DRAFT Strategic Plan (2013-2018)

The following draft reflects the work of the SAA Council, beginning at its January 2013 meeting, in reimagining SAA’s strategic plan.  Included here are an all-new Vision Statement, a revised Mission Statement, and suggested Goals and Strategies to address the opportunities and challenges that exist for archives, archivists, and SAA in the next five years.
 
The SAA Council welcomes comments on the “high-level” aspects of the draft Strategic Plan 2013 – 2018, i.e, Vision and Mission statements, Goals, and Strategies.  Does the draft plan reflect what you see as SAA’s highest priorities?  Do you have other ideas for goals and strategies to meet future needs?
 
Ultimately the Strategic Plan 2013-2018 will include tactics, activities, key performance indicators, task assignments, and timelines that will allow us to measure our progress toward meeting the goals.  To assist members in interpreting the draft goals and strategies, the attached document includes some examples of possible tactics and activities. To comment on any aspect of the plan, including tactics and activities, use this form [CLOSED].
 
The Council will consider at its May 15-17 meeting all comments received by Tuesday, April 23.  There will be another opportunity to comment on a draft following that meeting and at a Forum to be held at the Joint Annual Meeting in New Orleans on Thursday, August 15.
 
To comment:

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Vision:  The Society of American Archivists challenges archivists to achieve professional excellence to ensure the preservation and use of archival records of enduring value.

Mission:  SAA serves as the preeminent source of professional resources and the principal communication hub for American archivists and allied professionals.  It promotes the diversity and value of archives and archivists in society.

 

GOAL 1:  ADVOCATING FOR ARCHIVES AND ARCHIVISTS
Society values the vital role of archives and archivists.

SAA will

Promote the value of archives and archival practices to society at large. [1.1]

Educate and influence decision makers about the importance of archives in the success of their organizations and constituencies. [1.2]

Strengthen the capacity of those who work with archival material to articulate the value of archives. [1.3]

Continue to enrich the profession by expanding opportunities for a more diverse membership. [1.4]

 

GOAL 2: ENHANCING PROFESSIONAL GROWTH
Archivists have access to the professional resources they need to be successful and effective in their careers.

SAA will

Provide education programs that are sustainable, keep pace with technological change, and promote best practices. [2.1]

Provide content that reflects the latest thinking and practice in the archival field. [2.2]

Continually refine its career development program to meet members' diverse needs. [2.3]

 

GOAL 3:  ADVANCING THE FIELD
Professional knowledge expands to keep pace with an increasingly diverse archival record.

SAA will

Identify the need for new standards and participate in the development of relevant standards and best practices.  [3.1]

Foster and disseminate research in the field.  [3.2]

Participate actively in relevant partnerships and collaborations. [3.3]

 

GOAL 4:  MEETING MEMBERS’ NEEDS
SAA is an agile association that delivers outstanding service and fosters a culture of participation.

SAA will

Invest in an effective and sustainable technology infrastructure.  [4.1]

Facilitate effective communication with and among members. [4.2]

Create opportunities for members to participate fully in the association. [4.3] 

Foster a culture of creativity and experimentation across the association.  [4.4]

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rebeccagoldman says:
employment is key

The existing comments cover much of what I would have said, but I’d like to see employment issues included as a high-level component of the strategic plan. As others have already pointed out, employment issues include not only low salaries but the growing scarcity of permanent employment, especially for entry-level archivists; project-based and grant-funded jobs that do not allow archivists to develop skills besides processing; and increased reliance on volunteers to fill roles formerly held by paid archives staff.

I also believe that employment underlies the other issues currently included in the strategic plan. If archivists are to serve as advocates for and leaders within the profession, they must be secure in their employment and have opportunities for professional development. Scholarships like the Mosaic program will only contribute to a more diverse workforce if there are jobs available for recent graduates. And so on. The goals SAA has set for itself can’t be achieved while a significant percentage of its members are unemployed, underemployed, or stuck in entry-level positions.

Thanks for your consideration and your hard work in putting together this strategic plan.

--Rebecca

jjfloyd says:
Yes, and...

