Africana Librarians Council Business Meeting
Minutes
May 6, 2005
Northwestern University
Present: Helene Baumann (Duke U), Ruby Bell-Gam (UCLA), Elizabeth Darocha Berenz (CRL), Phyllis Bischof (UC Berkeley), Ellen Bryan (U of Chicago), Joseph Caruso (Columbia), Jill Coehlo (Harvard), David Easterbrook (Northwestern), Victoria K.Evalds (Phil.PA), Gregory Finnegan (Harvard), Karen Fung (Stanford), Miki Goral (UCLA), Marieta Harper (LC), Bassey Irele (Harvard), Alfred Kagan (U of Illinois), Esmeralda Kale (Northwestern), Zbigniew Kantorosinski (LC), Patricia Kuntz , Deborah LaFond (U of Albany), Joe Lauer (Michigan State U), Bob Lesh (Northwestern U), Peter Limb (Michigan State U), Peter Malanchuk (U of Florida), Giles Martin (OCLC), Loyd Mbabu (Ohio U), Karen Miller (Northwestern), Edward Miner (Iowa), Emilie Ngo-Nguidjol (U Wisconsin, Madison), Tom Nygren (Aluka), Afeworki Paulos (U of Michigan), Lauris Olson (U of Pennsylvania), Patricia Ogedengbe (Northwestern), Laverne Page (LC), Hans Panofsky (Northwestern) Loumona Petroff (Boston U), Fred Protopappas (LC), Dan Reboussin (U of Florida), Charles Riley (Yale), James T. Simon (CRL), Shoshanah Seiden (Northwestern), Andrea Stamm (Northwestern), Paul Steere (LC Nairobi), Fentahun Tiruneh (LC), Gretchen Walsh (Boston U), David Westley (Boston U), Marion Frank-Wilson (Indiana U), Dorothy Woodson (Yale).
The meeting was called to order at 1:45pm. By the Chair Marieta Harper
1. Welcome by David Bishop Charles Deering McCormick University Librarian at Northwestern
2. The minutes of the fall, 2004 meeting in New Orleans were approved.
3. Eudora Loh, Director, ARL Global Resources Network. Loh reported on ARL projects. The following comments were made. How can we create a group similar to the South East Asian group? There is tension between area studies and global studies. Title VI is funding global studies rather than area studies. Do we want to support area studies? There are specific area studies in the Global Resources Network Project. At University College London the view of the International Institute is that there is a global need, but they want more depth. They are going to support global topics of interest to a number of areas; it is a question of selecting a grant fundable topic. If the ALC drafted a proposal would ARL be interested? ARL and CRL do not have funds, but would assist and support. One of the original ideas of the Global Resources Network, by Mellon was to provide a clearing house in order to eliminate duplication and overlap between institutions. It is difficult for the ALC to do anything as a group because we have to go through the ASA and CRL therefore some projects are not amenable. This is a logistical problem that is not insurmountable. Asia studies have done so. We have to put aside institutional competition.
4. ASA / MESA / MELA Joint Program Report. Kagan reported that it should take place at the Fall 2005 meeting in Washington DC, on November 18th from 9 am to Noon. “Assessing the past accessing the present”. It is not an official part of the ASA program and will not be in the program booklet, but possible to have a flyer in the front of the program. We could use Title Vi money and take out an ad. The location of the meeting has not been decided, MELA is working on it. There will be a joint lunch; Walsh will post information about it to the listserv.
