Report to Council of the Society of American Archivists Task Force on Continuing
Education
APPENDIX FOUR:
Assumptions Concerning the SAA Continuing Education Program
—Tim Ericson, September 8, 1999
1. Continuing is a valuable member service in which SAA should continue to
be involved.
2. In the traditional SAA context, "continuing education" has been defined
almost exclusively in terms of workshops and seminars.
3. The SAA continuing education program has traditionally been viewed as a
potential revenue source as well as a member service.
4. In actuality, the SAA continuing education program has NEVER been a revenue
source and has never even broken even.
5. SAA's most notable successes in continuing education have come as the result
of grant funding. (e.g. Basic Concervation, Administration of Photographic
Collections, MARC AMC, Library Descriptive Standards, Case Studies Series)
6. The SAA continuing education program has focused its attention on meeting
the needs of SAA members rather than meeting the needs of "the profession" in
a broader sense.
7. The SAA continuing education program has traditionally tried to address
both "basic" and "advanced" needs that archivists have.
8. Financial imperatives confronting the SAA continuing education program
have resulted in more attention being paid to short-term goals (ie. the delivery
of workshops) rather than long-term goals (ie. planning, data data gathering,
long-term evaluation).
9. Traditionally the SAA Annual Meeting has been a primary venue for continuing
education workshops and seminars.
10. In past years the SAA has offered continuing education activities either
in conjunction with regional associations, as "stand alone" workshops (ie.
the business archives workshop) or at specific locations in response to requests
by employers or institutions.
11. The SAA has only recently begun to offer new continuing education options
such as electronic distance education courses.
|
