2020-21 SCAA Board of Directors Nominations

With the arrival of spring comes another annual renewal – the recruitment of new Board members to the SCAA Board of Directors. Once again, we have openings on our Board of Directors and we are always pleased to get some new faces on the Board.

I would encourage anyone who is interested in supporting archives across Saskatchewan to consider putting your name forward for the Board. It’s a great opportunity to meet other archivists, learn more about the issues facing archives, and, of course, volunteer work always looks great on a resume!

I’m about to start my fifth year on the Board and I’ve had a wonderful experience. In my time on the Board, I’ve learned about adjudicating grants, reading financial statements, understanding bylaws and policy governance, and explored many other facets of the workings of a province-wide professional organization. If you don’t have experience, don’t worry! Neither did I when I started on the Board. I’ve also had the opportunity to meet people who work in archives from around the province: Prince Albert, Melfort, North Battleford, Regina, Swift Current, Saskatoon, and others. Participating in the Board makes connecting with other Saskatchewan archivists easy.

For Members at Large, sitting on the Board is not a major time commitment. We have six meetings in a year. Four of the meetings are half-day meetings conducted by teleconference and the other two are full day in-person meetings, usually held in either Saskatoon or Regina. The SCAA pays for all travel expenses for the two in-person meetings and also provides lunch!

In addition to attending Board meetings, members are also expected to Chair and/or volunteer for at least one Committee. There are five major Committees of the SCAA:

·       Grants (handles the adjudication of the Institutional Grants Program)

·       Education (decides on workshop topics)

·       Governance (reviews and writes policies and procedures for the Board)

·       Public Awareness (plans outreach activities and strategies)

·       Diversity Working Group (provides advice and strategies for improving diversity within the SCAA)

There are also two additional Committees which only work for a short period of the year:

·       Nominations (recruits new Board members)

·       Audit (reviews financial statements at year end)

Board members can volunteer to Chair or sit on the Committee(s) that interest them. As you can see, the Committee work is diverse so we like to get people from a variety of backgrounds and with a variety of experience.

The day to day operations of the SCAA are run by our talented staff: our Executive Director, Gloria Bearss, and our Archives Advisor, Cameron Hart, so Board members don’t have to worry about devoting any time to the day to day. Our focus as a Board is on “bigger picture” strategies and planning.

I hope that SCAA members will consider putting their names forward for the Board. The SCAA provides a number of valuable services to its members including workshops, Archives Week support, travel subsidies, an Archives Advisor, as well as institutional grants to name just a few programs. None of this is possible without the volunteers who sit on the Board of Directors. If you’ve used an SCAA service in the past, please consider volunteering for our Board to help keep the SCAA going strong.

Bonnie Dahl, SCAA Treasurer