Here's Your Chance! Call for Volunteers to Serve on SAA-Appointed Groups

by Nancy Y McGovern, SAA Vice President/President-Elect

As a growing professional association that is inspired and fueled by members who contribute their time and energy, SAA relies on you to respond to this annual call for volunteers. If you haven’t volunteered before, or you have and are looking for a new opportunity, here’s your chance. Here’s a brief review of the process and possibilities—presented with the hope that we’ll hear from you.

Appointments Committee

You may already know that a primary role of the SAA vice president is to make appointments that will take effect at the next Annual Meeting. Below you will see a list of volunteer opportunities reflecting the current set of vacancies in SAA-appointed groups as of August 2016. It has become the norm for the vice president to establish an Appointments Committee to coordinate the process of recommending candidates for each vacancy. I am very fortunate that the following individuals have agreed to serve on the 2016 Appointments Committee: Brad Westbrook (ArchivesSpace), who will chair the group, and Robin Chandler (University of California, Santa Cruz), Brenda Gunn (The University of Texas at Austin), and Petrina Jackson (University of Virginia).   

Appointments Process

You may be wondering how appointments work. The process is intended to be transparent and open to all, so here is a brief review: The Committee solicits volunteers from the membership via a web form (see www2.archivists.org/membership/volunteer). After the deadline for volunteers passes, the Committee receives nominations, based on the volunteer pool, from current leaders to fill vacancies on appointed groups. The Committee then has the daunting task of reviewing the full list of vacancies and volunteers, working hard to address the needs of each group. It is SAA’s long-standing policy to make appointments that reflect the diversity of our membership, from years in the profession to race, ethnicity, gender, repository type, and geographic location. It is my responsibility and privilege to make all final appointment decisions.

It would be most productive for you to identify on the list below one or two groups in which you are particularly interested, rather than volunteering for everything on the list (just in case that sounds tempting).  Look for a group that plays to your strengths and/or aligns with your passions and interests. The objective is to include as many people as possible, so an individual may be elected or appointed to only one position at a time. In addition, those appointed may not be reappointed to a second term unless their participation is essential to complete a specific assignment or because their particular expertise is required.

If there are more volunteers than positions available and you aren’t selected for one of your picks this time, you have many other ways to get involved in SAA. You can volunteer to help with your favorite roundtable or section, organize a session proposal for the Annual Meeting, or become more familiar with SAA initiatives by attending a meeting of a committee, board, working group, or the Council. You should know that all SAA group meetings are open to all members, and visitors are welcome.    

Please do take a look at the list of opportunities—there’s a wide range of possibilities and you’ll find information about all of the groups on the SAA website (www.archivists.org)—and then volunteer. Encourage friends and colleagues to volunteer, too. Look forward to working with you!

Appointments Available in 2016-2017

The following groups will have vacancies (number of vacancies indicated in parentheses) beginning in August 2016. For descriptions of the groups, see http://saa.archivists.org/Scripts/4Disapi.dll/4DCGI/committees/LeaderList.html. To volunteer to serve, visit http://www2.archivists.org/membership/volunteer.

Application Deadline:  January 20, 2016

ALA/SAA/AAM Joint Committee on Archives, Libraries, and Museums (CALM) (2)

The American Archivist Editorial Board (4)

Publications Board (3)

Awards Committee (1 co-chair)

- Coker Award (1)

- Distinguished Svc Award (1)

- Diversity Award (1)

- Emerging Leader Award (1)

- Forman Scholarship (1)

- Ham Scholarship (1, must be an SAA Fellow)

- Hamer Award (1)

- Holmes Award (1)

- Jameson Award (1)

- Lane Award (1)

- Leland Award (1)

- Mosaic Scholarship (2, one appointee must be a previous Mosaic Scholarship recipient)

- Pease Award (1, one-year appointment)

- Peterson Award (1)

- Pinkett Award (1, one-year appointment)

- Posner Award (1, must be an SAA Fellow)

- Preservation Award (1)

- Spotlight Award (1)

Committee on Advocacy and Public Policy (4)

Committee on Education (5)

- Digital Archives Specialist (DAS) Subcommittee (3)

Committee on Ethics and Professional Conduct (1)

Committee on Public Awareness (4)

Diversity Committee (3)

Finance Committee (1)

2017 Host Committee (Portland, Oregon) (10-12)

Membership Committee (3)

2017 Program Committee (Portland, Oregon) (10)

Standards Committee (4)

- Technical Subcommittee on Describing Archives: A Content Standard (TS-DACS) (1)

Representative to ALA Committee on Cataloging: Description and Access and MARC Advisory Committee (1)

Representative to International Council on Archives Experts Group on Archival Description (1)

Representative to National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) (1)

Representative to National Information Standards Organization (NISO) (1)

To Volunteer

Log in to the SAA website to view, complete, and submit the self-nomination form below by January 20, 2016. You may save changes and come back to this form; you may also change or resubmit information. SAA membership is required both to view the self-nomination form and to be appointed to an SAA group.

Much information requested on this form is required (*) because more complete information submitted to the Appointments Committee results in more effective recommendations to the Vice President/President-Elect. There are no "right" or "wrong" answers that will ensure or prevent an appointment. In text areas, we are interested in highlights.

Please send any questions to appointments@archivists.org. Thank you for your interest!

Self Nomination Form