The Ohio Archivist Fall 1987 SOA Fall Meeting Is Scheduled for Sept
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The Society d O,io tivists The Ohio Archivist Fall 1987 SOA fall meeting is scheduled for Sept. 24-25 in Bowling Green, Ohio Jerome Library, Bowling Green State University PHOTO courtesy of Bowling Green State University Dr. Raymond K. Tucker, nationally known for his semi- The meeting's opening session, from 1-2:45 p.m. Thurs- nars in interpersonal communication, will be the featured day, will address current technological trends in records speaker when the Society of Ohio Archivists holds its fall management and will be led by Richard Sayre, Assistant meeting in Bowling Green September 24 and 25. The meet- Administrator for Information Management at the State ing will be held at the Bowling Green Holiday Inn with Records Center in Columbus. Last spring's issue of The Ohio registration set for noon to 1 p.m ..on Thursday, September Archivist featured an article on the innovative techniques 24. A program brochure has also been prepared. being used at the State Records Center; Mr. Sayre will amplify the information given in that piece and bring us up Following Dr. Tucker's address, the meeting will break for to date with the progress being made at the Center. Mr. dinner. Later, from 8-10 p.m., the Center for Archival Sayre will be joined at this session by Ann Gilliand of the Collections at Bowling Green State University will host a University of Cincinnati's Archives and Rare Book Depart- reception at Jerome Library, as well as provide tours of the ment. Given her focus from the point of view of an academic CAC and Popular Culture and Music libraries. institution, and Mr. Sayre's statewide vantage point, this Friday's activities begin at 9:30 a.m. with a presentation session should have broad interest for the membership. by Dr. Patrick B. Nolan, head of the Department of Archives Dr. Tucker, who was featured twice in 1985 by Dan and Special Collections at Wright State University. Dr. Rather on the "CBS Evening News," will be the meeting's Nolan, who just spent a year as Program Officer of Reference keynote speaker during a 3-4:30 p.m. session. Currently a Materials, Division of Research Programs at the National professor and chair of the Department of Interpersonal and Endowment for the Humanities in Washington, D.C., is Public Communication at Bowling Green State University, anxious to discuss what he learned about the criteria that Tucker consistently has been recognized for his teaching. He make a proposal "eligible" and "competitive" for a grant. has received an award for excellence in seminar presentation During the hour-long session, he will address the review by the Continuing Education division at BGSU. In 1982, he process, the manner in which panels are put together, the became the first university faculty member to receive the selection of reviewers, and the structure of a successful grant Master Teacher Award and in 1986 he received the covetous proposal. faculty excellence award from the student government. Nolan will then lead a panel discussion in the meeting's Dr. Tucker has co-authored two books: Essentials of final session, from 10:45 a.m.-noon, which will consider Public Speaking and Research in Speech Communica- grant opportunities for archives. The three-member panel tion. He has published over 50 articles and has presented an includes Kermit J. Pike, Director of the Library of the West- equal number of scholarly papers at professional conven- ern Reserve Historical Society, Richard Kem, Professor of tions. Dr. Tucker has spent twenty years researching his History at Findlay College and a member of the Ohio latest book, Fighting It Out With Difficult-If Not Impos- Humanities Council, and Dennis East, State Archivist at the - sible-People. During this research, he also presented over Ohio Historical Society. 2,000 seminars of various kinds on such topics as "Working Registration for this years' meeting will be $10 for stu- Smarter," "Fighting Back after 40," and "Dealing With dents and $15 for adults. Meals are not included. Difficult People." Seminars on the latter were featured by Rather on the "CBS Evening News." Regina K. Lemaster Dr. Tucker's presentation at the fall meeting, "Managing Conservator Office Stress and Staff Relations," is sure to be helpful to all Center for Archival SOA members, who in suggesting program sessions fre- Collections quently request a session about office relationships and Bowling Green State stress. University Nominations solicited for MAC President's Award The Midwest Archives Conference has created a Nominees should be individuals or organizations who President's Award. Up to three awards (consisting of certifi- have contributed significantly to the profession through such cates) will be given at the MAC annual meeting in