5. Thomas I. Nygren, Executive Director, ALUKA. Nygren reported on this new non profit initiative (ALUKA) to provide online resource of scholarly publications from the developing world. Starting with Africa first. Mellon provided start up funding. The intention is to build collections around the following topics. a. Struggles for freedom in Southern Africa. b. African Plants Initiative. c. Cultural Heritage and Landscapes. UNESCO world heritage sites. The following comments were made: At ASA last fall and it was the contention that this was western appropriation of African knowledge. This has been a challenge especially among African scholars. Selection is done by committees in countries concerned. It is their initiative. Aluka is trying to listen and make it a genuine partnership. What sort of feedback is ALUKA getting from librarians? What paradigms are we looking at? To what extent will it survive, not just as a business model, but also as an intellectual model? The selection committee collected 5 broad modules of five broad thematic categories that provide the overall intellectual architecture for the project and ensure a consistent and integrated approach to content selection in each country. The challenge has been to document and provide resources so researchers can see both sides. There needs to be questioning. What makes a resource like this continue to grow? What is the potential for sharing, since the University of Fort Hare is the custodian of the ANC archives? Is ALUKA working with them? Mellon has been involved with the University of Connecticut with training archivists at Fort Hare. ALUKA hopes to continue to work with Fort Hare. ALUKA is further along with FRELIMO in Mozambique. ALUKA is trying to help content owners, like the ANC and FRELIMO, document their own history. ALUKA does not see itself covering costs for years to come. How can we learn from ALUKA and maintain balance by wetting appetites and encouraging visits to the archives. The percentage of these collections that ALUKA wants to digitize is very small. ALUKA is advertising these collections, but researchers will actually have to go to these sites. e.g. Initially Zimbabwe only wanted finding aids, now they want more. In Mozambique they are digitizing a hand written list of oral history. This will provide exposure.
6. ALC Handbook Development Walsh reported that an incomplete copy was sent out via email. The make up of the Conover Porter. A working group Bischoff, LaFond and Goral, volunteered to complete it, for approval at the next meeting and eventually post it on the web.
7. Boston Spring 2006.Walsh indicated the preferred date is May 4-6th for Boston University. They are working on accommodation. The host of the spring meeting is provided with some leeway there fore there might be some specialized programming.” The Politics of Knowledge” is the theme of ASA Conference 2006. Pear Robinson suggested working on a panel titled “The State of African Studies and Area Studies "
8. 2007 Harper asked for volunteers for the spring. The following comments were made: It was suggested that we meet in Africa. If it is not possible to have a meeting in Africa, we might partner with libraries in Africa and hold a conference sponsored by publishers. IFLA will meet in Durban in 2007. FESPACO meets in Ouagadougou every other year. ESARBIC might also be an option, it is in Dar es Salaam next year. We should also think about book fairs. It might be a good idea to look at what is going on in the next 4yrs. Caruso, Bell-Gam, Page, Miner, Ngo-Nguidjol, Afeworki volunteered to work on it. Fall 2007 meeting will take place in a hotel in Manhattan, NY. Caruso asked for feedback regarding activities of interest outside of the meeting that is of interest to members.
9. Committee Reports
a. Bibliography Committee. Limb reported that there was an interesting discussion about trips. Experiment with Vendors should be repeated.
b. Cataloging Committee. Lauer reported that they had heard reports from new subject heads. Working on revised classification for the Indian Ocean countries.
c. Book Donations Committee. Page, on behalf of Nosakhere, reported that they would soon send out proposals to committee members for the new cycle. Proposals go to the ASA office. Agreed to publicize the award and network with other organizations that might be interested in it.
d. TitleVI. Frank-Wilson reported that changes to the common language would be sent out in the mail. Verlon Stone’s proposal was authorized to move forward. Stone thanked the ALC.
e. Africana Libraries Newsletter (ALN). Frank-Wilson reported that Bassie Irele had volunteered to join her as co-editor of the newsletter. It was suggested that the newsletter become an online publication that could be maintained by a library school student. This would cut the mailing costs and production time. Members could increase contributions to the newsletter by including book reviews, trip reports, etc. Concerns were raised about subscriptions at African institutions. There are approximately 500 subscriptions from Africa. The last time we raised the subject we agreed to continue printing because of African institutions. However there was no response to the survey that was sent out. Coelho indicated that if it was announced that there would be a switch from print to online, and if there was a response, Harvard would absorb the cost of printing and postage. Approved the option to switch from print to electronic, Harvard and Yale will absorb the cost of printing.
10. Fred Protopappas, Library of Congress- Protopappas reported that the revolving door funds from overpayment would be audited. The cost recovery cycle has been accelerated therefore costs for the next fiscal year will be available in June. Announced that Paul Steere would be leaving the LC Nairobi Office. Thanked Steere for all his work with the ALC, the State Dept. and the Library of Congress.
The meeting was adjourned at 3:45pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Esmeralda Kale
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Page last updated October 15, 2005