Council Minutes
September 1, 2001
Washington Hilton & Towers
Washington, DC
President Steve Hensen called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. Present:
Vice President Peter Hirtle, Treasurer Elizabeth Adkins, and Council members
Thomas Battle, Danna Bell-Russel, Tom Connors, Jackie Dooley, Mark Greene,
Becky Haglund-Tousey, David Haury, Richard Pearce-Moses; Megan Sniffin-Marinoff,
Executive Director Susan Fox, Karen Benedict, Chair of the Committee on
Ethics and Professional Conduct.
ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA
Adkins moved and Tousey seconded adoption of the agenda. PASSED.
REPORT FROM CHAIR OF THE COMMITTEE ON ETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT
Benedict reported that the Committee on Ethics and Professional Conduct
received a letter asking that SAA investigate a possible ethics violation.
Benedict said the Ethics Committee would meet to review the submitted
materials and the committee planned to respond to Council with recommendations
on whether or not there were grounds to move forward with mediation. She
asked Council to advise. Since the Ethics Committee did not have a full
committee convened and would need to deliberate fully, would it be agreeable
to do so via email as a primary means of communication and as a method
of documenting the process?
Council agreed that it would be best for the Ethics Committee to do so
and to conduct some of its deliberations via conference call.
REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT
Hensen reported that he contacted as many SAA units as possible during
the annual meeting, including the SAA-ARMA Joint Committee and a separate
meeting with ARMA Executive Director Peter Hermann. He gave great praise
to Scott Schwartz, Chair of the Membership Committee, for his work in
raising funds for the Donald Peterson Student Scholarship and for making
the business meeting such fun. He said that the 2002 Program Committee
had met and was putting together a dynamic program for the Birmingham
annual meeting.
He said he also had breakfast with Anne Newhall, Executive Director of
NHPRC. They discussed the status of conference committee negotiations
on the NHPRC budget and the composition of the Commission. Hensen said
if necessary SAA would need to be prepared to issue a letter of support
on behalf of the Commission's budget allocation.
REPORT OF THE VICE PRESIDENT
Hirtle said his first task as Vice President would be appointments. Michael
Fox and Janice Ruth agreed to co-chair the Program Committee for the Los
Angeles Meeting in 2003. They discussed themes, and wanted to stress the
diversity of the profession and the different types of archival enterprises
encompassed within the profession. He was open for suggestions regarding
plenary speakers. He spoke with Paul Duguid, author of the Social Life
of Information, and was optimistic about his participation. He said he
was beginning to construct a Host Committee, some individuals had already
agreed to serve, but he still needed a chair. He planned to approach the
appointments process by issuing a call on the Archives & Archivists
and SAA leadership listservs for nominations. He asked that Council liaisons
serve as his appointments committee. Council members would be expected
to contact their units and solicit suggestions for new chairs/members
once the final list of 2001 appointments were ready. Special provision
would be made for the Awards Committee, given the size of the committee.
His goal was to complete all appointments by March 1, 2002.
REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Fox reviewed possible dates for the Winter Council meeting and asked
that Council respond to her as soon as possible upon return from the annual
meeting. She said that Fynnette Eaton recommended that a Washington, D.C.
based member of Council observe NHPRC Commission meetings. She asked that
Council liaisons help solicit new leadership information for the 2002
leadership list, always a large task post meeting.
NEW BUSINESS
Greene reported on items emerging from the Committee on Education and
Professional Development (CEPD) meeting. SAA still needed to appoint a
representative to the American Library Association Task Force on Accreditation.
Up until recently, Bob Martin had looked out for SAA's interest, but with
his appointment as Director of the Institute for Museum and Library Services,
it was especially important that SAA have an official representative.
CEPD approved the mission statement for the SAA Education Office: To
develop and offer quality continuing education that is relevant and accessible
to professional archivists via a variety of delivery methods. To promote
and uphold standards of education as stated in the Archival Education
guidelines.
Greene said that CEPD was concerned about EAD workshop participants receiving
a coupon for $100 off the retail price of XMetaL Software. The coupon
included the SAA logo as co-sponsorship. CEPD did not think the endorsement
appropriate and requested that Council approve a policy on how to handle
such requests in the future. Fox said that she would work with the education
directors to develop a policy and would present it to Council for discussion
at the winter meeting.
Greene said that in the Forum on Graduate Archival Studies several archival
educators expressed significant concerns and comments about the proposed
revised M.A.S. Guidelines. It was quite possible that the next draft of
the guidelines would be somewhat different than the last.
Pearce-Moses said the Nominating Committee made a great deal of progress.
He was optimistic that they would achieve a full slate within the next
few weeks.
Hirtle said he wanted to give early notification of discussion occurring
within the Working Group on Intellectual Property with Laurence Lessig,
the lawyer for Eldred v. Ashcroft. Lessig was taking the case to the Supreme
Court and had indicated he would appreciate an amicus brief in support
of SAA's position on copyright extension. Hirtle was now exploring the
cost of developing the brief and said he may have a proposal on how to
proceed at the winter Council meeting.
Battle reported that the Museum Archives Section wanted to expand the
ALA-SAA Joint Committee to include a member from the American Association
of Museums.
Bell-Russel, Connors, Dooley and Pearce-Moses agreed to serve on Council's
Archives & Archivists Listserv Committee.
Pearce-Moses bequeathed the shovel to Dooley.
Adkins read the To Do List.
The meeting adjourned at 7:00 p.m.
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