ANNUAL CONFERENCE FEATURED SNOW AS USUAL

by Jim Bowman

The 1997 ASA Annual General Meeting and Conference was held on May 2-3 at the Capri Hotel and Convention Centre in Red Deer. The weather was cooperative this time, but with a few flakes of snow observed along the highway from Calgary, a long-standing tradition continued.

The actual meeting was preceded on Friday by two special educational workshops. "Fundraising for Archives" was presented by Rick Klumpenhouwer and Dr. Sandra Thomson, two archivists who have faced major fundraising challenges recently, and museums consultant Lori Van Rooijen.

A workshop on "Document Management Systems", presented by Don Macleod and Cathy Shepard of the Archives of Ontario and Ian Moir of the Northwest Territories Archives, gave good insights on how to select an archival database management system.

Later on Friday afternoon, the Institutional Forum took place, with about 15 Institutional Members represented. Lorraine Mychajlunow of the Alberta Association of Registered Nurses Museum and Archives was elected to a two-year term as Institutional Member at Large. It was agreed to dispense with the usual institutional reports, and there was no further business. To the astonishment of some, the meeting adjourned after five minutes.

On Friday evening, the annual ASA Banquet was enjoyed by many. The after-dinner speech was an outline of the ten-year history of the Canadian Council of Archives. It was written by Chris Hives, president of the CCA, but he was unable to be present. Instead, it was read by Michael Moosberger of the University of Manitoba Archives, who was rewarded for his efforts by the presentation of a bright red cowboy hat, which apparently is a symbol of Red Deer.

Michael Moosberger ponders the significance of his
souvenir of Red Deer: a bright red cowboy hat.

Special guests at the banquet were the members of the CCA Task Force on the Information Highway, including representatives of several provincial archival organizations and the National Archives, who were meeting the same weekend.

On Saturday morning Michael Moosberger gave a presentation, authored by himself this time, as Chair of the CCA Task Force on the Information Highway. One of the Task Force's initiatives is the idea of a national online union list of archival fonds-level descriptions.

Ian Moir demonstrated the Northwest Territories Archives Information Management System (NWT AIMS). Developed in-house using Paradox software, the system provides online access to the very remote archives users of the Territories, and is also used for internal administrative requirements, such as registering accessions and tracking photograph orders.

Susan Kooyman and Apollonia Steele demonstrated the Archives Network of Alberta (ANA) database, which is now available for online searching from the ASA Web site (at http://www.archivesalberta.org/general/database.htm).

In the afternoon, the ASA's Annual General Meeting was called to order by President Bryan Corbett. Reports of committees were given (and written reports were also distributed with the agenda). Elizabeth Denham, nearing the completion of her term as the ASA's Archives Advisor, gave her final report. The Provincial Archivist, Sandra Thomson, reported on developments at the Provincial Archives.

Constitutional amendments were passed without debate. Elizabeth Denham suggested that next year's Annual General Meeting could be part of a joint conference with Saskatchewan and Manitoba archival organizations.

Elections were held for Executive positions. Jim Bowman was nominated for Vice President and was elected by acclamation. Likewise, Lynn McPherson was nominated for Secretary and was elected by acclamation. Bryan announced that Lynette Walton had been appointed by the Executive to complete the two-year term of Individual Member at Large, and that Lorraine Mychajlunow had been elected Institutional Member at Large at the Institutional Forum. President Bryan Corbett and Treasurer Karen Buckley will complete the final year of their two- year term.

For the Grants Committee, Eileen Hendy was elected to a one-year term, and Claudia Ramsay was elected to a two-year term.

With no further business, the meeting adjourned in mid-afternoon, freeing members to enjoy the remainder of the sunny day.