SAA Council Approves Guidelines on Access to Research Materials, Plans Upcoming Listening Sessions

September 25, 2020—At its September 23 virtual meeting, the SAA Council:

• Approved revisions to the Guidelines on Access to Research Materials in Archives and Special Collections Libraries, as prepared by the ACRL/RBMS-SAA Joint Task Force and recommended by the SAA Standards Committee. The revised guidelines clarify how archivists can advocate for and facilitate equitable access to resources and services, including digital collections. The new version is available on the SAA Standards Portal, here.
• Considered a petition to form a new section for accessioning and, in light of ongoing discussions about overall section structure and support, decided to seek further information from the petitioners and related standing sections before proceeding.
• Discussed topics for upcoming Council listening sessions and forums that may be of current interest to SAA members and agreed to issue a survey to gather members’ ideas. More information about dates and topics will be shared as soon as possible.
• Reviewed reports from the Program Committee and staff about the 2020 Virtual Joint Annual Meeting and briefly discussed ideas for the 2021 conference.

Complete minutes from this meeting will be available on the SAA website soon. If you have questions or concerns about these Council actions, feel free to contact SAA President Rachel Vagts (president@archivists.org) or Executive Director Nancy Beaumont (nbeaumont@archivists.org).

The next virtual meeting of the SAA Council is scheduled for Friday, November 20. If you’d like to have an item considered for inclusion on the agenda, submit it to Vagts and/or Beaumont by October 30.