Meeting Minutes

IMLS CONNECTING TO COLLECTIONS GRANT FOR WYOMING
MINUTES
March 20, 2008

ROLL CALL: Janet Woods, University Libraries; Judy Knight, Laramie Plains Museum; Cecily Goldie, Nici Self Museum; Troy Rumpf, Laramie County Library System; Christina Bird, CFD Old West Museum; Michelle Bahe, Ft. Caspar Museum; Lesley Boughton, Wyoming State Library; Terri Schindel, Museum Training Network; Sarah Gadd, UW Art Museum; Denise Patton, Carbon County Museum; Kathy Marquis, Albany County Public Library; Laura Douglas, CWAM; Teresa Sherwood, Wyoming Territorial Park; and Tina Hill, Wyoming Frontier Prison.

CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order by Teresa Sherwood. The members of the group went around the table and introduced themselves. After discussion, the group appointed Teresa and Laura Douglas as Chair and Co-Chair and Tina Hill as the Secretary.

A sign in sheet was passed around the table.

This group gathered to discuss the IMLS “Connecting to Collections” grant for Wyoming. IMLS is offering a $40,000.00 grant to each of the 50 States. After the initial round of grants is approved, IMLS intents to offer a limited number of $500,000.00 implementation grants. According to the announcement from IMLS:

“IMLS invites proposals for statewide, collaborative planning grants to address the recommendations of the Heritage Health Index (HHI) which found the collections held in the public trust to be at great risk. The report offered four recommendations for collecting institutes:
-To provide safe conditions for their collections;
-To develop emergency plans;
-To assign responsibility for collections care; and
-To marshal public and private support for, and raise public awareness about, collections care.
These grants will engage institutions in collaborative planning partnerships to address one or more of the HHI recommendations. Projects should demonstrate how the participating organizations (libraries, museums, archives, and relevant statewide organizations) will work together in a planning process that moves the state closer to achieving shared collections stewardship goals and an appropriate and achievable plan for action.”

Teresa and Laura contacted IMLS to see if Wyoming’s Connecting to Collections grant may be applied for through Colorado-Wyoming Association of Museums (CWAM). The grant requires a leading agency to administer the grant. Wyoming does not have an agency that over-sees all of our museums and none of the larger museums or libraries in Wyoming were willing to take the lead on this statewide grant, so CWAM seemed liked the best option. CWAM has applied for and received IMLS grants in the past.

Matt Mayberry of the Colorado Springs Pioneer Museum was recently in Washington D.C and he met with IMLS to discuss the Connecting to Collections grant. Colorado would also like to apply for their grant through CWAM. MPMA is considering a multi-state application. The IMLS officials thought that applying through CWAM would work out well for Wyoming and Colorado. Because CWAM has no staff we would include a paid grant administrator in the requested budget.

This state wide grant needs to be as inclusive as possible in order to receive funding. Key players/supporters for the Wyoming grant could be the State Library Association, the Wyoming State Museum, CWAM, the Wyoming State Archives, the University of Wyoming, the Buffalo Bill Historic Center, the Museum Training Network, the Western State and Territory Preservation Service, and the individual museums and libraries through out Wyoming.

GRANT GOALS: When discussing the goals for the Wyoming Connecting to Collections grant it is important to decide what outcomes we want from the grant. Once we decide the outcomes we can decide what activities we need to accomplish to get where we want to be.

Terri Schindel submitted a grant for Wyoming during the first round of the grant application. Unfortunately that grant was not accepted. Terri provided a portion of her grant, along with some of the peer reviewers’ comments, for those in attendance to review. Terri’s first grant focused mainly on Disaster Preparedness.

Is Disaster Preparedness what is most needed for Wyoming museums and libraries? Or is there something even more elementary that is needed?

At this point of the meeting, those in attendance spoke about the greatest needs their museums and libraries faced. Many around the table thought that a collections risk assessment would be very beneficial. A risk assessment would look at the threats from within an organization that put the collections at risk. Things such as a lack of funding, staff shortages, staff education, the facilities the collection is displayed and stored in, security, the governance of the museum or library, the operations of the Board, all can harm the collections in a library or museum. Once the risks are identified, it is possible to come up with a mitigation plan to protect the collections. Funding from the second implementation grant would allow Wyoming museums and libraries to carry out the steps needed to protect the collections.

After the discussion, it seemed as if most of the museums and libraries represented at this meeting first needed to do an assessment of their collections and then following closely behind was a need for an emergency plan. The best way to accomplish this outcome seemed to be to create another survey; similar to the one IMLS developed for the HHI, but make this one very specific to the state of Wyoming.

The survey can be done through the UW Survey & Analysis Center and reviewed by Wyoming’s Economic Analysis agency. CWAM and the participating museums and libraries will write the survey. The survey will be sent to all of the libraries (22) and museums (approximately 200) in Wyoming. (A note after the meeting from Janet Woods “…wanted to comment that in addition to the 23 county libraries you might want to send the survey to the University and Community College libraries and the American Heritage Center at UW”. At the very least you might want to include any of these agencies that agree to be partners in the grant process.)

Once the survey results come in it is very important that the information is disseminated to the museums and libraries across Wyoming. This way different museums and libraries can partner themselves with others that are at the same level of collections care for joint training or sharing of ideas and resources. CWAM will easily be able to get this information out to the libraries and museums through the use of their newsletter, web site, and the Annual Meeting.

The project will be divided into three phases: 1. Create the Survey; 2. Do the Survey; and 3. Connect different museums and libraries by their needs.

ACTION ITEMS: 1. Write a job description for the grant administrator; 2. Find out what the UW Survey & Analysis Center will charge for the survey; 3. Create a budget for the grant; 4. Gather letters of support and partnership; 5. Get CWAM’s official approval of applying for the “Connecting to Collections Grant for Wyoming”; 6. Write the grant; 7. Read/Review the grant.

The grant is due on October 16, 2008. If we submit the grant early enough, IMLS will review the grant. We can then make any necessary changes before October 16th. It was decided that we need to submit the grant by September 1, 2008 to allow time for review. Luckily for us, IMLS representatives will be in Denver three times this year with the AAM meeting, the AIC meeting, and the Connecting to Collections forum, so if we have any questions we should be able to find someone to help.

The next “Connecting to Collections Grant for Wyoming” meeting will be held during the CWAM Annual Meeting in Sheridan, WY. We will meet on May 9, 2008 at the Best Western bar in Sheridan at 4:45 p.m. Teresa will ask JJ Rutherford to send out a state-wide invitation for this meeting through the CWAM email list.

With no further discussion, the meeting adjourned.

Respectfully Submitted,

Tina Hill
Secretary

- Our next meeting will be in Sheridan, at the Best Western hotel bar on May 9th at 4:45. This will give those museums and libraries who didn’t get a chance to come to Laramie, a chance to discuss the grant and get caught up to date. If you have contacts in the Sheridan region, please share this information with them. Thanks! – Teresa Sherwood, 4/16/08