Council
Minutes
August 28, 1999
President H.
Thomas Hickerson called the meeting to order at 5:50 p.m. Present was 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 was Executive
Director Susan Fox.
Adoption of
the Agenda
Eaton moved and
Kenamore seconded the adoption of the agenda as amended. PASSED.
Report of
the President
Hickerson welcomed
the new Council members. He said they could look forward to a demanding, enjoyable,
and satisfying job over the course of the next year. He said that deliberations
within the past year were excellent because they were conducted in a manner
of personal respect for one another. While Council at times needed to confront
difficult issues, Council members realized the need to be caring in presenting
information. It was also important to be caring about confidentiality and the
way information was to be conveyed outside of Council. It was important to be
responsible.
Report of
the Vice President
Stout said he
was happy to be back at the Council table. He had not yet appointed a Chair
of the Appointments Committee, but Marisa Keller agreed to serve as chair of
the 2001 Host Committee and Karen Benedict would chair the Program Committee.
A number of other people had graciously volunteered their service in various
capacities, but he was open to all suggestions.
Report of
the Treasurer
Sink said the
passage of the 7% dues increase at the Business Meeting suggested that perhaps
he should have recommended a 10% increase, because the 7% will keep SAA just
at the status quo. It was very likely that Council would have to look again
at another dues increase in two years= time. He said all would need to follow
the Society=s finances carefully. Membership had voted that they would rather
Council come to them for the increases, and not, as proposed, have automatic
cost of living adjustments to the dues rates. The mandate would require that
Council monitor finances closely.
Greene said he
hoped that during the coming year Council would be willing to look seriously
at reducing expenditures to be able to postpone any further dues increases.
Report of
the Executive Director
Fox said she
had no report.
SAA Units
SAA/ARMA Joint
Committee
Kenamore reported
that the current chair of the SAA/ARMA Joint Committee, Jim Tammaro, would be
resigning his term as the SAA appointed Chair in April. It would then be ARMA=s
turn to appoint a new chair for the committee, an individual yet to be identified.
She said that the Joint Committee planned to contact the chair of the 2000 Program
Committee, Jackie Dooley, to ask that special consideration be given to records
management sessions.
Hickerson said
he was asked to go to the ARMA board meeting in October to talk about cooperative
opportunities between SAA and ARMA. He hadn=t had a chance to look at his schedule,
but if he could he would try to attend.
CEPD
Greene distributed
CEPD=s draft Adefinition of an archivist.@ He said the definition evolved out
of a request that NARA had made to Council who then assigned it to CEPD. CEPD
asked Greene to compose the first draft. That draft, somewhat modified by CEPD,
was now on the table. He said he went to established SAA sources such as the
PACE and M.A.S. guidelines for assistance in developing the definition.
Jefferson asked
if CEPD considered the Academy of Certified Archivists role delineation in coming
up with the definition. Greene said there had been discussion about whether
or not the ACA role delineations on the one hand were an appropriate statement
or if they would add to the basic gist of the definition. CEPD decided they
did not. However, he said, this was ultimately Council=s document and Council=s
decision.
Tousey asked
why the document had been requested. Eaton said that when Council engaged in
a conversation with NARA they were trying to redraft the definition of an archivist
to give them a broader context in order to think beyond the criteria of having
taken a certain number of courses in American history.
Hickerson suggested
that the best way to consider the document would be to send it to the Council
listserv in order to begin to build a sense of direction.
Standards Committee
Eaton moved that
Council accept the Standards Committee recommendation that EAD be adopted as
an SAA standard. Kenamore seconded. PASSED.
Pearce-Moses
said that a separate document detailing the budgetary implications of adopting
the standard would also need to be developed.
Greene said the
Privacy and Confidentiality Roundtable had developed guidelines for lawyers=
case files. The Roundtable had inquired whether these guidelines should be considered
a potential standard or if there was another avenue they could pursue. Hickerson
said there were three kinds of standards listed in the Standards Committee guidelines,
so it would be appropriate for the guidelines to indeed go through the Standards
Committee.
Ethics Committee
Kenamore reported
on the Ethics Committee Guidelines. She said the committee studied the codes
of ethics from other Societies and found some guidelines stricter than others
and therefore some had more stringent rules. She suggested that Council review
the draft guidelines and vote on passage at the winter meeting.
