Minutes of the Adventist Resources Section
Association of Seventh-day Adventist Librarians
Takoma Park, Maryland
June 21, 1998
Titus 2:13 speaks about the blessed hope. The blessed hope is mentioned about 300 times in the New Testament. But as the centuries passed, the blessed hope dimmed, until the early 1800s when it was again revived.
Norma recounted the story of H. S. Gurney called the singing blacksmith. The Millerites did not normally go south of the Mason Dixon line for a variety of reasons. However, in 1843, Joseph Bates felt a burden to go south to Maryland and he asked H. S. Gurney to accompany him. Bates and Gurney ended up on Kent Island, Maryland, where, in time, they ran into difficulties with the local slave owners. Bates was able to diffuse the tensions and they were able to talk to and help a number of the slaves know more about Jesus and His soon coming.
The story of Gurney continued. Norma recounted how he came into an unexpected payment of money and how he used the money to pay the bill for some printing work Bates had at the printer. Bates never knew who paid his bill.
Gurney became involved in a vision of Ellen White and a miracle when several of them set off to an island to visit some friends. A storm blew up, and Ellen White had a vision that all would be well since her ministry was just beginning. That evening, Gurney tied up the boat, but was afraid it may drift away over the night. The next morning the boat was gone. Later, the boat owner thanked Gurney for returning the boat to his dock undamaged.
The over-arching theme of Gurney's life was one of telling others about the second coming of Jesus and helping them to get ready for that event. He spent the last 30 years of his life shepherding the Memphis, Michigan, church.
Over 150 years have passed since 1844, but we can still have the blessed hope.
The General Conference Working Policy stipulates that all SDA organizations are to have a program to protect and preserve the records produced in the course of their activities. Many institutions fail to follow this policy. When colleges and universities want to do something in this area, the library often becomes the place for these records. Bill spent time reviewing the whole process of records management and archives to help librarians understand what they can do in this matter.
Records can include the following, but are not limited to these: minutes, correspondence, project/topical/subject files, student files, syllabi, affiliation documents, accreditation documents, and statistics.
There are three phases to records management:
Active. The active phase is where the records are kept in or near the office of origin.
Non-current. Based on a previously approved retention schedule, many records many be destroyed, but certain records may be transferred from the office of origin to a lower cost storage center after a certain amount of time. During the time when they are in this storage area, the office of origin will have sole authority to determine who may have access to them. To make storage easier, use standard size boxes which are cheaper than file cabinets. Identify the contents of each box.
Archival. Based on a previously approved retention schedule, the remaining records may either be destroyed or transferred to archival storage based on what type of records they are. The type of records to be retained permanently include key committee minutes, correspondence of various administrators, year-end financial reports, the general ledger, accreditation and affiliation documents, legal charters, property records, and student transcript records. Many other records which have historical value or records which show how an organization performed its function should also be retained. Certain records such as school publications and promotional items can go directly to the archives as soon as they are created.
Personnel type of records are usually restricted access. Other records may also have access restricted for varying amounts of time due to the sensitive nature of the topic or situation. In general, however, archival records are open for research use. Archival quality microforms are often the best way to preserve large quantities of records. Microforms do not require much space, are low tech, and are long lasting if prepared and stored properly. Good quality paper is fine, but takes more space.
Preserving Records:
Currently, the GC Archives encourages the various offices to submit records to them in electronic format. This reduces the paper flow, and allows wider access even from remote locations. The GC is setting up an electronic document management system where everyone authorized can see records stored electronically.
In the long term, someone has to take the responsibility to migrate the data and the equipment. It will be time consuming and expensive. The GC will try to "leapfrog" a medium. For example, going from 16mm film to DVD, by-passing video tape. Migration of data and equipment is a major consideration for anyone handling electronic records. How many can read the old 12 inch word processing floppy disks from 15 years ago? How many new computers come with 5.25 inch disk drives?
Administration has the key role. The program and its policies should be approved and reviewed periodically by the administration. Best if this is once during the administrative term, often five years between constituency meetings.
Librarians and archives go about organizing things quite differently. Librarians are subject oriented, while archivists are organizational structure oriented.
Every organization has a number of records which, were they to be destroyed, would pose a serious problem. These vital records include certain financial records, payroll records, property records, and service records.
Bill and the GC Archives are willing to help any institution to the extent they are able. They have several documents available which could be of help. These include:
Jim Nix, of the Ellen G. White Estate, presented a document recently approved outlining what it takes for any institution to become an Ellen G. White Study Center. One official research center is normally approved per world division, but any school could qualify to become a study center. In the near future, the main difference is who pays the bill.
Tim presented a number of new products from the White Estate. Recent books include Messenger of the Lord by Herbert Douglass, Daughters of God, an Ellen White compilation, Voice of the Spirit, by Viera, Heal the World, a new edition of Ministry of Healing, and a simplified edition of Steps to Christ. The Estate board has also authorized a pilot project to bring the Conflict of the Ages series up to date in its language.
The primary product Tim talked about is entitled Legacy of Light. It is an interactive, multimedia product containing most of Mrs. White's published books, the four volume comprehensive index, plus material for children as well as photographs, an interactive virtual tour of the White Estate office and vault, music, biographies, and art. It is an exciting product which should be available later in 1998.
The CD of Mrs. White's unpublished writings is still in production. Hopefully it will be released in the next couple of years.
Merlin read a summary of a paper he prepared entitled, A Practical Approach to Archival Preservation. Archival preservation falls within the scope of conservation, but excluded restoration. The purpose of preservation is the protecting of the object from itself and external influences. This is usually a compromise between cost and protection. The paper went on to provide five relatively low cost way archives can minimize deterioration of are and valuable holdings.
