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SAA’s appointed groups and sections are now seeking interns! Students and new professionals are encouraged to apply for this unique leadership development experience. SAA internships are an excellent professional service opportunity that supports SAA’s core values and commitment to “providing an open, inclusive, and collaborative environment” for all of our members. All applications are due by Wednesday, April 18.
SAA’s appointed groups – committees, boards, and working groups – advise the SAA Council on various issues and aspects of the profession. SAA’s sections serve as special-interest groups focused on a specific aspect of the archives profession. Each of the 17 intern positions available will provide a unique opportunity to see the inner workings of these groups – and to contribute to important work on behalf of SAA and the profession.
Our interns work directly with the appointed group or section steering committee, participating in all meetings as well as assisting with special projects, research, or administrative tasks, when applicable. Interns are responsible for a set of assigned tasks, typically requiring no more than 10 hours of work per month.
Interns will be assigned to an SAA group for a one-year term, from August 18, 2018, through the 2019 Annual Meeting. Group chairs and interns will be asked to complete evaluation forms at the end of the term.
Read on to learn about the SAA groups seeking an intern, including details about the intended project or tasks, and then submit your application!
SAA Foundation Board
Work with the SAA Foundation Board Development Committee on education and outreach projects, including creation of a traveling exhibit, planning a thank you event at the Annual Meeting, and developing and disseminating messages for targeted audiences from new members to legacy or planned giving donors. Also assist with the SAAF Board’s Mosaic Scholar interview project by creating a webpage to access podcast content, write an article on the project for Archival Outlook, and disseminate the content to appropriate channels. Preference given to members with strong communication, design, and writing skills and an interest in funds development.
The American Archivist Editorial Board (2 internships)
1. Identify hidden content and file corruption in The American Archivist online content. Find articles with hand annotations (marginal notes, underlines, “colorful” language), and replace with clean copies. (This year's intern has already identified numerous instances of content from AA online that is hidden from users by being bundled into PDF files on the website.) We're seeking an intern who can help to inventory these instances of PDFs that need correction/replacement.
2. Analyze the impact of the journal’s content on later scholarly and professional literature through citation analysis, using available tools such as Google Scholar to determine how, where, and how often AA contributions have been cited. This will require a combination of automated assistance (writing scripts) and manual examination of outputs. Intern will work with one or more Editorial Board members to analyze the results and co-author an article or report summarizing the process and results.
Committee on Education
Explore questions around scope and the need for management courses within the profession. Some of these questions include: What management continuing education courses for archives/cultural heritage staff currently exist? What courses are offered in these management tracks? Why aren’t archivists using Harvard Business School’s management training (Carnegie curriculum)? What are the potential audiences for these courses?
Committee on Public Policy
Serve as a full member of the Committee on Public Policy (COPP) and contribute to deliberations on SAA's public policy agenda, mainly via email and quarterly conference calls. Interns are involved in researching, drafting, and editing position papers and issue briefs, and will undertake special projects as needed. In the past, interns have also assisted with organizing sessions at the Annual Meeting or writing pieces for Archival Outlook.
Dictionary Working Group
Seeking a highly motivated intern to be a full contributing member of the group and transition entries from our initial working environment into our dictionary production system. Strong writing and research skills are a plus as we write new or update existing entries and search for supporting citations.
Digital Archives Specialist (DAS) Subcommittee
Pursue various research projects, such as: (1) Determine the skills and abilities needed for careers in digital archives; (2) model pricing structures for ongoing professional development courses in digital archives and electronic records; and/or (3) develop and execute surveys to identify gaps in professional education for digital archives and electronic records careers. Interns take part in all regularly scheduled online committee meetings.
Diversity Committee
Assist with the planning of the Annual Meeting Diversity Forum. The intern will participate in topic brainstorming and selection, speaker selection, and logistics. There will be opportunities to engage with committee members and contribute to other committee initiatives and projects as well.
Publications Board
Assist with special projects to improve access to books and to study new publication options. This year, the Board is seeking help with a pilot of a digital publishing platform. Projects are based on the Board's needs and intern's interests. Interns fully participate in Board meetings and book proposal reviews.
Acquisitions and Appraisal Section
Collaborate with the steering committee to increase and maintain the section's social media presence, provide support for the section's official communications, and conduct interviews and produce short-form content for the blog. Will work closely with the section's Social Media Subcommittee and will be responsible for keeping records of activities and procedures and staying current in acquisition and appraisal issues.
