Category Archives: Member Needs

We Are SAA!

Posted on September 11, 2013 by | 1 comment

It’s been a very interesting transition becoming president of the Society of American Archivists. I joke about my second full time job and the joys of balancing my paid position with my unpaid one. I have people genuflecting and asking if they should call me “Madame President”. (I tell them to just call me “Danna”) I also hear from people who think that I am SAA and that they have no voice in the activities and plans of the Society. I am here to tell you that is absolutely incorrect. Continue reading →

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Posted in Annual Meeting, Annual Meeting Task Force, Member Needs, Member Satisfaction

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Internships, Privilege and SAA: A Council Member Responds

Posted on August 22, 2013 by | 5 comments

Michelle Light is the Director of Special Collections at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. She is also a second year member of SAA Council.  Though her comments in response to the discussion of Jackie Dooley’s presidential address are a bit long, they are thoughtful and detailed and compelling. I hope you will read and comment. Continue reading →

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Posted in Annual Meeting, Member Needs, Member Satisfaction, Strategic priorities

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Go ahead, let me have it!

Posted on August 17, 2013 by | 13 comments

My SAA presidential address, Feeding Our Young, has generated quite a firestorm on Twitter. My aim was to provoke discussion within the Society and the profession about these issues, and it looks like I succeeded! I also wanted to throw down the gauntlet to the SAA leadership (of which I’m no longer a formal member as of 3.5 hours ago, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be tuning out) to find a way to address the jobs issue, broadly raise the awareness of  members who may not know how tough things are out there, and various other things.

No doubt some of you out there have reactions but aren’t on Twitter. Or maybe you want to utter more than 140 characters’ worth of response. Anyway, if you’d like to say something to me, or to your colleagues, here’s a place to do it.

Fire away! — Jackie

P.S. I’ll be talking to the SAA office about getting the talk posted somewhere on the website.

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Posted in Annual Meeting, Member Needs, Member Satisfaction

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Agenda for the AMTF forum in New Orleans

Posted on August 7, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Yesterday Kathy Marquis, co-chair of SAA’s amazing Annual Meeting Task Force, posted to the group’s web page a note about what’ll be happening at the AMTF’s public forum on next Wednesday, 15 August, when we’re all gathered in New Orleans. Her post gives you all the details, so have a look.

Here’s what I’d like to highlight: Most of the forum will consist of small group discussions about how SAA should follow up on the TF’s recommendations  in the following areas:

  • What sort of networking opportunities, both structured and unstructured, would you find valuable at the Annual Meeting?
  • We’re already implementing a variety of popular new session formats, such as lightning rounds and unconferences. What others would you like to see offered? See the call for proposals for the 2014 conference for a list of some of the possibilities being encouraged for next year. Which ones work the best for you?
  • Is it important to try to shorten the Annual Meeting in order to help attendees save on their expenses for the week? And if it is important, where should we cut back? Fewer sessions? Shorter sessions?
  • How should we approach offering some of the meeting content online to enable remote participation? Which types of session are the most important to make available? Section and roundtable meetings? Some of the dozens of education sessions? Plenaries? Perhaps live-streaming of the business meeting? SAA will have to factor in the cost of each methodology and set priorities. We’ll need to get the sense of the membership regarding what you need the most.

And be sure to have a look at the document that Council will be considering next Monday that may determine our priorities for making changes of all kinds to future Annual Meetings. Any and all comments on that are welcomed.

See you all soon!

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Posted in Annual Meeting, Annual Meeting Task Force, Member Needs

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Have an opinion about SAA’s social media presence? Act fast!!

Posted on May 2, 2013 by | Leave a comment

May 4th is your deadline for submitting comments on the Communication Task Force‘s preliminary recommendations regarding the future of the Society’s social media presence, online publications, website, and more. The draft includes a bit more explanation, but here’s the gist: Continue reading →

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Posted in Communication and SAA, Member Needs, Member Satisfaction

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Influence our future!

Posted on April 9, 2013 by | 6 comments

Those SAA members who pay attention to organizational matters are aware that we’ve been talking for the past eight months (or more) about refreshing our  2010-2014 strategic priorities. Yeah, I know … you may be saying ho hum and yawn … that’s kind of how I’ve felt about my past experiences with strategic planning. But IMHO we’ve done some very strong work so far that can add up to some meaningful directions and changes in where SAA concentrates its efforts. And we’re ready for your feedback on our draft. Deadline is April 23rd. Continue reading →

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Posted in Member Needs, Strategic priorities

Are you a believer in democracy?

Posted on March 18, 2013 by | 2 comments

My fellow SAA members: what’s your usual response to an opportunity to vote in an election? Apathy? Thoughts of revolution or anarchy? Or do you get out there and VOTE??!! I regret to report that only about one-quarter of SAA members have voted in each of our last five elections for officers, Council members, and Nominating Committee:

Screen Shot 2013-03-18 at 11.41.10 AM Continue reading →

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Posted in Member Needs

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Volunteer to be an SAA mentor! Yeah, I’m talking to ***you***!!

Posted on March 14, 2013 by | 8 comments

Listen up! Do you care about the future of our profession? If not, read no further. But since you’re tuned into Off the Record, I’m guessing you do care. Continue reading →

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Posted in Member Needs, Member Satisfaction, SAA component groups

Listening to members’ comments in our 2012 member survey

Posted on December 5, 2012 by | 7 comments

Today we hear from Kate Theimer. Like the rest of us on Council, she’s listening to you carefully … and very much wants to hear what you have to say about her analysis of comments you made in your survey responses last spring.

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Posted in 2012 Member Survey, Member Needs

How can we best make you feel welcome?

Posted on November 30, 2012 by | 8 comments

This evening’s post is going to be a quickie so I can get it out there before launching my weekend (yay!). There has been some chat here and there today about how effective SAA’s orientation session for new attendees was this year, and I’d love to hear some specifics about how we could keep improving it. I’m getting a clear sense that the bottom line is … the more interactivity, the better. Continue reading →

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Posted in Member Needs, Member Satisfaction