May 28, 2019—At its May 20–22 meeting in Chicago, the SAA Council approved a Fiscal Year 2020 budget of $2,805,696 in revenues, $2,843,162 in expenses, and a net loss of $37,465. Council members noted that the approved budget reflects the leadership’s commitment to investing in the future of the profession and the organization. This conservative approach to the future acknowledges SAA’s continuing investment in development and marketing of new products and services for members, in several important member-led projects, and in technology to enhance the availability of Annual Meeting content.
The Council encourages all members to engage with the budget, which is available here. If you have any specific questions or concerns, please reach out to SAA’s elected Treasurer, Amy Fitch (afitch@rockarch.org), or Finance/Administration Director Peter Carlson (pcarlson@archivists.org).
In other actions, the Council:
- Reviewed and approved a work plan to accomplish the goals and strategies outlined in SAA’s Strategic Plan 2019-2022.
- Approved three documents submitted by the Committee on Public Policy: 1) proposed revisions in SAA’s Public Policy Agenda, 2) a revised Legislative Action Agenda for 2019-2020 (to coincide with the current legislative term), and 3) a committee work plan for 2019-2022. The revised Public Policy Agenda and Legislative Action Agenda will be available at https://www2.archivists.org/advocacy/publicpolicy later this week.
- Approved Revised Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS) Principles as submitted by the Technical Subcommittee on DACS and recommended by the SAA Standards Committee.
- Referred back to the Standards Committee several questions regarding a recommendation to introduce new rights statement elements to DACS.
- Approved a plan to livestream two education session tracks (20 sessions) at the Joint Annual Meeting in Austin to enable remote participation, and also to audio record (with synched slides) all education sessions and section meetings held during the conference. The entire package will be available for sale to SAA and CoSA members for less than $100.
- Agreed to replace SAA’s internship program with an opportunity for members who are early in their careers to serve a one-year term on one of SAA’s appointed groups (i.e., committees, task forces, or working groups). The focus of these terms will be on developing leadership skills via mentoring provided by group leaders and members.
- Discussed SAA’s job board and whether there should be a requirement to list a salary or salary range for each position. The Council will conduct an open forum at the 2019 Joint Annual Meeting to hear from attendees about what might be done to increase archivists’ salaries, and also awaits feedback from members who may be preparing materials on the issue of job listings for the Council’s consideration.
- Elected Audra Eagle Yun to serve on the 2019-2020 Executive Committee and Steven Booth and Brenda Gunn to serve on the 2019-2020 Nominating Committee.
If you have questions or concerns about these Council actions, feel free to contact SAA Vice President Meredith Evans (president@archivists.org) or Executive Director Nancy Beaumont (nbeaumont@archivists.org).
The next meeting of the SAA Council will take place from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm on Thursday, August 1, at the JW Marriott in Austin, Texas. If you’d like to have an item considered for inclusion on the agenda, submit it to Evans and/or Beaumont no later than Friday, July 5 (four weeks in advance).
