The ALL-SIS Archives:
Often Forgotten But Always Important

Archives. The word brings to mind images of dimly-lit rooms packed with row upon row of acid free boxes, quiet as the tomb save for the almost constant hum produced by the climate-control equipment. Within each dusty grey or tan box are well-preserved but long-forgotten papers, the final resting place for dead records.

Does an organization such as ALL-SIS really need an archives? The answer is that we do not. We do not, that is, until someone needs an old report that deals with a still-current topic, or a hard copy of an e-mail that has long since sailed off into cyberspace, or a biographical statement of a former officer, or an old issue of a newsletter, or any one of a hundred other items.

The fact is that an organizational archives is an important resource that must be maintained. Unfortunately, our SIS has not been particularly good over the years in sending our records to the AALL Archives at the University of Illinois for preservation.

During the 2004 - 2005 academic year the ALL-SIS Archives Committee was directed to formulate an Archives Policy Statement for the SIS. The following policy was adopted by the Committee:

The Archives of the Academic Law Libraries Special Interest Section of the American Association of Law Libraries (ALL-SIS) includes material which illuminates much of the Section's history. These non-current records, papers and publications are preserved because they contain information of administrative, legal, fiscal or research value. In order to perpetuate and augment our archival holdings, a policy must be established for collection of records from SIS officers and members. To this end, the following policies and guidelines are suggested:

1. All documentary materials, regardless of format or characteristics, which are received, created, or maintained by ALL-SIS officers, whether elected or appointed, in conducting business for the SIS are considered SIS records.
2. All material of enduring value, when no longer in current use by the officer to which it pertains, shall be transferred to the SIS archival collection. The SIS officers shall be the judge of which records are in sufficient current use to be retained, and will judge what, if any, restrictions should be placed on access to these records once the records are retired to the Archives.
3. The kinds of records which should be preserved in the Archives include, though this list should not be taken as all-inclusive:
1. SIS meeting minutes, all documents produced by the SIS and its members in the course of conducting its/their business, including but not limited to committee and task force reports and the like;
2. all publications of the SIS;
3. policy statements or statistical reports of any office;
4. correspondence relating to policy making;
5. letters of noted persons received in pursuit of SIS business;
6. member and officer biographies and related documents;
7. photographs and other memorabilia.
4. Because it is sometimes difficult for individuals to judge the value of records in their custody, no SIS records that appear to meet these requirements should be disposed of or destroyed.
5. Records in electronic format shall be transferred to print or microfilmed for preservation purposes.
6. Proper archival practice requires that records should be kept in the order in which those records were originated. To this end, groups of records should be retired periodically to the Archives, and individuals in the SIS should make an effort not to send individual items to the Archives in a piecemeal fashion if those individual items were actually part of a larger collection of materials.
7. The person in charge of the Archives will take suitable measures to preserve, arrange and describe the records of the SIS and shall provide information about them, copies of them, and/or the documents themselves as required for the business of the SIS or for research purposes. Preservation of records can include placing records in acid-free file folders and boxes, and taking any other necessary steps to prevent deterioration of the records over time.

The ALL-SIS Archives Committee was less active during the 2005 - 2006 academic year. However, the Committee did contact a number of individuals in the SIS to encourage that they send material to the Archives in accordance with this policy.

The following individuals served on the Archive Committee during the past two years:

During the 2006 - 2007 academic year the Archives Committee will be chaired by James P. Kelly, Jr., of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Law Library (jpkelly@law.uiuc.edu). Joining him on the Committee will be Leanne Hillery of Regent University Law Library (lhillery@regent.edu). They would be happy to answer any questions that you might have regarding placing materials in the ALL-SIS Archives.