Leader Rosters and Membership

How Are Leader Rosters Updated?

Official rosters for all component groups are maintained by the SAA staff via the member database. When individuals are added or removed from rosters, they are also added or removed from group discussion lists. People in the database may be assigned an unlimited number of group roles that specify:

  • The group on which the person is serving;
  • The person’s role (i.e., chair, vice-chair, committee member, steering committee member, web liaison, etc.) in that group; and
  • The beginning and ending dates for the term of service.

Note: Most group roles and terms are set to coincide with SAA’s Annual Membership (Business) Meeting, at which all new elected and appointed leaders, including the SAA President Elect, assume new roles and offices.

All contact information (institution, address, email, etc.) used to populate the leader rosters is pulled from a person’s member record, which simplifies the process of updating multiple rosters and ensures that just one (correct) record exists per person. To update your contact information, notify the SAA Service Center at servicecenter@archivists.org.

Leader rosters must be generated by the SAA staff; to ensure consistency, they should not be duplicated by individual members or component group leaders.

For appointed groups, the staff works closely with the Vice President/President-Elect to ensure that rosters are complete and correct based on her or his appointments. If you are a new or ongoing appointee on a board, committee, task force, or working group and you discover incorrect or incomplete information in the official roster for your group, please contact SAA Governance Coordinator Felicia Owens (fowens@archivists.org) for assistance.

For section and roundtable leaders, including all steering committee members, the staff is entirely dependent on each section and roundtable to provide its election (or selection) results, even when the staff has conducted the online election on behalf of the group. Within 14 days of your group’s annual meeting, please provide the following information to saahq@archivists.org:

  • The name of your group;
  • The names of your leaders, along with:
    • Each person’s group role;
    • The start date for each person’s term of service;
    • The end date for each person’s term of service; and
    • Each person’s institutional affiliation (to ensure that we assign the right person to your group, especially if the member’s name is a common one).

Individuals may review their past and current roles (i.e., those that have been designated via the SAA database) by logging in at www2.archivists.org/saa-profile and choosing “Active SAA Group Roles” or “History of SAA Group Roles” in the drop-down menu at the top of the screen.

Section and Roundtable Membership

The SAA staff tracks section and roundtable membership via the member database, based on specific information provided by members as they complete the membership application or renewal form or make changes to their membership preferences during the year. These data are used to publish official section and roundtable membership directories to the SAA website. (As noted above, leader roles in these component groups are distinct in that they must be designated manually by staff.)

Following are some important policy reminders regarding membership and participation in SAA sections and roundtables:

  • SAA members may join up to two sections as part of their membership. Official section membership rosters are accessible only to SAA members and may be accessed online by visiting: www2.archivists.org/groups/sections.  
  • SAA members may join an unlimited number of roundtables by indicating their selections on the membership application and/or renewal form(s) or by visiting the roundtables’ websites at www2.archivists.org/groups/roundtables.
  • Participation in roundtables is open to nonmembers, who may join/subscribe as list participants by visiting the roundtables’ websites. However, SAA membership is required to vote for and/or serve as a roundtable leader.

Group Email Lists

Nearly all SAA component groups have official email discussion lists. Subscriptions to most lists are automated via leader, section, and/or roundtable roles – all of which must be assigned manually by the SAA staff. Integration of the list server with SAA’s database enables automatic updates to all list subscriptions if and when a member’s email address changes.

Any person who is listed in SAA’s database (including nonmembers) may review, update, add, and cancel list subscriptions by logging into the SAA website at: www2.archivists.org/listservs/change. This page also displays links to each list’s web-based archives, which are restricted to active list subscribers.

Note: To subscribe to a roundtable list, individuals must first “join” the roundtable as either a member or a list participant. (See “Section and Roundtable Membership” above.)

The SAA “Leader List”

All active SAA leaders automatically are subscribed to a separate unmoderated discussion list called the “SAA Leader List.” If you have important information to share with the entire leadership, send your announcement to: saaleaders@forums.archivists.org. Please make sure your announcement or discussion topic is appropriate for this list.