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Task
Force on Organizational Effectiveness
FINAL
REPORT TO SAA COUNCIL, JANUARY
1997
What follows is
the final report of the SAA Task Force on Organizational Effectivess, submitted
to Council on January 6, 1997. The recommendations of this report are presented
here for discussion among SAA membership. Council has not acted on these
recommendations
and will consider them again at its June 7-9, 1997 meeting.
Task Force Membership: Susan Davis; David DeLorenzo; Luciana Duranti, co-chair;
Susan Fox; Margaret Hedstrom, co-chair; Anne Kenney; Waverly Lowell; William
Maher
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT
I. INTRODUCTION:
BACKGROUND AND CHARGE TO THE TASK FORCE
II. PROCESS
OF DEVELOPING THE REPORT
III. RECOMMENDATIONS
A. CONSTITUTION
AND BY-LAWS-SUMMARY OF CHANGES
B. ORGANIZATIONAL
STRUCTURE
1. Specific
Recommendations: Committees
2. Specific Recommendations: Boards
3. Specific Recommendations: Official Representatives
4. Specific Recommendations: Sections
5. Specific Recommendations: Roundtables
6. Specific Recommendations: Task Forces
IV. ISSUES
ARISING THAT TFOE DID NOT ADDRESS
V. IMPLEMENTATION
OF TFOE'S RECOMMENDATIONS
VI. CONCLUSION
APPENDIXES
A. CONSTITUTION
AND BYLAWS
Commentary
on Changes to the Constitution and Bylaws,
Proposed Constitution
Proposed Bylaws
B. SUMMARY
OF CHANGES TO SAA ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
Committees and Boards
Official Representatives
Sections
Roundtables
C. DRAFT
DEFINITIONS OF SAA ORGANIZATIONAL
Committees
Boards
Task Forces
Sections
Roundtables
Official Representatives
ABSTRACT
The Task Force
on Organizational Effectiveness has completed a thorough review of the governance
and organizational structure of SAA and has proposed revisions to both. Since
the last major revision to SAA's constitution and bylaws in 1981, numerous amendments
to both documents resulted in overlap, inconsistencies, and excessive detail
in SAA's basic governance documents. SAA's membership has grown, the office
in Chicago has expanded, and the number of SAA units has increased incrementally
creating a situation where the roles, responsibilities, accountability, and
relationships among the various organizational units (task forces, committees,
boards, and official representatives) are not clearly delineated. The differences
between sections and roundtables are not always clear, while sections are not
utilized as effectively as they might be in planning and in accomplishing SAA's
basic mission. TFOE has analyzed the constitution, bylaws, guidelines for SAA
units found in the Council Handbook, and a series of recent task force reports
in order to develop a series of recommendations which will enhance the effectiveness
of SAA.
The highlights
of these recommendations include:
1. SAA can and
should operate with three separate but related governing/procedural documents:
1) the constitution providing the basic outline of purpose, membership, and
governance; 2) the bylaws outlining authorities and key responsibilities and
policy for the operation of the Society's governance and administration; 3)
guidelines providing specific direction for the regular operation of the Society's
units, programs, and services.
2. There should
be different requirements for the adoption and amendment of each of these three
governing/operational documents, granting Council the authority to modify guidelines
with a majority vote, requiring a two-thirds vote of Council or a two-third
vote of members present at an annual business meeting to adopt or amend bylaws,
and retaining the stricter requirements in the current constitution for constitutional
amendments.
3. Council should
approve the draft constitution and bylaws (Appendix A) at its January 1997 meeting
in order to set in motion the process required to bring these documents to a
vote of the membership at the 1997 annual meeting in Chicago.
4. SAA should
retain nine of its current committees (Awards, Education and Professional Development,
Ethics and Professional Conduct, Host, Membership, Nominating, Program, Public
Information, and Selection of Fellows). SAA should create two new committees
(Appointments and Standards). SAA should eliminate five committees (Archival
Information Exchange, Institutional Evaluation and Development, International
Affairs, Legal and Legislative Issues, and Status of Women). The Committee on
Education and Professional Development should assume the responsibilities of
the Education Office Advisory Board which should be abolished. The new Standards
Committee should have two subcommittees affiliated with it: a Technical Subcommittee
on Descriptive Standards, which will assume responsibility for much of the work
currently done by CAIE, and an Archival Standards Review Panel which will replace
the current Standards Board.
5. SAA should
retain two boards: the American Archivist Editorial Board and the Publications
Board.
6. SAA should
add two new official representatives to the International Council on Archives
and to the Association of Canadian Archivists. SAA should eliminate the official
representative to the International Research and Exchanges Board. SAA should
modify the appointment and reporting process for some official representatives
by designating a Council member or the Executive Director as the official representative
to six organizations, affiliating five member representatives with the new Standards
Committee and one with the Preservation Section, and retaining six member representatives
who report to Council.
7. SAA should
involve sections more directly in SAA activities and strengthen the ties between
section leadership and Council through a series of specific actions outlined
in this report. SAA should adopt a "cafeteria-style" membership
plan whereby members may select as many sections as they wish to join but
will pay
more above a base member's fee.
8. Roundtables
should be redefined in a less formal manner as discussion groups that meet together
and communicate to share information and discuss issues of mutual interest.
Roundtables should be absolved any reporting or planning requirements other
than reporting a liaison for communication with the SAA office. SAA should not
provide financial assistance to roundtables, but they will be included in the
Leadership Directory and provided a meeting time and space at the annual meeting.
Current roundtables should reaffirm their roundtable status during 1997/98.
9. Council should
encourage the formation of some new roundtables, the merger of some roundtables
with sections, the change in status of one section to a roundtable, and several
other minor changes as recommended in this report.
10. Council should
establish two new task forces to address issues which arose during TFOE's review
but that were beyond the charge to TFOE. A Task Force on Dues Structure and
Membership Benefits should be formed to review SAA's dues structure and develop
a means to implement the "cafeteria-style" plan where services
and benefits are closely aligned with the amount of dues paid. A Task Force
on the
Annual Meeting is needed review the annual meeting structure, especially with
regard to members who may wish to attend multiple section meetings.
