Archiving Information

Chairs of all IS committees, task forces, and other working groups are responsible for creating a record of the work of their group. At year’s end, the chair is responsible for making sure that documents are submitted as described below, for the purpose of creating continuous records for the section, as well as meeting our obligations to ACRL. These records should be archived:

What to submit

  • Agendas
  • Minutes
  • News Items
  • Publications
  • Project documents
  • Confidential materials should not be submitted to the archive. Minutes of confidential conversations (such as award discussions) should be general instead of specific, e.g. “Nominees were discussed.”

Timeline for submission

  • Agendas for each meeting should be contributed before the meeting happens
  • Minutes should be posted within two weeks of a meeting
  • All archive materials are due no later than 1 August following the committee year.

Format, naming, & folder structure

  • All archive materials should be submitted in PDF format.
  • Please name files according to the naming conventions as best you can, but use your judgment if the conventions do not fit the document.
  • if you fee that adding subfolders to the “news-projects-publications” folder makes sense for your committee, feel free to do that.  Do not add subfolders to “agendas-minutes” or “planning-forms.”

How to submit materials

  1. Log in to ALA Connect.
  2. You can access the archive using this link: Instruction Section Archive
    Or you can browse the ALA Communities by selecting the “Communities” drop-down menu. Then search for Instruction Section Archive.
  3. You will have to join this group in order to add files. However, once you are done adding files, you can leave the group.
    Screenshot of how to join the archive community in ALA Connect.
  4. To add documents, click the “Add” button. It is the icon on the right side of the page (just to the left of the heading “Latest Shared Files.”
    Screenshot of the add button for the IS Archive in ALA Connect
  5. Give your file name a title.
  6. On the same page select the appropriate file folder. (The Archives are organized by committee name. First navigate to your committee’s name; then locate the subfolder for the appropriate year.)  Finally, at the bottom of the page select the “Entry Type.” In most cases this will be “Standard File Upload.”
  7. Click “Next.” On the following page upload your file.
  8. Click “Finish.”

Responsibilities of the secretary and archivist

  • June / July beginning of committee year – Incoming Archivist should announce at Chair orientation that archives will need to be compiled and explain what should be in them
  • Any time – Secretary should create new folder in archive for any newly created task forces or committees.  Beginning in 2014, the Secretary ill also collect annual planning and reporting forms and will add those to the archive as well.
  • Midwinter and Annual – Secretary should confirm that agendas are posted before the meeting, and minutes after the meeting
  • June / July end of committee year –
    • Secretary should remind chairs of their responsibility to submit their archives
    • Incoming Archivist should confirm that all materials are posted to the archive and send reminders as needed to Chair
    • Archivist should submit PDF copies of minutes to ACRL (as of March 2013 to Megan Griffin at ACRL)
    • Archivist should print copies of agendas, and minutes, and mail them to ACRL (also Megan Griffin)

Updated Fall 2013
Developed by Jennifer Knievel (Archivist) and Maura Seale (Secretary)