I. Purpose
The Technical Subcommittee on Archival Facilities Guidelines (TS-AFG) of the SAA Standards Committee oversees the ongoing maintenance and development of Archives and Special Collections Facilities: Guidelines for Archivists, Librarians, Architects, and Engineers (“Facilities standard”), a standard adopted by SAA. The Technical Subcommittee also investigates the feasibility of expansion of the Facilities standard to a national standard and/or a multi-organizational standard.
II. Subcommittee Selection, Size, and Length of Term:
TS-AFG shall be charged for five years, beginning August 2010, or until revisions to the Facilities standard are completed as described in the Procedures for Review and Approval of an SAA-Developed Standard. [TS-AFG's original length of term was extended to August 2016 by the SAA Executive Committee on July 27, 2015. The term was further extended to August 2018 by the SAA Council in November 2016. The term was further extended to August 2020 by the SAA Council in February 2019. The term was further extended to August 2022 by the SAA Council in November 2020. The term was extended to July 2024 by the SAA Council in November 2023] After revision work is completed, if the Facilities standard continues to be an approved standard of SAA, the TS-AFG shall be re-charged for a subsequent review cycle.
The members and chair(s) of the TS-AFG shall be appointed for the length of time necessary to complete revisions to the Facilities standard, which shall not exceed five years.
The Technical Subcommittee shall be composed of five to nine individuals, including the chair(s), to be recommended by the Standards Committee for appointment by the Vice President. The chair(s) and at least four other member of the Subcommittee shall be a member of SAA with demonstrated experience in archival facility issues. However, the Technical Subcommittee may include one to three members from other professions who have significant knowledge of and experience with archival facilities.
Ex officio members of the TS-AFG shall include the following:
III. Reporting Procedures:
The chair(s) of the TS-AFG shall report at least annually to the chair(s) of the SAA Standards Committee at the SAA Annual Meeting. If extramural funding is obtained by the SAA, the chair(s) shall provide all necessary narrative reports to the SAA office in order that reporting requirements of SAA and funding source are met.
IV. Duties and Responsibilities:
To fulfill its mission as described above, the TS-AFG is specifically charged to:
V. Meetings:
The TS-AFG shall carry out its charges primarily via electronic mail, regular mail, and conference calls. It may meet at the SAA Annual Meeting and as necessary provided that SAA Council-approved funding is available.
Revised by the SAA Council: January 2011; December 2013; July 2015; November 2016; February 2019; November 2020; November 2023.
I. Purpose
The Technical Subcommittee for Describing Archives: A Content Standard (TS-DACS) of the SAA Standards Committee is responsible for overseeing the timely and ongoing intellectual and technical maintenance and development of Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS). DACS is an output-neutral set of rules for describing archives, personal papers, and manuscript collections, and can be applied to all material types. DACS is compatible with ISAD(G): General International Standard Archival Description, 2nd ed. (International Council on Archives, 1999) and ISAAR(CPF): International Standard Archival Authority Records for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families, 2nd ed. (International Council on Archives, 2003). DACS is an SAA-approved standard; documentation for DACS is available through the Society of American Archivists at http://www.archivists.org/governance/standards/dacs.asp .
II. Committee Selection, Size, and Length of Term
The technical subcommittee shall be composed of ten regular members and two co-chairs. All members shall be appointed by the SAA Vice President/President-Elect for staggered three-year terms so that a minimum of two individuals are appointed by the Vice President each year. All members must demonstrate significant knowledge of and experience with archival description generally, and with DACS specifically.
All members of TS-DACS shall be recommended by the Standards Committee for appointment by the SAA Vice President. The chair(s) will be selected from existing TSDACS membership and appointed for a three year term. The chair(s) and members of TS-DACS may be reappointed for one consecutive term.
Ex officio members of the Technical Subcommittee on DACS shall include the following if they are not regular members of the subcommittee:
III. Reporting Procedures
The chair(s) of the Technical Subcommittee on DACS shall report at least annually to the chair(s) of the SAA Standards Committee on the occasion of the SAA Annual Meeting. If extramural funding is obtained by SAA, the chair(s) shall provide all necessary narrative reports to the SAA office in order that the reporting requirements of SAA and the funding source are met.
IV. Duties and Responsibilities
To fulfill this mission, TS-DACS is specifically charged to:
TS-DACS shall work within the guidelines for ongoing review of an SAA-adopted standard, and may develop more detailed procedures for meeting those requirements.
VI. Meetings
TS-DACS shall carry out its charge primarily via electronic mail, regular mail, and conference calls. It shall meet at the SAA Annual Meeting and as necessary, provided that SAA Council-approved funding is available.
Approved by the SAA Council: February 2010
Revised: January 2011; August 2013; February 2017; March 2024;
I. Purpose
The Technical Subcommittee for Encoded Archival Standards (TS-EAS) is responsible for the ongoing maintenance of EAD and EAC-CPF, including all schemas and related code, as well as the development of future companion standards, such as the proposed Encoded Archival Context for Functions. Its membership will be sufficient to encompass the necessary domain expertise for each standard and schema development, and will include broad international representation including SAA members and other professionals from the international archival community. The members of the committee will foster the thoughtful evolution of archival encoding standards on behalf of and in consultation with the global archival community and in close collaboration with the International Council on Archives Experts Group on Archival Description.
