Forum for Classics, Libraries, and Scholarly Communication

Forum for Classics, Libraries, and Scholarly Communication

Minutes of the 2006 Annual Meeting

Meeting date: January 7, 2006, 12:00—2:00 p.m.

Location: Palais des Congrès, Montréal

Attending: A total of 16 people wrote their names and contact information on the sign-in sheet. Those attending included a mix of classicists, librarians, and publishers’ representatives; most were librarians.

Officers: Chair, Rebecka Lindau (Princeton);

Secretary, W. Gerald (Jerry) Heverly (New York University)

·  Presentations:

o  Professor Richard Talbert (UNC, Chapel Hill) gave a talk about the history, activities, and funding of the Ancient World Mapping Center. The center maintains a site for the Barrington Atlas, which receives over 1,000 hits on an average day and which has figured prominently even in K-12 instruction. The center is currently raising an endowment, with the help of an NEH challenge grant, to sustain its activities. The center’s web site is at http://www.unc.edu/awmc/ .

o  Professor Kathleen Coleman (Harvard) gave a presentation about the history of the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL), its transformation into an international project, and its prospects for completion. She also discussed the procedures for writing entries, the TLL’s potential as a research tool, and the scholarly resources available in the TLL project’s library and archives. The TLL’s web site is at http://www.thesaurus.badw.de/

·  Announcements:

o  Rebecka read out an invitation from the APA to provide a representative for a division-wide task force on electronic publishing, which would hold its first meeting later in the day. Catherine Mardikes (Chicago) was unanimously selected as the Forum’s representative and will post a summary of the task force’s meeting to the Forum’s listserv.

o  Rebecka noted the new Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics, a collaborative project of the Classics Department of Princeton and the Classics Department of Stanford. Its purpose is to make the results of current research undertaken by classicists at the two institutions available in advance of final publication. Papers are offered in .pdf format and are downloadable: http://www.princeton.edu/~pswpc

o  Rebecka also noted the online PHI Greek Epigraphy Project, which went public only a month ago: http://erga.packhum.org/inscriptions/

o  Jerry noted that the Forum’s listserv, which doubles as its membership roll, contained 49 individuals as of mid-December. The greater majority were librarians. Some classicists and publishers’ representatives were also members.

o  Jerry, a member of the APA’s development committee, briefed members on the status of L’année philologique. The index’s American Office, which provides citations for most material published in English, needs a $3 million endowment to remain sustainable. The APA is mounting a fundraising campaign, and classics librarians could play an important part in it, both by contributing money and by providing professional assistance. Details of the campaign remain to be worked out but will probably become clear over the next six to nine months.

·  Projects:

o  Archives of Classical Scholars—Rebecka demonstrated a prototype of a database she constructed for inventorying the personal and professional papers of noteworthy American classicists and classical archaeologists. (The database is located on her private web pages for now.) David Sullivan has identified numerous individuals whose archives should be inventoried in the database. Therefore, the following individuals volunteered to help with this work: Brian Herrington, Chuck Jones, Camilla Mackay, and Yang Wang. They will decide among themselves who will work on which names on David’s long list of candidates. The goal is for each volunteer to develop records for 20 individuals over the coming year. When the database is further along, it will be installed on the Forum’s website and presented to the APA’s Division of Research for feedback. Ideally both actions will occur in early 2007.

o  Report on humanities programming in public libraries—Jerry summarized a four-page report he had prepared for the APA’s Division of Outreach concerning model programs for the humanities in public libraries. The division hopes to develop outreach programs for classics that are based in public library settings and will use the report as a basis for further investigation and planning. It was agreed that the report should be added to the Forum’s web site and an announcement to this effect posted to the listserv. Jerry will attend to both points.

o  Bibliography of basic classics books for public libraries—Phoebe Peacock (Library of Congress) and Benjamin Haller (University of Pittsburgh/College of William and Mary) presented a twelve-page bibliography of core titles in classics recommended for acquisition by public libraries. The bibliography was prepared over the course of the last year by a working group of the Forum. It was agreed that the bibliography should be added to the Forum’s web site and that it should be publicized by announcements to listservs for public librarians, in appropriate publications, and, if possible, on the Division of Outreach’s section of the APA’s web site. Phoebe, Ben, and Jerry will be responsible for all such publicity.

·  Sponsorship: Given that the Forum intends to remain a dues-free association, it was agreed that publishers and vendors could be solicited to underwrite the cost of AV equipment for the group’s annual meeting. (AV equipment for the Montréal meeting, for example, cost $250.00.) Jerry will approach prospects and arrange for appropriate acknowledgement of their contributions on the Forum’s web site and at the annual meeting, following the practice of ACRL’s Western European Studies Section.

·  Chair’s research leave: Rebecka will be on leave and unavailable during the first half of 2006. During this time, questions about the Forum, especially those of a time-sensitive nature, should be directed to the secretary.

·  Next meeting: 2007 APA/AIA Conference, San Diego; details will be listed in the APA’s official conference program.

Respectfully Submitted,

W. Gerald Heverly, Secretary