Month: November 2012

Georgia Collections Sought for Nationwide Digital Library

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The Digital Library of Georgia is accepting applications for original, unpublished historic materials significant to Georgia to be digitized and included in a nationwide digital library.

Georgia libraries, museums, historical societies, archives and other cultural heritage repositories are invited to submit applications for up to five collections each to be considered for digitization and subsequent inclusion in both the Digital Library of Georgia and the Digital Public Library of America. The deadline is Jan. 25. Applications can be found at http://tinyurl.com/d8yt8k6.

The Digital Public Library of America is a groundbreaking project to make our country’s local archives digital, searchable, and freely accessible. Launched last summer by Harvard University, the DPLA recently received a boost when the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation gave $1 million to create seven pilot sites with libraries in Georgia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oregon, South Carolina and Utah to serve as regional hubs. Georgia’s share of the grant, together with additional funding from the Arcadia Foundation, is $350,000.

Based at the University of Georgia Libraries, the Digital Library of Georgia has operated since 2000 as part of Georgia’s GALILEO virtual library. According to Director Toby Graham, the DLG already includes more than a million digital files. “This project will allow us to issue a call for nominations from libraries and archives and other institutions around the state to add more content to the Digital Library of Georgia, which will serve as a pipeline into the Digital Public Library of America,” Graham said.

Selection of materials to digitize will be made according to the availability of resources and the DLG collection development policy, which can be found at http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/About DLG/CollectionDevelopment.html. DLG will be partnering with Lyrasis for the conversion of selected content, and staff hired through the grant funds will create descriptive records.

“Georgia’s public archives – in libraries, colleges and universities – have a rich collection that we’re eager to share with the world,” said Beverly Blake, Macon program director with the Knight Foundation. “Perhaps most importantly, this project will help ensure that our local communities engage with that history and contribute to the collection, helping our libraries become dynamic, digital community centers.”
For more information on the DPLA, see http://dp.la/

Report from FOGAH Advocacy Training

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As you may know, the Friends of Georgia Archives and History (FOGAH) has hired Joe Tanner & Associates, a governmental affairs firm, to advise the group on their interactions with legislators and executive officials as FOGAH continues to push for a restoration of the budget and staff of the Georgia Archives.

At the Society of Georgia Archivists (SGA) annual meeting, held November 7-9 on St. Simon’s Island, Joe Tanner & Associates held a FOGAH sponsored advocacy training. Approximately 60 SGA members and FOGAH supporters attended the training.

The purpose of the session was twofold:

  1. Communicate to attendees the language and focus of FOGAH’s current message;
  2. Teach attendees how to approach their legislators to spread the message

A major priority for FOGAH and Tanner was to create simple, clear message that will be effective. What is known right now is that the Georgia Archives will move to the University System of Georgia. This will likely require a budget item in main budget (aka, the proposed budget for 2013-2014) for the State of Georgia.

The message developed by FOGAH can be boiled down to three basic points:

  1. We support the Governor’s recommendation to move the administration of the Georgia Archives to the University System;
  2. The Secretary of State has shown his support for this recommendation;
  3. The University System and the Governor will determine the needed level of funding to restore the Georgia Archives and offer a recommendation for the State budget. We would like a minimum of 1.15 million in new money in the budget. Even though there is a minimum wanted by FOGAH, we want State legislators to support the true assessment of need from the University System.

Attendees were asked to stick to this message when approaching their legislators.

Another major initiative for FOGAH is to find supporters in each House and Senate district who are willing to speak directly to their legislators. Joe Tanner stressed that these officials (who are elected every 2 years) are most likely to be responsive to their own constituents, and that they should hear a repeating, unified message about the issue.

Tanner’s advice included:

  1. Arrange a face to face meeting with your Senator and Representative;
  2. If they will not meet, try to get them on a short call;
  3. If possible, take 1-2 other constituents with you to meet them;
  4. Tell them up front that you are their constituent contacting them about a statewide issue;
  5. Tell them that you are interested in the issue because you are a member of a specific group;
  6. Leave behind the handout created by the SGA President (these were made available to attendees, and can be sent to interested parties by contacting outreach@soga.org);
  7. If you can’t answer a question they have, tell them you will get back with them, contact FOGAH or SGA for and answer, then follow up;
  8. Follow up your call or meeting with a thank you/reminder.

Tanner & Associates encouraged members to look at letters and/or emails as a path of last resort. These are much less reliable avenues of contact when you are trying to communicate a specific message. If you must resort to one of these, make sure to personalize your letter of email. Any kind of form message should be avoided.

These contacts should start in January, after the holidays, and while the new legislative session is still slow and officials have more time to meet with constituents.

FOGAH still needs volunteers to meet their goal of one per Senate and House district. Further training sessions, including web based sessions, will be given in the future.

If you are interested in getting involved, please contact the SGA Outreach Co-Managers at outreach@soga.org.

Be an annual meeting correspondent!

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Are you attending the annual meeting this week? We’d like to hear from you!

The SGA Newsletter would like to get the widest possible coverage of this year’s annual meeting. To that end, we’re soliciting volunteers to act as correspondents for the meeting.

Your report of a session or event should be between 1-2 paragraphs. Ideally, no more than 3 people should cover the same session or event, although multiple points of view will add interest.

Please use the session sign-up sheet to volunteer and to select a session or event. You may select more than one. You can view the annual meeting schedule (PDF) for session descriptions and participants. View the response summary in advance to determine which sessions and events are already covered.

If you use Google Drive, you can access a shared folder to create and save your report. Or, you can email them to anne (dot) m (dot) graham (at) gmail (dot) com. Also email if you have any questions or need additional information.

Thanks and I look forward to seeing you this week!