Council Minutes
September 5, 1998
Walt Disney Dolphin Hotel
Orlando, Florida
Saturday, September 5
President Duranti called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, September
5, 1998. Present were Vice President Thomas Hickerson, Treasurer Robert Sink,
and Council members Valerie Browne, Fynnette Eaton, Anne Gilliland-Swetland,
Dennis Harrison, Peter Hirtle, Karen Jefferson, Jane Kenamore, Helen Tibbo
and Wilda Logan Willis. Also present was Executive Director Susan Fox and Anne
Van Camp.
Adoption of the Agenda
Hirtle moved and Willis seconded the motion to adopt the agenda. PASSED.
Report of the President
Duranti said she had no report.
Report of the Vice President
Hickerson said he had no report.
Report of the Treasurer
Sink said that the annual meeting netted 879 registrants, down from the projected
1,050. Although it was too soon to report specific impact on the FY99 budget,
he expected annual meeting revenues to be approximately $20,000 down from the
budget. This loss, however, would be partially offset by the success of the
preconference workshops, many of which were above projected enrollment.
Report of Council Committees
Hirtle reported that the Art and Architecture Roundtable requested permission
to disband. Hirtle moved acceptance of their request. Eaton seconded. PASSED.
Hirtle said he met with the Science, Technology, & Healthcare Roundtable
and with the Privacy Roundtable to discuss issues related to medical privacy
legislation in Congress. He said the roundtable representatives intended to
draft a one-page issues brief on the legislation, which would include background
information and suggestions on how best to influence legislation in the next
Congress. Jefferson suggested that the roundtable representatives also give
Council names of key archivists who could respond to the issue. Willis inquired
whether the Government Records roundtable had also been consulted. Hirtle said
they had not but that he would do so.
Hirtle also reported on a conversation Maher had with Carlin regarding NARA's
Electronic Records Working Group questions and definitions. Carlin needed to
know whether or not SAA had a better term for "electronic source record." Carlin
also asked for SAA's input on determining the retention period for electronic
records. Hirtle said he and Eaton would draft concrete suggestions based on
one section of NARA's evaluation guidelines. Fortunately, he said this piece
of the working group report did not have to be included with materials dictated
by judicial guidelines. He said the response on this issue would need to be
unofficial to NARA because the official Electronic Records Working Group response
period had closed.
Hirtle then excused himself with apologies in order to chair a session.
Eaton reported that the disbanded Committee on International Archival Affairs
was circulating a petition to become a roundtable.
Willis said the Archives and Archivists Roundtable noted a lack of diversity
issues contained within the recently distributed membership survey. She said
the Roundtable saw this as a lost opportunity.
Jefferson said she would discuss with Fox specific issues that arose during
the meeting concerning Sections and Roundtables.
SAA and Education
Duranti said she spoke with Beth Yakel. Yakel said that the conference on
Archival Education would need to be held on Tuesday, not Sunday as Council
requested. Yakel said the University did not have the facilities to offer a
Sunday conference. She also noted that five of the 12 people surveyed said
they would not be able to attend a Sunday meeting. Duranti suggested that from
now on at each annual meeting site, SAA locate the conference at the closest
university. She said it would be necessary to move the Council meeting to Monday
in order to allow Council members the opportunity to attend the conference
on Tuesday.
Hickerson said that for those members of Council who are not graduate archival
educators this schedule would bring them to the annual meeting for an additional
24 hours. He inquired whether or not the group would be willing to accept the
idea that if SAA organized the conference that future conferences be held on
the Sunday following the annual meeting.
Following a broad discussion of the issue of timing and funding, Hickerson
moved to agree to hold the Council meeting on the Monday before the 1999 SAA
annual meeting in order to facilitate the participation of all Council members
in the graduate archival educators conference the following Tuesday. PASSED.
Hickerson said he was wary about the nature of a long-term commitment to
the conference. He agreed that archival education is important to the Society,
and that
Council may find it to be a priority concern in strategic planning, so it
would certainly be an integral activity. However, he was uncomfortable about
making a resource commitment to a particular group within the SAA mandate when
in fact a similar expectation could be justified in a number of arenas.
