Council Minutes
September 1, 1998
Walt Disney Dolphin Hotel
Orlando, Florida
Tuesday, September 1
President William Maher called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday,
September 1, 1998. Present were Vice President Luciana Duranti, incoming Vice
President Thomas Hickerson, Treasurer Robert Sink, and Council members Valerie
Browne, Bruce Bruemmer, Fynnette Eaton, Anne Gilliland-Swetland, Peter Hirtle,
Karen Jefferson, and Helen Tibbo. Also present were incoming Council members
Jane Kenamore, Dennis Harrison, Wilda Logan Willis and Executive Director Susan
Fox. Absent: Lori Hefner and Sharron Uhler.
Adoption of the Agenda
Bruemmer moved and Hirtle seconded adoption of the agenda as amended. PASSED.
Approval of the Minutes
Eaton moved and Tibbo seconded approval of the minutes as amended. PASSED.
Report of the Executive Committee
Bruemmer reported on electronic votes taken via the Council listserv. Maher
called for a vote on July 25, 1998 relating to a statement on National Archives
and Records Administration facilities. Having received an electronic quorum,
Maher moved and Sink seconded the motion to adopt the position statement on
the NARA Space Plan. The motion passed unanimously. The Executive Committee
approved an educational conference to take place prior to the 1999 SAA annual
meeting in Pittsburgh with the understanding that the conference may conflict
with the Council meeting but not with program offerings. The Executive Committee
also approved a statement on the NARA Electronic Records Working Group and
forwarded the statement to the National Archives.
Report of the President
Maher gave an update on plans for a Graduate Archival Educators Conference
preceding the 1999 annual meeting. He said that Beth Yakel and Richard Cox,
with cooperation from the Universities of Michigan and Western Ontario, received
funding from a private foundation to support expenses to hold such a conference.
Yakel approached SAA to request that the Society become formally associated
with the conference. In consultation with Council, Maher responded that SAA
would be willing to do so but within certain parameters. Concerns included
a request that organizers not hold the conference on the same day as the Council
meeting and whether or not the conference would be of limited or open attendance.
Organizers assured Maher that the meeting would be open to all graduate archival
educators as well as Ph.D. students.
Duranti moved that SAA should be directly involved in graduate archival education
not merely by issuing guidelines but also by organizing conferences. She said
this type of conference should occur under the SAA umbrella, not by independent
entities. She recommended that Council ask the Committee on Education and Professional
Development (CEPD) to look into the matter and make recommendations.
Jefferson suggested putting the issue into the new strategic plan. She questioned
who the motion was for. Maher said the purpose of the motion was to inform
the Society that SAA should take a leadership role in informing graduate archival
education. Then the issue could be turned over to CEPD to look into ways to
insure that SAA had an active role in working with graduate archival educators
in the future. Once the motion was adopted the Society could incorporate the
concept into the strategic plan as an element of a goal. He said SAA should
be involved in an active way in advancing the field of graduate archival education.
Gilliland-Swetland said that one thing SAA could do would be to look at the
whole educational environment. This would include support for and encouragement
of research agendas, tenure track process, as well as nurturing graduate archival
education. She was concerned that universities were pulling and pushing against
each other, causing an unhealthy development.
Hirtle expressed unease at the prospect of SAA taking over the subject matter.
If he were the organizers of the proposed Pittsburgh conference, he would interpret
Council's proposed action as an attempt to take over the conference. He preferred
a much broader approach as articulated by Gilliland-Swetland.
Duranti stressed that archival education was a part of the SAA mission and
should be strongly supported. Gilliland-Swetland said that one of the reasons
this conference occurred was because archival educators were frustrated that
SAA was not proactive. She said there existed a strong danger that archival
educators would pull away and form their own association.
Maher said that after the Pittsburgh conference there needed to be a series
of next steps, which should come from the SAA leadership.
Maher then reminded Council that he had questioned whether or not the Task
Force on Organizational Effectiveness definitions of Committees, Board, and
Representatives had been formally approved. A review of the minutes revealed
that they had been and that Fox would incorporate them into the Council Handbook.
Report of the Vice President
Duranti reported completing all appointments.
