2012 Annual Business Meeting Update

This year we have an impressive line up of preservation specialists eager to talk about preservation in the 21st century at our annual conference business meeting. The inspiration for this topic came from hearing a number of discussions taking place around the field of preservation, but not necessarily within the community itself. As Chair, I thought it most appropriate to bring this conversation to the SAA Preservation Section. Our speakers will address eduation, professional resposibility, technology-driven changes, and new partnerships and collaborations. This conversation will dovetail an earlier conference program panel, titled "Partnerships New and Old: Preservation in the 21st Century," where digital archivists and preservation administrators will discuss the place of digital preservation today.

As we get closer to the meeting in San Diego, we will solicit questions from the organization and section membership because this is a discussion panel. The following speakers have been invited to speak:

Michelle Cloonan, Professor and former Dean, GSLIS, Simmons College (confirmed)

Ian Bogus, MacDonald Curator of Preservation, University of Pennsylvania (confirmed)

Ann Marie Willer, Preservation Librarian, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (confirmed)

Karen Gracey, Assistant Professor, SLIS, Kent State (tentative)

The blurb for the meeting program is below:

Archivists and preservation specialists will share perspectives on the future of the profession in Preservation in the 21st Century: including preservation education and research, evolving professional responsibilities, mapping digital preservation to traditional activities, and building partnerships with allied professionals (conservators, technologists, and manufacturers). The business meeting will precede the panel discussion.