Resources & Toolkits

Resources

The Committee on Public Policy recommends to the SAA Council the public policy priorities on which SAA should focus its attention and resources. Its priorities are issues related to preservation of and access to records of enduring value. For more information and perspectives, see the Committee’s microsite.

Several other SAA groups track issues of importance to the archives community. See, for example, the microsites of the Intellectual Property Working Group, Business Archives Section, and Issues and Advocacy Section.

SAA is a member of the Policy Board of the National Coalition for History, a Washington, DC-based consortium of more than 50 history- and archives-related organizations that advocates on federal, state, and local legislative and regulatory issues. Priorities include federal funding for NARA, NHPRC, NEH, IMLS, and the Library of Congress; legislation and regulations affecting public access, declassification, and the digitizing of federal records; and maximizing researcher access to federal records and facilities. Learn more.

The Council of State Archivists has an active advocacy program and participates with SAA and the National Association of Government Archives and Records Administrators in a Joint Working Group on Issues and Awareness. See particularly CoSA’s “The Importance of State Archives” publication.

SAA has endorsed the "Value of History" statement developed by the History Relevance Campaign, a diverse group of history professionals posing questions about what makes the past relevant today. As noted on the website,"With common agreement, commitment, and open conversation about why history is important, we believe the historical community can change the common perception that history is nice, but not essential."

Toolkits

The Business Archives Section's toolkit provides basic information on creating and implementing an internal advocacy program. The toolkit offers both information from external sources and a wealth of ideas directly from the experience of business archivists. Nothing beats a practical idea that has been tried and tested! 

The Issues and Advocacy Section has compiled a list of online advocacy resources used by other organizations.

The Regional Archival Associations Consortium has developed an Advocacy Protocol that regional organizations may use to request advocacy assistance from RAAC.