Skip to main content

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

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Friends of the Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan (FOPASK)

  Greetings, fellow FOPASKers. A few days ago Friend Ron sent along a couple of photos he had discovered in his family archive, which he sent along with this request: We have this photograph of Sprucedale Farm  It appears to be in southern Saskatchewan from  the lack of trees and rolling hills. With all your connections, would you have any way of finding out where this was located? I believe the owners were Don and Kate McLaren but I have been unable to find their names anywhere. With your sleuthing abilities perhaps you might come up with something.   With great appreciation,         Ron D About the gopher's sleuthing abilities, pshaw, although I did check a couple of books of Saskatchewan place names, finding Spruce Bay and Spruce Lake, both in the parkland zone on the NorthWest side. As Ron notes, Sprucedale doesn't look like a good fit. There is also the date on the barn, 1910, when there was still land to be settled on in southern areas of the province.  As for sleuthing,

Talking About If These Places Could Talk: Snapshots of Saskatchewan by Crista Bradley

  Talking About If These Places Could Talk: Snapshots of Saskatchewan Crista Bradley When I was granted a one-year research sabbatical leave from the University of Regina Archives in July 2019, I was able to move forward with a project that’s been on my mind for several years.   The objective of the sabbatical was to research and write a children's book and companion educator’s guide that would help kids connect with Saskatchewan archives and further develop their understanding of our province’s diverse history. The year was rich and the pace was vigorous as I worked to review the professional literature on youth outreach and archival/historical products designed for children, identify a theme and format for the book, and investigate publishing options.   With support from a SCAA Professional Development Grant, I attended Canada History’s Historical Thinking Summer Institute, to help me frame my approach to packaging historical informati

Call to Saskatchewan Archivists

     Across Canada, undocumented and unmarked graves of Indigenous children are being located at former Residential Schools, reaffirming the testimony of residential school survivors. The role of residential schools in the wilful dismantling and destruction of Indigenous peoples’ cultures and families is becoming increasingly obvious. Many are looking for ways to provide aid and support to Indigenous communities in their grief. Archives have a very particular and important role to play in these efforts.      At this time, we urge members of the Saskatchewan Council for Archives and Archivists to dig deep into their collections to see if they have anything that could be useful in identifying Indigenous children in unmarked graves at these residential school burial sites. Furthermore, we would encourage archivists to assess their holdings for any materials that relate to Indigenous genealogy. Families were torn apart by the residential school system and other co