Eira TanseyStill thinking about ways to keep SAA vibrant and healthy after attending #saa23 as one of three GLAM conferences I attended in one month. One thing that I think SAA could do to improve programming all around is to *require* panels to have archivists from different sectors. No more all-academic panels. I’m super proud that the panel i chaired had a mix of local gov, university, museum, and self-employed speakers, and the turnout was just as diverse for who came to hear us speak.
Chairs are strongly encouraged to disclose all sorts of panelist diversity information when they submit a proposal but some panelists understandably do not want to disclose certain personal identity/demographic information details within proposals. This is why I feel pretty comfortable with the idea of mandating institutional variety as a minimum requirement. SAA is meant to be a big tent, but panels with just university-based archivists tend to be myopic.