Report of the Treasurer
Sink reviewed FY98 actual figures. While the budget year concluded with a
small surplus, he said, the Society was still stalled in adding to the reserve
fund. The FY98 contribution equaled less than .5% although Council policy is
to cover six months' reserve. SAA's present reserves covered 21 weeks.
Hirtle reminded Council of an earlier discussion, initiated by Lori Hefner,
that that the six month reserve policy may be too high, and three months might
be better. He inquired whether Council should consider formally changing the
reserve policy. Fox said it would be better to discuss the issue at the winter
Council meeting with the auditor's report.
Maher suggested that if Council were to consider changing the level of reserves
it should do so in relation to SAA income and expense and in relation to the
market. He reminded Council that SAA expanded its programs in the early 90s
due to grant income and robust publications sales.
Executive Director's Report
Fox presented a proposal to upgrade the SAA website. She reminded Council
that the iteration currently on the web was always meant to be a temporary
place holder and solely a means to establish the Society's presence. The proposed
upgrade would revamp the site's architecture, develop templates for content,
and incorporate interactive elements such as order processing, meeting registration,
and membership database interaction. Browne moved and Tibbo seconded the motion
to authorize Fox to allocate $3,333 each from the Education, Publications,
and Norton special projects funds to subsidize the upgrade. PASSED.
Bruemmer said that the death knell to any website occurred when it was not
dynamic and contained outdated information. Duranti said it was a new service
for SAA, but one that must continue. She said that all activities in the office
would need to be given a very hard look in order to prioritize funding. Maybe
SAA needed to cease certain activities. If it is necessary to open a new expense,
Council would have to close another. She said she would rather have a few things
done well. It may be that the Society could drop activities which are no longer
useful or which have been superceded by technology.
Eaton said the member survey should help gauge views on the website. She
thought it was essential for the Society to have one. The member survey may
identify other areas which may be dropped. Tibbo said that technology is expensive,
more so than print communication was in the past. She suggested it may be possible
to cut back on some print materials.
Hirtle said that all agreed that the web was important and that updating
it a priority. He said the question at hand was whether in this instance to
subsidize the upgrade from special funds but then to incorporate future upgrades
into the budget. Fox said that was her intended aim.
Maher said he was uneasy about Council not having adopted a policy for handling
the special project funds. He said the Society ran the risk of pulling out
all the gains made in investments from more robust markets. Making the decision
without a policy for funds struck him as risky. He agreed with the need to
incorporate the website into regular budget planning. Fox reiterated that this
was a one-time request, much like a down payment on a house. All future work
would be incorporated into the budgetary cycle. Maher requested that at the
end of the current budget cycle Fox report back on savings or gains made from
the web, if any.
Fox gave an update on the new software system, reporting that this would
take top priority for all staff upon return from the annual meeting. All staff
would engage in intensive training in October and November and the goal was
to have the new system live by the first of the new year.
Fox gave a brief report on the American Archivist and Publications editors
review process, saying that she would be meeting with the Editorial Board and
the Publications Committee to elicit feedback on their evaluation.
Fox said that Brinati and Sander would join Council later in the afternoon
to give Publications and Education Office reports.
Due to the fact that it was close to time for a conference call Fox suspended
her report.
Conference Call with John Carlin
Maher thanked Carlin for taking the time to meet with Council via the conference
call. Carlin apologized for the fact he could not be there in person, and said
he hoped to meet with Council in person in Pittsburgh. He said that Lew Bellardo
was unable to make the call due to pressing business with the Executive Branch.
He introduced Lori Lisowski as participating in Bellardo's absence.
He said he was grateful for the time and energy SAA devoted to developing
a position paper on the NARA Space Plan. He said it would be helpful to NARA
to have the guidance, and it clearly shows SAA to be a partner on the issue.
He said NARA recently completed a round of 19 public meetings with a cross
section of participation. The challenge now would be to get a better read on
not just people the agency was now serving but also on those they did not serve
very well. He said NARA needed more access for more people in order to be successful.
