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Society of
American Archivists
17 North State Street
Suite 1425
Chicago, IL 60602-3315
tel 312/606-0722
fax 312/606-0728
toll-free 866/722-7858
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Statement
of SAA Goals & Objectives
Membership
Standards
Publishing
External Networking
Education
Advocacy
Membership
Goal
To
build a diverse and cohesive membership and to support those members by
addressing their professional needs as well as by developing a strong archival
community.
Rationale
Direct,
personal benefits of membership are a critical element in attracting and
retaining members. Direct benefits include publications, educational programs,
the annual meeting, networking, and information about job opportunities.
Indirect
benefits accrue to the profession and its members as a whole, rather than
to individual members. Indirect benefits help archivists do their jobs
better and more effectively, and include standards development, issue
advocacy, and public image enhancement.
All benefits
should distinguish SAA from other archival or affiliated organizations
so that members can clearly perceive why membership is personally advantageous.
Objectives
A. Deliver
benefits to members which are of high value.
1. Provide
opportunities for professional development and networking at the Annual
Meeting.
2. Provide
opportunities for professional networking and participation by actively
supporting Sections, Roundtables, and Committees, and the publications
and Internet-based communications of these groups.
3. Identify
and publicize benefits, especially new or unique benefits which differentiate
SAA from other archival and affiliated organizations.f
B. Make
special efforts to retain members.
1. Increase
members' satisfaction and appreciation for direct and indirect benefits,
including the education program, publications program, standards, external
networking, and issue advocacy.
2. Continuously
evaluate direct benefits to ensure that they are of high quality and
are perceived as such by the membership.f
3. Through
the Key Contact program, investigate why members allow their membership
to lapse.
4. Increase
peer-networking and participation by involving members in committees,
sections, roundtables, and other leadership roles.
5. Promote
a diverse and expanding leadership.
6. Expand
the mentoring program by including participants who have completed their
first year in the Annual Meeting mentoring session and by encouraging
all SAA leaders and liaisons to serve as mentors.
7. Review
membership categories.
8. Undertake
an outreach effort to get retirees involved in committee work, mentoring,
and other activities.f
9. Encourage
retention of institutional memberships by recognizing in special ways
those who have been members for over fifty years and those who have
made significant contributions to the profession.
C. Make
special efforts to attract new and diverse members through outreach activities
and programs targeted to new members.
1. Make
new members and non-member attendees at the Annual Meeting feel welcome
and offer them opportunities to participate. Ask Sections and Round
Tables to recognize these individuals so current members can greet them.
2. Identify
benefits most valuable to new members.
3. Promote
professional identity among archival graduate students by supporting
the growth of student chapters.
4. Continue
to provide basic, introductory Annual Meeting programs, workshops,
publications, and Directed Internet discussion groups targeted towards
new members
and beginning archivists.f
5. Attract
new institutional members.
Standards
Goal
To
promote excellence in the archival enterprise through identification, creation,
promulgation, and support of standards important to sound archival policy
and best practices.
Rationale
Standards
should be an important part of the archival enterprise. When employed
properly, the use of standards can:
- Promote
best practices in archival institutions
- Contribute
to the efficiency and consistency of archival work
- Serve
as the foundation of best archival practice and should be incorporated
into all education offerings and publications
- Document
understandings negotiated with other organizations
- Increase
the potential interoperability of archival descriptive systems
- Help
users understand and exploit archival resources
SAA should
actively develop standards, as well as identify and evaluate the applicability
of externally developed standards which impact archival practice.
Objectives
A. Build
a program to develop archival standards and to cooperate with other organizations
involved in the development of standards related to archival practice.
1. Establish
effective procedures to vet and periodically review standards, allowing
those standards to be identified as sanctioned by SAA.f
2. Promote
collaboration between the Standards Committee and SAA's Sections and
Roundtable to identify individuals with expertise to aid in the development
and review of standards, and to help identify external standards.f
3. Provide
liaisons to select, affiliated organizations to ensure SAA members have
a voice in the standards developed by those organizations.
