[SOA] Fwd: [AALL] Invitation to Join SAA in MayDay Activities

[Janet Carleton]

Is this something that SOA as an organization should participate in?


From: "Vicki Walch" <vwalch at statearchivists.org>
To: <archival_leaders at aall.archivists.org>, <COSHRC-L at lists.Maine.edu>
Subject: [AALL] Fwd: Invitation to Join SAA in MayDay Activities
Date: Wed, 8 Feb 2006 10:32:51 -0600
Sender: archival_leaders-owner at aall.archivists.org
Reply-To: archival_leaders at aall.archivists.org


Dear Colleague:

Protecting collections is one of our fundamental responsibilities as
archivists. Last year's visits from Katrina, Rita, and Wilma certainly
provided a wake-up call, reminding us of the very real importance of
disaster preparedness. Yet ironically, the Heritage Health Index, released
soon after the hurricanes, reported that few institutions have disaster
plans and for those that do, often the plan is out of date. Given human
nature, it's easy to put off disaster planning as we devote our attentions
to tasks with more immediate "payback."

The Society of American Archivists hopes that your organization will join us
in the "MayDay Project" - a collaborative campaign to improve professionals'
readiness to respond to disaster. The MayDay project encourages all records
and archives professionals to do something on May 1st of each year - even if
it's something simple - to help ensure that they are prepared to respond to
a disaster.

Because disasters are, for many archivists, unexpected and rare, there's
little if any motivation to prepare. By designating a specific date on which
to focus the profession's attention on preparedness, we hope to trigger
individuals to take action. As more individuals and repositories participate
over time, the exercise may become ingrained in our professional
consciousness.

MayDay focuses on doing something simple - something that can be
accomplished in a day but that can have a profound impact on an individual's
or a repository's ability to respond. Taking time to read key policy
documents keeps information fresh. Conducting a drill to evacuate the
building ensures that everyone knows the plan and can identify problems with
it.  Updating contact information, and even creating wallet-size versions of
an emergency contact roster, makes it possible to locate people when time is
critical.  Over time, a repository may choose different activities.

SAA will promote MayDay to its 4,400 members over the next several months
via Archival Outlook, the SAA website, and postings to the Archives and
Archivists List, the SAA Leadership List, and other appropriate listservs.
We will be providing a list of suggested activities from which archivists
might choose, as well as other supporting materials. We would be grateful if
you could distribute this information to your members and help to promote
the idea of MayDay as widely as possible.

If you are willing to participate in the MayDay project, could you please
drop me a note to indicate that you will assist in promoting it?  I look
forward to hearing from you!

If you have questions, concerns, or ideas for how to make MayDay a success,
please let me know.

Best regards.

Richard Pearce-Moses
Society of American Archivists
President, 2005-2006
president at archivists.org
Work: 602-542-4035
Cell: 602-568-5869


o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The Archival Association Leadership Listserv (AALL) is co-sponsored 
by the Council of State Historical Records Coordinators (COSHRC) 
<http://www.coshrc.org> and the Society of American Archivists (SAA) 
<http://www.archivists.org>.

Additional information about the list, including terms of 
participation, may be found at 
<http://www.archivists.org/listservs/aall.asp> or at 
<http://www.coshrc.org/connections/>.

To unsubscribe, send a request to the list moderator, Jenifer 
Burlis-Freilich, at <jbfreilich at coshrc.org>.

Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed on this listserv and the 
information provided by the participants do not necessarily reflect 
the opinions, views, or policies of SAA, COSHRC, or other sponsoring 
institutions or organizations.

______________
   Janet M. Carleton - <carleton at ohio.edu> - 740/597-2527
Digital Initiatives Coordinator / Women's Studies Bibliographer
      Alden 235A, Ohio University Libraries, Athens, Ohio
              <http://www.library.ohiou.edu/> 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.oplin.org/pipermail/ohioarchivists/attachments/20060208/2236fc28/attachment.html