There is a lot to like in this draft, but my overall impression is, “yes, and…”, encouraging this document to push further for a larger, bolder vision.  I am heartened by the prominent place advocacy holds in the strategic plan, but nowhere is there call for improving labor conditions and employment outlook for archivists today and in the future.  Similarly, I am pleased that the plan tackles a changing technological environment, but the steps laid out are far too tentative to reposition our society to best leverage that technology in a five year timeline.  Challenge the membership to conceive and implement innovations which will truly keep pace with technology, and hold them to firm commitments not endless plans for further planning. Likewise I feel embolden to continue to work with the rest of the membership to achieve what the strategic plan calls “a culture of creativity and experimentation across the association.” As a society, this frees us to conceive of new ideas, and try out solutions which may or may not pan out.  It encourages the diverse membership to bring its unique expertise to the table and collaborate in new ways to lead SAA into the future.  This approach to leadership will insure that our society will be increasingly agile, and our membership increasingly engaged. As for diversity, I feel comfortable with the document articulating its commitment across all of the other priorities rather than as a singular objective. However in so doing, the concept of diversity, widely conceived, must be clearly voiced as an integral part of each goal.  Stronger language towards this commitment would help alleviate concern across the membership that our dedication to diversity in our field has been in anyway diminished.

Thank you to everyone who has been involved in crafting this draft strategic plan to this point, and thank you for the opportunity to provide my input.

Jeremy Floyd

 

Truller says:
Nice plan for the organization, but not the profession

I've been a member on and off since 1979. I am disappointed that the plan addresses only the needs of the organization and not the role of archives in society. We are the keepers of evidence. I guess I was hoping for a plan that did some of the following: - strengthened the role of archivists to keep essential evidence in a digital environment - developed strategies to strengthen the role of archives informing social/political discourse - recognized the ubiquity of information in digital form and encouraged educational and programatic responses to this. - embraced the role of the Internet in the discovery of information and the unique role of archives in providing authentic information in this environment. .

colleenmcfarland92 says:
Thoughts on the Draft Strategic Plan

 

SAA Leaders and Staff,

Thank you for your work on the strategic plan and for the opportunity to comment.

Vision statement: “The Society of American Archivists challenges archivists….”  That word choice suggests an adversarial or confrontational relationship between SAA and archivists.  Better word choices might be “enables” or “inspires.”  Also, the vision statement neglects the context in which archivists work.  Professional excellence alone cannot ensure that documents will be preserved and used.   The stakeholders in and funders of archival programs must be convinced that our professional excellence is worth paying for.  Does advocacy therefore belong in the vision statement?

Like many others, I am concerned about the relative reduction of the position of diversity in this strategic plan.  Without building the diversity of our profession and of the records collected, preserved, and shared with the public, archives will grow increasingly irrelevant to an American public that cannot find its history within our collections.

I am very pleased to see strategy 3.3 and the priority given to developing relationships of mutual benefit across related professions. 

I am ambivalent about goal 4, and it strikes me as sad that this is a goal and not a given.  I’d much prefer to see a goal directed toward diversity than a goal pertaining to the ability of SAA staff and leadership to meet the expectations of its membership.  Is the strategic plan the best place to address the disconnect between SAA staff and leadership and the SAA members?  The communication and technology infrastructure issues might be better placed under Goal 2 (because we need those things to grow professionally and as a profession!).  Issues pertaining to the culture of SAA and its leadership could then be handled outside of the strategic plan.  

Again, I appreciate your work and this forum to provide feedback.

Colleen McFarland

peterg says:
Good Start

Council friends and SAA Staff: congratulations on making such a good start on a new SAA strategic plan. This is neither easy work nor very often immediately rewarding, but it is so important for helping steer SAA's efforts. Kudos to all of you.

I like the mission statement. The vision statement sounds more like a simple expository declaration than a projection of what SAA could be in an ideal future. I think I understand what it says, but it may need some editing to make it clearer as a vision.

Given my own interests in archives, I'm of course happy to see advocacy as the very first goal. However, this draft reminds me how very difficult it is for SAA to make much difference in the general public's understanding of archives, without a very patient, long-term, and extremely well-funded effort. Is it worth all those resources? I think the objectives 1.2 and 1.3 are highly important and more achievable. 

I am disappointed that diversity in this draft seems to have declined in importance (it's no longer a separate goal) and to have narrowed to the scholarship program (though the Mosaic scholarships are important in their own right). Also, how does diversity belong within the advocacy goal? I know that Council will discuss diversity a greater length, and I hope that it does not end up signalling members that it is lowering SAA's long priority on that area of work.