Requirements: Experience with various social media outlets, particularly using Twitter and participating/leading Twitter chats; knowledge of and willingness to keep up-to-date with current research, tools, and methods in acquisition and appraisal topics; demonstrate initiative and identify new PR opportunities, innovative thinker, able to work independently; ability to communicate effectively in writing attend all section meetings via teleconference/web conferences throughout the year.
Archival Educators Section
Collaborate with AES leadership on the creation of a pedagogical resource collection to support archival educators by offering a predefine set of simulated archival documents and records for use in courses (e.g., collection development policies, case studies, finding aids, collections, etc.). Tasks may include soliciting and gathering teaching resources used by archival educators, contacting owners of similar pedagogical collections, attending AES meetings, and working with AES leaders on a collection framework.
Archival History Section
Maintain the section’s newsletter, Archival History News, which reports on the activities and scholarship of those who study archives and history of archives in all time periods and across all geographic areas. Duties include: helping to release the newsletter three times per year (October, January, May); editing articles; developing the WordPress platform; publicity for AHN releases; attending AHS and AHN meetings; and working on special projects (such as how to archive the website). The AHN intern will work closely with the editorial team, a special committee of the AHS.
Archivists and Archives of Color Section
Coordinate the Archiving in Color project, a blog that celebrates archivists of color through individual profiles. The intern will support with soliciting, interviewing, writing, editing, and publishing profiles.
Business Archives Section
Update the Directory of Corporate Archives in the United States and Canada, which elevates awareness among the public and fosters communication within the Business Archives Section community. This includes companies that maintain their historical records themselves, as well as companies that contract with historical consulting firms to maintain their archives collections for them and libraries that contain business records. The intern would also assist members of the Steering Committee with updates to the Business Archives Advocacy toolkit and general promotion of business-archives-related content across social media platforms.
Human Rights Archives Section
Help strengthen the section’s mission and presence related to human rights, intellectual freedom and censorship, privacy and access, and more. Coordinate the section’s presence on SAA pages, update and promote our section resources, compile resources related to human rights, serve as a liaison with other sections on matters of common concern, and receive and distill survey responses.
Issues and Advocacy Section
Collaborate on projects to further the section’s mission by assisting with the advocacy toolkit, overseeing legislative and general research teams, and coordinating outreach efforts to members and other groups within SAA. May also participate in developing the cross-group “Advocacy Share” portal. Areas of particular interest or educational focus will also be taken into consideration when determining final projects.
Privacy and Confidentiality Section
Update and expand the section’s resource bank that provides members with articles, books, blogs, websites, legislation, and case law relevant to their work. This new resource has been a major focus of the section for the last several years, and we now need a dedicated intern to help us complete: (1) the assessment and contextualization of entries, (2) the delineation of ongoing responsibilities among steering committee members, and (3) research into a process by which members at large may contribute new resources and feedback.
Security Section
Create a podcast, video, or interview series relating to security, theft, forgery, and the like for the section’s blog, Archives Security, a forum for section members and those in the greater archival community to find information about the security concerns and risks that impact all of us and tools and resources to help. We are looking for someone with innovative ideas who is interested in identifying specialists in the field to conduct interviews.
Because SAA internships are intended to be opportunities for professional and leadership development, the intern applicant must be:
Because SAA is committed to enhancing the diversity of the organization, the profession, and the historical record, individuals who are members of historically underrepresented groups are especially encouraged to apply for an SAA appointed group or section internship.
To volunteer to serve, complete the application form. Most information requested on the form is required (*) because more complete information results in more effective internship placements. There are no "right" or "wrong" answers that will ensure or prevent an appointment. In text areas, we are interested in highlights.
If you have any questions, please contact us at saahq@archivist.org or by phone at 866-722-7858.
Note:
1. SAA interns are not funded to attend the Annual Meeting, and must do so at their own (or their institution’s) expense.
2. Interns are considered non-voting adjunct members of the appointed group. They are encouraged to contribute to the work of the group and to be an active participant in group meetings, but they do not have an official vote.
3. Some appointed groups may hold an additional meeting mid-year to handle other important business. As adjunct members of the group, interns would be funded by SAA to attend such meetings.