Welcome all new and returning students to the San Jose University 2022-2023 school year! It is an exciting time of year for most of us, and especially for all the archivists and archives enthusiasts out there! As I write this, the Society for American Archivists is holding its yearly conference in Boston, Massachusetts. This year is the first-ever hybrid conference featuring both onsite and remote/virtual elements. Keep in mind I am writing this on August 26^th, and by the time you all are blessed with the online publication of this blog, the event will be over.

Going back to the idea of a hybrid conference, some live sessions were recorded for virtual access and there were other fully virtual sessions in addition to the in-person sessions. What’s cool about that is that the recorded sessions will be available to all SAA members in the education part of the SAA website!

Our SJSU SAASC group saw almost all our executive board members able to attend this year. Sheralyn Milton, one of our Social Media Coordinators, highlighted the following session that she found impressive:

204: Enormous Change: Disaster Recovery

“Disaster is often the best catalyst for necessary change. Often the lack of funding is the reason why archives are not properly housed and cared for. It is once disaster strikes and collections are lost or in imminent danger that administration finally brings about the needed change that has often been begged after for years. Disaster also allows for minimal changes that makes the archives friendlier, more easily accessible, and safer since we often do not see the need to make important but minimal changes until forced”.

-Sheralyn Milton

I do not think we can stress enough how important emergency planning and strategic planning can be when it comes to anyone working in the information profession. The better we plan, the better we can lead, communicate, and stave off unforeseen disasters. Thank you for sharing with us Sheralyn!

I invite anyone who attended the conference this year to drop us a line on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Tik Tok, or message us and share any sessions that you found to be particularly helpful or intuitive. We would love to hear from you!

We also want to mention two posters presented by past SJSU SAASC board members. The poster entitled Challenging the Status Quo: Innovative Approaches to Online Engagement that SAASC members Rachael Sevilla, Diana Haney, Heather Reinold, Sereen Suleiman, Erin Castillo, and Jennifer Galipo presented at the SAA conference. The poster showcased the virtual events that SAASC executive board members introduced last year to foster student engagement that we plan to continue this year. More of that to come! Jenny Galipo also presented a poster entitled Starting a Digital Archive in a Community-based Archive. Let’s give them a big round of virtual applause!

Do not even get us started on Erin Castillo! She received the 2022 Harold T. Pinkett Student of Color Award from SAA this year, and we are all so proud. That award helped pay her way to attend SAA, and she did an Instagram takeover about the conference, so be sure to check that out on our SAASC Instagram account!

Our next topic concerns the advantages of joining SAA. As I  mentioned earlier: planning is key, and that includes planning for your own future career! The SAA student membership includes these benefits, as stated on the SAA website:

 

• “Full access to American Archivist Online
• A complimentary subscription to Archival Outlook
• Member discounts on Annual Meeting and course/webcast registration
• Member discounts on SAA-published books
• Participation in SAA Sections
• Participation in SAA’s Mentoring Program

Student members are also eligible:

• To hold any appointive position in the Society
• To vote for officers, councilors, members of the nominating committee
• To vote on all matters requiring a vote which come before the Society as a whole
• To be members of constituent units of the Society
• To receive the benefits of the Society’s programs and services”(SAA, 2022).

Thanks for reading the blog! If you would like more information about SJSU SAASC, check out the Student Group Meet and Greet on Thursday, September 1^st from 6pm to 7pm. We are also having our Annual SJSU SAASC Membership Meeting on September 21^st at 6pm. We look forward to seeing you there!

If you would like to join SJSU SAASC, find out more here.

Reference

SAA. (2022). Student membership. Website. Accessed August 2022. https://www2.archivists.org/membership/student