Send materials
for the SC archive to:
c/o Lisa
Ennis, Systems Librarian,
UAB Lister Hill Library of
the Health Sciences
1530 3rd Avenue South, Birmingham,
AL 35294-0013
Mission and Scope
The UAB Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences
will serve as the depository
and archive for
all significant papers and records of the Chapter
no longer required by officers and committees. The
History of the Southern Chapter Committee was appointed
to secure a complete history of the Southern Chapter.
The Committee is charged with accessioning, organizing,
and preserving documents and artifacts relating
to the history of Southern Chapter, and with assessing
current archival procedures and making recommendations
for future archival efforts.
Purpose
The committee's purpose will be to facilitate the transfer
of all historical materials from officers and committees
to the archive at Emory University, where it will be
stored and preserved until appropriate measures can
be undertaken to accession, organize, and inventory
it using standard archival methods. A database will
be maintained which will record the general contents
and location of all archival holdings.
Records that may be sent to the archivist include:
- Correspondence which relates to chapter policy
and program development.
- Minutes of all meetings:
- Programs and records of annual meetings (including
photographs, media releases, videotapes, and other
graphic records);
- Procedure manuals;
- Reports;
- Newsletter and other publications;
- Original oral history materials.
The Medical Library Association assumes the chapters
are retaining archival material pertinent to chapter
activities. MLA requires only a copy of the annual
program for its archives.
Experience indicates that Southern Chapter program
chairs find it useful to have the records from previous
meetings available as resources for their planning
needs. Older records should be sent to the archive
unless they are considered to have current
value. The archivist should supply a report to the
President at the end of the term indicating what holdings
are needed. In addition, the archivist should contact
each officer and committee chair for pertinent records
for the archives. The archivist will then weed the
holdings for duplication, check for missing items,
and determine what should be retained.
All standing and ad hoc committee chairs and chapter
officers are responsible for forwarding files to the
next committee chair or officer as well as sending
inactive materials to the archives.
Strategy
Materials can be transferred any time to the chapter
archivist. A transfer form is available and would be
very useful to both to the archivist, who will organize
the materials.
Once new materials have been received into the archive,
they will be organized and preserved according to standard
archival procedures.
An important component of the archive will be to preserve
or conserve its holdings. Where necessary materials
should be placed into environments that prolong the
life of the material as much as possible, e.g., by
the use of acid-free paper, folders, and boxes. Occasionally,
the deterioration of valuable objects needs more direct
intervention, as in the case of old film or magnetic
tape. These cases will be evaluated as they arise.
All materials in the archive should be inventoried.
The inventory is a finding aid that serves as a guide
to the chapter archive. It indicates the creator of
each item, contains background information and a short
description of each item, and indicates the location
of the item in the archive.
As new items are received, the archivist will update
the inventory.
Anyone wishing access to materials should consult the
inventory or contact the chapter archivist. The inventory
should be available on demand from either the chair
of the committee or from the chapter archivist.
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