He said the GRS20 issue had become a procedural problem due to the court
becoming involved and therefore controlling the time line. On the one hand
the Electronic Records Working Group (ERWG) was just wrapping up and now he
was starting an intense review of next steps. The ERWG had done a good job,
worked hard, laid out a broad set of options and choices. It looked like the
next steps would involve a process of narrowing choices rather than trying
to invent something new. He said his decision would be based on what was one,
archivally sound; two, consistent with the judge's orders; and three, sensitive
to the agencies -- not to burden them with something they would not want to
be burdened with and therefore would not carry out.
Hirtle said he was pleased to hear there were plans for another Electronic
Records Working Group to follow on the work of the first. He asked if the next
group would again have outside consultants and if so, would he rely on their
services on voluntary basis or would he reimburse?
Carlin said he would not allow the next working group to exist without the
benefit of outside help. He said he needed to take a serious look at funding
consultants and that would certainly be a topic of conversation.
Maher asked for elaboration on the deadlines and process involved.
Carlin said that the only way to have a sane conclusion to the process was
not to wait until the judge's deadline to act. He was impressed with the broad
input from the archival community. Some of the work involved occurred in terms
of making decisions as an internal process and that it was important to bring
in others to take a fresh look. He said he would have to decide what he is
comfortable with in going forward at this time. The challenge for the internal
ERWG folks was to give him more help in assessing the comments. NARA does not
carry a huge club and he would need to factor in agency concerns. He said he
wanted to conclude the process within three weeks, and get a report to the
judge in time to give him a chance to respond. The judge had been reasonable
in allowing time and flexibility. The more NARA worked cooperatively with him
the better chance he had of continued cooperation.
Maher requested that Carlin let Fox and SAA know conclusions as soon as feasible.
Carlin said he certainly would, that he wanted SAA to have the opportunity
to comment. In order to have sound archival policy it would be important to
have SAA input.
Hirtle said it was exciting to see comments from SAA members attending the
NARA Space Planning meetings. He noted that the Society succeeded in having
either a member or a Council member attend nearly all the meetings. He said
that NARA was discussing issues all archivists face and therefore it would
be able to set a direction for the entire profession. He was concerned that
there were archivists opposed to the closings, and that regionals had spoken
out against the plan. When SAA comes out with a position, the Society would
need to have very good information in order to make a judgement. What were
the standards for archival facilities, especially in relation to Archives I,
and why were the presidential libraries also not included in the plan? He suggested
that Carlin make clear that the presidential library funds are untouchable.
He said this sort of information needed to be communicated to the profession
so that SAA could properly defend a decision, once made.
Carlin admitted he had not necessarily communicated in the most perfect fashion.
He said the agency was doing the best it could and that he appreciated Hirtle
identifying areas where there were shortfalls. He said Archives I got out of
sync because of the charters. The preservation committee discovered a few years
ago that if the agency did not do something about the re-encasement issue in
seven years, they would face a problem which would lead to an impact on the
charters themselves. That crisis kicked off working with Congress on how to
deal with Archives I. He said they would not be able to renovate the Rotunda
without kicking in the Americans with Disabilities Act and other facility needs.
He said it would take a long time to deal with Congress on Archives I needs
because of the large amount of funding it would take. Some people have suggested
that NARA should conduct a cost analysis to see if it would be cheaper for
Archives I to move elsewhere. However, from a practical point of view being
on the mall with the charters is a good PR tool to raise funds in the private
and public sector. Although it is costly, it is one of the best investments
they could make.
He conceded he needed to get the message out more clearly regarding presidential
libraries. He said they did not have a space problem; they were built with
private funds. The goal was to have archival and pre-archival records under
control in facilities comparable to those of the presidential library system.
Maher asked Carlin to refresh his memory about any public statements NARA
would issue coming out of the series of public meetings. Carlin said they had
a lot more research to do. In contrast to the GRS20 issue, NARA had some control
of the timing. He did not have a set deadline and would work until he received
the information he needed before proceeding. Action would be on the records
side first. He said he would include much more communication with SAA as the
planning moved ahead.
Maher asked if there were any updates on issues relating to declassification.
Carlin said that NARA was addressing the issue behind the scenes. He said things
had changed dramatically in NARA's favor within the past two weeks. He was
following the issue closely; NARA had a lot at stake whether or not the Executive
Order would work or continue to work. He said he and his administration were
in daily contact with the Department of Energy, and the Department of Defense,
and the Clinton administration.