TFOE has provided
general guidelines for SAA units which propose how units should be established;
their function and purpose; appointments, composition and terms of service;
expectations, reporting, and products; relationships with other units; and terms
for termination. Council should use these guidelines as a template for revising
the Council Handbook to bring unit guidelines in line with the revised organizational
structure.
TFOE urges Council
to review and adopt this report at its January meeting in order to bring the
revised constitution and bylaws to a membership vote at the 1997 annual meeting
in Chicago and to implement the recommended changes by the 1998 annual meeting.
SOCIETY OF AMERICAN
ARCHIVISTS TASK FORCE ON ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS
Report
to SAA Council
I. INTRODUCTION:
BACKGROUND AND CHARGE TO THE TASK FORCE
SAA Council established
a Task Force on Organizational Effectiveness in June 1995 to conduct a comprehensive
analysis of SAA's governance and organizational structure. Before establishing
the Task Force, Council reviewed the basic purpose of SAA as articulated in
the SAA constitution:
to provide a
means for effective cooperation among persons concerned with documentation of
human experience; to stimulate and to publish the results of research in archival
administration and records management; to promote the adoption of sound principles
and standards by all public and private agencies responsible for the preservation
and administration of records; to foster a better public understanding of the
nature and value of archival operations and holdings; to develop professional
standards, particularly for the training of archivists, records managers, and
custodians of private papers, and to improve the facilities and increase the
opportunities for such training; to maintain and strengthen relations with historians,
librarians, educators, public administrators, and others in allied disciplines;
to cooperate with other professional organizations, cultural and educational
institutions, and international organizations having mutual interests in the
preservation and use of recorded heritage.
Council agreed
that these basic purposes for the SAA endured, but that other changes in SAA
and the larger environment justified a comprehensive review of SAA's governance
and organizational structure. Since the last major revision to SAA's constitution
and bylaws in 1981, its membership has grown, the office in Chicago has expanded,
and the number of SAA units has increased incrementally. SAA faces new and more
complex demands for membership services and leadership. New means of communication
also present new options for sharing and disseminating information and for conducting
some of the business of the Society and its various units.
In light of these
changes, the Task Force on Organizational Effectiveness was established with
the following charge:
Review, clarify,
and simplify the constitution and bylaws.
Distinguish clearly the concepts and principles that belong in the constitution
from the provisions for their administration that belong in the bylaws or in
guidelines for SAA units.
Reexamine and if necessary revise procedures presently specified in the constitution
and bylaws.
Define and clarify the roles, responsibilities, accountability, and relationships
among the various types of SAA organizational units (task forces, committees,
boards, etc.).
Identify which SAA units are needed to accomplish the objectives of SAA effectively.
Incorporate the relevant recommendations from the Task Force on Sections and
Roundtables into the SAA organizational structure.
The Task Force
was instructed to consider several recent reports and documents that had addressed
organizational and governance issues in SAA, including the SAA Strategic Plan,
the reports of the Electronic Records Strategies Task Force, the Congressional
Liaison Task Force, and the Task Force on Sections and Roundtables. The initial
time line for the Task Force was August 1, 1995 through September 1, 1996. Council
extended this time line until January 1997.
Background Leading
To The Establishment of TFOE
Nearly twenty-five years have passed since SAA's previous comprehensive review
of its governance and organizational structure. In 1971, SAA President Philip
P. Mason established the Committee for the 1970s to "study the organizational
and program needs of the Society for the coming decade." That Committee
issued its final report in 1972.1 Among its major recommendations were that
SAA hire an executive director and raise the dues and fees to pay for the post;
present a dual slate of candidates for elective office; establish close ties
with regional archival associations; open up committee membership; expand the
publications program; establish standards for professional education; and expand
the variety of sessions at the SAA annual meeting. The Committee also took a
forthright position on the social issues of that time and suggested that "SAA
should be actively committed to the social goals of racial justice, equal employment,
and reasonable access to research materials."2 With only minor modifications,
Council accepted the recommendations of the Committee.
SAA made subsequent
modifications to its organizational structure. At the 1978 annual business meeting
the membership adopted the report of the Committee on Committees which recommended
a tripartite organization of ten Professional Affinity Groups (later renamed
sections), four task forces, and eleven standing and joint committees. In January
1980, Council established a Constitutional Revision Task Force chaired by J.
Frank Cook. A revised constitution and bylaws were published in the July 1981
SAA Newsletter and adopted by the membership with minor revisions at the 1981
annual business meeting. Subsequent amendments to the constitution adopted at
the 1982 annual business meeting expanded the number of at-large Councilors
from eight, serving four-year terms, to nine, serving three-year terms, and
empowered Council to propose constitutional amendments.
The Society's
achievements during the two decades following the Report of the Committee on
the 1970s probably far exceed the expectations of that Committee's members.
By 1995, SAA had more than 3,500 individual and institutional members, an annual
budget of $1.2 million, and a paid staff of nine in the Chicago office. SAA's
programs, services, and ambitions had also grown. New organizational units were
established in response to new issues and new member interests. When Council
established TFOE in June 1995, SAA had 15 standing committees, four boards,
three task forces, 13 sections, 22 roundtables, and 17 official representatives
to allied organizations. A tiered dues structure had been introduced with dues
ranging from $65.00 to $170.00 for individuals. The average cost per member
of delivering services was $97.00.
As the SAA matures
and approaches another stage in its development, the need for TFOE bears many
similarities to the motivations that inspired the Committee on the 1970s. Although
a stable executive office is in place and SAA has contributed to significant
advances in the archival profession, Council sensed that SAA needed to reexamine
its basic structure in order to respond to more diverse member needs and rising
expectations for effectiveness in member services, publications, education,
public outreach, and policy. The SAA office faces regular requests from members
for new services and for support for projects initiated by SAA units. Pressure
for SAA to develop position statements or take action on issues of access to
archives, information policy, and electronic records require both flexibility
and quick decision making. The current organizational structure does not always
meet the needs for quick response, while SAA's elected officers do not always
have the time or the expertise to develop positions on increasingly complex
issues with significant consequences for archivists. Communication and coordination
among SAA units and between SAA units and Council has been also noted as a problem
in a series of leadership forums and in several reports to Council. Like the
circumstances leading to the Committee on the 1970s, growth of the SAA, new
member interests, and changing external demands forced a comprehensive review
of SAA's governance structure, organization, and means of communication.