4. Secure
external funding to complement SAA contributions in support of standard
activities and development.
B. Promulgate
and promote standards to the archival profession and allied professions
information about archival standards and their use through Web sites,
newsletters, publications, and other methods.
1. Publish
standards and standards-related information in print and on the SAA
Web site.
2. Ensure
that archival standards are incorporated into all educational offerings
and SAA publications.
3. Develop
program proposals and suggest externally-developed programs for SAA's
Annual Meeting about current and proposed standards.
Publishing
Goal
To
publish and distribute high-quality archival literature publications at
all levels for members and the archival community.
Rationale
The diverse
professionals who are members of the Society, as well as the larger archival
community, need a well-established and implemented publication program
for the dissemination of new knowledge. Whether directed to the novice
or more experienced members of the profession, publications must be of
the highest quality, be timely with regard to content and based on solid
research.
Archival
educators in particular need archivally-based publication avenues that
are respected by university administrations and are considered equivalent
to traditional academic publishers.
The SAA
publication program is a major source of revenue for the Society. Because
the program is threatened by the recent rise of competing archival publication
programs the Publications Board must identify and implement programmatic
activities that position the program to fill publication needs that other
organizations have not yet taken.
Objectives
A. Continue
a fiscally responsible program of publishing and distributing works relating
to archival history, legislation and regulations, practice, and principles.
1. Work
to increase funds for an expanded publications program. This may include
cooperative ventures with other publishers, establishing a publications
endowment, or seeking grants to subvene some publications.
2. Seek
ways to improve marketing strategies to current audiences and ways to
target new audiences.
B. Publish
works that support the archival profession.
1. Ensure
that classic archival literature remains in print.
2. Publish
basic works which help establish best practice. Produce revised editions
when necessary.
3. Continue
to publish American Archivist to provide members timely information
about archival research.
Benchmark: Publish two issues annually.
4. Continue
to publish Archival Outlook to provide members information about
news and events affecting their careers.
5. Continue
to publish the employment bulletin and a membership directory.
C. Acquire
new works for publication.
1. Publish
new works that meet members' expressed needs.
2. Become
an attractive, if not the primary, source for university archival educators
both as the key source of literature for their classes and as the main
publisher of archival research carried out in universities.
3. Identify
potential new authors.
4. Publish
new academic works on and translations of advanced topics.
5. Support
the work of students by publicizing their theses and dissertations.
External
Networking
Goal
To
define, establish, and enhance strategic relationships with archival and
allied professions, associations, institutions, and coalitions.
Rationale
SAA is
a national organization that has made significant impact in developing
the archival profession, promoting archival concerns and educating the
public about issues related to the preservation of and access to the national
heritage. However, SAA is a relatively small organization with limited
resources.
SAA's mission
overlaps with many other entities — internationally, nationally,
regionally, and locally. Therefore, it is necessary for SAA to work with
those entities to educate the world citizenry about the importance of
archives; to garner resources to preserve our historical legacy; and
to
develop laws, resolutions, standards, policies, guidelines and procedures
that support archives.
Objectives
A. Establish
and maintain relationships with appropriate international, national, regional,
and local organizations.
1. Identify
potential partners in technical communities, including preservation,
information technology, privacy, access, and coordination of standards.
2. Maintain
current and establish new liaison relationships with key organizations,
including NCC, CNI, CLIR, ALA, ARMA, NAGARA.
3. Pursue
outside funding to help support external networking from foundations
and vendors.
4. Incorporate
networking into the mentoring program to bring SAA members into the
process and to expand the pool of professionals available to address
archival concerns, especially on the international and national level.
5. Document
and publicize strategic relationships so members are aware of collaborative
projects and activities. Benchmark: Increased number of articles
on activities with affiliated organizations.
Education
Goal
To
support opportunities for professional and disciplinary growth by promoting
graduate education and research, and by guiding and providing high quality
continuing education programs.
Rationale
Professional
archivists must have a strong educational foundation in order to identify,
preserve, and provide access to documentary evidence.
