Cross posted to State Archivists + State Archives Staff

Hello everyone,

We are looking forward to gathering together with our CoSA community in July. This message contains the information we have to date and responses to some common questions. We'll also be distributing a survey in June to help us with a more accurate attendee count. If you have any questions, reach out to me or info@statearchivists.org. 

Updated Schedule of Events

We are updating our 2023 Annual Meeting page as we finalize event details. As you make your travel plans, keep the following in mind:

• Tuesday, July 25

• All day - Archives on the Hill - everyone is invited to participate in this advocacy activity taking archival issues to Capitol Hill. We'll be circulating a message with more details just on this event and reaching out to specific individuals who live in key districts. The event planning committee will provide a separate sign-up. More information soon.

• Afternoon - CoSA outgoing and incoming Board of Directors will meet for several hours in the afternoon. Location TBD.

• 6:00 pm-?? - CoSA Welcome Reception co-hosted by the DC Archives and the Office of the Secretary. This special event will be held at the historic Wilson Building (1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW). Registration will be required as we'll need to provide a list of names prior to the event.

• Wednesday, July 26 - all events at the Washington Hilton

• Morning - CoSA outgoing and incoming Board of Directors will meet for several hours in the morning. 

• CoSA Silent Auction opens!

• 12:30 pm - 1:00 pm - CoSA Networking - bring your lunch and catch up with your colleagues before the working session. We'll provide the beverages!

• 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm - *CoSA Working Session and Great Ideas Exchange - join us for a time of collaboration and problem solving. If you have a topic you would like to discuss or a short update you'd like to share, let me know.

• 5:30 pm - 8:30 pm - CoSA Open House sponsored by APPX

• Thursday, July 27 - all events at the Washington Hilton

• 8:30 am - 9:00 am - CoSA networking - bring your breakfast and catch up with your colleagues before the business meeting. We'll provide the beverages!

• 9:00 am - 10:45 am - *CoSA Business Meeting and Awards Presentation - join us for an update on the state of the organization and to celebrate our 2023 award winners.

• 11:00 am - Opening Plenary CoSA-SAA Joint Annual Meeting

• 3:45 pm - CoSA Silent Auction closes.

• Thursday, July 27 - Saturday, July 29 - the Joint Annual Meeting programming begins. The CoSA representatives to the program planning committee worked hard to be sure there is ample representation of government archives on the schedule, and we hope you see that reflected throughout the event.

*Note: attendance at the CoSA Working Session + Business Meeting is required for those eligible institutions wishing to seek reimbursement.

Registration: 

We encourage everyone coming to DC for CoSA events to register for the full CoSA-SAA Joint Annual Meeting. As part of our joint agreement, we've negotiated the member registration rate for everyone who works at a CoSA Member Institutions (that's all 56 state + territorial archives). The Early-Bird member rate is $399 until June 15 when the rate increases to $489. This benefit also applies to those who may wish to register for the virtual only event.

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To be sure you are charged the member rate, follow these instructions from SAA:

In order for attendees to receive the member rate in SAA's database they should edit their profiles at https://mysaa.archivists.org/nc__myprofile and check the "CoSA Member" box. This will instruct the system to grant the member rate to that profile when registering. This was designed back when we last met jointly, and most CoSA members still have this checked.  CoSA members may reach out to Carlos Salgado or Shavon Lewis with any customer service questions at servicecenter@archivists.org or 312-606-0722 ext 0. We also posted a PDF registration form that can be emailed or faxed into the office for processing. 

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By registering for the full annual meeting, you'll have access to dozens of educational sessions, two plenaries (including one with the new AOTUS - fingers crossed!), the vendor exhibit hall, and a variety of receptions and networking opportunities.

If you choose not to register for the main conference, you'll still be able to participate in all of the CoSA events, Archives on the Hill (with separate sign-up), and our silent auction. CoSA-exclusive activities will be concluded by Thursday, July 27 at 10:45 am.

We'll distribute a survey in June to help us with final catering counts and room arrangements.

Hotel

The conference hotel is the Washington Hilton (1919 Connecticut Ave NW), a short walk from the Dupont Circle Metro stop on the Red Line. Negotiated room rates starting at $214/night are available through June 23 or until the room block is full. SAA provides instructions on making your hotel reservations.

For those eligible for reimbursement, CoSA will use the negotiated rate for reimbursement. If you seek accommodations elsewhere, be mindful of that amount. Some of you may have ways to secure a rate closer to the GSA rate for July of $172, which would stretch your funds further.

CoSA Travel Policy and Reimbursement

The Board approved the 2023 Travel and Reimbursement Policy. Eligibility for reimbursement is reserved for those institutions that pay $2750 (the current based dues rate) or more. New in the policy:

• Mandatory Attendance: Eligible parties seeking reimbursement must attend the CoSA Working Session and Business Meeting. Understanding that many CoSA members may also be leaders in SAA, exceptions for reimbursement will be considered on a case by case basis by the Executive Committee and must be submitted for review in advance of the meeting.

Reimbursement will be made for allowable actual costs - not per diem - so be sure to save all your receipts! And, as a reminder, CoSA does not reimburse for alcoholic beverages. Our team appreciates when you take the extra step to charge these separately.

Reimbursements should be coordinated by member institutions, so we encourage everyone attending from your archive to coordinate their travel and think about how you can balance any institutional travel funds available with the reimbursement benefit from your CoSA dues payment.

Refer to the 2023 travel policy (pdf) for additional information on eligibility, allowable expenses, and instructions for submitting requests.

If you have any questions about the annual meeting, reach out to me or info@statearchivists.org. 

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Joy Banks
Executive Director
Council of State Archivists (CoSA)
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