TFOE's recommendations
build on a series of reports and plans developed during the past decade which
examined aspects of SAA's mission, organization, and external relations. In
1986, the SAA published Planning for the Archival Profession, a report of the
Committee on Goals and Priorities which looked broadly at challenges facing
the archival profession and recommended priorities for research, development,
and action. Planning for the Archival Profession was followed by a second CGAP
report in 1988, An Action Agenda for the Archival Profession: Institutionalizing
the Planning Process. That report presented the recommendations of planning
groups in five areas: appraisal and documentation strategies, automated records
and techniques, institutional evaluation and standards, management training,
and the education of archivists. Two years later, Victoria Irons Walch compiled
a report on a five-year assessment project that evaluated activities planned,
undertaken, or completed since the first GAP report. Her evaluation assessed
how well these activities had met the goals in the GAP report.
In 1989, CGAP
turned its attention to SAA's own goals and priorities. Working with the endorsement
of SAA Council, CGAP drafted a strategic plan for SAA which was presented to
SAA membership at the 1992 annual meeting in Montreal. Taking into account input
from members and from Council, CGAP revised the strategic plan during 1993.
Council adopted the Strategic Plan at the 1993 annual meeting in New Orleans.
The strategic plan established four goals for the SAA: to exert active leadership
on significant archival issues, to provide opportunities for continuing professional
growth and promote high quality archival education programs, to position SAA
to lead the archival profession in advancing electronic records issues, and
to increase SAA's overall effectiveness as an organization by improving its
structure, methods of communications, and financial base. The Strategic Plan
encouraged Council and various SAA units to initiate activities directly related
to the four goals in the Plan. By 1995, some of the objectives had been accomplished
and projects were underway to address many of the issues raised by the Plan.
In establishing TFOE, however, Council agreed that there had been insufficient
progress on the goal of increasing SAA's overall effectiveness. This goal involved
a series of inter-related objectives regarding the SAA's organizational structure,
Council's own organization, membership recruitment, finances, and communications.
Several other
task force reports also pointed to the inter-relationships among organizational
issues. The Task Force on Electronic Records Strategies presented a report to
Council in June 1995 suggesting specific goals that the SAA should pursue to
help archivists assert authority over the archiving of electronic records. The
report stressed that achieving these goals would require SAA to develop new
methods of operation, specifically
being proactive
and getting engaged earlier
empowering individuals within SAA to act quickly
developing ways of acting outside of SAA's existing organizational structure.
In essence, the
Task Force report implied that SAA's organizational structure had become an
obstacle to rapid response to highly visible issues. The SAA Coalitions Task
Force identified weak linkages between SAA and numerous organizations with related
interests. That Task Force attributed the weak linkages to a lack of systematic
reporting by SAA leaders on the activities of related organizations in which
they also held memberships. SAA has a series of official representatives, but
there was only partial alignment between organizations where SAA was officially
represented and those related organizations that the Coalitions Task Force considered
most significant. The Congressional Liaison Task Force, which also reported
to the June 1995 Council meeting, proposed a series of actions for enhancing
relations between SAA and Congress on legislative matters of concern to archivists.
Among its proposals were recommendations for improving communications with members,
establishing communications with state and local networks of archivists, and
establishing joint lobbying efforts with related organizations.
In 1993, Council
established a Task Force on Sections and Roundtables with a charge to "survey
current activities undertaken by the Sections and Roundtables, identify the
needs, and problems, [and] make recommendations to further the successful functioning
of the Sections and Roundtables and SAA itself." The Task Force presented
its final report to Council in December 1994 with 44 specific recommendations
and draft guidelines for sections and roundtables. The Task Force considered
the following 10 recommendations to be the most significant:
Council should
draw more directly on the leaders and members of Sections and Roundtables when
establishing Task Forces or Ad Hoc Committees within the Society. (Recommendation
#1)
Council should regularly review the vitality and status of Sections and Roundtables,
including appreciating the differences between these two types of organizational
units (Recommendation #4)
SAA should design a flexible dues structure that provides "cafeteria-style" options
for member services, especially section and roundtable membership (Recommendations
#9, #10, #11, and #23)
Provide section and roundtable chairs with the most significant SAA mailings
(Recommendation #13).
Adopt new guidelines for Sections and Roundtables (Recommendation #13)
Review the Annual Meeting, especially with regard to the specific needs of sections
and roundtables and the need for common understanding of shared issues (Recommendation
#14)
Improve the direct connection between sections and roundtables and SAA governance
(Recommendation #18)
Integrate section and roundtable leadership more fully into the planning, budget,
and strategic planning process and implementation (Recommendation #19)
Increase communication between sections and roundtables and Council, especially
in regard to planning (Recommendation #20)
Develop effective ways to integrate sections and roundtables activities and
the SAA strategic plan (Recommendation #21).
When Council
accepted the report from the Task Force on Sections and Roundtables at its January
1995 meeting, it recognized that some of the issues raised by the report could
not be addressed in isolation from a larger set of governance and structural
issues. At its January 1995 meeting, Council established an Ad Hoc Council Committee
on Organizational Effectiveness consisting of Council members Luciana Duranti,
Margaret Hedstrom, Lee Stout, and Elizabeth Yakel. The Committee was asked to
review the SAA constitution, bylaws, and guidelines for committees, task forces,
representatives, and other organizational units and to identify problems with
the current organizational structure in regard to Goal 1 (exerting leadership),
Goal 4 (improving organizational effectiveness), and with internal communications
and coordination. The Committee found that SAA had a large number of subunits
carrying out important work on behalf of the Society, but that the roles, responsibilities,
authority, purpose, and accountability of the various units was not clearly
differentiated. A review of the constitution and bylaws also uncovered areas
of overlap, inconsistency, and excessive detail in the basic governance documents.
