Strategies for Archival Action in the 1980s and Beyond: Implementing the SAA Goals and Priorities Task Force Report

This essay is written by an archivist primarily for archivists, but its content concerns a subject--the preservation of America\u27s documentary heritage--that is important to a much wider audience. Archivists have long recognized that theirs is a profession with a broad mandate handicapped by far too limited resources. In the past few years, through a series of major investigations and reports, archivists have learned the extent of the threat to historical records in the United States caused by their profession\u27s own weaknesses. Some will undoubtedly bristle at that last sentence and argue that numerous other reasons exist for the poor condition of this nation\u27s historical records. True, but the major responsibilityfor the care of America\u27s documentary heritage is one that most archivists can and will not deny is theirs. Given their profession\u27s general poverty and its tremendous obligation, archivists must learn, among other things, to plan carefully for the more judicious use of restricted means and for programs that will enable them to gain greater resources. The report of the Society of American Archivists\u27 (SAA) Goals and Priorities (GAP) Task Force is the archival profession\u27s most recent and best opportunity to begin to do just that