SAA Council Endorses Native American Protocols, Creates Vendor Guidelines TF

At its August 13 meeting in Washington, DC, the SAA Council endorsed Protocols for Native American Archival Materials, a document that had been considered by previous Councils, and issued a statement about the endorsement concluding that, “The SAA Council acknowledges that endorsement of these Protocols is long overdue. We regret and apologize that SAA did not take action to endorse the Protocols sooner and engage in more appropriate discussion.”

In other actions, the Council:

• Agreed to form a six-member task force to develop guidelines for staff use in considering vendor exhibits, sponsorships, and advertising. The task force will be appointed by September 1 and will have a final report due for consideration at the November 2018 Council meeting.

• Approved revisions to its “Principles and Priorities for Continuously Improving the SAA Annual Meeting” that include the addition of two bullets:
  • “We will strive to meet in locations governed by laws, regulations, and practices that support the values and ethics of SAA” and
  • “We expect panels to be diverse and inclusive. This includes bringing balance to the panels, such as individual diversity (gender, race, age, length of time in profession, ability, access to financial resources), institutional diversity (academic, government, corporate/business, non-profit, large, small), and geographic diversity.”

The Council will convene again briefly on Saturday, August 18, at 7:30 am at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, DC.