The Committee reported to Council at its June 1995 meeting and recommended that
Council establish a Task Force to address the problems it had identified. Council
adopted the committee's recommendation and established this task force.
II. PROCESS
OF DEVELOPING THE REPORT
The formation
of the Task Force was announced to the SAA membership in the July 1995 issue
of Archival Outlook (p. 8), and its charge was published on the September
1995
issue (p. 4). The Task Force met for the first time at the SAA 1995 annual
meeting in Washington, D.C. On that occasion, it broke out in two working
groups, one
with the responsibility of reviewing and suggesting changes to the constitution
and the bylaws, and the other with the responsibility of examining and proposing
changes to the organizational structure. On the same occasion, the charge
of
the Task Force was presented to SAA committees at their meetings and to the
members attending the "Leadership Forum," and advice was solicited.
The working group
on the constitution and bylaws began reviewing the SAA constitution and bylaws
in the fall of 1995. After examining issues raised in the TFOE background documents,
the working group reviewed the current constitution and bylaws for areas needing
changes. In addition, constitution and bylaws documents of a number of other
organizations were examined and parliamentary procedures were examined. A task
force member also obtained a careful reading of the documents and many probing
questions from a non-archivist colleague with bylaws experience. As this work
proceeded, the working group and task force found there was more to the revision
of the documents than had first appeared.
The working group
on the constitution and bylaws gave a report with proposed changes, eliminations
and additions to TFOE in January 1996, pointing out the complexity of any revisions
to such documents, and asking for comments. The suggestions of TFOE members
were then pulled together and the Task Force submitted a report on the status
of its work to Council at its February 1996 meeting. Council returned the document
to TFOE with questions, comments, and requests for further revisions. TFOE decided
that they could not be fully addressed without resolving first the organizational
structure issues. In the meanwhile, a report on the events mentioned above,
and a call for comments, concerns, and questions went out to the membership
in the March 1996 issue of Archival Outlook (p. 4).
The working group
on organizational structure examined all the issues related to SAA units, including
their definition, throughout the spring of 1996. In June 1996, TFOE met again,
this time concurrently with the SAA Council, which had been presented with a
report on the status of the work on organizational structure to examine and
comment upon at its formal meeting. TFOE analyzed the comments of Council and
discussed the most controversial issues, attempting to find common solutions.
Following this
meeting, during the summer, the working group on organizational structure prepared
another report reflecting the agreement of the Task Force, and identifying
the
unresolved issues; and the working group on constitution and bylaws revised
those documents accordingly, identifying the unresolved issues and pinpointing
the sections related to the organizational structure unresolved issues. At
this
point, a message was sent to the membership at large, through both the *Archives & Archivists* listserv (20 August 1996, "Open Membership Forum on the
SAA Task Force on Organizational Effectiveness," from hedstrom@umich.edu)
and the SAA annual meeting program, requesting its participation at a special
forum to be held in San Diego. The Forum took place on August 26. It was chaired
by the SAA President and President Elect, moderated by TFOE members, and attended
by the large majority of SAA leadership. TFOE presented a brief report on the
work to date, distributed for comments, suggestions, and general feedback the
proposed changes to the constitution and bylaws and its draft definitions of
the nature, roles, responsibilities, accountability and interrelationships
of
the SAA organizational units, and identified and solicited discussion of the
most controversial issues. The small group and then plenary discussions that
followed provided extremely useful input for the Task Force, which met the
following
day for the purpose of analyzing it and incorporating its parts in another
report.
Since the SAA
annual meeting in San Diego, TFOE has specifically worked on the unresolved
issues through electronic memoranda, and has attempted to address and resolve
all the membership concerns. Following completion of TFOE's work in defining
the various units within SAA, final revisions and editorial refinements were
made in the constitution in December 1996. This report certainly reflects some
compromise, but is mostly the result of concerted reflection and shared beliefs,
and mirrors both SAA's present reality and its vision for the future.
III. RECOMMENDATIONS
A. Constitution
and Bylaws
Overall, the changes to the constitution and bylaws can be characterized as
follows:
updates to bring
the constitution ad bylaws in line with changes in the organization (e.g., regarding
the Editorial Board).
refinements to resolve governance and operational ambiguities or difficulties
that have arisen in recent memory.
clarifications and elaborations to resolve internal ambiguities and inconsistencies
within the documents.
streamlining to reduce the level of procedure in the constitution as much as
possible and to eliminate from the bylaws any procedures that are better handled
through the guidelines (i.e., the Council Handbook)
revisions to enable the implementation of TFOE's recommendations regarding committees,
task forces, boards, representatives, sections, and roundtables.
Through the constitution
and bylaws revision, an important concept has been that SAA can and should operate
with three separate but related governing/procedural documents:
1. the constitution providing the basic outline of purpose, membership,
and governance;
2. the bylaws outlining authorities and key responsibilities and policy for
the operation of Society's governance and administration.
3. guidelines providing specific direction for the regular operation of the
Society's units, programs, and services.
Thus, an important new element is the text of Bylaw 7 authorizing the existence
of the guidelines that SAA has found so helpful in recent years and placed in
the Council Handbook.
An integrally
related concept is the differentiation in requirements for the adoption and
amendment of each of these three governing/operational documents. Thus, the
guidelines, consistent with existing practice, may be adopted or amended by
a majority vote of Council at any time. We have suggested establishment of a
greater requirement, than currently, for adoption or amendment of the bylaws
to clarify the distinction from the guidelines, but we have retained the option
for a change in the bylaws at any meeting of Council. No change in the amendment
process for the constitution has been suggested. The marked-up constitution
and bylaws document is accompanied by a commentary explaining the rationale
behind all important changes. These documents are attached as Appendix A.
B. Organizational
Structure
Currently, SAA
supports 14 standing committees, 3 four boards, one task force, 17 official
representatives to allied organizations, 13 sections, 21 roundtables, and the
SAA Women's Caucus. TFOE recommends that SAA be restructured to consist of 11
standing committees, including one new committee and a former board; two boards;
two new task forces; 12 sections, including an expanded role for one of them;
and 18 official representatives, including two new ones, with one eliminated
(See Appendix B). Further TFOE recommends that existing roundtables be required
to renew their roundtable status based on compliance with minimal reporting
requirements and that some be encouraged to seek mergers with closely related
sections. Several other mergers of SAA units are discussed below.
