Ohio Historical Records Advisory Board Meeting
Minutes, Minutes, November 20, 2006
BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Charles Arp, Barbara Floyd, Laurie Gemmill, Raimund Goerler, William K. Laidlaw, Jr., Marjorie McLellan
BOARD MEMBERS NOT PRESENT: Joanne Budler, John Fleming, Julie McMaster, James Oda, Kermit Pike, Julia Michael Scott, Carol Tomer
OHS STAFF PRESENT: James Strider, Jelain Chubb, Todd Kleismit, Pari Swift, Nancy Schmidt
OHS STAFF NOT PRESENT: Rachel Tooker
1. Welcome
Dr. Laidlaw called the meeting to order at 1:00 p.m.
2a. Review of Strategic Plan Activities: OHRAB By-Laws
Dr. Laidlaw reviewed the changes that had been discussed during the previous meeting, especially noting that “advocacy” had been reinserted into the mission of OHRAB, and called for a motion to approve. Barbara Floyd motioned and Rai Goerler seconded to approve the changes.
Laurie Gemmill brought the issue of ex-officio members up for discussion. There was discussion of whether or not ex-officio members should have terms or review cycles and if grant reviews fall under the open meetings act.
Charlie Arp urged OHRAB to formally meet the standards of the public records and open meetings laws in regard to conference calls. Laidlaw responded that due to occasional difficulties in securing a quorum, OHRAB may need to provide members with flexibility in how they attend the meetings. A side issue was whether grant reviews fall under the open meetings act.
Floyd moved to eliminate the last two lines on 3e concerning ex-officio members as well as 8g. Marjorie McLellan seconded the motion which was approved.
Gemmill motioned to clarify 8f by taking out “their submission” and inserting “prior to the board review meeting.” Arp seconded the motion.
Arp motioned to change 7a from “appropriate member” to “individuals.” Gemmill seconded the motion, which was approved.
Other minor edits dealing with grammatical changes were approved.
Floyd motioned to approve the by-laws. Arp abstained. By-laws were approved.
Floyd brought up the issues of members failing to attend meetings, even when the dates are given well in advance and the board failing to replace members whose terms have expired. Strider stated that two OHRAB nominations had been submitted to the Governor’s Office and others will be submitted by the end of November.
2b. Public Records
i. House Bill 9
Todd Kleismit reported that he expects House Bill 9 will be voted out of committee in December. The board discussed the need to communicate the importance of records to the state legislature.
ii. Subcommittee on Privacy and Public Records Access
Swift summarized the work of the committee, created by HB 204 and chaired by Senator Austria and Representative Wolpert. Swift reported that there are two openings on the committee and that the representative from DAS, who is also representing the Ohio Historical Society, has only attended about half of the meetings. The board agreed that its interests should be represented and decided to further discuss it at the January OHRAB meeting to explore possible ways of making OHRAB interests known to the committee.
2c. Nominations and Renewals of Board Members
Strider reported that two OHRAB nominations had been submitted to the Governor’s Office and that additional nominations would be submitted by the end of November. If the appointments come through before the January meeting, there will be an orientation session for new members. Strider and Chubb emphasized that they will be stressing the importance of board participation to new members. Laidlaw would like to maintain a short list of possible future appointees so that the appointment process can move faster in the future.
2d. Ohio Electronic Records Committee
Floyd reported that the OERC met on October 26. John Runion was elected to chair the committee. Chubb spoke about and demonstrated the Missouri Electronic Records website. The committee decided to form a subcommittee to look into helpful educational tools. A subcommittee was also formed to develop guidelines for digitally created microfilm.
2e. NHPRC Application for OHRAB Support
Chubb reported that an NHPRC administrative grant proposal for $10,000 was submitted in September. Most of the funds would support the four 2007 meetings. One of those meetings will be a two day retreat to begin work on a new strategic plan. Funds were also factored into the grant to partner with SOA for Archives Week and to create an OHRAB brochure.
2f. NHPRC Grant Application Review
The board reviewed NHPRC grant proposals from the Massillon Museum and the City of Cincinnati Clerk of Council. The board also discussed the need to communicate more with potential applicants about the review process and to mentor small organizations. The board expressed concern that Ohio organizations are by-passing OHRAB and going directly to NHPRC, thus missing out on the mentoring that OHRAB could provide.
Chubb noted that she needed review forms from board members by December 1. The summary review must be submitted to NHRPC by December 15.
3. Approval of July 2006 Minutes
Floyd motioned to approve and McLellan seconded the motion. The minutes were approved.
4. Institutional Updates
a. Ohio Historical Society
i. Laidlaw reported on the Ethics Commission records found in a Columbus alley. OHS staff responded to the situation and determined that the records had never been accessioned into the State Archives. Laidlaw asked for a full highway Patrol investigation.
ii. Chubb reported that OHS has engaged David Carmicheal, State Archivist of Georgia and immediate past president of the Council of State Archivists, to prepare an assessment report on the State Archives.
iii. Chubb reported on the transfer of the Governor’s records.
iv. Swift reported on the Persistent Archives Testbed grant project with the San Diego Supercomputer Center.
v. Kleismit reported that Statehood Day will be held on March 1, 2007 in the Atrium of the Statehouse. The Society of Ohio Archivists and the Ohio Genealogical Society are planning to participate. One of the points to be made this year concerns funding for records programs.
b. Floyd reported that the University of Toledo Archives had recently accessioned records from the three largest glass area companies. She distributed catalogs for the current exhibit Time in a Bottle: A History of Owens-Illinois, Inc
c. Gemmill reported that OCLC had recently merged with the Research Libraries Group (RLG) and that Worldcat.org was now freely searchable on the Internet without being a member.
d. Arp reported that Battelle is investigating TRIM and Microsoft SharePoint as an electronic content management solution.
5. Adjournment
McLellan motioned to adjourn the meeting, with Gemmill seconding the motion. The next meeting will be January 26, 2007 at the Ohio Historical Center.