SAA must
take responsibility for defining educational foundations for professional
archivists through standards, methodologies, ethics, and values. SAA will
promote a range of disciplinary and theoretical approaches, and national
and international practices in graduate education to better serve the
evolving and diverse needs of the archival profession. SAA will give high
priority to emerging areas of rapid development and change.
Throughout
their career, archivists must continue their education to keep abreast
of developments in a rapidly changing environment. Records custodians
not trained as professional archivists look to SAA for education on how
to do their job better. SAA must develop a high quality continuing education
program in order to ensure the vitality of the profession. SAA will cooperate
with regionals, graduate programs, and other providers to ensure that
all members' continuing education needs are met.
Objectives
A. Build
an archival education program that fosters formal academic programs and
that ensures a continuing education program.
1. Monitor
the educational needs of members and member satisfaction with those
programs.
2. Work
with graduate educational programs, regionals, and other organizations
to develop a coordinated professional and continuing education program
that is available to all members.f
B. Promote
and develop graduate archival programs.
1. Actively
support networking and relationships among archival educators.
2. Support
archival educators in building scholarly credentials for tenure and
advancement.
3. Target
diverse populations by disseminating information about archival graduate
programs, costs, and opportunities for financial aid; conducting career
outreach activities with undergraduate programs; providing mentoring
opportunities for minority students; building a core of literature addressing
diversity issues in archival administration and collection development;
and promoting graduate research into diversity-related issues.
C. Ensure
archivists and records custodians have access to high-quality continuing
education.
1. Coordinate
workshop offerings with regionals and other educational provides to
ensure that all archivists have access to diverse continuing education
opportunities.f
2. Create
and publish curricular materials to enhance continuing education offerings.
3. Systematically
review continuing education courses for quality and to ensure that they
promote best practice as embodied in publications and standards of the
Society.
4. Develop,
deliver, and maintain comprehensive continuing education courses necessary
to meet the needs of practicing archivists, records custodians, and
resource allocators. Such courses should cover archival education fundamentals,
new areas of practice, and advanced archival management.
5. Use
the Internet to offer focused discussions on specific topics designed
for experienced archivists and to provide continuing education courses.
Advocacy
Goal
To
exert active leadership on enduring and emerging archival issues by advancing
archival concerns and perspectives on the critical challenges of the Digital
Age, shaping public policy, and promoting funding for archival programs,
research, and development.
Rationale
SAA must
foster policymakers' awareness about the archival perspective, mission,
work and role of archivists, especially regarding the role and impact
of digitization and technology on archival practice. As issues arise from
the expansion of technology into all aspects of our society, SAA will
respond with position papers that promote the archival concerns that need
to be considered in regulations or legislation that could affect archival
goals.
SAA must
continue to advocate for legislation and funding for archival programs.
The bulk of this effort will give a priority to working on a national
level in the United States. On an international level, SAA should monitor
policy issues and take positions when appropriate (when they have an impact
or are of such importance to warrant intervention). At the same time,
SAA will continue to provide a national voice in support of positions
taken by regional archival associations.
Objectives
A. Identify
and advocate for archival concerns.
1. Promote
the Jameson Award to the larger society.
2. Draw
media attention to archival issues.
3. Develop
unified position statements with other organizations, such as NINCH,
NCC, ALA, ARMA, NAGARA, and CNI for the greatest impact on issues affecting
the archival enterprise.
B. Advocate
for effective legislation and regulation.
1. Monitor
legislation and regulation affecting the profession, and issue policy
statements that draw attention to archival issues. Propose legislation
or regulation that needs to be considered to support archival goals.
2. Write
position papers in support of proposed legislation. As issues arise from
the expansion of technology into all aspects of our society, SAA will
respond with position papers that promote archival concerns.
C. Seek
funding for archival programs and for research into issues impacting the
profession.
1. Promote
adequate funding for national archival programs (such as the National
Archives) and funding agencies (such as NHPRC and NEH).
2. Identify
new venues (beyond NHPRC) for funding of such research, by using information
gained from coalitions and identifying ways of tying the archival requirements
to the Digital Library projects.
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