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President's Message - Fall 2002
Jo-Ann Munn Gafuik, President, Archives Society of Alberta
I would like to take this opportunity to set out the Board's agenda for the coming year.
The CAIN project will of course absorb much of the Board's time and attention again this year. We are moving into a new phase though since, for the most part, the infrastructure is in place. Hardware and software has been supplied to all member institutions who expressed a need, connections to the internet have been established where they didn't already exist, the main server has been set up and the technical team is in the final stages of tailoring the Cinemage software to suit our needs.
The Board would like to focus attention next on establishing content standards for web sites containing archival descriptions and digitized archival images. We expect descriptive and digitization projects to be well-funded, at least for the next year, and we want to ensure that the resulting work will serve public needs for some time to come.
We expect that we will continue to experience problems finding well qualified staff to fill some of the more technically demanding jobs but fortunately, we have signed contracts with several key people to ensure that the project remains on track. Geraldine Harris will continue in her role as project manager until 2005; Janet McMaster will be coordinating staffing requirements for the archival description for contracts, and organizing training for RAD and Cinemage, as well as serving as ANA systems administrator; Scott Goodine will write or revise fonds level descriptions for members in the north of the province and we will be taking full advantage of the contractors available in the south to meet the demand south of Red Deer.
The Board is also interested in continuing to develop opportunities for the continuing education of working archivists. We operate in an increasingly complex and busy environment. Continuous learning is key to keeping up. However, the Board is going to find it difficult to operate without a chair for the Education Committee. Michael Gourlie and Carrie Herrick have kept things going over the last year and will continue to do so, but it is really our responsibility as members of the Society to provide the administrative team with direction.
Finally, the Board will continue to react to situations that demand a response from our community, but we are also interested in being more proactive advocates for our profession. A committee has been established to review issues that will result from the future enactment of privacy in private sector legislation. We may also want to look at what we can do to ensure the flow of qualified staff or examine the role of archives within public institutions. If you are interested in a particular issue and are willing to put time into it, let us know and we will facilitate the organization of a working group.
Please forward ideas for future directions or comments / questions about current programs at any time.
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