> I talked to the Vice Chair of our Board (who is
> also the head of the Personnel Committee on the Board) about the issue.
> I told her I wanted someone with higher authority to back me up.

Good for you. That's the right first step.

> The Board tends to look at
> everything with the question of how it can make money

Okay. You know that about them. So ... state your case in the language
they understand. Personally I wouldn't frame it in terms of what your
collections cost to house. Chances are, the Board already thinks of
archives as too expensive to run - don't remind them! Information is POWER
- Talk about the possible fiscal impact of not having information on this 
particular artist in your collection, or of having information on artists
taken out without your knowledge. If someone on the Board were getting 
ready to go on a donor visit and REALLY needed information about this 
artist whose file was taken, you wouldn't be able to provide it. And that
could wind up costing the institution major bucks and/or important
collections in the future. You get the idea ...

>     In the meantime, I have been writing a collection policy for the
> Archive and have started to think about what other things need to be put
> into place for the safety of the collection.

Also a good step.

>     Hopefully something good will come out of the whole thing. Badly
> needed policies. Perhaps a little bit of understanding from the Board
> about archives and their importance and integrity. I'm crossing my
> fingers that this doesn't end up wrecking things that currently work
> well.

Don't just cross your fingers. Do whatever you can to make the outcome
your want happen! Too often we passively cross our fingers and hope that
the resource allocators will favor us, rather than actively taking steps
to promote what we do so that resource allocators will see that we and our
collections are a value-added part of the institution. Small things, done
consistently over time, can reap significant rewards.

You're doing the right things, Emily. Good luck, and keep us posted.

Carole Prietto
Daughters of Charity, West Central Province
St. Louis

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