Society of Southwest Archivists

Advocacy Guidelines

The Society of Southwest Archivists supports archivists and cultural heritage collections in our region, and is committed to responding to requests for advocacy support from members in a number of ways, including:

  • Responding to federal, state, or local legislation and its impact on the archives community, including issues involving funding, resource allocation, and access to services
  • Promoting awareness of issues faced by repositories of all sizes
  • Rallying and campaigning in response to funding cutbacks
  • Endorsing educational initiatives for archives and within the archives profession
  • Advancing policies that address diversity and equality

To request advocacy support from SSA leadership, please send the following information directly to the SSA President. Requesters are strongly encouraged to draft the support documentation that they are requesting (e.g. email draft to members, letter from SSA, resolution. etc.) for the SSA leadership to tailor and submit to decision makers. Please submit the draft along with the following:

  • Requester’s name, email address, and telephone number
  • A brief description of the advocacy issue
  • A brief description of the impact of the proposed legislation, funding, access restriction or other issue on archival programs, the archives profession, and/or the public
  • Links to online information about the issue (required if a call to action for members is requested SSA cannot send out attachments to members)
  • Brief description of previous advocacy efforts for this issue
  • Type of SSA support requested (see below)
  • Contact names/addresses/emails of decision makers (e.g. legislators, committee chairs, administrators, government officials, etc.)
  • Deadline for action.

Typical types of SSA support available:

  • A “call to action” sent out to affected members
  • A letter of support from the SSA President and/or Executive Board (requires 48 weekday hours’ notice)
  • A resolution from the SSA Executive Board (requires 72 weekday hours’ notice)

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