Microfilming Slavic materials

Slavic and East European Microform Project: An Invitation to
Membership

Institutions with an interest in Slavic and East European area
studies are invited to become members of The Slavic and East
European Microform Project. This will be a new project, organized
along the same lines as the other Area Study Microform Projects such
as the Cooperative Africana Microfilm Project (CAMP) and The Latin
American Microfilm Project (LAMP).  Its purpose will be to promote
the preservation of scholarly materials relating to Slavic and East
European studies through cooperative action.

To help get such a group off the ground, a Steering Committee was
formed in June with representatives from several groups already
active in cooperative endeavors in this area.  The members of the
committee were: June Pachuta Farris (University of Chicago)
representing CIC Slavic bibliographers; Michael Biggins (University
of Washington representing several Pacific Coast research libraries;
Robert Davis (New York Public Library) representing the East Coast
Consortium;  and Jared Ingersoll-Casey (Ohio State University)
representing ALA's Slavic Preservation Discussion Group. Marlys
Rudeen was CRL's liaison to the group.

Several years earlier a set of draft by-laws had been put together
by Gay Dannelly from Ohio State University.  The Steering Committee
reviewed them, and also by-laws governing several of the existing
microform projects. The draft by-laws were broken down into sections
for review and comment by the Steering Committee.  Comments came
back to the CRL liaison who in turn posted them to other committee
members, adding her own observations on how some of the other
projects had structured their governance or dealt with issues.  In
this manner the by-laws were examined and revised over the summer
before being posted more widely to the Slavic listserve in October.
A copy of the by-laws is available in paper or by e-mail from Marlys
Rudeen (see address below).

The general mission statement from the by-laws reads as follows:
"The purpose of The Slavic and East European Microform Project
(SEEMP) is to acquire microform copies of unique, scarce, rare
and/or unusually bulky and expensive research material pertaining to
the field of Slavic and East European studies; and to preserve
deteriorating printed and manuscript materials of scholarly value.
Geographically its areas of interest include the countries of
Eastern and Central Europe, the Baltic States, Mongolia and the
countries that were formerly part of the Soviet Union."

The structure will be the same as the existing projects, organized
on the principle of institutional membership with a committee of the
whole and an executive committee to carry out project business
between annual meetings. Each institution has one vote and appoints
its own representative to the Project. The Center for Research
Libraries will take the responsibility of storing and loaning the
materials and providing administrative support.

Membership fees will be $600 per year, entitling member institutions
to: vote on all questions before the committee; borrow all project
materials; purchase positive copies of SEEMP-funded negative
microforms at member prices; and propose suitable titles for
original filming or purchase from commercial sources.

The Steering Committee is asking institutions for a commitment to
join by April 1, 1996.  Invoices would go out at the beginning of
The Center's fiscal year, July 1.  Once institutional commitments
have been received, the by-laws can be adopted by a mail ballot.
After that the Steering Committee can solicit nominations for the
Executive Committee and elections can be held either by mail or
e-mail.

The Executive Committee can take over guiding the project through
its first year, soliciting formal proposals for projects,
circulating the proposals by e-mail and doing whatever else is
necessary for the first annual meeting at AAASS in the Fall.

All of the Center staff have been impressed and encouraged by the
work of the Area Study Microform Projects over the years.  They have
gathered and preserved an amazing amount of valuable and rare
material, making it available to scholars for generations to come.
Staff looks forward to working with Slavic and East European
bibliographers as they begin this new cooperative effort.

Institutions wishing to join this cooperative project should notify Marlys
Rudeen at:

    Marlys Rudeen
    Microform Projects and Preservation Coordinator
    Center for Research Libraries
    6050 S. Kenwood
    Chicago, IL  60615
    312 955-4545 ext. 324
    Fax: 313 955-4339

Marlys Rudeen
Microfilm Projects and Preservation Coordinator
Center for Research Libraries
6050 S. Kenwood Ave.
Chicago, IL 60637
312-955-4545 ext. 324
Fax: 312-955-4339

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 9:55
                Distributed: Wednesday, January 17, 1996
                        Message Id: cdl-9-55-017
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