2 Reminders

MayDay - Saving Our Archives - is Saturday, May 1, 2010. What are you doing this year? For more information on MayDay and ideas for activities, see the SAA MayDay webpage.




Preservation Week - Pass it on: Saving Heritage and Memories - is May 9-15, 2010. To learn more about this new annual event, visit the Preservation Week webpage of the American Library Association (ALA). ALA encourages libraries and other institutions to use Preservation Week to connect our communities through events, activities, and resources that highlight what we can do, individually and together, to preserve our personal and shared collections.

CARA members, let us know what you are doing for these 2 events and we will share your story here.

Graduation Announcement

Congratulations to CARA Member, Merle Branner!

Merle is graduating from Dominican University, May 8, 2010 from the School of Library and Information Science with a MLIS degree with a focus in archival studies.

Merle interned with Marcia Stein at the Robert M. Myers Archives, Society of the Divine Word and is currently interning at Media Burn, an independent video archives in Chicago.

Merle intends to stay in the area and continue to be the archivist at North Shore Congregation Israel. She is also looking for a paid informational professional position. Merle hopes to utilize her diverse talents in photography, multi media, technology, and education in an academic, corporate, non-profit and/or museum repository. Check out her e-portfolio here!

In addition, Merle will be presenting her paper, The Servant Leadership Dynamic between Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson: How They Changed Baseball and Our Country, at the 22nd Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture, in June 2010 at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

Good luck and congrats, Merle!

Malachy and Diane at MAC

Malachy McCarthy, CARA President, was a speaker at MAC 2010 today, Thursday, April 22nd and did our group proud! The 3:30-5:00 pm well-attended session was called
"Special Interest Groups: Surviving with the Three C's: Collaboration, Continuing Education and Cost Savings." Malachy discussed the beginnings of CARA, what we do to support each other, programs we have held and hopes for the future, including a special interest sub-group for Archon users.

Diane Pugh, CARA Vice-President, graciously chaired the session which included two other speakers from similar local specialty groups. Susan Rishworth, American College of Surgeons, represented and discussed the Chicago Area Medical Archivists (CAMA). David Malone, Wheaton College, represented and discussed the Archives Special Interest Group (SIG) of LIBRAS , a consortium of private liberal-arts colleges and universities in the Chicago area.

Great ideas were shared on what made these groups succesful - a number of which CARA might initiate! The session attendees can now take these ideas and establish similar groups in their locale!

Well done Diane and Malachy! CARA has a bright future thanks to your leadership!

Apologies for the lack of photos from the session - too engrossed in the discussion! :(

AT/Archon Integration - Websites to Come

A new collabrative website called ArchivesSpace.org is being developed to document the integration process of Archon and Archivist's Toolkit. Archivists are invited to participate in building the site by submitting ideas, opinions and papers. Susan Harum, from the University of Illinois in Champaign, is the project director of ArchivesSpace. She can be contacted at sharum@illinois.edu

To read more check out: http://archiviststoolkit.org/forum/18

The SAA Archivists' Toolkit Roundtable (ATRT) Steering Committee is also in the process of setting up its own website that will provide easy access to tips, tools, user manuals and any community-developed materials that would facilitate their implementation and adoption of the tool. The SAA ATRT website is envisioned to be a point of access for community assistance and networking.

More news on the websites to come!

You're invited - CARA Spring 2010 Meeting!

It's official - the CARA Spring 2010 meeting will be held on Thursday, May 13th from 1:30 -4:00 pm at the Arlington Heights Historical Museum. If you are interested in learning some tricks and tips on setting up displays and exhibits, then this meeting is for you!

Mickey Horndasch, curator at the Arlington Heights Historical Museum (AHHM), is presenting a ‘how to’ style workshop on ‘setting up exhibits & displays’ taking into account limited budgets and preservation, as well as design tips. Mickey is responsible for setting up temporary exhibits in the AHHM Heritage Gallery.

After the presentation we will be able to tour the AHHM Heritage Gallery. The current exhibit, Gone but Not Forgotten: Lost Arlington Heights, showcases photographs and artifacts relating to the village’s past.

The cost to attend is $5 for CARA members and is payable at the door. Snacks and drinks will be provided. Limit 20 people.

Due to the limited number of people attending, you must reserve a spot! Please RSVP to Joan Sweeney by Friday, April 30, 2010 at jsweeney@viatorians.com or (847) 637-2130.

The announcement for this meeting was sent out to CARA members yesterday, April 13th. If we do not get 20 people signed up within the next 2 weeks, the invitation will be extended to CAA members. So be sure to RSVP ASAP!!

For directions, parking and other info, see the flyer that was sent out or visit the AHHM website at http://www.ahmuseum.org/

CARA Spring 2010 Meeting

The Spring meeting is now being planned for an afternoon in May at the Arlington Heights Historical Museum (AHHM) in Arlington Heights. We will be learning tips and tricks for setting up exhibits & displays. Stay tuned for more info!