Hickerson said
that the guidelines had come before Council twice before and both times were
sent back for revisions. Ideally, it would be best to know if there were any
issues with the document prior to the winter meeting. He wanted to ensure that
Council dealt with the issue expeditiously in January. He requested comments
on the guidelines by the end of September.
Task Force on
Continuing Education
Willis reported
that the Task Force on Continuing Education met for the first time that week.
The task force spent 90 minutes with CEPD discussing a range of issues and received
a wide range of input. They decided to begin first by reviewing and collecting
data, and they would be working with the NHPRC education conference organizers.
Task force members would also be attended that conference.
Hickerson said
that Council should appoint members to attend that conference. NHPRC had five
slots reserved for SAA, Council would need to look at the best way for SAA to
be represented. The Task Force and CEPD would need to be represented, but the
Society needed to take a broad view. The invitation to appoint representatives
would be coming to SAA, not the task force.
Old Business
Proposed ACA
Commission
Tibbo reported
that throughout the meeting she and Kenamore met frequently with the Academy
of Certified Archivists= President David Gracy. They also met with NHPRC Executive
Director Anne Newhall. Gracy agreed that the commission should include equal
representation from SAA, ACA, and NAGARA. The list of potential participants
included many with overlapping memberships in all three organizations.
Hickerson said
what was really needed was a timetable for completing the proposal, since the
NHPRC had an October 1 submission deadline. Gracy had indicated his comfort
with SAA serving as the administrative body to receive the grant. He said it
was still necessary to speak with NAGARA Executive Director Bruce Dearstyne
to gauge their interest.
Kenamore said
she and Tibbo planned to identify possible futurists to help inform the work
of the proposed commission. She said they would have a conference call by the
end of the week to work out the specifics of the proposal. Kenamore offered
to serve as project manager.
S.217
Greene presented
the issue of proposed legislation S.217, a bill to amend the IRS Code of 1986
to remove ambiguity about the tax consequences of donating personal papers to
libraries and archives, to four SAA units and also spoke with Karen Benedict,
Ethics Committee Chair. The main suggestion that came from them was to make
sure that there was a statement in the letter about the goal of equality of
access. There was some differing opinion among units about how specific and
extensive that statement should be. He presented a revised version of the letter.
Stout moved that
Council accept the letter as amended. Eaton seconded. PASSED. Willis abstained.
Hickerson directed
Fox to post on the leadership listserv that a copy of the letter would be available
on the website. Greene should prepare an explanatory paragraph to accompany
the letter when it is published in Archival Outlook.
Fellows Focus
Group
Eaton reported
that the initial meeting was a good one with plenty of excellent brainstorming.
She said there would be two sub-groups to plan for fundraising possibilities
for the coming year. At the Denver annual meeting there would be a special event
to commemorate Gerald Ham=s gift to SAA.
Hickerson said
he would have an article on the fundraising initiative in the November newsletter.
He would also write an annual giving letter.
New Business
NHPRC
Hickerson said
Newhall had many ideas for projects SAA could be pursuing, for example making
the American Archivist available via the Internet. Newhall said she would
talk with her staff and contact Hickerson the following week. He also said SAA
should see if JSTOR was interested in providing such access, although JSTOR
was very university-centric.
Newhall had also
said she favored the development of a public service announcement to communicate
the value of the archival profession. Hickerson said he would like to discuss
the idea with her in more detail. It would be possible to have an advertising
agency develop the spot on a pro bono basis. It could cost a great deal, but
there would not be any point in doing one if it wasn=t of high quality.
Hickerson said
Nick Burckel had also suggested that SAA might come to NHPRC with a proposal
for creation of an advanced fundamentals package of workshops to be conducted
on-line. If they were created simultaneously they would be able to take advantage
of synergies among them.
Hickerson inquired
whether or not Council was comfortable with pursuing these ideas with Newhall.
Council members assented.
Hickerson then
reviewed for Council the incoming members of the Executive Committee and its
function.
Review of
the To Do List
Sink read the
to do list.
The meeting adjourned
at 7:15 p.m.
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