February 24, 2022—At its February 2022 virtual meeting, the SAA Council:
- Approved a new version of the Museum Archives Guidelines, as revised by the Museum Archives Section and endorsed by the Standards Committee. The revised guidelines better reflect current needs, practices, and challenges for museum archives as well as providing overarching best practices and considerations while acknowledging the complexities of museum archives and deferring to local practices as appropriate. The new guidelines will be available shortly in the SAA Standards Portal. (II.C.)
- Discussed allocating funds designated in the fiscal year 2022 budget to support the initial priorities outlined in the new Work Plan on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (III.B.). The Council will continue discussion via email to determine a final plan as soon as possible. (V.A.)
- Held a strategic planning session focused on the structure and expectations for SAA sections, with particular consideration of the membership engagement experience and the resources needed to best support these groups. The Council agreed to determine a clear plan, in consultation with SAA leaders and members, by the 2022 Annual Meeting in August. (IV.A.)
- Selected three SAA Fellows to serve on the 2022 Committee on the Selection of SAA Fellows; Executive Director Jacqualine Price Osafo will contact these individuals to confirm their consent to serve, and their names will be included in the minutes for this meeting. (V.B.)
- Met with leaders from the Native American Archives Section to discuss repatriation and purposeful deaccessioning, particularly for tribal records, and agreed that action should be taken to further SAA’s endorsement of the Protocols for Native American Archival Materials. The Council will confer with SAA groups also aligned with this work to determine next steps. (IV.B.)
- Continued review of feedback on the new Strategic Plan Dashboard submitted during the open comment period in February; the final version will be approved soon by online vote . Many thanks to all who provided feedback on the draft! (V.C.)
View the agenda and materials for the February 2022 meeting here.
If you have questions about these Council actions, contact SAA President Courtney Chartier (president@archivists.org) or Executive Director Jacqualine Price Osafo (jpriceosafo@archivists.org). Comprehensive minutes of the February meeting will be available soon here.
The next Council meeting will be held in May 2022. If you’d like to have an item considered for inclusion on the next agenda, please send to Chartier and/or Price Osafo by April 18, 2022.