A couple of additional thoughts:
Marilyn Crane
The minutes of the June 22, 1997 meeting of the ASDAL Adventist Resources Section meeting at La Sierra University were reviewed. It was VOTED to accept them as presented.
Merlin Burt spent a few minutes taking us on a tour, via the Internet, of a series of new databases recently available at Loma Linda. They allow searching for SDA names, the Ellen G. White question and answer file, and about 1,800 photographs now available. This is a very useful tool.
As a follow up from last years meeting, Merlin Burt presented a few thoughts on this topic. He feels that the cut off date for "rarity" should be 1880. Nothing before 1880 should be circulating. Books from this period are valued at $30 to $50 minimum. Anything from the Battle Creek Steam Press is rare. After 1880, be careful about inter-library loan. Some participants suggested that anything before 1900 should be considered for non-circulating status.
There has been a big change in the SDA book market in recent years. In the past it was fairly common to see books from the 1870s available for a few dollars. Today, it is very rare to see anything.
Jim Ford updated the group on the progress made since last year on the list of manuscript holdings by NAD colleges and universities. He toured the ASDAL home page which now has an Adventist Resources group. At this group is the Unified Collection Development Policy page which shows the mission, goals, and a summary of each institutions collection emphasis. Another part of the Adventist Resources group is the Manuscript Collections Held by Seventh-day Adventist Libraries. This now includes most NAD colleges and universities plus the GC Archives and the White Estate. There is no report from AUC, and Kettering, and Florida Hospital College report they do not have anything of historical interest in their holdings.
The group was pleased this list is now available electronically. They also felt effort should now be directed to try to include overseas institutions. It was VOTED that we expand this project to include international institutions. It was further VOTED to thank Jim Ford for his work on the Manuscript Collection database.
Jim Ford updated the group on the progress made since last year on the cooperative obituary index. Quite a few titles were completed this year by four different institutions--Andrews, Columbia Union, La Sierra, and Walla Walla. Special thanks to Walla Walla for completing the North Pacific Union Gleaner in two years of work.
Jim, as coordinator of this project, sought input on what direction the project should take in the future. There is still a lot to do on the initial phase, but some cooperating libraries do not have any of the titles left to do. After considerable discussion, it was VOTED that as we finish the current list of periodical titles that we expand to other titles including ones from overseas.
New titles suggested included the various NAD alumni papers, the Southern Africa Union paper, Maranatha, Southern Asia Tidings, Far Eastern Division Outlook, Eastern Africa Division Outlook, and Our Educational Messenger.
Part of the discussion involved changing the abbreviations currently used in many entries to the actual name. Another item discussed had to do with including local newspaper obituaries. The group saw value in this but felt it best to wait a while to try to do this.
Keith Clouten, Chair of the SDAPI Board, gave a brief review of the history of the Index from the days it began in 1971 at Loma Linda until it moved in 1993 to Andrews University. It has a current budget of around $50,000 per year, most of which comes from the NAD college and university libraries which sponsor it. The Index went electronic four years ago; the print edition continues. A few of the attendees still use the print edition.
Keith reviewed a few of the issues currently facing the Index.
A number in attendance liked the idea of a CD version or a "mirror" edition centered in Europe and the Pacific rim. Keith hopes the computer problems which hit the Andrews computer system in January will be a thing of the past. The new hardware should make a crash much less likely.
Next year, the Adventist Resources Section should discuss ideas for an expansion of the Seventh-day Adventist Periodical Index.
In past years, Adventist Resources Section has talked about developing an SDA bibliography of all SDA titles. However, as certain people have talked about the project, it becomes overwhelming. Also, with almost all NAD library catalogs available on the Internet, is there as much need as in the past for some other form of this list? If so, how should we proceed?
Some points made:
Tony Zbaraschuk reported that there isn't much to report. The database will reside on the Andrews University computer as part of the SDA Periodical Index. It will use the basic MARC record with which librarians are familiar. No abstracts will be used due to copyright issues and time restraints. Data entry will be at La Sierra. We should correspond with various overseas schools to get them involved.
After some discussion it was VOTED to continue with collecting information on masters thesis and dissertations related to Seventh-day Adventism, and that we continue to work on defining the scope and procedures for this project while we defer, temporarily, the Seventh-day Adventist Bibliography project.
Marilyn Crane presented a discussion on collecting variant edition of SDA titles. These are titles with variations in printing date, publishing location, physical appearance and size, different end papers, and series vs. monograph. She showed numerous examples of these variations.
The reason for collecting these is to show, among other things, the changing publishing styles, and how the church went about its mission via the printed word. This documents the publishing history of a title as well as allows research in how changes were introduced in a title over time.
These variations can be shown in the note field in most cases. Currently, only Loma Linda and Andrews are known to collect variants such as these.
At last years ARS meeting, a committee of five was set up to see how we could help the Adventist Pioneer Library bring their CD Rom of the Review and Herald into the 20th century. The committee asked for a projected cost to enter the missing years. Three times this request was forwarded to APL but with no response.
Since the last meeting of ARS, Harvey Brenneise, one of the members of the small committee has left Church employment. It was VOTED to place Tony Zbaraschuk on this committee.
The terms for Merlin Burt and Jim Ford expire with this year. However, since Merlin was voted Chair of the committee last year, this, according to some, extended his term an extra year. To make this official, it was VOTED that Merlin Burt's term of service on this committee be extended one additional year, and he will serve as chair during this time. It was also VOTED that Jim Ford serve a three year term on this committee. The committee will appoint a secretary.
