The 2020 SCA Election results are in! We’d like to thank everyone who ran for office and accepted the call to serve. As a completely volunteer-run organization we count on the participation and engagement of our members. And the winners are...as Vice President/President Elect we welcome Leilani Marshall, as Treasurer we welcome Lara Michels, as At-Large Board Member we welcome Sue Luftschein, and to the Nominating Committee we welcome Elena Colón-Marrero. Congratulations to all and welcome to the SCA Board. We’d also like to take the opportunity to acknowledge our fellow members that will be rotating off the Board: Teresa Mora (Immediate Past President), Liz Phillips (Treasurer), and Dee Dee Kramer (At-Large Board Member). Thank you all for your contributions to the organization during your terms.   

The 2020 Western Archivists Meeting (WAM) in San Francisco would be well underway today. Unfortunately, as you are all aware the COVID-19 pandemic caused the cancellation of WAM and instead of gathering in the City by the Bay many of us are home adjusting to the new norms of remote work and social distancing. Nothing can replace hearing about the great work of our colleagues, catching up with old friends, and talking shop with fellow archivists in-person, but there are some exciting updates on the SCA front that we’d like to share.

First and foremost, all WAM refunds have been issued so those of you that registered should have a little more money back in your accounts now. Many thanks to Kate Tasker and Liz Phillips for all of their hard work on this! The Program committee had put together a stellar program for WAM and while we missed out on it this year, there will be an opportunity to see some of that programming at the 2021 Annual General Meeting (AGM). WAM presenters are being encouraged to re-submit proposals for next year’s AGM where a select number of spots will be reserved for these sessions. And speaking of the AGM, we’ve selected the venue and are happy to announce that we’ll be returning to Palm Springs in 2021, after a seven year hiatus, to celebrate SCA’s 50th Anniversary! 

Now onto the 2020 SCA Election results! Before we announce the winners we’d like to thank everyone who ran for office and accepted the call to serve. As a completely volunteer-run organization we count on the participation and engagement of our members. And the winners are...as Vice President/President Elect we welcome Leilani Marshall, as Treasurer we welcome Lara Michels, as At-Large Board Member we welcome Sue Luftschein, and to the Nominating Committee we welcome Elena Colón-Marrero. Congratulations to all and welcome to the SCA Board. We’d also like to take the opportunity to acknowledge our fellow members that will be rotating off the Board: Teresa Mora (Immediate Past President), Liz Phillips (Treasurer), and Dee Dee Kramer (At-Large Board Member). Thank you all for your contributions to the organization during your terms.   

And lastly, we’d like to announce that the 2020 Membership Meeting will be held virtually on June 3, 2020 from 2-4p. The full agenda and login information will be released closer to the meeting date but highlights include a review of board activities, financial overview, and committee updates. We look forward to seeing you all there (virtually!) so please mark your calendars.

We hope that everyone is staying health and safe out there,

Your SCA Board

At the end of February, I submitted my President’s Message for the Spring newsletter where I spent most of my time detailing the upcoming 2020 Western Archivists Meeting (WAM) that was scheduled to be held in San Francisco from April 22^nd – 25^th. Much has changed in the world since I wrote that letter due to the COVID-19 pandemic including the official cancellation of WAM 2020 on March 16^th. This was a difficult, but necessary decision given the impact of this outbreak worldwide and within the state of California. The health and safety of our members always remained at the forefront of our decision making and behind the scenes work to either cancel or postpone the conference began well before this official announcement. As you can imagine, it takes time to work through a scenario like this when there are four organizations involved and a hotel contract in place to contend with. At no point were any of the organization’s leaders willing to put their memberships at risk, though, even in the face of catastrophic financial losses that would have jeopardized the existence of all four organizations. For this I would like to commend my fellow members of the SCA Board along with the leadership of the Conference of Inter-Mountain Archivists (CIMA), Northwest Archivists (NWA), and Society of Rocky Mountain Archivists (SRMA) on their thoughtful and informed approach to a situation that none of us anticipated or were prepared to deal with. 

At this point, I don’t have any information on when the western regional archival associations will come together for another joint meeting. Information on this will be communicated when it is available. Additionally, per the SCA bylaws there is to be a Members Meeting held annually which was scheduled for during WAM. The SCA Board is currently looking into available technologies to host this meeting online later in the year, so stay tuned for more information on that in the coming months.

My time as SCA President is nearing its end and this will be my last President’s Message. I would just like to say that I am proud of the work completed this year, specifically with regards to the ethics and inclusion policies/procedures established for our organization, the streamlining of some committees, and the attention we’ve started to direct toward labor issues within the profession. The foundation we’ve set this year will help carry this work forward in the years ahead. These are uncertain times and we are headed into an uncertain future, but I am confident that some things will remain unchanged. One of those being, that SCA will continue to serve as an outlet for archivists throughout California to come together in support of one another, our communities, and our profession. Stay healthy and stay safe out there everyone!

Eric Milenkiewicz, SCA President

Read more from the Spring 2020 SCA Newsletter