I like all of goals 2 and 3. Goal 4 perhaps need further discussion and definition. The first three strategies seem closely related, not separate areas of work. I like strategy 4.4 very much. 

It's hard to look over so many good ideas and opportunities for SAA's future work without thinking about the difficult process of prioritizing and budget allocation, but that's a later part of your work which should *not* come into this part of the plan formulation.

Again, thanks for launching the new round of planning and good luck in the next stages of work.

Peter Gottlieb

jmdooley says:
Thanks, everybody, for your comments--please keep 'em coming

Just a quick note to say THANK YOU to everybody who has weighed in so far and to encourage our other 6000 (!) members to do the same. I also want to let you know that, while I and other members of Council are likely to weigh in situationally on some comments, we won't be responding to all of them individually. We are, however, watching and listening closely.

Jackie Dooley

cdibella says:
should we aim higher?

I absolutely don't envy Council the task of putting together a fresh strategic plan. It's incredibly daunting to develop a vision for the next five years of an organization and they are to be absolutely commended for getting the ball rolling on it.

That said, my first reaction upon reading this was, "Blah." While the goals themselves are perfectly unobjectionable, there's nothing here that gets me excited about the future of my profession or my professional organization. This starts with the rather bland vision statement and continues through the tactics and activities to achieve the goals themselves. It seems very much a stay the course type of vision for the organization, and one almost wholly focused on sustaining it. Maybe that's the intent, maybe Council is telling us that we can't do more than this, but I do find it disappointing.

In the preface to the Strategic Priorities document distributed in 2010, then-SAA President Peter Gottlieb characterized the plan as ambitious, aiming high, a fresh look. While people may have varying opinions on whether or not it actually was that, it certainly appears to have been Council's intent at the time. I don't see any suggestion in this draft that aiming high or thinking big is a motivating force. Granted, this is just the high level plan, and much more detail and focus will come later, but still, isn't it more typical to start high and then come to a compromise, rather than the other way around?

Here are some things that would get me excited: commitment to advocating not just for ourselves and our instititions, but also for segments of society that need it in regard to records issues; commitment to tackling employment issues for archivists, including salaries and work conditions; commitment to improving graduate education as well as continuing education; commitment to a diverse workforce and collections; commitment to being leaders in our areas of expertise, not just participants; maybe even commitment to leading the transformation of our profession, since that is surely going to happen in the next decade, whether we like it or not. I do love some of the suggestions in the comments here for ways some of these things can be done, including providing a collaboration space to provide opportunities for learning that go beyond one-time workshops; I'm hopeful that there will be lots to mine from this public comment period.

Again, I very much appreciate Council's efforts and I hope that these comments will be seen as a nudge to think bigger, rather than a wish to throw cold water on the whole process. Thank you for taking on this uneviable task. I look forward to seeing future drafts and how the discussion takes shape.

Christine Di Bella

jmdooley says:
Thanks for the terrific comments

Christine, I greatly appreciate your comments and will keep them very much in mind as we continue our work and develop a full set of "tactics" (i.e., the specific, tangible activities that come under each of the more general goals and strategies). We do want to aim high, and it's good to know that--at least in your eyes, but I expect you're not alone--we're not there yet.

Thanks for tuning in, and please stay with us as this process progresses.

Jackie Dooley

zimmer6000 says:
Transparency and Accountability

Transparency and accountability could logically go under [4.2], but I thought it was worth mentioning and maybe calling out separately in the statements of Goal 4.  If we are advocating for open access to records and demanding accountability through record keeping, SAA as an organization should also be committed to transparency.  This isn't so much a criticism, as a good reminder that we should practice what we preach. 

Working to communicate where money is going and overall, how things are done, might help folks better understand the possibilities AND limitations of a volunteer org with only so much time and resources.  While great leaps have been made to communicate some of these issues recently, much could still be done. 

l.p.zaborowski says:
Small .02

I think the order of the goals seem appropriate to shaping what SAA should be and should do. Though some members want SAA to focus on the needs of individuals, but I really think SAA can serve us better by promoting the field and providing all of us with chances to participate in continuing education. Fostering the growth of the field, and working to help us all gain more respect from society as a whole, will do far more to expand our pool of archivists (and therefore the diversity of the field) than singular missions.  Continuing education is also important (I include the journal and magazine in this), and providing workshops and more scholarships for these workshops will go a long way towards making sure archivists and records managers from a variety of organizations can continue to improve themselves, and by extension their organization and our field.