TFOE developed
a set of guidelines that define each type of SAA unit (See Appendix C). The
guidelines define how new units are established; their purpose; appointments,
composition, and terms of service; expectations, reporting requirements, and
products; their relationship with other SAA units; and how a unit may be terminated.
The guidelines provided the basis for determining which types of units were
needed to carry out SAA's objectives effectively.
1. Committees
TFOE defined the purpose and function of committees as follows: Committees
carry out specific programmatic or administrative elements of SAA's mission.
Committees help Council define SAA's directions and goals and support the
ongoing work of the profession and the Society.
TFOE recommends that the normal terms of appointments for Committee members
be extended from one-year renewable appointments to three years. The President
elect shall appoint the chairs of all Committees for one year terms which
can be renewed, but no member may serve for more than three consecutive years
as the chair of the same committee. TFOE also recommends that Committees be
required to prepare minutes of all meetings, forward copies of meeting minutes
to the SAA executive office and the committee's Council liaison, and prepare
an annual report on committee activities to Council. The purpose of this recommendation
is to improve communication and support the coordination roles of the SAA
office and Council.
TFOE recommends that the following new committees be established:
1. Appointments
Committee
A draft charge
to the Appoints Committee is:
The Appointments
Committee assists the vice-president/president-elect with the appointment
process by identifying a pool of potential candidates for appointed positions
to committees, boards, and task forces or as official SAA representatives.
The Committee provides a means of expanding the pool of potential appointees
by acting as a vehicle for self-nomination of members who wish to be considered
for appointments, and by soliciting nominations for appointed positions
from SAA members. The Appointments Committee is advisory to the vice-president/president-elect
who has final authority to make appointments.
2. Standards
Committee
The draft
charge to the Standards Committee is to:
Monitor standards
developments by external bodies and propose areas where SAA should be involved
in the development of standards, respond to requests from external bodies
to participate in or endorse standards, and coordinate standards activities
within the SAA.
The Standards
Committee will support two subcommittees to address specific aspects of
standards work:
1. A Technical
Subcommittee on Descriptive Standards, which will assume much of the work
now done by CAIE
2. An Archival
Standards Review Panel, which will assume the responsibilities of the
current Standards Board.
Additional
technical subcommittees in rapidly developing areas, such as electronic
records and preservation, may be established if the need arises. A number
of the official representatives will be affiliated with the Standards
Committee either as ex-officio or full members of the committee or its
subcommittees, including the representatives to AIIM, ALA Committee on
Cataloging: Description and Access, NISO, the Network Advisory Committee,
and MARBI. Establishing this committee will permit SAA to work more strategically
in the standards arena and to better coordinate standards work in the
Society.
TFOE recommends
that the following committees be retained with no or only minor changes to
their current charge:
Awards
Education
and Professional Development Committee (to absorb the work currently performed
by the Education Office Advisory Board)
Ethics and
Professional Conduct
Host
Membership
Nominating
Program
Public Information
Selection
of SAA Fellows
TFOE recommends
that the following committees be eliminated:
Archival
Information Exchange
Descriptive standards work to be subsumed under the Standards Committee;
other activities transferred to the Description Section.
Goals and
Priorities
CGAP disbanded itself this year, and recommended that planning become a
Council activity. TFOE supports this recommendation but also suggests that
a planning task force be constituted periodically to develop new SAA plans,
with implementation becoming a Council function.
Institutional
Evaluation and Development
Institutional guidelines have been developed; SAA does not support an institutional
certification program, so this committee does not meet a basic SAA function.
International
Archival Affairs
This committee should be encouraged to become a roundtable; TFOE recommends
that SAA also support an official representative (designating the Executive
Director) to ICA in addition to the representative to the ICA Section on
Professional Associations.
Legal and
Legislative Issues
Although this is a key area for SAA, the committee structure does not lend
itself to effective action. TFOE recommends that SAA Council consider a
partial retainer to an individual or organization that supports a Congressional
liaison, such as ALA, or purchase professional services to monitor legislative
developments.
Status of
Women
Women participate actively in all phases of SAA's business and activities
and are well represented in elected and appointed positions. This portion
of the Committee's charge has been accomplished. The other elements of the
Committee's charge -- monitoring the status of women in the archival profession
and promoting an awareness of women's history and the sources that support
it -- are not specific programmatic or administrative elements of SAA's
mission that warrant a committee.
2. Boards
TFOE defined
the purpose and functions of Boards as follows: A body appointed to formulate
and monitor compliance with policies, procedures, and guidelines for the
development and delivery of particular SAA programs and services. Boards
oversee the editorial process for the American Archivist and the SAA publications
program and procedures.
TFOE recommends
that the Publications and American Archivist Editorial boards be retained.
As noted above, the work of the Standards Board would be assumed by the
Archival Standards Review Panel of the Standards Committee. TFOE also recommends
that the work of the Education Office Advisory Board be absorbed by the
Committee on Education and Professional Development.
3. Official
Representatives
TFOE recommends
several changes in SAA's use of official representatives which should strengthen
communications with related organizations and better support the work of SAA's
official representatives. TFOE recommends that Council carefully consider
the purpose and role of each official representative before establishing official
representation with another organization. TFOE developed guidelines that Council
can use to determine when it is necessary and appropriate to assign an official
representative. Official SAA representatives are appointed to organizations
where SAA has a seat or is requested to provide a representative, to selected
standards organizations, to coalitions or alliances of organizations in which
SAA seeks official representation, and to allied organizations with which
SAA desires an ongoing, formal relationship. Official representatives are
strategic, not static or honorary appointments. The costs of maintaining official
representatives, including memberships fees and travel costs, should also
be considered. Designation of official representatives should be reviewed
on a regular basis to ensure that such appointments retain their strategic
importance to SAA.