Maher thanked Carlin for his time.
Council Committee on Committees
Committee chairs reported that Kenamore would serve on the Council Committee
on Boards, Task Forces, and Representatives, Harrison on the Council Committee
on Sections and Roundtables, and Willis on the Council Committee on Committees.
Browne introduced a change in guidelines for the Coker Award as proposed
by Alfred Lemmon, chair of the Awards Committee. Browne moved and Duranti seconded
the motion that Council accept the recommendations of the Coker Award Subcommittee
to replace the word "holdings" with "projects" so that
the paragraph would read: "Works and activities must involve projects
located primarily in North America." PASSED.
Eaton discussed a proposal from the Technical Subcommittee on Descriptive
Standards. Bruemmer said this brought up an issue of what Council's obligations
are to provide liaisons with subcommittees and other units. He suggested there
might be a danger of creating a bureaucracy and a drain on resources. He preferred
to have subcommittees report through their parent committee, especially if
it involved requests for funding. The sense of Council was that this was the
preferred reporting mechanism and instructed Eaton to communicate to the Standards
Committee that its subcommittee reports did not have to be reviewed by Council
unless the Standards Committee thought it contained an issue needing Council
action.
Sander joined the meeting to discuss a proposal for distance education. She
first noted that for the first time in over five years the annual meeting workshops
would exceed their income projections by $5,000. She then presented her proposal
for an on-line distance education course in electronic records. She said she
saw it as a way to capture a segment of membership she had previously been
unable to reach, those who cannot afford to travel. She requested Council approval
of a test course which would require $10,000 from the Education Fund to develop
the course. She reminded Council that she had received approval in June 1997
to expend $15,000 for self-study booklets which remained unexpended due to
her personal leave. Upon return from her leave she found the SAA website presented
a better option and therefore requested to use the original funding for this
purpose.
Gilliland-Swetland recommended engaging in additional training for course
instructors because of the different nature of this type of instruction. She
inquired about contact time with students. Sander said she was in contact with
IACET which had guidelines regarding contact hours.
Tibbo suggested that what Sander proposed was not a workshop but a course.
Sander said that the course would involve asynchronous learning and that six
weeks was generally accepted by continuing education programming as equivalent
to a two-day workshop.
Maher suggested incorporating a feedback loop into the plan, including CEPD,
and coming back to Council in January with a mechanism to incorporate the loop.
Tibbo moved and Browne seconded the motion to accept Sander's request for
$10,000 from the Education Fund to develop an online course. PASSED.
Hirtle reported that the College and University Archives Section would be
sending a revision of the C&U Archives guidelines (originally passed in
1979) to the Standards Committee for approval and vote. The C&U Section
did not know that the guidelines needed Standards Committee approval. Hirtle
noted that ten years ago the then Standards Board published a brochure on how
to get a standard passed in the Society and clearly there was the need to re-issue
a similar brochure.
Hirtle then introduced a communication from the Science, Technology & Health
Care Roundtable regarding medical records privacy legislation. The main issue
of concern was that proposed legislation did not make provision for historical
research and contained no limitation to privacy strictures. He suggested that
it would be good to develop a one-page position paper containing the archival
perspective on privacy issues and to begin our lobbying on the issue early.
Maher expressed one concern with the document, which he said was an excellent
example of the kind of work SAA units need to do to inform Council on issues
of concern to the profession. He thought the presentation leaned too heavily
in the direction of privacy issues. He asked Hirtle to clarify with the Science,
Technology & Healthcare Roundtable that what Council needs is not strictly
privacy issues, but an element that allows for accessibility under appropriate
circumstances.
Council Committee on Task Forces, Boards, and Representatives
Bruemmer said he expected an RFP to explore possible outsourcing of the American
Archivist by the end of the annual meeting.
Bruemmer said that the Awards Committee was redrafting guidelines for the
Jameson Award subcommittee in light of dissolution of the Public Information
Committee. He proposed that the guidelines be submitted to Council at the winter
meeting.
