2008 Women Archivists Roundtable Minutes, San Francisco

 Meeting Minutes

August 27, 2008, 1-3:00 p.m.
Led by Robin Secco and Karen Morse

1. Introductions

2. Brief Address from our Council Liaison(s)
   Sheryl Williams (outgoing) introduced Rosalye Settles (incoming)
   Main point of discussion: New SAA rule that roundtables need to have at least 50 SAA members and how that will affect WAR

3. Guest Speaker - Anne Lyons, National Archives of Australia
   She gave on overview of the role and status of women and archiving in Australia, and participated in a question-and-answer period. An interesting tidbit: 57% of the National Archives staff are women

4. WAR Mission and Objectives
   The Women Archivists Roundtable (WAR), formerly the Women's Professional Archival Issues Roundtable (WPAIR) exists to ensure that the Society of American Archivists (SAA) conscientiously deals with issues that affect the status of women within the profession and the Society. The Roundtable also provides a Society-acknowledged forum for individual members to address issues of concern in this area.

   WAR will:
   - Monitor the status of women within the archival profession
   - Encourage the participation of women in all phases of SAA business and other activities as well as in the archival profession as a whole
   - Monitor gender balance on SAA programs
   - Nominate candidates for Fellow in SAA
   - Monitor the continuance of day care at the SAA Annual Meeting
   - Meet annually in conjunction with the SAA meeting
   - Conduct its business in accordance with the SAA's "Guidelines for SAA Roundtables"
   - Support SAA Navigator Program

   WAR Website: http://www.archivists.org/saagroups/women/

   WAR E-discussion list. Sign-up at time of membership or renewal

5. General Business

   A. Listed additional activities of interest to WAR members at the annual meeting
   - 8/27 WCRT, 5:30-7:30 PM
   - 8/28 Session 107: Archival Awareness Along the Pacific Rim (featuring our WAR guest speaker, Anne Lyons, among others)
   - 8/30 Session 709: Power Figures: The Roles of Women in the Development of American Museums

   B. Discussed WAR's recent activity
   - Navigator Program
   - No session proposals received by the deadline for endorsement by the Roundtable for 2008 SAA meeting

   C. Discussed ideas for WAR
   - Ideas regarding possible WAR activities (from Steering Committee E-mails 8/4-8/5/08): Hold networking get-togethers with women archivists; Conduct workshops on professional issues; Get a workshop at SAA on perhaps women and management in the archival/records management world; Look into online recruitment/discussions/elections; Should we consider reviving our survey, now that A*Census is becoming dated?
   - Ideas generated by group: Use the WAR listserv for more discussion on this issue; Session on women and technology (basic idea: if women have a fear of technology it could lead to a male-dominated profession); Liaising with SAA Nominating Committee to get more women into the higher-level positions; Make an annual assessment of the gender balance for both elected and appointed positions within SAA and the Annual Meeting program; Find some activism to energize the Roundtable; Do something with the Women Religious Group; Session/panel of female leaders in the archival profession with a variety of different perspectives; Record/create transcript of any sessions/workshops/lectures we sponsor so that they can be made available to those who cannot afford to travel to the meetings

6. Other Business
   A. Brief address by 2009 Program Committee representative
   - Theme of next year's annual meeting is sustainability. It will be a joint meeting with the Council of State Archivists. They'll be looking for sessions that emphasize diversity and have some sort of international perspective
   - Deadlines: October 8 for session proposals; October 20 for endorsement (we can endorse up to 2 sessions)

   B. Session ideas for next year
   - Presentation by Fernanda Perrone, re: work-life balance session (proposed by Fernanda Perrone and Caryn Radick)
   - Other sessions brainstormed earlier in the meeting

   C. Issues and Advocacy
   - Ideas generated by Steering Committee: WAR bylaws review, updating WAR Web resources, nomination SAA fellows, daycare, diversity in leadership
   - Ideas generated by group: Discussion of the issues surrounding coming back to work after maternity leave (private place to pump, etc.), maybe WAR can help with more publicity for daycare at SAA

7. Election
   WAR will have 2 co-chairs, sharing the leadership of the section. They will be elected for staggered 2-year terms. These individuals must be SAA members in good standing. Unusual circumstance that one co-chair has rotated off the term early, hence 2 positions this election. This election, one co-chair will be elected for a 1-year term and one co-chair will be elected for a 2-year term.

   WAR Steering Committee comprised of the 2 co-chairs, and from 5-7 other individuals. These members may, but are not required to be members of SAA. The Steering Committee will have broad geographic representation.

   Nominations:
   Steering Committee: Sharon Silengo, State Historical Society of North Dakota; Sandy Swan, Resource Center of Dallas; Deborah Rice, Reuther Library, Wayne State University; Kathy Goss, Consultant

   Co-Chair: Robin Secco, University of Chicago; Elizabeth Newsom, University of Colorado, Boulder

   Attendance: 29