Standing Rules

Society of American Archivists
Electronic Records Section

STANDING RULES

1. Annual Meeting.
The Annual Meeting of the Electronic Records Section will be held during the Annual Meeting of the Society of American Archivists. 

2. Governance

These standing rules of the Electronic Records 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. 

3. Officers.

A. Chair - The Leader of the section will be the Chair, who will serve for a term of one year beginning at the end of the Section’s annual meeting. The Chair will lead all Section meetings and will serve as the official representative of the section.

B. Vice Chair/Chair Elect - The Vice Chair shall be elected each July by the section membership via an electronic vote supervised by the Society of American Archivists staff. The Vice chair must be a member of the section. The Vice chair will serve a term of one year as Vice Chair and will assume the position of chair at the conclusion of the term of the incumbent Chair. The Vice Chair will assist the Chair in leading the section and will represent the section in the absence of the Chair.

C. Immediate Past Chair - Upon completion of the term as Chair, the Chair assumes the role of Immediate Past Chair continuing to serve on the Steering Committee for another one-year term. The primary responsibility of the Immediate Past Chair is to oversee the election process for new section leadership for the following year.

D. Steering Committee - In addition to the Chair, Vice Chair and Immediate Past Chair, the Steering Committee consists of six (6) members elected from the section membership. The Steering Committee leads and organizes section activities, as well as appoints section members to serve in appointed positions.

4. Membership.

 The Maximum number of Steering Committee members shall be nine, including the Chair, Vice-Chair, and Immediate Past Chair.

A. Eligibility. Steering committee members must be members of the Society of American Archivists and the Electronic Records Section.

B. 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.

One-third of the six elected members of the Steering Committee shall be elected each July by electronic vote supervised by the Society of American Archivists staff. The persons receiving the two highest vote totals shall be elected to a term as described in part C of this Article.

C. Terms. Steering Committee members shall serve terms of three (3) years, beginning at the annual meeting following the ballot on which the member was elected. Steering Committee members shall be limited to two (2) consecutive terms unless no one is available to stand for election.

5. Appointed Positions.
The Steering Committee shall appoint section members to serve in the positions of Communications Liaison and Secretary, and may appoint  liaisons to other SAA component groups and other roles as necessary.

A. Communications Liaison. The Communications Liaison facilitates communications between the Steering Committee and the Section membership and other audiences, including but not limited to the SAA microsite, electronic mailing list, blogs, social media, and other forms of online communication not yet in use by the Section. This role is open to all eligible Electronic Records Section members. The appointee will serve a renewable one-year term.

B. Secretary. The secretary is responsible for taking notes at the annual meeting and regular meetings of the Steering Committee, and for posting minutes of these meetings to the electronic records section microsite. The secretary is selected from the membership of the Steering Committee.

6. 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 a final approval by a simple majority of the section’s membership. 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.

This proposed governance structure was adopted by voting members of the Electronic Records Section in an online election administered by the Society of American Archivists in July 2015. Updated per the member affinity group transition approved by the Council, August 2016.