TFOE recommends
the establishment of two new official representatives: to the Association
of Canadian Archivists and to the International Council on Archives. Currently
SAA's only representation with ICA is to the Section on Professional Associations.
The Executive Director should serve as SAA's official representative to
the
office of the ICA director. TFOE recommends the elimination of SAA representation
to the International Research & Exchange Board. As noted above in the
proposed definitions, TFOE recommends that the role of official representatives
be more clearly defined, with reporting requirements well established.
TFOE recommends
that representatives fall into one of three categories:
a) Executive
Director or Council representatives (Academy of Certified Archivists, American
Institute for Conservation of Art & Historic Works, the Coalition
for Networked Information, International Council on Archives, Joint Committee
of Archivists and Historians, and National Coordinating Committee for
the
Promotion of History.
b) Member
representatives that are affiliated with another SAA unit (CC:DA, MARBI,
Network Advisory Committee, NISO, and AIIM affiliating with the Standards
Committee; and the National Institute for Conservation of Cultural Property
affiliating with the Preservation Section). In making recommendations for
these appointments, the president elect shall ask the Appointments Committee
to consult with the affiliated SAA unit.
c) Member
representatives reporting to Council (Advisory Committee-US Department of
State, Association of Canadian Archivists, ICA Section on Professional Associations,
Joint ALA/SAA Committee, Joint SAA/ARMA Committee, NHPRC)
4. Sections
TFOE concurs
with the report of the Task Force on Sections and Roundtables that sections
should be more directly involved in the leadership of SAA and that ties between
sections and Council should be strengthened. Sections represent the principal
means whereby SAA members are brought into the activities of the Society;
the sections' role as grassroots channels of communication between the membership
and SAA governance should be encouraged and strongly supported. In recognizing
the general importance of sections, TFOE supports recommendations to increase
their authority and accountability as vital units of the Society. These include:
1. Improving
coordination and communication between Council and section leaders and among
the leadership of the various sections. This can be accomplished by
a) resurrecting
the meeting of Council and Section, Task Force, Board, and Committee chairs
during the annual meeting. TFOE recommends that an agenda for this meeting
be set in advance, with input from the various chairs.
b) involving
sections in the review of proposals, issues, and policy decisions that
come before Council and the SAA office. A listserv should be established
which includes all the section/committee chairs, the SAA office, and Council
which can be used to distribute information and seek unit input.
c) formalizing
the role of section leaders in the selection of SAA leadership. The appointments
committee and nominating committee should develop regularized procedures
for obtaining section input in the annual appointment and nominating process.
d) requiring
sections to appoint a chair for two years or to pair a chair and vice
chair/chair elect so as to provide continuity in leadership beyond one
year.
2. Improving
coordination and communication between sections and with other SAA units.
TFOE recognizes the related functions of some sections and of some sections
and roundtables. TFOE urges section leaders to work with each other in developing
joint projects, session proposals, and section programs at annual meetings.
Further TFOE recommends that sections establish formal relationships-or actual
mergers-with roundtables which represent closely related interests (see specific
recommendations below) .
3. Adopting
a "cafeteria-style" plan whereby members may select as many sections
as they wish to join but will pay for more above a base member's fee. The
resources obtained in this process will be distributed on a per capita
basis
to support section activities. TFOE recommends that the proposed Task Force
on Dues Structure and Membership Benefits be charged with developing a
specific
cafeteria plan.
4. Establishing
a Task Force on the Annual Meeting, whose charge will include seeking input
from sections on how best to accommodate their needs at the annual meeting.
TFOE recommends
the following specific changes to the current composition of sections:
1. Change
the name of the Archivists of Religious Collections to Religious Archives
Section. Establish formal relationship with Women Religious Archives Roundtable.
2. Merge
the Visual Materials Section with the Recorded Sound Roundtable and the
Visual Materials Cataloging & Access Roundtable to create an Audio-Visual
Materials Section.
3. Eliminate
the Oral History Section and encourage its members to apply for roundtable
status.
5. Roundtables
TFOE recommends
that the purpose of roundtables be redefined in a less formal manner as follows:
discussion groups within the Society that meet together and communicate to
share information and discuss issues of mutual interest. Because roundtables
are informal interest groups that meet together to share information and discuss
issues, TFOE recommends that they be absolved from any reporting or planning
requirements, other than having a leader or liaison for purpose of receiving
communications from the SAA office. TFOE recommends that roundtables receive
no financial assistance from SAA, but they will be listed in the directory
and leadership list and will be provided meeting space at the annual meeting,
provided that the roundtable leader has communicated with SAA office within
in the past 12 consecutive months. TFOE recommends that roundtables reapply
for roundtable status in the coming year, and, as part of that process, consider
merging with sections, if a closely related section exists. As noted earlier,
TFOE recommends that the International Archival Affairs Committee and the
Oral History Section be eliminated and roundtables established in their place.
Finally, TFOE recommends that the SAA Women's Caucus be considered to have
the same status as a roundtable.
6. Task
Forces
TFOE found
that SAA has used task forces effectively, especially when the task force
has a specific charge for a limited duration. TFOE recommends that SAA Council
and the President continue to establish task forces when the need arises to
investigate and obtain advice on a particular topic, problem, or issue in
cases where no existing SAA unit has the expertise, ability, time, or resources
to address that issue. TFOE agrees with the Task Force on Sections and Roundtables
that Council should turn first to established SAA bodies for advice before
establishing new task forces and that efforts should be made to involve the
leadership of sections and roundtables in task forces where appropriate. To
support the timely completion of Task Force work, TFOE also recommends that
Council abolish any task force that has not completed its work one year after
the expiration of its term.
TFOE recommends
that Council establish two task forces in the coming year.
1. Annual Meeting
Task Force
Council has discussed the need for a comprehensive review of the Annual meeting
for some time. The recommendations in this report make a Task Force on the
Annual meeting imperative. There are a number of issues related to the annual
meeting, such as allocation of time and other resources for meetings, workshops,
informal discussions, and other types of events which need to be addressed
to further improve communications and effectiveness of SAA.
