2012 SAA Volunteer Appointments Wrap-up

Jackie Dooley, SAA Vice President

Scott Schwartz, Chair, 2012 Appointments Committee

Thanks to the dedication and enthusiasm of more than 130 SAA member volunteers and the hard work of our stellar Appointments Committee, more than 50 members of the Society were invited to serve on SAA committees with terms beginning in 2012. Much to our delight, they all accepted! This was a deeply gratifying process for us to lead, both in reviewing the applications of so many exceptional colleagues and in having the opportunity to offer exciting professional development opportunities to so many members.

Here are some observations about the appointments process this year, along with an explanation of how we made decisions, particularly in light of the fact that there were far more well-qualified candidates to choose from than positions to be filled. We also offer some tips for future applicants.

Striking a Balance

A critical objective for each year’s appointments process is to achieve a good balance of demographic diversity in as many factors as possible, including gender, race and ethnicity, geographic location, type of employing institution, professional expertise, and length of SAA membership. That said, the success of selecting the most qualified and diverse group of candidates is largely dependent on the pool of individuals who volunteer. As a result, we feel that we were not 100 percent successful in achieving our hoped-for level of diversity across all appointments.

Three-quarters of this year’s pool of volunteers are women, and more than 65 percent of volunteers reside in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, or southern regions of the U.S. (Compare these statistics with the data from our 2012 member survey: 75 percent of SAA members are women and 58 percent reside in the aforementioned three regions of the U.S.) More than 60 percent of volunteers work in academic libraries (versus 41 percent of members, according to the survey). We were pleased that one-third of volunteers have less than five years of SAA membership, and another third have five to ten years. This enabled us to appoint less-experienced members to two-thirds of the available vacancies.

Facing Challenges

Another challenge we faced was that many individuals volunteered for only one or two committees. One result was that we had very large pools for some openings. For example, most of the African Americans who volunteered applied only to the Diversity Committee, as did numerous others (a total of 23)—but only one slot was available. Overall, one-third of those who self-identified as other than “white” were appointed, as were 30 percent of those who are white.  For a few openings, either no one volunteered or those who did volunteer did not meet the requirements specified in that group’s charge. In these cases we sought individuals beyond the volunteer pool.

Working within the inherent limitations of this year’s available committee openings and the characteristics of our pool of candidates, the Committee strove to distribute appointments across all demographic sectors as fully as possible.  Given that there were nearly three times as many volunteers as open positions, clearly not everyone could be appointed. We also gave extra consideration to those individuals who volunteered last year but were not appointed. And so, our message to those who were not appointed in 2012: Apply, apply again!

Tips for Future Applicants

• The information that each individual provides is key in the committee’s decision-making. Be sure to describe your experience, knowledge, skills, and interests clearly so as not to shortchange yourself.  More than half of this year’s applicants did not do so.
• The “average” volunteer applied to four committees, many applied to only one, and several covered all their bases and applied for more than twenty. It is definitely advantageous to apply for more than one opening, but choose those committees that you feel you are best qualified to serve and clearly explain why. Lengthy volunteer forms lacking such information are not particularly helpful.
• Some committees are far more competitive than others, and some necessarily must have members with solid experience, knowledge, and skills that are relevant to the committee’s work. The following had the most applicants this year: 2013 Program Committee (39), CALM (35), Publications Board (35), Ethics and Professional Conduct (28), Membership (24), Education (23), Diversity (23), and The American Archivist Editorial Board (20). Only one or two slots were open on most of these.
• Those individuals with few years of experience and no previous SAA appointments are more likely to be successful by applying to some of the Awards subcommittees, which are excellent “starter” committees for learning the organizational ropes.
• Participation in an SAA section or roundtable, particularly in a leadership position, also offers good evidence of professional commitment. Consider standing for election or volunteering in some other capacity if you do not obtain a committee appointment.
• Attention, Fellows! The criteria for two committees (Posner and Ham) require Fellow status. There were no more than two applicants for these.

The appointments process operates smoothly with the able assistance of SAA staff, but it is nevertheless a very big job that requires fairly intense work over the course of three or more months. We could not have accomplished our charge without the fabulous contributions of the members of the Appointments Committee: George Bain, Su Kim Chung, Gerrianne Schaad, and Cheryl Stadel-Bevans. We really cannot thank and applaud them enthusiastically enough. Cheryl deserves additional thanks for her statistical analysis of our outcomes, which formed the backbone of this article.

Our thanks as well to all of the SAA members who volunteered for 2012 committee appointments. Our professional association could not do its good work without your talents and commitment.

This article originally appeared in the July/August issue of Archival Outlook.