Council
Minutes
June 25-26, 2000
Midland Hotel, Chicago, IL
President H.
Thomas Hickerson called the meeting to order at 10:06 a.m. Present: Vice President
Lee Stout, Treasurer Robert Sink, and Council members Fynnette Eaton, Mark Greene,
Becky Haglund-Tousey, Dennis Harrison, Karen Jefferson, Jane Kenamore, Richard
Pearce-Moses, Helen Tibbo, and Wilda Logan Willis. Also present: incoming Treasurer
Elizabeth Adkins, incoming Council members Tom Connors and Jackie Dooley, Executive
Director Susan Fox and Meetings Director Debra Nolan.
ADOPTION OF
THE AGENDA
Stout moved and
Eaton seconded adoption of the agenda as amended. PASSED.
APPROVAL OF
THE MINUTES
Harrison moved
and Greene seconded approval of the January 2000 minutes as amended. PASSED,
with Tibbo and Jefferson abstaining.
REPORT OF
THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Jefferson reported
that the Executive Committee approved submission of a proposal to the National
Endowment for the Humanities in support of work in cooperation with the Canadian
Council on Archives and the Canadian Committee on Archival Description to develop
a single standard for archival description in North America. The funds would
support editorial work on the standards and meetings of a U.S./Canadian Task
Force on Archival Description. Total project funds requested: $198,984 (including
shared costs). The Executive Committee held some concern about the strictly
North American focus of the proposed work, but thought overall it was a good
proposal.
Jefferson said
the $51,247 proposal to NHPRC in support of the work of the EAD Working Group
had also received funding, starting July 1, 2000.
REPORT OF
THE PRESIDENT
Hickerson said
SAA was doing well in attracting exhibitors the Denver annual meeting. Council
members and staff should think creatively about the types of exhibitors to bring
into the fold. He had good success with the people he'd approached to date.
He had success in obtaining corporate sponsorship for program activities which
decreased ticket costs or eliminated them altogether. He urged all to create
a more organized approach to potential funders and to leverage this year's success
into the future.
He expressed
his appreciation to the 2000 Program Committee, particularly Committee Chair
Jackie Dooley and to the 2000 Host Committee and Co-Chairs Steve Fisher and
Joan Howard, who had to deal with a particularly difficult set of dynamics.
He further expressed appreciation to Debra Nolan in her excellent work in managing
the overall process of producing an annual meeting. He also planned to attend
the Archives and Archivists of Color Roundtable Meeting to express his appreciation
for their work this year as well.
He then reviewed
past actions of Council regarding fundraising for the Society, which resulted
in a particularly successful year for contributions. SAA raised over $6,000
in general membership contributions for FY00. The Fellows solicitation achieved
a 50% participation rate, with an average contribution of $100 per Fellow. Council
also achieved a 100% participation rate.
Harrison inquired
whether or not there was a need for a formal resolution adopting the 100% participation
rate on an annual basis. Greene said the first time Council voted to endorse
100% participation in SAA fundraising, it bound incoming members who had not
been able to participate in the vote. If Council chose to adopt another mandate,
it should apply only to the individuals who were currently members of Council.
He said he had no issue with Council declaring that all members participate,
but he was fundamentally opposed to the idea that this obligation should be
mandated upon Council any more than it could be mandated on the rest of membership.
Hickerson recommended
a motion be put forth in order to proceed with discussion. Sink moved that Council
continue its policy of 100% Council member participation in the annual giving
campaign for another year.
Eaton suggested
taking the issue up at the winter rather than the summer meeting so that all
people affected would be at the table.
Tousey asked
if there was a way to achieve 100% participation without mandating it.
Hickerson said
Council could vote the issue in September as the new class began, which would
allow for inclusion in the fall general membership solicitation.
Council agreed
to table the motion and to include the issue on the August meeting agenda. Greene
noted current Council consensus was to achieve 100% participation in Calendar
Year 2000.
