DS Mid-year Board Meeting 09 Feb 2018
The mid-year meeting of the Digital Scriptorium Board of Directors was held on Friday February 9th at the Huntington Library in San Marino, CA, known not only for its collections of rare books and manuscripts, but also for its fabulous gardens. The meeting was hosted by Vanessa Wilkie, DS board member and Curator of Manuscripts and British History at the Huntington Library. There were 7 people in attendance, including Debra Cashion, President (SLU), Janine Pollock, Vice-President (Free Library of Philadelphia); E.C. Schroeder, Treasurer (Yale); Lynn Ransom, Secretary (UPenn); Cherry Williams, Director-at-Large (UC Riverside), Vanessa Wilkie, Director-at-Large (Huntington Library), Lynn Grigsby, Technical Host (UC Berkeley).
Business focused on sustainable financial management, including a new small business bank account, opened recently with Bank of America, and drafts for documentation of received gifts, including a Donor Acknowledgment form and an organizational Investment Policy, in order to accept a recent gift of $10,000 towards building an endowment fund. Also discussed was the new DS User Survey and strategies for attracting user response, including placement on the newly redesigned DS website. Plans were also made to hold a two-day strategic planning meeting with invited experts in the field. E.C. Schroeder, DS Treasurer and Director of the Beinecke Library at Yale, offered to host this event, at a time yet to be determined.
Under new
business, a Nominating Committee was formed to manage the election of board members to be held at the annual meeting on 07 September 2018 at UC Riverside. DS board members are elected for three-year terms, once renewable. Most of the present board is up for re-election, but one board position is open to receive all new nominations. Please email nominations, including self-nominations, to Janine Pollock and/or Lynn Ransom. Nominations will close by 01 August 2018.
Members of the Board were delighted to share lunch with Mary Robertson, former Curator of Manuscripts at the Huntington. The Board will continue its work at its next meeting on 06 September 2018 at UC Riverside in Riverside, CA, followed by the annual meeting of the DS membership on September 7th. Cherry Williams, UC Riverside Director of Distinctive Collections and DS board member, will serve as host. Other institutions in the area are invited to participate in the annual meeting, which is open to all DS Members, Associates, potentially participating institutions, and other interested parties.
The Huntington meeting was scheduled so that members could also attend the California Antiquarian Book Fair, held in Pasadena the same weekend, from 09-11 September 2018. The fair is the largest antiquarian book fair in the country, with over 200 booksellers of rare books and manuscripts. The fair also celebrated the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and DS board member Cherry Williams curated a special exhibition of editions of this famous work, from the first edition of 1818 to later illustrated versions, such as vintage comic books and a recent scholarly edition annotated for scientists and published by MIT Press. Events also included a featured lecture with a panel that included Sara Karloff, the daughter of Boris Karloff, and other critics and scholars on the subject.