I think someone also mentioned in another comment that much of the education outreach and most of the scholarships focus solely on graduate level students, and that this should change. I agree with this - raising awareness about archives/RM as a career at the undergraduate level could go a long way towards infusing the profession with some new blood.

Jeanettehf says:
Strategic plan

Thanks to all who worked so hard at pulling this together.  Been there, done that, and it is always a challenge.  It will surely carry us forward, I would only agree with the comments on diversity.  I know we all work on it in our own organizations, would be good to have it recognized in our planning document.

Jenny Swadosh says:
Comments on Vision Statement, Goals 1 and 4

Regarding the vision statement, can we get "identification" as a key activity of archivists? Such as:

The Society of American Archivists challenges archivists to achieve professional excellence to ensure the identification, preservation and use of archival records of enduring value.

The vision statement as it currently reads renders archivists passive recipients of records, rather than individuals ideally (especially in a digital environment) involved with the record before it is even created.

Regarding Goal 1, I wish to recommend the following change (or something like it): 

Educate and influence decision makers about the importance of archives and archives professionals in the success of their organizations and constituencies. [1.2]

It's easy to set up an office (or a hard drive) and deem it The Archives. It's something else entirely to permanently staff an administrative unit with full-time employees who are competent and able to create and then carry out sound policy. With the identification of the archives professionals, SAA would be advocating directly for its constituents. I believe this addition responds to the concerns many new and not so new archivists have about their increasing vulnerability as a result of contigent labor practices.

Regarding Goal 4, I wish to recommend that the concept of inclusivity be integrated into this goal. This would extend to students and new professionals as well as lone arrangers, allied professionals with archives-related responsibilities, and others who do not believe their participation within the organization is recognized as fully as others. It sort of addresses the concern for diversity, but probably isn't direct enough. Diversity may deserve its own statement, either here under Goal 4, but possibly under Goal 3. Or both.

SAA is an agile association that delivers outstanding service and fosters a culture of inclusivity and participation.

Create opportunities for all members to participate fully in the association. [4.3]

Thank you for offering the opportunity to provide recommendations. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any follow up questions or comments. 

jderidder says:
Digital Content

Given the incredible impact on the majority of the SAA membership of the shift to digital content, as evidenced by the recent survey, I am surprised it is not even mentioned in the goals.

I personally think it should be one of the primary goals to address in the coming year:  how to support SAA members in their challenge of accessioning, management, curating, and making accessible digital content, whether born-digital or digitized.  This is impacting almost every section and roundtable.  It's an immense problem, and we need a coordinated approach to addressing the concerns involved.

For diversity, I might suggest you expand your definition to include people trained in digital forensics, computer programming and engineering, digital librarians, and others who need to be involved in SAA to help move this organization into the realm that is capable of handling the archives of content being created today. 

eiratansey says:
More than 2 cents

Overall, general concerns: To me there are three aspects of the strategic plan that I hope will receive significantly more attention in future revisions: diversity, employment issues, and graduate-level archival education. As discussed on Twitter and other avenues, many of these issues are linked. I'm very concerned that diversity has not received more attention in this draft (especially when it is part of the revised mission statement), and that employment issues and graduate-level education are conspicuously absent from this draft. Many employment issues are experienced acutely by new archives professionals. Those that immediately come to mind are what I see as the adjuntification of the profession (i.e. the rise of project archivist and temporary positions dependent on grant cycles), the number of archivists with professional credentials stuck in paraprofessional positions, and the woeful number of unemployed archivists. Just under a quarter of SAA's membership is composed of student members (http://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/0812-1-III-C-Students.pdf). It would behoove SAA to more actively address the issues of diversity, employment concerns, and graduate education, given that students are a large constituency.


1.2.2.: In addition to working with other archival organizations (and, I hope, library organizations like ALA), I would like to see SAA make partnerships with other allied organizations that may have a higher public profile – for example, the Wikimedia Foundation, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, etc. I would also like to see whether allied archival organizations might consider joining forces with an existing related-PAC (such as EveryLibrary http://everylibrary.org/announcing-everylibrary-a-new-pac-for-libraries/) or consider forming their own.