Hickerson said
Archivist of the US John Carlin had copied him on a letter he had written to
International Council on Archives (ICA) leadership opposing the creation of
new regions within the ICA. He said he would invite SAA's Representative to
the ICA Section on Professional Associations, Karen Benedict, to give a report
at the August meeting so that Council may learn more about the issues behind
the proposed reorganization.
REPORT OF
THE VICE PRESIDENT
Stout reported
that he named approximately 20% of his appointments. He made contact with current
committee chairs, and was working to finish the 2001 Program Committee appointments.
He thanked Council for their suggestions and encouraged more.
REPORT OF
THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Fox said the
meeting of the Task Force on Continuing Education was an excellent one. She
commended the work of all the task force members.
Reneta Webb,
Interim Education Director, had obtained a new position, but would be able to
assist SAA through the annual meeting.
Fox reported
that the Publications Board also held a successful meeting which resulted in
significant advancement of its agenda. Several contracts with authors were in
the pipeline, with publication of Rand Jimerson's archive reader scheduled for
August.
Nolan gave a
status report of potential cities for the 2004 meeting. New York City was out
of the question because of high rates. Boston looked promising. She was also
investigating Chicago. Connors reminded Council that ICA would meet again in
2004.
Jefferson said
SAA should let members know that every third meeting or so must meet in Boston,
Chicago, or DC in order to bring in sufficient revenues to offset budgetary
pressures. Council agreed that Nolan should consider Boston in early August,
as well as New York and Chicago.
Fox presented
the SAA-ARMA Joint Committee request that it be allowed to occupy a guaranteed
program session slot at each SAA annual meeting. The joint committee had difficulties
conforming to both the SAA and ARMA timetables and deadlines for program submissions
and made this request to ease the process. The joint committee noted that ARMA
had already reserved a slot for them.
Hickerson said
he was disinclined to go along with the joint committee's request. He said the
ALA-SAA Joint Committee had a similar agreement with ALA, which also reserved
a program slot for a joint committee session, but SAA had not allowed that joint
committee to do the same because it had always been the Program Committee's
prerogative to choose sessions. He held to the view that all proposals must
compete on merit against other proposals and that competition made for better
sessions. Council concurred.
REPORT OF
THE TREASURER
Sink introduced
two proposed FY01 budgets, one reflecting fiscal projections if Council accepted
the Task Force on Continuing Education's recommendations, and one reflecting
status quo.
Council engaged
in an extended discussion expressing deep concern about the amount budgeted
for computer support, a result of the high degree of difficulty experienced
in the Chicago office implementing the new association management software.
Because of these difficulties, the actual figure for FY99 came in at $50,000,
substantially higher than budgeted. Greene said that if the costs for computer
support did not substantially decrease in FY01/02, then Council would need to
be ready to act and to make the decision of going to another software system.
Hickerson said
he was also concerned about the loss in staff productivity as well as the cost
and its impact on efficient provision of member services.
Sink said the
old system was dreadful and there were many inefficiencies and hidden costs
to its operation, SAA was losing money and opportunities that were not immediately
apparent. He said by December Council would know how costs were running for
the current fiscal year and if they continued to run high then Council could
come to a decision on how to respond.
Fox said SAA
suffered from a merger within the association management software industry.
The original contractor, from whom SAA purchased the new system, sold out to
a larger firm, which had provided SAA's original system. SAA's software was
over 10 years old at the time of the purchase and unable to function on contemporary
operating systems. That older software was part of the motivation to move to
the new system, in order to move away from exceptionally high support fees.
The merger caused
significant service disruptions just at the time SAA transitioned to the new
software. The office was unable to secure continuity in project managers from
either the old or new firm. At that time the new firm also introduced a mandatory,
major product upgrade. The upgrade created additional operating difficulties
and re-created problems initially resolved in the prior six months.
Fox echoed Council's
dismay at the situation. She believed the staff — who deserved great praise
for their hard work and tenacity in coping with an untenable situation — had
resolved some of the most difficult issues. She believed the computer support
costs would decrease substantially in the coming fiscal year, although they
would always remain a significant budgetary item.
