Standing Rules

Society of American Archivists
Archival History Section

STANDING RULES 

I.            NAME.  The name of the section shall be Archival History Section.

II.           MISSION.  The mission of the section is to stimulate interest among archivists in the profession's own past and suggest ways of studying its history.

III.          MEMBERS.  Membership in the section shall be determined according to the guidelines established in Section IX. of the SAA Governance Manual.

IV.          GOVERNANCE. 

 A.   Bylaws and Standing Rules. These standing rules of the Archival History Section shall serve as a supplement to the SAA Section Bylaws, which govern all SAA sections. Please refer to Section IX. Sections of the SAA Governance Manual for information on membership, section election procedures, reporting requirements, and more. 

 B. Steering Committee. The Steering Committee is composed of five core members, including the officers (Chair and Vice-chair). The Steering Committee directs and coordinates activities of the roundtable and approves appointments recommended by the Chair. Committee members help establish projects to work on through the year and plan the annual roundtable meeting. A member of the Steering Committee shall take minutes at the annual roundtable meeting and assist the Chair in editing the minutes to be posted on the Archival History Section website.

Non-officer Steering Committee members make a commitment to serve for one year, with a limit of three successive years. An individual who has served three successive years may be elected to the Steering Committee again after a break of at least one year. A non-officer Steering Committee member who is elected to the position of Vice-chair may serve the full two-year term (one year as Vice-chair and one year as Chair) regardless of how many successive years (up to the three-year limit) the member has served on the Steering Committee.

The Steering Committee shall appoint any other vacancies to fulfill unexpired terms of elected positions, after which a normal election shall occur.

C.     Officers. The Chair and Vice-chair serve as officers of the section. The Vice-chair shall be elected annually for a two-year term, serving in year one as Vice-chair and in year two as Chair.

Officers make a commitment to serve for the following time periods: Vice-chair—one year as Vice-chair, plus one year as Chair; Chair—one year. If for any reason the Vice-chair is unable to serve as Chair for the year following his or her term as Vice-Chair, a new Chair shall be elected in the annual election.

D.    Duties of Officers.  The Chair directs and reports the activities of the section, organizes and conducts the annual meeting of the section, chairs the Steering Committee, acts as liaison for the section to other bodies, recommends the creation of section committees as needed  and the appointment of section members to committee membership or other leadership roles, and is responsible for administrative matters, including, but not limited to, annual reports to the SAA. In addition, the Chair shall fulfill those responsibilities specified in Section IX. of the SAA Governance Manual. 

The Vice-chair serves as acting Chair in the absence of the Chair and participates as a member of the Steering Committee in all its activities. The elected Vice Chair/Chair-Elect will serve a coterminous one-year term as the representative of the Archival History Section on the Advisory Board of the journal Information and Culture: A Journal of History.

E.    Nominations.  The Chair shall issue a call for nominations, including self-nominations, for the positions of Vice-chair and Steering Committee member every May to all section members via the section’s official email discussion list and website. A slate of candidates shall be established by the officers and announced to section members no later than June 15. All candidates for election must be members of the section and of SAA (either individual members or primary contacts of institutional members of SAA).

F.   Elections. Elections shall be conducted online with the assistance of the SAA staff and in accordance with guidelines for section elections as specified in Section IX. Sections of the SAA Governance Manual. Availability of the online ballot and deadline for voting shall be announced by the Chair to all section members via the section’s official email discussion list and website.

New leadership assumes office at the conclusion of the SAA annual meeting. 

G.     Appointments.  Section members may be appointed to additional leadership roles upon recommendation of the Chair and by majority vote of the officers and Steering Committee.

V.            MEETINGS.  The section shall request space for, and if allocated, shall hold a meeting in conjunction with the SAA Annual Meeting and may meet at other times as deemed appropriate by the officers. The time and agenda shall be communicated in advance via the section’s official email discussion list and website.

VI.           ENACTMENT. The bylaws of the roundtable shall be adopted through a vote by the membership. A majority of the total votes cast shall constitute adoption of the bylaws by the membership, and the bylaws shall then be submitted to the SAA Council for approval. Once the bylaws have been approved by the membership and by the SAA Council, the bylaws shall become effective upon the close of the next annual meeting of the roundtable.

VII.         AMENDMENTS. To ensure alignment with SAA’s governance documents, any amendments to the section’s standing rules should be reviewed by the executive director (or her/his designee) and the section’s Council liaison by May 1, before they are put forward in a referendum for vote by the section membership. Proposed amendments to the section’s standing rules will appear on the section’s annual election ballot for final approval by a simple majority of voters. Any adopted amendments should be posted promptly to the section’s official microsite and be noted in the section’s next annual report to the Council. Any revisions to the section’s name or mission/description must be submitted to the Council for final approval. For more information on amendment procedures, see Section IX. Sections of the SAA Governance Manual.

Adopted by the Archival History Roundtable membership on 6/19/2013; approved by the SAA Council on 9/30/2013. Updated per the member affinity group transition approved by the Council, August 2016.