New SAA Roundtable (fingers crossed) for archives in public libraries (and archivists interested in human rights too)

It looks like they have all the signatures they need to send their petition to Council, so I don’t need to encourage any of you SAA members to sign on, but I think it’s still worth bringing to your attention. You can learn more about the proposed Public Library Archives/Special Collections Roundtable here on their Google groups site. The current draft of their petition to form a new roundtable is there, as well as other background discussions. I certainly agree that people in charge of archival, manuscript, and special collections in public libraries face a set of challenges that is very different from archivists in most other kinds of repositories, and I think this roundtable is a great idea. Not convinced? Here’s a quote from their petition:

The benefit of this roundtable to the Society:
First, there are a great number of people who work with historic collections within public institutions, including libraries, who do not identify themselves as archivists. Because SAA roundtables are open to non-members, the group will be in a great position to inform those caretakers about the work of the Society, how it pertains to what they do, and the advantages of membership.

Also, there is a growing realization that caretakers of historical collections in public libraries face huge obstacles to implementing management programs for their collections. This is compounded by lack of staffing and funding for the archival programs. Sharing education and funding opportunities with these caretakers (i.e. preservation, security) would be a key benefit.

I love that this group is thinking about reaching out and sharing information with people responsible for archival and historical collections who do not necessarily identify themselves as archivists. This is the exactly the kind of broadening (rather than narrowing) of the interests of the archival profession that I think is where our best future lies.

There’s still time to add your name to the petition (if you are an SAA member). I’m sure they wouldn’t mind having more than the number of supporters that’s required. To “sign” just send a message that says something like: “I support the establishment of a Public Library Archives/Special Collections Roundtable within the Society of American Archivists” to saahq@archivists.org and include your name (and your member number, if you know it).

I don’t think that I wrote here about an earlier effort to create a new roundtable: “The Human Rights Archives and Archivists Roundtable aims to create a space for SAA members and other stakeholders (human rights advocates, scholars, government officials, and non-governmental organization workers) to increase dialogue and collaboration on issues related to the collection, preservation, disclosure, legal implications and ethics of human rights documentation.” You can read more about that proposal over on the WITNESS Media Archive blog . That petition has already been submitted and will also be considered at the February Council meeting. I hope to hear that both of them have been approved.

3 Comments

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  By Renee_D, January 7, 2010 @ 1:20 pm

  We got 58 signatures for our petition (awesome!), and will find out after the council meeting in February what is going to happen. I’ll be sure to update you all, and thanks Kate for the plug & support!

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  By Renee_D, February 10, 2010 @ 12:46 pm

  It is a go! The Council approved our petition last week…we should have a web site & listserv in a few weeks. Thanks again!

Other Links to this Post

1. Grants, roundtables and books, or, Special collections is outta control! « The Backblog — January 21, 2010 @ 10:32 am

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