 

1.3.1.: I wholeheartedly support some sort of hands-on training for would-be archival advocates. Although I appreciate briefs and talking points, having the training to use these effectively would be excellent. I do suggest expanding the capacity for this free workshop – creating a cost barrier could shut out those who may benefit the most from learning effective advocacy


1.4.: Most of the strategies listed for enriching the diversity of the archival profession concern the Mosaic Scholarship. I would like to encourage Council to think big here - the Mosaic Scholarship is excellent, but it currently only applies to grad students and even at expanded funding levels, would still only support a small number of individuals. Council has an ethical and moral obligation to find multiple avenues to enrich the diversity of the profession, and I am concerned that the current recommendations do not prioritize this fundamental value.


2.1.: One of my ongoing concerns regarding continuous ed (especially with the DAS workshops) and training is that the model is one-time only workshops, and there aren't many tools available to continue honing what you learned after the workshop. This is not the most effective method of learning. In addition, for those working in shops (or un/der-employed) where they may not be able to implement what they've learned right away on the job, the value of workshops is reduced. I would like to see SAA implement some kind of voluntary hands-on learning lab where workshop participants can continue trying out what they've learned in an online environment. For example, I've taken workshops that demonstrate aspects of DSpace, but my institution does not currently use DSpace. I would love some kind of participatory space online where I have access to the tools taught in workshops, and could participate in some sort of cohort to "do cool stuff." I also think this would address what I view as an emerging skills gap in our profession - we're all taking these workshops, but a lot of us face institutional barriers to implementing what we've learned in our jobs (or anywhere, for those who are unemployed or underemployed). I would like to see SAA develop some kind of space complementary to the DAS program where those of us who don't have jobs specifying these skills can practice using a variety of tools. Perhaps models could be based on Codecademy or the Simmons Digital Curriculum Laboratory (http://calliope.simmons.edu/dcl/public/home)


2.1.1.: This tactic mentions finding ways to deliver educational content that is affordable. I would suggest serious consideration of a pricing plan that has workshop discounts for student members. Currently there is a flat member/no-member rate for workshop registrants. I'm aware that workshops sometimes barely break even, so if costs are a concern, perhaps there could be a cap on the number of reduced-rate student registrations, or allow discounted student registration rates once a certain number of full-freight registrations have been reached. 


2.3.2: Specific activities suggest "Develop an online guide for young people who are interested in a career in archives." and "online guide for young archivists on possible career path" - I would suggest rethinking the use of "young archivists" as it conflates age with career trajectory. I would prefer the usage of "new archivists" (as in the usage of the SNAP roundtable). "Young archivists" can be exclusionary for people who make a mid-life career change. 


3.3.2.: I would like clarification on how ALA/SAA/AAM Joint Committee on Archives, Libraries, and Museums (CALM) figures into the suggested possible activities


Goal 4: I applaud these tactics as they are in line (and expand on) with the current draft recommendations from the SAA Communications Task Force

MyNameIs says:
Goals comments & order

SAA is a learned society and professional association chiefly.  These goals are worthwhile but somewhat upside down if one were to assume primacy by placement.  The creation and dissemination of knowledge of a separately delineated field and enhancing the professional capacity of members of that field ought to be the top goals.  Any social goals, regarding the profession's status and makeup, employing repositories responsibilities and funding, or the public's use and knowledge of archives are noble but more secondary endeavors which will largely percolate from achieving sucess in strengthening members' professional knowledge and capacities.

The Goal Statement titles are excellent, actionable, and well subtitled.  Without nitpicking the semantics of each goal substatement, I would simply reorder the hierarchy in this order: 3, 4, 2, 1.

jordon says:
More Diversity

Echoing Mark's comments, I'd like to see more of a commitment to agitating to hire a more diverse workforce. Some action plans would be to determine how diverse the profession is according to a number of factors (gender, race, sexuality, etc.) in order to establish a ratiional baseline, raising more money for professional development for these underrepresented groups, and bothering ILS schools about accepting a diverse student body.  I'm particularly interested to see how these characteristics translate to leadership positions, as anecodtally I find the profession to be pretty diverse related to entry-level positions, but I'm curious to see how diverse it is for those who call the shots.

Excellent effort otherwise, though. I know it's tough to reach consensus on these matters.

bjules says:
WHERE IS DIVERSITY?

The blatant ommission of DIVERSITY as a key piece of this draft strategic plan document warrants an explanation from Council and the SAA President. If the #2 Strategic Priority from 3 years ago cannot get more than a sub category in this new document then some might take it as confirmation that SAA is comfortable with its actions on the issue over the past three years and is ready to move on to other issues.  Is that the case? Also if our only "possible tactics" and "possible specific activities" for addressing and advocating for Diversity end at more scholarships and case studies then in my opinion we are not serious about diversity at all.  Where are the big and bold ideas?  I do not think this document is ready for member comments.