Proposed SAA Archival Listserv
Bruemmer said SAA would need to find another site for the Archives and Archivists
listserv. Although he had reached an initial agreement with Weston Thompson
to serve as list moderator, his institution, the University of Kentucky, recently
instituted a freeze on hosting electronic mail lists. Bruemmer said he was
searching for a new home for the list and that he was fairly confident he could
press some university into service.
Fox reviewed position descriptions for Council and Officers, stating that
she thought those contained within the Council Handbook suited the purpose
well. Eaton said that for the purposes of the Nominating Committee the descriptions
would need slight revision to include the amount of time and resources needed
of individual members when serving in leadership positions. Eaton offered to
work with Fox on creating a set of descriptions for Nominating Committee use.
NARA GRS20
Duranti said that because she was a member of NARA's GRS20 working group
she would not be able to participate in the discussion at hand. Eaton expressed
appreciation for the work of Hirtle and Gilliland-Swetland with her on the
issue. She said the final document contained both specifics and general concepts,
although it was difficult to complete the task in August with so many people
on vacation.
Maher said that what made the process particularly difficult was the imposition
of a court-imposed deadline. SAA was fortunate to have three individuals tasked
to complete the document because the Federal Register was particularly dense.
He said Council would need to consider whether or not it needed to be prepared
for the next step in the process. Duranti asked Hickerson to take responsibility
if the need for a response arose while she was out of the country. Hickerson
agreed.
NARA Space Planning Study
Maher said he assumed Council read the list-serv reports on regional hearings.
He said that with the conclusion of the hearings Council was in a wait-and-see
position until the next working group sent out a call for additional comments.
Teresa Brinati joined the meeting and gave a brief statistical report on
the Publications Program. Maher thanked her for her thoroughness and good work.
Proposal to Reorganize Council
Bruemmer presented a proposal to reorganize Council. Following on the work
of the Task Force on Organizational Effectiveness, Bruemmer found that "most
[Council members] believed that assigning one Council member to each of over
80 membership units did not meet the expectations of the Sections and Roundtables
and was an ineffective and inequitable method of communication. Often officers
and Councilors lost track of Council assignments, Councilors found it impossible
to attend all the meetings of their units at annual meetings, and unforeseen
circumstances affecting any one Councilor meant that eight to nine units went
unrepresented."
Bruemmer proposed that Council disband its present subcommittee structure
and replace it with three new committees: Committee on Education and Standards,
Committee on Programs and Publications, and a Committee on Representation.
He noted that "disbanding the Subcommittee on Sections and Roundtables
is a significant change... the change will focus Councilors' time and effort
more effectively, and will enable the President to assign Councilors to issues
that will involve many membership units."
Jefferson expressed agreement with the proposal. She said communication had
improved with the institution of the leadership listserv and with the leadership
luncheon, which allowed more opportunity for members to interact with Council.
Eaton said that it was useful to draw units into issues under Council consideration
and that Council should continue that practice. She suggested developing a
taxonomy of issues to identify who should follow up, in other words formalize
the process.
Hirtle said he was unconvinced. While acknowledging that communication had
not been working, he felt it was because Council was not aggressive enough
in contacting units. Council sometimes took actions without first consulting
the units. He noted that for the past few years there had been a perception
that Council does not value Sections and Roundtables. If Council took away
even the pretense of having representation to them, then the action could be
construed as reinforcing that perception.
Maher agreed with Hirtle. Hickerson said in his experience Council representation
varied from Section to Section and Roundtable to Roundtable. He said he saw
a real desire on the part of units for some sense of connection with the governing
body. He did not view the fact that under the proposed plan they would be able
to approach any member of Council as positive. He suggested harder thinking
about alternative communication mechanisms.
Browne suggested that all of Council be assigned one Section or Roundtable.
Willis asked if it would be possible to have the chairs of Sections and Roundtables
meet with Council before Council meetings. Hirtle described earlier attempts
to hold a similar meeting and challenges contained within. Hickerson said he
proposed something very similar last year.
Bruemmer moved that his proposal be communicated broadly, have Council revisit
the issue at its Winter meeting after gathering input from the leadership list,
the leadership luncheon, and other venues. Hirtle seconded. PASSED.
Browne presented a revised charge for the Council Committee on Representatives.