2. Dues Structure
and Membership Benefits Task Force
The changes in membership categories and the introduction of a "cafeteria-style" approach
to membership, as recommended by TFOE, will have a significant impact on
the benefits available to members and on what members pay for those benefits
and services. TFOE believes that the implications of these changes merit
a
comprehensive review of the dues structure and membership benefits.
TFOE also discussed
extensively, and did not fully resolve, the issue of benefits for associate
members (See Section IV below). Some members of the task force felt strongly
that Associate members should not receive the same privileges as full members,
especially with regard to holding appointed positions. Other members believed
that there may be situations where Associate members could make important
contributions to the work of committees, boards, and task forces or could
function well as official representatives. The proposed Dues Structure and
Membership Benefits Task Force should review the full range of issues related
to SAA's graduated dues structure, the rights and privileges of different
categories of membership, and the relationship between dues levels and services
provided. TFOE felt that this issue was complex enough to warrant a separate
task force.
TFOE also recommends
that Council periodically establish a Planning Task Force to assist in the
development/modification of SAA's strategic plan. TFOE concurs with CGAP that
planning should become the responsibility of Council, not a standing committee.
TFOE also recognizes that the intensive information gathering, analysis, discussion,
and revision necessary for effective planning may require a separate task
force.
IV. ISSUES
ARISING THAT TFOE DID NOT ADDRESS
In this report
TFOE has responded to its founding charge to address a number of issues related
to the constitution, bylaws, and organizational structure of the SAA. As a
result of the information gathering, review, and analysis of the subjects
taken on by TFOE, four additional topics were identified that are significant
to the comprehensive restructuring of the Society presently underway. It is
essential that Council study these functions and confront the changes that
may be necessary in order for the Society to accomplish its mission and improve
its ability to meet the goals set forth in the Strategic Plan.
1. Structure
and Organization of Council
The first of
the issues that TFOE did not address is the structure of Council. While this
report makes recommendations that affect the structure of the Society, TFOE
felt that Council was best suited to address its own restructuring. It became
increasingly clear during TFOE's review of membership and administrative units
that streamlining duplicative efforts and reconfiguring linkages would be
of great benefit to the Society's effectiveness and efficiency. The changes
recommended in this report should help to inform the changes required of Council's
present committee structure and lines of communication. The Task Force agreed
that the current reporting structure of assigning Council members with liaison
responsibilities for certain types of units (e.g. committees, sections and
roundtables, and task forces, boards, and official representatives) is not
effective for promoting communication and coordination of SAA activities.
TFOE did not formulate any specific alternative approaches.
2. Annual Meeting
The second
issue, the annual meeting, is so fundamental to the Society and its membership
that TFOE believes it requires a task force solely devoted to its study. There
are a number of issues related to the annual meeting, such as allocation of
time and other resources for non-sessions, the program selection process,
and forums, that came up during TFOE's work, as they did during the work of
the Task Force on Sections and Roundtables. Because TFOE felt strongly that
these and other issues concerning the annual meeting should be addressed through
a comprehensive study, it has not included the annual meeting in this report.
We believe, however, that SAA should provide more time at the annual meeting
for sections, roundtables, and other units to meet even at the expense of
the number of program sessions.
3. Organizational
Dues and Member Benefits
TFOE chose
not to tackle the thorny and complicated issue of organizational dues. This
was in part because there are other established organizational structures
responsible for this and in part because it was beyond the scope of TFOE's
charge. However, dues, like restructuring Council, and the annual meeting,
must be addressed by Council as it develops a plan to increase the Society's
organizational effectiveness. The concept of a "cafeteria style" dues
structure was widely discussed in San Diego and at the TFOE Membership
Forum. This approach arose in direct response to the proposal to reduce
organizational
support for roundtables and the recognition that members do not want their
membership in sections to be limited and are willing to pay to belong to
more
than the two presently allowed. Joined with the desire to belong to a greater
number of sections was the understanding that additional resources would
be
required for newsletters and other section activities. Related discussions
included the possibility of a per-capita approach to unit membership.
In discussing
the question of Associate Member status, TFOE felt strongly that this category
of membership should be retained only if SAA can recover the full costs of
providing member services to Associate members. TFOE members generally agreed
on the following aspects of Associate Membership:
1. In principle,
there should be category of Associate membership for non-archivists who
want to join SAA.
2. Associate members should have full voting rights, but they should not
be eligible to run for office.
3. Associate membership dues should cover the costs of delivering member
services.
TFOE did not agree on whether or not Associate members should be eligible
to serve on committees, boards, task forces, etc. TFOE felt that there was
sufficient agreement on the Associate membership issue to go forward with
language in the constitution retaining the category of Associate membership.
TFOE urges Council to take action immediately to increase the dues of United
States and Foreign Associate members so that they reflect the full cost
of delivering services to Associate members. TFOE also recommends that Council
quickly take action to resolve the question of whether Associate members
may serve in appointed positions. Because this issue may be linked to other
questions of dues and membership benefits, we recommend the establishment
of a Task Force on Due Structure and Membership Benefits.
4. Diversity
Finally,
TFOE spent considerable time discussing the suggestion that SAA establish
a Committee on Diversity. TFOE was divided on this issue and not able to
formulate a recommendation in this area.
A charge
was proposed for a Diversity Committee:
a) in coordination
with the Membership Committee, to recruit a more diverse membership to
SAA of individuals from a broad range of racial, ethnic, gender, sexual
orientation, variously abled, and religious backgrounds;
b) to encourage
and promote the full participation of a diverse membership in SAA activities,
including committee work, SAA leadership, annual program sessions, publications,
educational offerings, and professional recognition;
c) to educate
SAA members to the range of diversity issues reflected in our society
so as to ensure that the records of all people are properly documented,
preserved, and made available; and
d) to increase
SAA members' sensitivity to the importance of diversity issues in their
professional activities and conduct.
The Diversity
Committee will maintain liaisons with the Archivists and Archives of Color
RT, the Lesbian and Gay Archives, the Women's Religious Archives RT, and
the SAA Women's Caucus.
