Sorry you missed the More Product, Less Process presentation at the annual meeting?
Want to know how to alleviate backlogs in your repository?

Join SGA as we co-sponsor our annual Spring Workshop with the Society of American Archivists. “Implementing More Product, Less Process” will be given on May 17, 2010, location TBD. Check the SGA website for registration details soon.

SGA’s Scholarship Committee awards the Banks Scholarship to an SGA member who would like to attend. Check out http://www.soga.org/banks to learn about how to apply.

SAA’s description of the workshop:

Backlogs don’t have to weigh as heavily as they do! Focus on implementing concrete strategies for increasing processing rates and reducing backlogs, as outlined in the Greene-Meissner article, “More Product, Less Process: Revamping Traditional Archival Processing,” and learn as you share information and experiences with fellow workshop participants. Topics include appraisal, arrangement, description, digitization, and preservation, as well as development of processing plans, policies, and benchmarks. This array of topics is addressed through lecture, case studies, and group discussion.

Workshop objectives:

• Understand the concepts and arguments outlined in “More Product, Less Process;”
• Implement strategies for increasing processing rates in a variety of institutions;
• Apply techniques for managing efficient processing programs, including developing processing plans, policies, and benchmarks;
• Understand how descriptive standards such as DACS can assist in the creation of descriptive records that adhere to “minimum” requirements and assist in the reuse of data in a variety of outputs; and
• Develop strategies for integrating processing with other archival functions, particularly accessioning.

Who should attend? Archivists who process archival collections or manage archival processing programs and administrators interested in processing procedures within their repositories (introductory to intermediate levels).

For more information, contact the SGA Education Committee at education@soga.org

Congratulations to Brittany Bennett Parris, SGA Webmaster and archivist at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, on being included in SAA’s Archival Haiku publication!

*Image “courtesy” of eHow.

Start 2010 off right with a visit to the SGA web site!

New forms have been added to SGA’s Forms Forum!

Under Film Preservation, you will find the University of Washington State’s Film Preservation Manual (our first non-Georgia addition to the FF).

Under Processing and Stacks Maintenance Forms, you will find the MPLP guidelines and checklist used at the Southern Labor Archives, Georgia State University Library.

Find them all here: http://soga.org/forms

Of course, we welcome forms, guidelines, and manuals from all Special Collections and Archival repositories for inclusion on the Forms Forum page.

Please send any questions to forms@soga.org.

Where: The Fabulous DeSoto Hilton in Historic Downtown Savannah, Georgia
When: Thursday, November 5, 2009
Time: 6:25-7:20 pm, somewhere after/during food and drink acquisition, and somewhen before dispersal for general merriment…

From the desk of our honorable auctioneer, the illustrious Gilbert Head…

Once again, Ladies and Gentlemen, we near the autumn of the year, and with the falling leaves we also plan to harvest the bounty of the 9th annual auction for SGA scholarships. Yet again, I represent the Scholarship Committee for the Society of Georgia Archivists , and by virtue of this auction having originally been my idea, find myself yet again in the position of serving for spokesman for this, the eighth edition of the SGA Scholarship Auction. As in years gone by, 100% of the proceeds of this auction will go towards the myriad scholarships and awards administered by the SGA, including our more recently created SGA-sponsored workshop scholarships. These newer funding opportunities will help underwrite the workshop costs of scholarship recipients, as we continue to broaden out efforts to support continuing education in our community. As in years past, we once more submit a few examples of the sorts of treasures one might be expected to bid upon or perhaps donate in this worthy enterprise. Some of these items will look familiar, and yet others will be new, in out never-ending quest to broaden the scope of delights from the overburdened chiffarobe of culture’s bounty. Monkeys will be abounding, and we expect a return of the paired Disco Chalices which seem to crop up in each new offering.

It should be remembered that these sample items are intended to suggest possibilities for donation, and to whet the appetite of potential bidders bu not necessarily limit the scope of those things to be placed upon the block…

A “Widow’s Mite”; Bronze Prutah, Reign of Alexander Jannaeus, 103-76 BC.
This coin represents one of the probable coins referred to in the Biblical parable of the Widow’s Mite (Mark 12:41-44), as it was the smallest coin in circulation in the Holy Land at the Time of Christ.

A Denarius of Severus Alexander (222-225 AD).
This silver coin was the basic unit of exchange in Imperial Rome.

Pubbii Ovidii Nasonis Operum, Tomus III.
Amsterdam, 1701, 4 3/4″ x 2 1/2″. Full vellum binding.

1961 Proof Set, Philadelphia Mint.
Again, supplied in original U.S. Mint packaging.

…and plenty more old coins….

These items are not meant to define the parameters of what we will accept as an auction item, but rather to give some idea of the scope of what we hope to be offering. We will not be accepting firearms or alcoholic consumables for this auction, but will be grateful for whatever else you wish to donate.

Items can either be brought in person to the SGA Annual Meeting in November, or sent to the following address:

Gilbert Head
University Archives
Hagrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602-1641

Questions about the auction can be addressed to the same place, or to Gilbert head at eghead@uga.edu

If you are bringing the item to Athens, please plan to drop it off at the auction table during registration. This table will also provide a place to make a “silent bid” for those unable or uninterested to participate in the live auction.

If you are planning to contribute something, please prepare a 3″ x 5″ card for each item with your name, a brief description and any details which you think might enhance sale of the item, whether you wish to target the proceeds to a specific fund (the Carroll Hart Scholarship, to attend the Georgia Archives Institute; the Larry Gulley Scholarship, to attend the SGA Annual Meeting; the Edward Weldon Scholarship, to atten the SAA Annual meeting; the Brenda S. Banks Educational Workshop Scholarship, to attend the SGA Spring Workshop; the Anthony R. Dees Educational Workshop Scholarship, to attend the SGA Fall Workshop; or the David B. Gracy Award [adminstered by the Editorial Board of Provenance), and whether or not you wish to have an assigned minimum bid (though we ask that you limit this last request, as the object of the auction is to raise money for these various worthy funds).

And even those who do not donate can participate! Bring us your money (we’ll be set up to take cash or checks, but not credit cards), and your finely honed bidding skills, and prepare to have a splendid time as we help our scholarship funds grow. Jim Dandy, the Official Sock Monkey of the SGA Auction, asks you to give, and give generously; excavate your spare tremisses and merks, and come to Savannah ready to have yet another splendid time wearing down the auctioneer, and fired up to bid on treasures galore…it’ll be something to tell the future gnerations, or at the very least, we’ll have a little fun, and raise a few dollars along the way. See y’all there/then.