TASK FORCE
REPORT ON CONTINUING EDUCATION
Willis presented
the final report of the Task Force on Continuing Education, which recommended
a major shift in the Society's education program, primarily by supporting a
move from offering basic workshops to offering online courses. The report gave
a rationale for this focus, the cost factors related to online course offerings,
the support of an Education Officer position, and educational goals and their
ongoing evaluation.
Stout moved acceptance
of the report, with appreciation to each task force member for their excellent
service. Pearce-Moses seconded. PASSED.
Council engaged
in discussion of SAA's role in providing basic vs. advanced workshops. Greene
said it was difficult to discern which workshops were basic or advanced, because
of the difficulty of defining which is which along the continuum. This was an
issue the Committee on Education and Professional Development could never truly
resolve.
Hickerson suggested
that SAA develop an NHPRC proposal to develop a set of advanced archival courses
to be delivered online. He said it was important to act and act quickly.
Sink agreed,
saying that developing a proposal would help Council think through issues raised
by the Task Force report and to develop some answers. He said it would be important
to come to a collective understanding about how far the Society should invest
time and resources in online course development and delivery.
Hickerson said
he saw Council agreement that SAA should focus its energies on developing new
advanced and/or specialized educational programs, including online delivery,
but that Council also recognized a need for targeted basic archival education.
Greene moved
that SAA hire an education director with responsibilities and goals as outlined
in the task force report, namely: steering, advocating, publishing materials
for, and teaching in the education program; that SAA intends that the education
director will develop online courses to a significant degree as part of the
continuing education program; that the priority need is to develop new advanced/specialized
archival programs while still ensuring access to basic archival education; that
SAA actively collaborate with other organizations and institutions in the shaping
and developing of archival continuing education. Stout seconded. PASSED.
Pearce-Moses
agreed to draft a proposal to the NHPRC in time for the October 1 deadline to
support development of online courses.
Kenamore moved
that Council very much appreciated Pearce-Moses for all his work on behalf of
the Society. Eaton seconded. PASSED.
STRATEGIC
PLANNING
Pearce-Moses
introduced the draft strategic plan with the suggestion of not calling it a
strategic plan, but instead a "statement on goals and priorities," which
be believed to be more accurate. He saw a need to address the grassroots
in SAA.
He believed the statement could be structured for comment and response in order
to involve all SAA members.
Eaton expressed
appreciation for Pearce-Moses' role in bringing the statement together and creating
a coherent document.
Jefferson asked
if Council was in agreement on how the document was going to be used and implemented.
She said it needed to be a document the Sections and Roundtables would own,
so that all of SAA could work collectively on all the goals.
Council engaged
in a general discussion of potential purposes and use of the plan. Pearce-Moses
saw it as a map and thought it was important to communicate with membership
Council's vision and to insure that all were rowing in the same direction. Stout
said his perception was that unless the plan was tied to the budget it would
not be an entirely effective instrument. Hickerson saw it as an expansion of
SAA's mission statement and that it would guide the Society's primary activities.
The objectives of the plan, he said, were less clear. It would be important
for Council to decide which objectives received priority. He saw it as an informational
document to incorporate into Council planning.
Greene suggested
that Council develop a document based on the goals contained in the draft plan,
defining priorities for the next two years, including items with budget implications.
Council could then pick out the tasks that were new or deserved renewed attention
and prioritize. Greene volunteered to put together a discussion document. He
saw it as more focused, less broad, and shorter than the current draft.
Hickerson said
he saw the current draft's list of goals, rationale and objectives as a good
statement of SAA's current mission and activities. This would be especially
valuable to those new to the Society. He advocated creating an annual or biannual
statement of current focus. The statement could be diverse enough to emphasize
the most important areas the Society should address, but not specific actions.
Council agreed
that it would be good to post the goals contained in the draft plan on the web
as a guide to SAA activities.
