January 25, 2018—The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (RBMS) and the Society of American Archivists (SAA) have developed a new standard, Standardized Statistical Measures and Metrics for Public Services in Archival Repositories and Special Collections Libraries.

On its January 17, 2018, conference call, the SAA Council accomplished the following:

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.