After a brief discussion Browne moved and Duranti seconded the motion that
Council adopt the proposed guidelines for the structure and function of the
Council Committee on Representatives. PASSED.
Status of Copyright Legislation
Maher gave a status report on the Digital Millennium Copyright Bill and the
fact that copyright extension issues may be incorporated into it. Hirtle suggested
that Council develop a resolution opposing copyright extension to be presented
to membership at the business meeting. Eaton then moved and Bruemmer seconded
the motion that Council request Hirtle and Maher to draft a resolution opposing
the extension of the term of copyright for another 20 years, including support
for fair use. PASSED.
Hiss Status Report
Maher reminded Council of a resolution passed at the winter meeting to sign
on as a co-plaintiff to the suit in support of releasing Grand Jury records
related to Alger Hiss. Maher said that Public Citizen, the lead plaintiffs,
were moving quickly toward filing the case. Members of the Executive Committee
received copies of the draft affidavit. The Executive Committee was in the
process of reviewing the materials. He discussed the desirability of identifying
distinguished archivists to write affidavit in support of the case.
Duranti questioned whether SAA should be involved, and suggested that it
might be better to open the issue to individual member comment. Hirtle said
that it was an unfortunate fact that much of present day archival policy was
made in the courts.
Hickerson questioned the jurisprudence that may possibly be a position archivists
may not be comfortable with. Sink said he was unsatisfied with the affidavit's
addressing the issue of access.
The concluding sense of Council was to ask Hefner to continue working on
the issue, as she offered, with the assistance of Hickerson, Hirtle, and Kenamore.
Strategic Planning
Tibbo introduced two documents, "SAA's Strategic Plan 2000" which
she authored, and Gilliland-Swetland's "Framework for SAA's Strategic
Plan 2000."
Duranti suggested holding Planning Day at the winter Council meeting, rather
than in its traditional slot in June.
Bruemmer expressed concern with the process and whether or not it would be
possible to gain full participatory buy-in within the short time line of completing
the plan by August 1999. Duranti suggested Council members develop a list of
goals, share them on the listserv for comment, and begin the process with discussion
on the Leadership Luncheon to be held later in the week. Then, she said, by
January Council would have the raw material from which to work.
Bruemmer said that he thought the strategic plan should be distilled into
a very basic and manageable set of goals, no more than three or four. Duranti
cautioned that while the Society may identify three or four strategic goals
that would not mean that it would not accomplish anything else. It was not
a zero sum game.
Maher said he would be more comfortable if Council would call it Goals 2000
instead of a strategic plan, making it into a vision statement or a short-term
strategic plan.
Duranti suggested Council write a one-page synopsis of what the Society does
well and what should be continued, then on another page list goals and activities
the Society was not achieving with a time line for accomplishing those by 2003.
Council then examined the SAA mission in light of four functions: advocacy,
education, information, and service. Some suggested goals included: promotion
of archives and archivists, internationalization of the Society, focus on pre-employment
education and developing a forum for graduate archival educators. Duranti advocated
fund-raising and development, and research involvement. Maher expressed the
need to build membership. He said the Society needed stronger and more vibrant
representation from younger membership in order to elicit the same commitment
exhibited by the older members. Hickerson saw a need for SAA to play a role
in public advocacy of professional policy and principles. Eaton acknowledged
a need to promote diversity.
Council agreed that the interim process would involve four steps: first,
elicit feedback on strategic planning from the leadership luncheon; second,
have Council take notes and report via the listserv; third, draft a preliminary
document for presentation on the leadership listserv; third, engage in a cycle
of feedback from members; and fourth, arrive at the winter Council meeting
with a rough cut of possible goals for deeper discussion.
Communique re Associate Member Change in Status
Maher reported on a letter he sent to Hilary Kaplan in response to an earlier
letter to him from her regarding the 1997 business meeting vote to change the
status of Associate members. He said his sense of Kaplan's desired outcome
was to have a Council reversal of the business meeting decision. He said the
issue may arise again at future business meetings. He referred the communique
to the Task Force on Dues and Member Benefits.
He then thanked Council for a very good year. He said it was a rewarding
experience to work with such a fine group of people.
Sink read the To-Do list.
The meeting adjourned at 5:56.
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