JUNE 26, 2000
ARCHIVIST
OF THE UNITED STATES
Hickerson welcomed
Archivist of the US John Carlin, and Deputy Archivist Lew Bellardo, who were
participating in the meeting via conference call. Hickerson thanked Carlin for
taking time from his busy schedule to participate in the meeting.
Carlin said he
appreciated the opportunity to speak with Council and that he valued the chance
to share news of NARA on a regular basis.
Carlin expressed
concern about the delay in any congressional action on the NARA budget due to
the election year cycle. Unfortunately, with NARA situated within the Treasury-Postal
Service Subcommittee, the agency had to compete against several larger agencies
for a slice of a diminishing pie. It created a real challenge.
However, he expressed
optimism about agency progress in a number of areas. The electronic records
archives was moving forward and in the right direction. Bellardo was working
hard to get both the schedule and a set of projects off the ground.
Bellardo reported
on progress with the archival research catalog. The product will be a library/cataloging
software with advanced hierarchical capabilities, such as representing records
in the form of the hierarchy in which they were a part, allowing users to create
a file of administrative histories which will be fuller than a strict authority
record. The fact that they will be working with an off-the-shelf rather than
a customized program is also a strength.
Hickerson inquired
about NARA's position regarding the International Council of Archive's proposed
regional reorganization.
Carlin spoke
to ICA's draft strategic plan, his desire to see a more open process in developing
the plan, and his work with colleagues to gain an understanding of the plan
before the international congress in Seville, Spain. Bellardo said he would
like to see more diversity on the ICA executive board.
Hickerson said
that Stout, Adkins and Connors would be attending the Seville meeting. He suggested
that they communicate with Carlin prior to the meeting so that SAA and NARA
could establish common interests and present them in Seville.
Eaton inquired
about the status of NARA's reimbursable system.
Carlin said that
they had made steady progress in the first year but still had a way to go before
they would have a fine tuned machine. Given the relatively short period of time
to put it together, and the fact that it was a significant change from the old
system, overall he felt very good about where they were at that point. He saw
a need to automate more and make more use of technology. He said NARA rolled
out a modest improvement on the web and they could now use technology for what
were once more manual tasks. He said they were serious about providing a sophisticated
level of service and they were giving it high priority.
Bellardo thanked
SAA and ARMA for their support of the standards issues involved in transitioning
to a reimbursable system. He said the National Fire Protection Board came out
with a similar set of standards to NARA's, which would help protect the agency
from pressure to water them down.
Stout asked about
the San Diego Supercomputing project and if Carlin would expand on electronic
records issues in general.
Carlin said the
effort was larger than the San Diego component. NARA was also working with individuals
from the Georgia Institute of Technology. They had some rudimentary systems
developing in-house and they would continue to work with in-house systems and
electronic records until the Electronic Records Act (ERA) is functional. He
expected that gradually over the next few years NARA would increase capacity
so that when the ERA was in effect the agency could deal with different formats
and generations. It was a huge challenge which would require a great deal of
support and interest in the part of SAA and others and it would be a major budget
item for FY2002. For all those interested in electronic records and archives,
it was his hope that he could educate enough people to have a large supportive
following in ultimately implementing the directive.
Bellardo said
the in-house issues relating to electronic records management and recordkeeping
were twofold. One, NARA needed to begin to prototype how the agency would implement
an electronic recordkeeping system and two, what would NARA be able to offer
other agencies? A small group of NARA employees would serve as testers for evaluating
which product to use in implementing the system. They would then use lessons
learned to decide whether or not NARA would go agency-wide with an electronic
recordkeeping system.
Connors said
he had been attending the Forum for Information Records Managers (FIRM) Council
and especially appreciated Ken Thibodeau's presentation on the electronic records
project at NARA. He said the presentations were lively and the meetings well
attended. What did Carlin think of the organization?
Carlin said he
appreciated receiving feedback from the group and communicating with people
he could work with on a day-to-day basis. Bellardo said he was pleased the organization
was created and saw it as generally a very healthy development.