Duranti said that Council should give responsibility to CEPD to come up with
specific ideas on how the issue should or should not be handled within the
Society. Jefferson supported the idea of SAA working with CEPD on the issue
and developing joint sponsorship of the conference.
Jefferson moved that Council direct CEPD to work together with graduate archival
educators to examine ways to cooperate in future conferences and to report
to Council by the June 1999 meeting. Hickerson seconded. PASSED.
Gilliland-Swetland said she would convey the resolution to CEPD.
Declassification
Anne Van Camp reported on declassification issues and presented draft letters
to Senators Moynihan and Warner. She said it would be important to get a fact
sheet out to the archival community as soon as possible so that they could
speak to their own representatives on the issues.
Eaton moved that Council ask Van Camp to provide language for a letter to
be sent to Congress voicing SAA's opposition and concern to the amendment to
Public law 104-106, Sect. 3146 and to H.R. 3616. Harrison seconded. PASSED,
with Willis abstaining.
Resolution Renaming Minority Student Award
Browne moved and Willis seconded the motion to approve the following resolution:
Whereas, Harold T. Pinkett has been a pioneering professional in the archives
profession, and
Whereas, Harold T. Pinkett served with distinction during his long tenure
at the National Archives and Records Service; and
Whereas, Harold T. Pinkett served with distinction during his long association
with the Society of American Archivists and other archival organizations; and
Whereas, Harold T. Pinkett has been a scholar, archival educator, and mentor
who has made important contributions to the archives profession;
Therefore be it resolved that in recognition of his lifetime achievements
and contributions to the archival profession, the Archivists and Archives of
Color Roundtable supports the renaming of the SAA Minority Student Award to
the Harold T. Pinkett Minority Student Award;
Be it further resolved that the Archivists and Archives of Color Roundtable
urges the SAA Council to direct the SAA Awards Committee to take whatever action
necessary to implement this resolution.
PASSED.
New Business
Duranti said she wanted to establish a task force to examine the work of
the Chicago office in detail in order to establish what services which are
delivered regularly by the office could be delivered by more efficient means,
those that could be dropped, and how the work could be reorganized to realize
new functions, for example a new position for a development officer/grant writer.
Sink said he thought it would be useful for the Task Force on Dues and Member
Benefits, which will be recommending a dues increase, to better answer questions
of how SAA money is allocated and spent. He said he could also see its usefulness
for Fox so that she would not have to get into situations where activities
such as Brinati's maternity leave and Sanders bereavement leave would not traumatize
the office. He said the main questions should be, what are the services delivered,
how much time does it take, how much demand is there for certain services.
He noted that the Society would necessarily have to make choices, the organization
cannot accomplish everything and it can't continually raise dues.
Duranti said she could draft a charge and distribute via the Council listserv
for input. She said that at the outset the intent would not be to eliminate
positions, in order to reassure staff that they were not in danger of losing
them.
Jefferson said that if there was a task force it should not focus solely
on finance but on service. Durant said a cost-benefit analysis should be done.
Tibbo said the membership does not always know the details of the finances.
Hickerson advocated a narrow definition of what needed to be accomplished.
He said at a minimum Council should set out organizational service categories.
He also said it might be necessary to conduct a fact finding effort before
establishing assignment of resources. He said he had a difficult time discerning
who would be the actor in that scenario.
Duranti said that the fact finding should be conducted by an external actor,
then have the task force assess those findings. She said she wanted to hire
a development director but she did not want to add to the staff.
Hickerson said the assignment was not one that a task force could do well.
He said if the society was to engage in strategic planning it would in that
capacity make the decisions on how to prioritize the funding.
Fox suggested the American Society of Association Executives Peer Review
Program, in which a team of executive directors give an outside, objective
view of an association's governance, staffing, products, and services. Fox
said she would get more information and distribute to Council.
Gilliland-Swetland introduced a set of procedures developed by the Ethics
and Professional Conduct Committee. She requested that Council give her input
on them via the listserv.
Sink read the To-Do list.
The meeting adjourned at 5:13 p.m.
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