List of SAA Sections

Accessibility and Disability Section
The Accessibility & Disability Section aims to be an inclusive community for people with disabilities and allies; where we can learn from each other, compile resources, and showcase work and collections promoting accessibility and disability representation.

Acquisitions and Appraisal Section
The Section provides a forum for discussion of issues and interests pertaining to the acquisition and appraisal of public records, private papers, and other archival or manuscript collections.

Archival Educators Section
Facilitates exchange of information about archival education programs throughout the United States and Canada and provides a forum for discussion of issues relevant to those who teach courses and workshops in archival administration and related topics, in both academic institutions and other settings.

Archival History Section
Stimulates interest among archivists in the profession's own past and suggests ways of studying its history.

Archives Management Section
Addresses the identification and consideration of management and leadership issues that are important to archivists and archival institutions and brings together archivists from dissimilar institutions who share these interests.

Archivists & Archives of Color Section
Provides a forum to identify and discuss concerns faced by racial minorities; encourages exchange of ideas by archivists with diverse racial backgrounds; promotes wider participation of minorities within the archival profession; ensures the preservation of archival materials pertaining to minorities; supports development of archival services and programs to minorities; and seeks funding for scholarships for minority students in library/information science master’s degree programs.

Archivists of Religious Collections Section
The Section represents a network of professional archivists who work for national, international, and local church organizations, religious societies and orders, and theological schools. Section members are engaged in documenting the many sides of the private and public experience of faith as it is lived out through the institutional church, religious movements, and individual experience. See also the ARCS legacy website.

Audio and Moving Image Section
Serve as a forum for discussing the role, needs, preservation, and management of sound recordings in audio and audiovisual archival collections.

Business Archives Section
The Section brings together archivists who administer non-current records of corporations and businesses from an historical and archival standpoint. This section also produces a Directory of Corporate Archives.

Collection Managment Tools Section
Provides a forum for archivists from all types of repositories to identify and discuss key issues relevant to the implementation, support, comparison, analyses, and integration of collection management tools and systems.

College and University Archives Section
The Section provides a forum for archivists who are concerned with the administration, organization, and care of records of institutions of higher education. Guidelines for College and University Archives are also available here.

Congressional Papers Section
Provides a means for discussion of archival issues involved in the acquisition, processing, and administration of the papers of members of the United States Congress.

Description Section
The Section provides a forum for persons involved in the development of appropriate means to organize and describe manuscripts and archives. Information and documentation on descriptive standards can be found here.

Design Records Section
The Section supports the preservation of design records that include, but are not limited to, architectural, engineering, landscape architecture, planning, urban design, graphic design, and construction records. The community discusses the storage, conservation, arrangement, preservation, access, and description problems inherent in specialized records. Provides a forum for members to discuss issues related to access and management of architectural, design, and related fields. 

Diverse Sexuality and Gender Section
Provides a forum for archivists who are concerned with ensuring that the archival record includes documentation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender history and culture; ensures that LGBTQIA archival issues are identified and visible within SAA; and serves as a liaison between independent LGBTQIA archives and SAA.

Electronic Records Section
The Section functions as a locus of expertise, leadership, and information sharing for SAA regarding management and preservation of records in electronic form.

Encoded Archival Standards (EAS) Section
Promotes the implementation and use of encoding standards for dissemination of archival information. To this end, the Section aims to provide tools and information for use in encoding archival descriptions; promotes discussion and facilitates the use of software for markup, parsing, indexing, and delivery; and monitors and contributes to encoding standard development for archival description.

Government Records Section
The Section provides a forum for archivists who are concerned with the administration, organization, and care of records of government.

Human Rights Archives Section
Aims to create a space for SAA members and other stakeholders (human rights advocates, scholars, government officials, and non-governmental organization workers) to increase dialogue and collaboration on issues related to the collection, preservation, disclosure, legal implications, and ethics of human rights documentation.

Independent Archivists Section
Seeks to facilitate and foster the sharing of ideas, information, and support among archivists outside the traditional archival repository, including independent contractors, private archivists, digital archivists, and freelance and consulting archivists.

International Archival Affairs Section
Identifies and addresses issues and concerns of archives and archivists throughout the world, and provides a forum for discussion, dissemination, and promotion of issues related to international archival affairs.

