2025 Annual Business Meeting

Attending: Teresa, Jim, Renee, Elspeth, Gayle, Elizabeth

Regrets: Zachary, KayAnn, Judy

Summary of year's activities (Teresa)

1. Housekeeping: Reviewed action items from prior year, notes from 2024 Diversity Forum, and DEIA Workplan to set agenda for the year. Zachary worked to organize/clean up the drive.
2. Established three sub-committees to work on various projects over the course of the year:
   1. Diversity Forum: focused on planning the 2025 Forum.
   2. Affinity and Resource Groups: focused on action item identified in Workplan 1.6: “pilot and/ or create guidance for creating affinity or employee resource groups that bring together archives workers who share cultural commonalities.”
   3. Restrictions on DEIA: focused on developing a statement and/or guidance in response to recent restrictions on DEIA.
3. Discussed the Open Letter to SAA from Archivist of the United States (January) and submitted a related agenda item request to Council. No response due to firing of the Archivist of the United States.
4. Provided feedback to Council in re: to strategic planning.
   1. Noted the need for future plans to include clear deliverables which should also be resourced.
   2. Suggested revisiting the Advocacy Toolkit in light of current atmosphere.
   3. Noted the need to develop SAA’s advocacy work.
   4. Noted the need to reactivate the Committee on Public Policy and the Committee on Public Awareness.
   5. Noted the need for more transparency within the organization as well as stronger lines of communication between Council and committees to clarify expectations.
5. Participated in a conversation organized by the Women Archivists Section to discuss the potential of organizing a Town Hall for membership to discuss the organization, the state of the profession and the impact of the current political climate on archival work.
6. Convened and hosted a meeting of ex-officio representatives from affiliated sections (Native American Archives Section, Women Archivists Section, Accessibility and Disability Section, Diverse Sexuality and Gender Section) in April to discuss how the organization might better advocate for the profession and how we might better activate allyships and advocate for one another.
   1. As a result of the conversation at the April meeting with affiliate sections, Diversity Committee submitted an agenda item for May Council Meeting to discuss concerns that had been raised in that meeting.
   2. Shared joint letter.
7. In April the Committee published Statement on Nationwide Attacks against DEIA Programs and Initiatives.
8. Over the course of the year we reviewed a number of proposed standards:
   1. Revision of the Archival Continuing Education Guidelines by the Committee on Education.
   2. Revision of Best Practices for Internships Standard by the Graduate Archival Education Subcommittee of the Committee on Education.
   3. Draft Principles in Indigenous Archival Repatriation by the Archival Repatriation Committee.
   4. Delivering Archives and Digital Objects: A Conceptual Model.
9. Future work: Diversity Committee will gather notes and feedback from the 2025 Diversity Forum and author a report on the findings from the Forum, including action items to be presented to SAA Council. We will continue to lobby for greater advocacy on behalf of the profession and transparency in regards to the work of the organization.

Subcommittee Reports

Affinity and Resource Groups Subcommittee (Elizabeth)

1. Facilitated a discussion session in April: "Archival Community Conversation on ERGs/Affinity Groups."
2. Gathered resources and posted on SAA Connect in June: Community Conversation on ERGs/Affinity Groups | Announcements.

Restrictions on DEIA Subcommittee (Jim)

1. Contributed text to SAA Draft Statement on Restrictions on DEI Work in advance of Council meeting.
2. Draft text provided by the subcommittee included calls for:
   1. Research to document the impact of legislative interference in archival work.
   2. Investigation of ways SAA can assist archivists encountering restrictions on their work.
   3. A revision of the advocacy toolkit to address legislative threats to archival work.

Diversity Forum Subcommittee (Teresa)

1. Per recommendations from last year submitted a funding request to Council in February. Council approved ongoing funding of up to $1000 to support speakers at Diversity Forum.
2. Forum will be held on Monday, August 25 from 11:45-1pm Pacific (hybrid format).
3. 2025 Forum will offer participants the opportunity to discuss how their work has been directly impacted by anti-DEIA measures in an anonymized venue. Participants will be asked to brainstorm about how SAA might best support them and their work in this moment.
4. Forum will not be recorded.

Thank you to outgoing committee members and introduction of new members (Zachary)

1. Judy and Teresa will be rotating off.
2. Gayle will be Vice Chair.
3. Samantha Tripp and Elizabeth Spaide are new appointees.

Presentation by SAA Council Working Groups

1. Project 2025 Working Group: Selena Ortega-Chiolero.
2. Statements Working Group: Michelle Ganz and Eira Tansey.