Proponents
of a Diversity Committee believe that the SAA should do more to address
all aspects of diversity in the archival profession, including recruiting
a more diverse membership, investigating ways to ensure diversity in
archival
collections, and serving users with diverse needs. In the past, SAA has
established such "issue-oriented" committees as it did with
the Committee on the Status of Women.
Opponents
of the Diversity Committee pointed out that the Committee would not carry
out a programmatic or administrative goal of SAA. Such a committee would
overlap with and duplicate efforts of other SAA units, in particular the
membership committee, appointments and nominating committees, the education
committee, with advocacy, publication and editorial groups, and with Council.
Moreover, its liaison and coordination responsibilities with respect to
other groups adds excessive detail into the proposed organizational structure
which is precisely the type of problem that TFOE was charged to address.
Finally, some TFOE members questioned whether such a committee was needed
in light of other SAA units which should take responsibility for diversity
issues (such as the Membership Committee, Archivists and Archives of Color
RT, the Lesbian and Gay Archives, the Women's Religious Archives RT, and
the SAA Women's Caucus). Because we were unable to reach an agreement on
this issue, TFOE refers it to Council with no specific recommendation for
further action.
The necessity
of reorganizing Council's structure, revamping the annual meeting, and considering
a new approach to the dues structure are essential components of planning
for a stronger and more effective Society. These are issues that are not
addressed in this report, but TFOE strongly recommends that they be addressed
by Council as part of the process of restructuring.
V. IMPLEMENTATION
OF TFOE'S RECOMMENDATIONS
The Task Force
has prepared a draft of the constitution with new text shaded and superseded
text struck-out. In anticipation of the potential complexity of presenting the
constitution and bylaws to the membership at Chicago, the services of J. Frank
Cook were enlisted to guide this process. Frank Cook not only has extensive
SAA experience but he successfully shepherded the last major constitutional
revision in 1981.
Provided that
Council approves the draft constitution and bylaws at its January 1997 meeting
(with perhaps minor editorial changes), the text of the constitution and bylaws
can appear in the March 1997 issue of Archival Outlook. This timetable is necessary
in order for a membership vote on the constitution to take place at the annual
business meeting in Chicago in August 1997.
Once the new
constitution has been adopted by the Chicago business meeting, the revised bylaws
should be considered for adoption at the same business meeting. Should any bylaws
issues not be resolved at the business meeting, those items can be referred
to Council for action either at its end of annual or its winter session.
The TFOE report
describes the new SAA organizational structure and the bylaws contain the revised
descriptions of SAA units. The timetable for implementing these structural changes
can begin once Council has accepted the TFOE report. The new bylaws do not contain
detailed guidelines for SAA units in order to afford SAA more flexibility in
the future for re-organization and restructuring. The Council Handbook will
be the guiding document for SAA organizational units, and it will need revision
where the functions, composition, or other aspects of units are changed.
SAA Council should
communicate with the chairs of each of these groups to advise them of the changes
and the impact of those changes on their specific unit. In some cases, units
will disappear; in others their responsibility will change or become linked
with the charge to another unit. Changes in membership terms on standing committees
and boards, and appointments as official representatives will begin to take
effect with the 1997-1998 cycle of appointments.
The revised descriptions
for sections and roundtables include the terms for their dissolution. TFOE recommends
that Council ask each roundtable to petition to continue under the new guidelines,
encouraging in specific cases discussed above that certain roundtables merge
with closely related sections. This step should take place between Council's
meeting in January 1997 and the Annual Meeting in Chicago. All groups should
be given an official meeting time and place at the Chicago meeting to facilitate
the necessary discussions with the intention of fully implementing the new organizational
structure by the 1998 annual SAA meeting.
By the January
1998 Council meeting, there should be a clear sense of the organizational structure
and units that will enable Council to discuss its own reorganization. The current
separation into three Council Committees has provided each unit with a Council
liaison, but has also contributed to the confusion and overlap in communications
among SAA units. Council reorganization will also allow SAA to respond to the
recommendations of the Task Force on Sections and Roundtables.
VI. CONCLUSION
This report and
the attached recommendations for changes in the constitution, bylaws, and organizational
structure provide a framework for a more effective organization. By eliminating
overlap, inconsistencies, and excessive detail from the basic governance documents,
TFOE's recommendations offers a more flexible governance structure that will
facilitate modification and revisions as the SAA needs to adapt to changing
conditions and demands. The streamlined organizational structure with fewer
committees and boards and a clearer distinction between the various types of
organizational entities will enable Council to focus on core programmatic and
administrative goals of the Society. Reinforcing the role and responsibility
of sections and integrating section leaders more fully into the SAA's leadership
structure provides a means for greater membership participation in the Society's
affairs. Loosening the formal ties between roundtables and Council will provide
more opportunities for members to come together to discuss issues of common
concern and share information.
The recommendations
in this report only address the formal and structural elements needed to make
SAA more effective. To fully achieve the goals of organizational effectiveness,
Council must provide leadership in the areas of communication, coordination,
and accountability. Some of TFOE's most important recommendations involve greater
accountability on the part of SAA units and more communication through regular
reporting by committees, boards, task forces, and official representatives to
Council and to the SAA office. The guidelines for SAA units include provisions
for periodic review of organizational units and for termination of units that
fail to accomplish their charge in a timely manner or outlive their usefulness.
TFOE recommends consolidating related units as much as possible by combining
units with overlapping functions. Nevertheless, SAA's goals are increasingly
complex and inter-related. Council, SAA leadership, and the SAA office must
make concerted efforts to ensure coordination of unit activities through both
formal and informal means. Better communications through SAA publications, its
web page, the opportunities offered by the annual meeting, and through regular
contact between Council and SAA leadership are essential for these recommendations
to succeed.
1 Philip P. Mason. "The Society of American Archivists in the Seventies:
Report of the Committee for the 1970's," American Archivist 25 (April
1972): 193-217.
2 J. Frank Cook, "The Blessings of Providence on an Association of Archivists," American
Archivist, 46: (Fall 1993): 397-98.
3 There were
15 standing committee when the Task Force began its work. The Committee on Goals
and Priorities was abolished at the San Diego meeting
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