SAA Council Revises Strategic Plan, Decommissions A&A Discussion List

The SAA Council at its November 5-7 meeting in Chicago made minor revisions to the Vision, Mission, Core Values, Goal Statements, and Strategies that will form the basis for the organization’s strategic direction from 2018 to 2020. The revisions were based on member comments and the Membership Committee’s analysis of responses to its “Barriers to Participation in SAA” survey, conducted earlier this year. Beginning in January Council members and staff will start to fill in the Plan with key performance indicators and activities intended to move SAA toward accomplishment of the goals.

In other actions, the Council:

• Voted unanimously to decommission the current Archives and Archivists Discussion List, effective December 31, 2017. The Council also charged the staff to “explore options for providing an online forum for profession-wide discussion that can be monitored effectively and moderated to ensure that it fosters a professional exchange of ideas.” Read more here.
• Approved the Committee on Public Policy’s revisions of the SAA Public Policy Agenda and Procedures for Suggesting SAA Advocacy Action, as well as issue briefs on Federal Classified Information and Controlled Unclassified Information and Police Mobile Camera Footage as a Public Record.
• Approved with minor changes the SAA Committee on Education’s revision of the Guidelines for Archival Continuing Education (ACE). The revisions bring the document into alignment with SAA’s Guidelines for a Graduate Program in Archival Studies (GPAS).
• Acting on a recommendation by the Diverse Sexuality and Gender Section, approved creation of a Tragedy Response Initiative Task Force that will be responsible for 1) creating and/or compiling material for ready accessibility by archivists who are facing a sudden tragedy and 2) exploring the feasibility of creating a standing body within SAA that would update documentation as needed and serve as a volunteer tragedy response team. 
• Approved creation of a task force to update and broaden SAA’s Best Practices for Working with Archives Employees with Physical Disabilities and Best Practices for Working with Archives Researchers with Physical Disabilities to include neuro-disability, temporary physical disabilities, and any other topics that should be considered within the scope of the document.
• Renamed the SAA Emerging Leader Award to honor Fellow and Past President Mark A. Greene, who was a long-time mentor and supporter of many young leaders.
• Reviewed the annual reports of SAA’s 46 special-interest sections.

The complete meeting minutes will be posted to the website once they are approved by the Council.

The SAA Council will meet again via conference call in January 2018. To propose agenda items for Council consideration, forward your ideas to SAA President Tanya Zanish-Belcher (president@archivists.org) or Executive Director Nancy Beaumont (nbeaumont@archivists.org).