STHC-L: The Science, Technology and Health Care Archives Forum

[Previous Posting] [Next Posting]

STHC Roundtable Annual Report 

Greetings STHC Roundtable members.
Below is the 2002 Annual Report that Jean and I submitted to SAA Council.

Lisa Mix
Co-Chair, Science, Technology, and Health Care Roundtable

*************
Science, Technology and Health Care (STHC) Roundtable
Annual Report to SAA Council, 2002


The STHC Roundtable provides a forum for archivists with similar interests 
or holdings in science, technology and health care, presenting 
opportunities to exchange information, solve problems, and share successes. 
2002 was quite a productive year for the Roundtable. At the SAA 2002 Annual 
Meeting in Birmingham, STHC elected three new Steering Committee members 
(Stephen Novak, Rose Roberto, and John Zwicky) and a new Co-Chair (Jean 
Marie Deken).

Soon after joining the Steering Committee, Rose Roberto undertook and 
completed a total redesign of the STHC web site this past year, 
incorporating a new banner logo and menu bar, a series of science and 
technology-related graphics and quotes, and unifying the site graphically 
with a wallpaper on all pages that is a subtly-colored version of the SAA 
logo. The URL for the redesigned site is 
http://www.archivists.org/saagroups/sthc/index.html.

The roundtable's newsletter, Archival Elements, was available chiefly 
online via the SAA website, but was distributed in hardcopy to members who 
requested that format.  Editors Ewa Basinska and Tanya Zanish-Belcher 
included information about the annual meeting, announcements and news from 
roundtable members, information about STHC, and articles by Joe Anderson 
("The International Union of History and Philosophy of Science is Working 
to Preserve the Records of Modern Science"), Janice Goldblum ("Whenever 
Called Upon: The Archival and Records Programs at the National Academies"), 
and Deborah Day (Danger at Sea: Documentation of Oceanographic Expeditions).

Our listserv, STHC-L, administered by Russell Johnson at UCLA, turned 6 
years old in August 2002. STHC-L provides a forum for archivists working at 
institutions in the natural, physical, and social sciences, technology, and 
the health sciences. It includes announcements, inquiries, and discussion 
on access to historical sources and their use and interpretation.  The 
relatively quiet list delivers a message on average every second or third 
day to 197 subscribers.  It has been particularly useful for spreading the 
word about new appointments, job openings, exhibitions, collections and 
services; and serving as a forum in which to identify and discuss issues 
and develop programs for the SAA annual meeting.

The STHC annual business meeting in Birmingham welcomed new members, 
several of whom introduced themselves and their repositories and/or 
projects. The program was "History of Medicine and Science Projects on the 
Web: Untangling Complex Strands to Make Primary Resources Accessible", 
consisting of presentations by Joan Echtenkamp Klein from the University of 
Virginia Health Sciences Library on the Philip S. Hench Walter Reed Yellow 
Fever Collection Digitization Project, and Gregory A. Pike and Jennifer 
Sullivan, of History Associates, describing the National Library of 
Medicine's Profiles in Science.

STHC sponsored or co-sponsored seven program proposals for the SAA 2003 
meeting in Los Angeles, five of which were accepted as sessions for the 
meeting.  The STHC Roundtable meeting program will feature a panel 
discussion of archival repositories' compliance with the HIPAA Privacy 
Rule. Archivists from 4 academic medical centers will discuss new policies 
and procedures developed in response to the Privacy Rule. Roundtable 
members will then have the opportunity to comment on their own 
repositories' experiences with HIPAA compliance.

The resolution that the Roundtable passed in 2001, supporting the 
International Union of History of Philosophy of Science's (IUHPS) proposal 
on "Preserving the Records of Modern Science" --encouraging the 
International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) topromote the 
preservationof papers of scientists and records of science programs  is 
having some effect. The resolution was approved by SAA Council in 2002, and 
SAA President Steve Henson wrote a letter to the IUHPS Secretary General 
endorsing the proposal on behalf of SAA. The resolution will be on the 
IUHPS action agenda, to be discussed at a meeting in April 2003.

Plans for 2002-2003 include working on local outreach efforts for the 2003 
meeting in Los Angeles and professional outreach and collaboration with 
related professional organizations (such as ALHHSArchivists and Librarians 
in the History of the Health Sciences).

The STHC Roundtable's 2002-2003 Steering Committee members are:
   R. Joseph Anderson (American Institute of Physics)
   Ewa Basinska (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Newsletter Editor
   Jean M. Deken (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center), Co-chair
   Janice F. Goldblum (National Academy of Sciences)
   Russell A. Johnson (UCLA)
   Joan Echtenkamp Klein (University of Virginia, Charlottesville)
   Jodi Koste (Virginia Commonwealth University)
   Dan Lewis (Huntington Library)
   Lisa Mix (UCSF), Co-Chair
   Stephen E. Novak (Columbia University)
   Rose Roberto (JPL Library Archives and Records Section), web liaison
   Kalpana Shankar (UCLA)
   Yvonne Wilson (National Archives and Records Administration)
   John Zwicky (American Academy of Pediatrics; American Society for 
Clinical Pathology)


Respectfully submitted,

Lisa A. Mix (UCSF) and
Jean Marie Deken (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center)
Co-Chairs
Science, Technology, and Health Care Roundtable
<STHC-L@library.ucla.edu>   [STHC-L Archives -- Main Index]  [STHC-L Archives -- 2003 Message Index]