Hickerson noted
the importance of NARA leadership on electronic records issues, not only because
of the technology issues involved, but also to help raise electronic records
as a national issue. SAA could be helpful in that process and the results would
be mutually beneficial. If a legislative initiative raised the profile, it would
subsequently raise the profile of all involved, much like the American Memory
Project at the Library of Congress raised the profile of digital libraries across
the nation. He saw parallels between that effort and NARA's to educate the public
about electronic records.
Eaton asked Carlin
to summarize his thoughts about the direction of the NHPRC.
Carlin said that
NHPRC needed to build a solid justification to demonstrate the need for additional
resources. He said the commission needed a clear understanding stated in bullet
form what the justification might be, citing both the positives and the negatives.
Hickerson expressed
his personal appreciation and that of Council for having the opportunity to
engage in communication with Carlin on a regular basis.
Carlin thanked
Hickerson for his extraordinary leadership and said he looked forward to working
with incoming President Lee Stout in the coming year.
ELECTION OF
A COUNCIL MEMBER TO SERVE ON THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Council conducted
a paper ballot and elected Kenamore to serve on the executive committee for
2000-2001. Harrison and Willis would serve as Council representatives to the
2000 Nominating Committee.
APPROVAL OF
BUDGET FOR FY01
Sink presented
the proposed budget which contained the fiscal impact of incorporating recommendations
from the Task Force on Continuing Education. He gave high praise to Carroll
Dendler, SAA's Director of Financial Operations, for her work in preparing and
helping him present the budget detail.
He noted that
one significant change between the status quo budget and the task force budget
was the elimination of a .5 FTE education office assistant and using that slot
to create a full time webmaster position. At present SAA was outsourcing a portion
of its web maintenance work. Bringing this position completely in-house would
not increase the overall bottom line because it would decrease funding for outsourcing
in the computer services line.
He suggested
that in looking at the projected deficit the right approach would be to ask
if this deficit was a one time event or reflective of a longer term series of
deficits. If the latter, there would be a need to address that issue immediately.
If, however, the deficit was due to a confluence of events, then it would not
be necessary to take drastic action. In his opinion, the deficit reflected a
one time event. He thought it was appropriate to use a portion of the Society's
reserves to cover the extraordinary circumstances, such as projected decrease
in attendance at the annual meeting and the high costs associated with implementation
of the software system.
Hickerson said
SAA had balances in the fund accounts which could pick up the costs of focused
projects, so it was not that the Society was financially unstable, but that
Council needed to be aware of the impact of decisions such as where to locate
an annual meeting had on the budget. He suggested that the Treasurer and the
Chicago office project out an additional year in budget presentations in order
to educate Council on the impact of events and decisions.
Jefferson asked
when SAA should consider making budgetary cuts rather than going into the reserve
to cover budget deficits. If income was tied directly to annual meetings it
would make sense that there would always be fluctuations in that revenue stream.
Sink said that
it would be difficult to identify which areas to cut. Greene suggested that
since there would be a deficit equivalent to 3% of the budget to mandate a 3%
across-the-board cut.
Harrison said
SAA hadn't run a deficit in at least eight to 10 years and that the reserve
fund existed precisely for occasions such as this.
Greene said he
was very hesitant to use the reserve to even out budgetary inconsistencies every
second or third year. The reserve was not established for that purpose but for
truly disastrous situations.
Sink said he
saw it differently. He viewed the Adam's Mark controversy as falling within
the disaster category. The controversy made a significant difference in how
he and the Chicago office budgeted the figures for the next fiscal year.
Adkins suggested
a 1-2% budget cut for each line item exempting certain budget lines from that
cut, i.e. annual meetings, sections, society dues, etc. That approach would
save approximately $10,000 out of General & Administration.
Pearce-Moses
asked if Council could revise the budget mid-year. He found the idea of taking
a 1% across-the-board cut attractive. Sink said he thought it would be better
to deal with the budget now.