Thank you,

Bergis

sammidown says:
First, thanks to the

First, thanks to the committee for all their work on this. We all know how arduous strategic planning work can be, so I think they deserve a round of applause for having done this so quickly.

Perhaps this is implied in some of the sections, but I feel as though students and universities have gotten a bit of short shrift here. While the document talks about professional development and continuing education, is there also an effort to help MLIS programs with archives concentrations develop more robust and cutting edge curricula? Not necessarily rising to the level of accreditation, which I understand has been rejected in the past, but at least some sort of collaborative effort to ensure that graduates are ready for the workplace. Point being, it's difficult to talk about the future of the organization without addressing those who are preparing to enter the profession.

I would add to the discussion about diversity that this is an issue that comes up in every field that archives intersect with. As such, I would argue that any diversity efforts should be born from collaboration with organizations such as ALA and AHA. If we want to make these ideas stick, it will help to all be on the same page.

BTurner says:
Thank You

1.3 - Why only those who work with archival material? What about extending beyond archivists and researchers to find ways to make archives relevant and valuable beyond our current captive audiences? We should be forging new partnerships and expanding our pool of potential advocates, as well as potential users. I agree with the sub-goal, but would really like to see this item expanded.

1.4 - I'm with Mark on Diversity. Not only should this not be assigned to Goal 1, it shouldn't even be a sub-goal at all. This needs to be a major goal, as it is far better suited to a stand alone category than a subset. It deserves to be something we strive for as a core tenet of our profession, alongside the others, rather than something nice that isn't quite a driving force.

2.1 - How about affordable? Accessible?

2.3 - Great. Not sure if I'm wild about the "low-level" strategies for making this happen, and we ought to be careful that we're not just replicating something that someone else already does better.

3 - Could we address the outdated model of SAA publishing practices? We also really need a better strategy for initiating and encouraging revisions of previous SAA publications; perhaps that ought to be a sub-goal in this section.

3.1 - Why only "participate" in the development of standards? Shouldn't we be leading?

4.1 - Yes!

4.2 - Hopefully with emphasis on "among" members.

4.3 - I know we're only supposed to be commenting on "high-level" elements, but I think the "possible tactics" and "possible specific activities" shows that SAA is missing the mark on this one. We're still having the same conversation about social media that everyone else has been having for the last decade, yet frank strategies to address financial and logistical barriers to full SAA participation (not just Section and Roundtable) is missing. Especially in light of the Annual Meeting Task Force, I have to wonder what the point of all that work is, if not to start incorporating it into a five year strategic plan? If we are waiting til the next plan, won't data collection need to start all over again, with the work of the Task Force becoming obsolete?

4.4 - Encouraging.

Thank you for all of your work on the draft plan, and for providing so many opportunities for member feedback. I hope non-members will be provided with an opportunity to offer feedback, as well.

mgreene says:
Comments on new Strategic Plan

I am rather astonished that diversity has not only dropped from a major goal to a sub-effort, but seems to have been grossly misplaced as well--misplaced to the extent that it is likely to suffer from neglect. Diversity of membership is not a matter of advocating for archives but of either advancing the field (by making its practitioners as diverse as the material they seek to acquire) or meeting members needs (I would argue we need (whether we know it or not) diverse colleagues to fully realize ourselves as professionals.  In addition, somewhere between advocating for archives (articulating value) and advancing the field (particularly collaboration) comes something different and difficult to capture.  It is the arena of ideas and actions which archivists promote not for self-aggrandizement and not necessarily in collaboration, but for the good of society--regardless of whether society fully realizes that its benefactors are archivists.  Intellectual property is one illlustration of this arena, so is advocating for openness in government.  These are issues where it does not (should not) matter that we get credit as archivists--our efforts are not truly selfless, in that what we support assists archivists as well as society, but it is more important that good orphan works legislation is passed than that the archivists' role in such legislation be widely known.  Finally, at least for now, what happened to "the stuff"?  There seems to be nothing about improving and expanding the historical record we acquire, preserve, organize, and make accessible to users.  How did THAT disappear from the radar screen?  Thank you for considering these comments.  --Mark