VIVA Special Collections Committee
Minutes

Present

Sandy Beehler (ODU), Lucious Edwards (VCU - Comprehensives), Edward Gaynor (University of Virginia), Jay Gaidmore (ODU), Jim Gwin (University of Richmond - Independents), Dale Harter (Library of Virginia), Barbara Haase (George Mason), Jodi Koste (VCU), Curtis Lyons (VCU), Joyce Ogburn (ODU), Susan Riggs (Wm & Mary, Recorder), Elsie Weatherington (VSU -- Chair), and Tom Loftus (Grant Writer).

The VIVA Special Collections Committee met from 1:00 pm until 4:00 pm at Virginia State University's Johnston Library. The Committee welcomed back Elsie Weatherington as chair and she and Jodi Koste presided.

The Committee agreed to ask for several action items to be taken up at the next VIVA Steering Committee meeting. It will be asked that the Steering Committee look at the status of the Special Collections Committee with a view to either making it a standing committee or extending the ad hoc status until June 2000 since the NEH grants will not be announced until next spring. The Committee very much wants to keep Dr. Weatherington on as chair. The committee would like to maintain the same membership for the next year. Funding for the June 3-4, 1999 workshop will be requested.

Fifteen surveys are in from the independent schools outlining their holdings.

The workshop at the University of Virginia will be for two days with Daniel Pitti as consultant both days. The first day is envisioned as a follow up to the January workshop with marked up finding aids critiqued and the University of Virginia will talk about their experiences in marking up "legacy" finding aids. The second day will be devoted to a discussion of statewide markup standards. Marked up finding aids are to be sent to Edward Gaynor by June 1 to be discussed at the workshop.

Tom Loftus passed out copies of a successful NEH grant submitted by the University of New Mexico. The committee discussed again the overall proposal -- number of pages to be encoded, etc. Members made suggestions for some editorial changes.

Letters of support from the directors of the libraries or institutions involved were requested by June 3. Dr. Weatherington will write each director outlining the points to be addressed.

Comments on the draft proposal are due Friday May 21. Letters of support from scholars will be solicited and are due June 10. Bill Obrachta, head of the Education Department at the Virginia Historical Society will be asked to find a secondary teacher to write a letter of support.

Each institution is requested to send in a description of itself, its library and its Special Collections division following the New Mexico model.

Institutions are requested to identify 1500 other pages of finding aids other than African-American that will be encoded at each center. The University of Virginia and William and Mary are requested to compile a list of publications based on their collections.