SNAP Steering Committee Meeting Minutes - 2021/12/02

SNAP Steering Committee 2021-2022

Meeting #4: 2 December 2021

Time: 7pm Eastern; 6pm Central; 5pm Mountain; 4pm Pacific

Attendance via Zoom: Michelle Novack (chair), Marissa Friedman (vice-chair), River Freemont (secretary), John Esh (steering committee), Lourdes Johnson (steering committee), Leah Tams (senior blog editor), Louise LoBello

1. Chair announcements

            a. Call for ex-officio nominees posted to SAA Connect.

i. Deadline for submissions is 12/10. Decisions to be made by 12/17.

                        ii. We will need some volunteers to go over submissions.

iii. Michelle will send a reminder email to the SAA listserv on Monday 12/6.

b. Michelle would like to get some programming scheduled for the coming month.

            i. “Demystifying Government Jobs”: should be a series of blog posts, and a webinar.

a. Some issues discussed: civil servant exams, USAJOBS, differing standards from state to state, resumes and cover letters, certifications, finding government job postings, and answering interview questions effectively.

b. Lourdes volunteered to write a blog post about applying for government jobs.

 ii. “What’s Buzzing in the Archives?”: Michelle was inspired by a recent webinar, where the speaker discussed “buzzword” processes for students and newprofessionals to be aware of. Could be great for highlighting tech skills to develop.

 a. Some technologies discussed: ArchivesSpace, Archive-It, Archivematica, Archipelago, Arclight.

b. Leah will contact someone about doing an Arclight post.

iii. Marissa would really like to organize an event around resumes and cover letters. This could involve the SAA Career Center, and be marketed to student chapters.

iv. Michelle would like these events to be scheduled monthly, on a regular night, such as “First Friday,” “Last Wednesday,” etc. This would make it easier for folks to remember and to schedule speakers.

c. Eric Chin emailed to ask if SNAP would like to host something for the upcoming SAA election, such as a candidate Q+A. The timeline would be just prior to ballot release in March.

   i. Michelle is going to follow-up with Eric to get more information.

2. Vice-chair announcements and upcoming administration

a. Update on collaboration with Archival Workers Emergency (AWE) Fund: Marissa met with the Survey and Research Committee of AWE. They will be putting out a survey concerning labor issues, pandemic impact on job precarity, and workplace environment. Perhaps SNAP can help promote it. It won’t be ready for a while.

b. The Diverse Sexuality and Gender Section is interested in collaborating with SNAP.

i. Marissa is in the initial communications and planning stages for an event with DSGS – a meet ‘n’ greet, LGBTQIA+ Students and New Professionals event, etc. They want to get to know our section better!

  a. Let Marissa know if you are interested and want to get involved with this collaboration.

3. Blog team update
           

a. November CFPs were very quiet.                       

i. Leah reached out to the LGBT Community Center (NY) archives for Trans Day of Remembrance. They declined because of timing and the lack of payment for writing a post.

ii. One new post, “Putting the Protocols to Work” (Protocols for Native American Archival Materials) by Carady DeSimone, is up on the blog now.

iii. Leah was thinking about not doing a December CFP (busy holiday seasons, end of semesters, etc.), and Michelle approved.

b. Michelle likes the idea of doing a call-and-response type of post re: Omicron variant and the possibility of another lockdown (impact on archival workers, students looking for internships and opportunities).

i. John can contribute on that topic.

4. Social media team update

a. Louise posted about open positions on Twitter and FB.

b. FB platform has changed recently. Trying to get Michelle access, but something weird is going on on their end.

c. Trying to plan another SNAP-chat for December.

d. Louise and Rachel are rolling-off next month.

5. Student chapter coordinator update

a. Student chapter contact list could be updated, there’s a lot of turn-over in the student chapters.

b. Michelle would like to email the chapters directly (re: open SNAP positions), and wants more students to get involved. However, Lourdes gets a lot of “bounceback” emails when she tries to email directly from a Gmail account.

i. It would be helpful to have an official SAA email so that there aren’t issues trying to communicate with student chapters.

ii. Louise will send out an email to all student chapters (CFP for events, and nominations for ex-officio members).

6. Web liaison update

a. John separated the social media links from the About Us section, and put them into their own. Also added the more polished logo.

7. Confirmation of Next Meeting Date

a. Thursday, January 6, 7pm Eastern; 6pm Central; 5pm Mountain; 4pm Pacific.