Issues & Advocacy Section
Dedicated to finding news of, and formulating for the SAA Council's consideration, possible responses to archives- and records-related issues and events.

Labor Archives Section
Promotes communication among archivists and institutions concerned with records in the field of labor and develops cooperative strategies and guidelines to ensure comprehensive documentation of the labor movement. Maintains a Directory of Labor Archives in the United States and Canada.

Latin American and Caribbean Cultural Heritage Archives Section (LACCHA)
Serves as a forum for discussion and advice on issues relating to the management and preservation of archival and cultural heritage materials housed in U.S. repositories and originating from the Latin American and Caribbean area or created in the United States by Latin American and Caribbean diaspora or special-interest groups.

Local Government Records Section
Provides a forum for dialogue among archivists who are concerned with the administration, organization, and care of records of local government.

Manuscript Repositories Section
The Section serves as a forum for the discussion of issues and interests pertaining to the acquisition and administration of manuscripts created outside the collecting institution.

Metadata and Digital Object Section
Promotes discussion, education, and collaboration among archivists who are interested in digitization, digital archival objects, and the metadata that enables access, management, and preservation of digital objects.

Military Archives Section
Provides a forum to facilitate collaboration and information sharing among archival institutions, universities, governments, legal bodies, and nongovernment agencies that are documenting and preserving records of issues related to the military and military service.

Museum Archives Section
The Section provides a forum for museum archivists, who are responsible for the organization and care of archival materials held and/or created by their institution. A museum's records document the history and development of the museum, its collections, exhibitions, and programs as well as the contributions of individuals and groups associated with the museum. The Museum Archives Section newsletters are available online on the Museum Archives section Group Web Page and here via the Canadian Heritage Information Network website.

Native American Archives Section
Serves as a forum to educate archivists on the complexities and beauty of Native American archives of the western hemisphere and as a source of communication and inspiration for archivists working with Native American collections.

Oral History Section
The Section brings together persons who are interested in the administration and use of oral history interviews in the archival setting, including those who conduct oral history interviews and those who teach oral history methodology.

Performing Arts Section
Encourages the exchange of information on historical and contemporary documentation of music, dance, theater, and other performance media.

Preservation Section
The Section provides a forum for professionals with a special interest in the problems presented by the deterioration, preservation, and restoration of archival materials in all formats.

Privacy and Confidentiality Section
Provides a forum for discussion of privacy and confidentiality issues and their legal and ethical implications for archival practice.

Public Library Archives / Special Collections Section
Encourages advocacy for and education about archival, manuscript, local history, genealogy, and other historic and special collections within public libraries of all sizes; provides an arena for discussion and dissemination of best practices of the archives, library, museum, and history fields; and works to support the informational, historical, and cultural interests that converge in public library archives and special collections.

Records Management Section
Encourages discussion of current issues in records and information management and promotes better understanding of the importance of collaborative efforts between archivists and records managers.

Reference, Access and Outreach Section
The Section provides a forum for archivists who work with the users of archives, particularly those with reference responsibilities and those who integrate archival and manuscript materials into exhibits and other public programs.

Research Libraries Section
Promotes discussion and collaboration on initiatives and research projects that affect archivists working in a research library context.

Science, Technology, and Health Care Section
Provides a forum for archivists with interests or holdings in science, technology, and health care, presenting opportunities to exchange information, solve problems, and share successes.

Security Section
Focuses on issues relating to the prevention of theft in archival and manuscript repositories.

Solo Archivists Section
Provides education, stimulates communication, and encourages support among archivists working in "solo archivist" settings. The term "solo archivist" includes those working alone or in very small staff situations.

Students and New Archives Professionals Section (SNAP)
Focuses attention on and gives voice to the needs and concerns of its members--in particular, students, interns, new professionals, early-career archivists, and individuals seeking professional employment--within SAA and the field in general.

Visual Materials Section
The Section brings together archivists who administer (collect, arrange, preserve, describe, and interpret) still photographs, moving images, art, and graphic materials.

Web Archiving Section
Works to heighten advocacy and awareness of the issues that archivists encounter related to the selection, appraisal, harvesting, management, and preservation of web resources.

Women Archivists Section
Monitors the status of women in the archival profession, and promotes the participation of women in all phases of SAA's activities and the profession as a whole.

Women’s Collections Section
Promotes the preservation and research use of records documenting women and networks archivists with holdings concerning or created by women.