORM]
[Calcutta] : Bengali Translator's Office, [1899-
44 reels [1876-1916]
15244607
RECORD # = b1451283x

SOUTH ASIA PUBLICATIONS ON MICROFICHE
New Delhi : Library of Congress, 19-
Standing Order 1981 +
4 shipments 250 titles, 1354 fiches

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Last updated 12/06/2005
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