II. Committee Selection, Size, and Length of Term
The technical subcommittee shall be composed of between fifteen and twenty-five members (excluding two co-chairs) appointed by the SAA Vice President / President-Elect for staggered three-year terms so that a minimum of three individuals are appointed by the Vice President each year. The committee will reflect the international nature of the standards it develops, and will include balanced representation from its user communities. A majority of the committee members will be members of SAA unless sufficient expertise is not available within the SAA membership, in which case the composition of the committee may be adjusted at the discretion of the Council. All members shall demonstrate significant knowledge of and experience with archival schemas generally, and with EAD and EAC-CPF specifically. The chairs and members of TS-EAS may be reappointed.
The Technical Subcommittee for Encoded Archival Standards co-chairs will be appointed by the SAA Vice President / President-Elect, and serve as the primary contact between TS-EAS, SAA, the Standards Committee, and other related organizations. At least one co-chair will be a member of SAA.
Ex officio members of TS-EAS shall include the following if they are not regular members of the subcommittee:
III. Reporting Procedures
The co-chairs of TS-EAS shall report at least annually to the chairs of the SAA Standards Committee. They will coordinate meeting logistics at the SAA annual meeting and elsewhere, establish TS-EAS priorities and agendas, work with related SAA section leaders, and oversee and support the work of various TS-EAS standard leads. If extramural funding is obtained by SAA, the co-chairs shall provide all necessary narrative reports to the SAA office in order that the reporting requirements of SAA and the funding source are met.
IV. Duties and Responsibilities
Within TS-EAS, a member will be designated by the co-chairs as the lead for each standard being maintained or developed. Each standard lead will be responsible, with the support of the co-chairs, for soliciting and compiling comments, logging bugs, leading discussion of proposed changes, articulating and justifying changes to the international community, and coordinating as necessary with other standard leads. There will also be a lead for schema design who will be responsible, with the support of the co-chairs, for coordinating work on schemas and related code and maintaining appropriate GitHub repositories. The TS-EAS co-chairs will also designate a committee member to serve as a secretary, responsible for taking and distributing meeting minutes.
Additional ad hoc subgroups within TS-EAS may be formed to address specific issues on a project basis (e.g., a tag library editorial team).
VI. Meetings
TS-EAS shall carry out its charge primarily via electronic mail, regular mail, and on-line meetings. To ensure the inclusion of all members, TS-EAS shall meet in a hybrid setting at the SAA annual meeting and as necessary with funding from SAA or from extramural sources (with prior approval by the SAA Council).
Approved by the SAA Council: November 2015, Revised May 2023
I. Purpose
The Technical Subcommittee on Guidelines for Reappraisal and Deaccessioning (TS-GRD) of the SAA Standards Committee is responsible for overseeing the timely and ongoing maintenance, review, promotion, outreach, and education-related to the and development of Guidelines for Reappraisal and Deaccessioning. These guidelines provide resources, recommended procedures, and other information for archivists who may be involved in reviewing their institutional holdings. Guidelines for Reappraisal and Deaccessioning is an SAA-approved standard and is available via the SAA Standards Portal (http://www2.archivists.org/standards/).
II. Committee Selection, Size, and Length of Term
The TS-GRD was charged for five years, beginning August 2012, to develop the standard, with the charge expiring at the SAA Annual Meeting of the fifth year. The Guidelines continue to be an approved standard of SAA. In May 2017, the Council extended the technical subcommittee for another 5-year review cycle, to be completed by August 2022. In 2022, the Council approved an extension of the second review cycle to August 2025.
The technical subcommittee shall be composed of five to eight individuals, including the Chair and Vice-chair, to be recommended by the Standards Committee for appointment by the Vice President. The Chair of the second review cycle will serve until August 2023. A Vice Chair will be appointed for a three-year term beginning August 2022: the first year as Vice Chair, and the second and third years as Chair. All members shall demonstrate significant knowledge of and experience with archival appraisal, reappraisal, reprocessing, and/or deaccessioning. Members and chairs may be reappointed to the TS-GRD for two consecutive review cycles, but at least two new SAA members must be appointed per review cycle.
Ex officio members of the Technical Subcommittee for Guidelines for Reappraisal and Deaccessioning shall include the following if they are not regular members of the Subcommittee:
III. Reporting Procedures
The chair(s) of the TS-GRD shall report at least annually to the chair(s) of the SAA Standards Committee on the occasion of the SAA Annual Meeting. If extramural funding is obtained by SAA, the chair (or co-chairs) shall provide all necessary narrative reports to the SAA office in order that the reporting requirements of SAA and the funding source are met.
IV. Duties and Responsibilities
To fulfill this mission, the TS-GRD is specifically charged to:
VI. Meetings
The TS-GRD shall carry out its charge primarily via electronic mail, and conference calls. It shall meet at the SAA Annual Meeting and as necessary with funding from SAA or from extramural sources (with prior approval by the SAA Council.
Adopted by the SAA Council: May 23, 2012. Revised: May 2017. June 2023.