Congratulations to the 29 new Digital Archives Specialists (DAS). These archivists, who represent a variety of repositories from around the country, earned a DAS Certificate from SAA after completing required coursework within twenty-four months and passing comprehensive examinations in November 2017.

A recent change has been made to the 2018 SAA election ballot. Due to unforeseen circumstances, candidate for Council Jill Severn has chosen to step out of the election. The Nominating Committee has now added Ashley Todd-Diaz of the Towson University Library to the slate for the Council. See the new, complete slate for the 2018 election below. Information about each candidate will be posted to the SAA website in January.

SAA is pleased to announce the appointment of Rana Hutchinson Salzmann as Director of Education, effective January 2, 2018. Salzmann will be responsible for the design, development, marketing, implementation, and evaluation of SAA’s continuing education offerings and resources for archivists and other related professionals.

The National Heritage Responders have compiled resources to aid those working to protect archival collections threatened by the wildfires in California. View the resource page for more information. 

At the November 4-5, 2017, meeting, the SAA Foundation Board planned for the 2017 Annual Appeal, made appointments to various Foundation committees, and discussed development initiatives for the coming year. See the meeting minutes for a complete review of the meeting. 

December 5, 2017—Both houses of Congress have now passed versions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.  A House-Senate conference committee now must reconcile the differences between the two bills. Urgent action is needed on two major issues that will affect archivists and archives!

The following candidates are slated for SAA's 2018 ballot. Information about each candidate will be posted to the SAA website in January.

At the November meeting, the SAA Council approved with minor changes the SAA Committee on Education’s revision of the Archival Continuing Education (ACE) Guidelines. The revisions bring the document into alignment with SAA’s Guidelines for a Graduate Program in Archival Studies (GPAS).

November 16, 2017—The SAA Council has approved creation of a Tragedy Response Initiative Task Force to 1) create and/or compile material for ready accessibility by archivists who are facing a sudden tragedy and 2) explore the feasibility of creating a standing body within SAA that would update documentation as needed and serve as a volunteer tragedy response team.