Chicago. areas as legislation, publicity, advocacy, or long-term profes- The award is designed to recognize significant contributions sional support. This support should have improved the pres- to the archival profession by individuals or institutions not ervation of or accessibility to historically valuable documents directly involved in archival work, but knowledgeable about or records. This support may have also contributed to a its purposes and value. better public appreciation of archives. MAC will be soliciting nominations for the award from Plans are being made to distribute nomination forms each of the midwestem states. The Ohio award committee throughout the state. If you do not receive a form by mid- is chaired by Edward M. Rider. Other committee members September or if you need more information about the award, include Mary Zimmeth (Ohio Historical Society), Gary A. contact:: Hunt (Ohio University), James C. Marshall (Toledo-Lucas County Public Library), Christine Krosel (Diocese of Cleve- Ed Rider land), and John Grabowski (Western Reserve Historical Corporate Archivist Society). Archivists in Ohio should take advantage of this Procter & Gamble Company opportunity to nominate people or organizations from the 1 Procter & Gamble Plaza state. Cincinnati, Ohio 45202-3315. PRESIDENT'S COLUMN An agenda for revitalizing SOA SOA suffers from a malaise. There are, of course, sent out in advance of each meeting. Dennis no lack of reasons for this problem: competition from and John deserve a word of thanks for their ef- SAA and MAC, limited or non-existent travel funds, forts to insure that The Ohio Archivist will be a job responsibilities, family and personal commit- reliable, effective and informative voice of SOA. ments; all these, and many more, work together to 2. A renewed membership drive. Under the direc- reduce attendance at the annual tion of secretary-treasurer meetings and erode our base of Robert Bober, SOA's new support. membership committee will Revitalizing SOA must be our work not only to solicit new primary concern. If this downward members (including prof es- trend continues SOA's survival sionals from related fields could be threatened. Even now such as genealogists and rec- the Society is weakened. With ords managers), but will also only approximately 20 percent of attempt to reenlist the sup- our membership currently active, port of current members we are hindered in our ability to who have been inactive in effectively and aggressively assert recent years. ourselves in archivally important 3. Emphasis on long-range matters in Ohio and we lack the planning. It is the consensus capacity to become involved in of council to emphasize the many outreach and service proj- need for long-range planning ects that would benefit not only in SOA. As a result, us, but also the larger archival pro- council's goal is to announce fession in our state as well. We are at its next meeting spring face to face with a difficulty that and fall meeting sites must be met with resolve and in- through the year 1990 and genuity. to begin a practice of nam- Relatively speaking we are a small organization. ing program and local arrangement representa- We are not well known and we do not have large fi- tives up to a year in advance of each meeting. It nancial resources. To be successful we need the par- is also council's goal, after further discussion ticipation of most, if not all, of our members. For ex- among its membership, to establish an action ample, if MAC draws only one-third of its member- agenda, listing SOA's goals and priorities for the ship to a meeting, that is still over 300 attendees. If 1990s. we draw one-third of our membership to a meeting, 4. Continuation of the legislative lobbying initiative that is only 40 attendees. If, as has recently been the begun at this year's spring meeting. Contacts case, we draw only 20 percent, that is a mere 25 at- with key persons in the state are being pursued tendees. If SOA is to continue as a viable professional while discussion and development of this project organization, it is vital that we have increased partici- will continue with articles in The Ohio Archivist pation and input from our membership. and additional sessions at the annual meetings. To this end, council has adopted the following If, as we hope, our revitalization efforts are suc- agenda: cessful, our chances for success in this project will increase as well. 1. Consolidation of the editing, printing and mail- SOA' s problems are considerable but not insur- ing of The Ohio Archivist in Cleveland. Begin- mountable. With reasonable goals and reasoned plan- ning with this issue, council member Dennis ning we can succeed. Come to the fall meeting in Harrison and managing editor John J. Grabow- Bowling Green, September 24-25. The work can be- ski have worked out an arrangement to have all gin there.