Council engaged
in a discussion with Fox about projecting costs for computer software support,
given that the costs had risen far above projections for the prior fiscal year.
Fox explained that she was watching those costs very closely. She believed that,
while computer support costs would always remain high, the unusually steep costs
of the prior fiscal year should abate. She cited staffing changes, staff's increased
familiarity with the system, and the apparent stabilization within a previously
volatile association software industry as factors which would bring costs down.
Council came to consensus that it would be prudent to add an additional $10,000
to the computer services line, given the trend from the prior year.
Stout moved adoption
of the FY01 budget which reflected the recommendations of the Task Force on
Continuing Education, with an additional $10,000 allocated for computer software
support. Eaton seconded. PASSED with Greene abstaining.
NEW BUSINESS
Report on
the National Forum for Continuing Archival Education (NFACE)
Willis reported
on the spring meeting of the National Forum for Continuing Education. Council
discussed how SAA could play an active role in helping to move the national
archival education agenda forward. Council asked Fox to convey the message that
SAA was open to participating in a discussion about how SAA could take a constructive,
leadership role as NFACE moved forward, especially if such a role took advantage
of SAA's strengths to the benefit of the larger continuing archival education
community.
Hickerson thanked
Willis for her excellent work as Council liaison to the NFACE forum and with
her work with the Task Force on Continuing Education.
CEPD Request
for Midyear Meeting
Greene moved
that Council approve funding from the educational endowment for a 2000-2001
mid-year meeting of the Committee on Education and Professional Development
in support of their work to revise the Masters of Archival Studies guidelines.
Stout seconded. PASSED.
Hickerson
Archival Outlook Editorial
Hickerson recapped
his thoughts from his most recent column in Archival Outlook. He said he saw
a need to make the archival umbrella as large as possible and to be open to
new ideas, such as organizational mergers, with a merger with NAGARA as a most
compelling case. He believed SAA would have been much stronger had the government
archivists not broken away to form their own organization.
Council discussed
the possibilities and agreed to add an examination of strategic alliances to
the winter meeting agenda.
Membership
Forum
Hickerson noted
that the annual meeting program appeared to have two membership fora, one to
discuss the proposed M.A.S. revised guidelines and an open membership forum.
He recommended, and Council agreed, that Fox not routinely schedule membership
fora at annual meetings unless specifically requested.
OLD BUSINESS
NHPRC Proposals
Kenamore and
Tibbo reported that a proposal on "Archives and the Future" to convene a forum
and issue a publication would not be submitted to NHPRC this year because the
lead developer, David Gracy, immediate past President of the Association of
Certified Archivists, had too many immediate professional commitments to be
able to help conceptualize and complete the proposal in time for submission.
Gracy requested that the proposal be delayed for one year.
Rewarding
Long-term Members
Kenamore moved
that: whereas a small, select group of individuals have maintained unbroken
memberships for periods of more than half a century, and whereas loyal members
are essential to the success of the Society and to the archives profession,
be it therefore resolved the Society of American Archivists gratefully acknowledges
the contributions of all members maintaining individual memberships for fifty
consecutive years or more. Be it further resolved that the Society bestows to
each of these individuals an honorary membership, with all the rights and privilege
of a regular individual membership. Be it further resolved that each individual
holding an honorary membership will pay no dues to the Society. Be it finally
resolved that each individual holding an honorary membership as a result of
maintaining fifty or more consecutive years of individual membership in the
Society will be recognized annually in Archival Outlook. PASSED.
Council directed
Fox to list all institutional members with more than fifty years' longevity
in each issue of the American Archivist, including their join date.
Terms of Participation
in the Archives & Archivists Listserv
Greene said he
would need to come back to Council with one more iteration of the draft terms
of participation in the archives & archivists listserv, due to the necessity
of posting the draft terms on the listserv for a two week comment period.
He
said he would consolidate the comments into a revised set of terms for approval.
Sink read the
To Do list.
The meeting adjourned
at 3:38 p.m.
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