May 26, 2026—The SAA Council held a virtual meeting on May 11 and 13. HIghlights and key actions from the meeting are as follows:
- The Council ratified the following Executive Committee interim actions taken between February 17, 2026, and May 1, 2026:
- Approved endorsing the National Park Service statement. (April 8, 2026).
- Unanimously approved the AOTUS statement regarding the nomination of Bradford Wilson as the next Archivist of the United States. (March 12, 2026).
- Unanimously approved the statement from A2K (SCCR/47/10), supporting the initiation of text-based work toward the adoption of appropriate international legal instrument(s) on exceptions and limitations, based on the African Group’s “Proposal on Limitations and Exceptions” (April 2, 2026).
- Ratified the following Council interim actions taken between February 17, 2026, and May 1, 2026:
- Approved the Committee on Public Policy’s 2025–2027 legislative agenda (March 16, 2026).
- Created and charged an AI Task Force (March 19, 2026).
- Approved comments from the Intellectual Property Working Group submitted to WIPO on the draft Toolkit on Access (March 23, 2026).
- Selected the 2026–2027 Executive Committee member and two Nominating Committee members: Eira Tansey will serve as the Executive Committee member, and Jillian Cuellar and Bryan Whitledge will serve as Nominating Committee members for the 2026–2027 term (April 6, 2026).
- Approved component funding requests from:
- Approved six SAA Council Exemplary Service Awards (April 21, 2026)
- Approved the prioritized research agenda developed by the Committee on Research, Data, and Assessment (0526-IV-B-CORDA).
- Approved a change to the charge of the Graduate Archival Education Subcommittee that enables GAES to better serve student chapters of SAA, as well as a plan for Council to study student chapter sustainability (0526-IV-D-GAES).
- Approved a proposal for the College and University Section to undertake revisions for the College and University Archives Guidelines (0526-IV-E-Stand).
- Approved the 2026–2028 SAA Strategic Plan.
- Received a report from the SAA 250th Task Force on the Democracy, Civic Education, and the American Archive symposium (held April 9, 2026, at Yale University), along with the “250 for the 250th” initiative encouraging participation from archival repositories nationwide.
- Approved a Land Acknowledgment for the 2026 Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana.
- Approved FY27 Budget; discussed areas for future cost reductions; and reallocated funds to priority areas.
- Includes a new SAA staff position focused on advocacy efforts; this is a key strategic priority area for SAA.
- Supports component group funding requests from the Native American Archivists Section, User Experience Section, and Accessibility & Disability Section.
Upcoming Council Meeting
The next Council meeting will be held on July 29, 2026, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. CT, in New Orleans, Louisiana, during the Annual Meeting. Register for the meeting here!
Document Submission Deadlines
To support adequate review time, materials for the next Council meeting are due by June 22, 2026. Submissions received after this date may be postponed or considered for interim action.
Submit materials to saagovernance@archivists.org.
For questions or concerns, reach out to the SAA Governance Team: saagovernance@archivists.org.
Additional inquiries may be directed to:
