STHC-L: The Science, Technology and Health Care Archives Forum

[Previous Posting] [Next Posting]

Session Proposals for 2005 SAA Annual Meeting in New Orleans 

Dear Colleagues,

The deadline for submitting session proposals to SAA for next year’s meeting in New 
Orleans is October 8.  SAA does not require endorsements for proposals until October 
22, but we would like to encourage you, if you will be submitting a session proposal 
to SAA for next year's meeting and the topic of your proposal pertains to science, 
technology, health care issues/records/papers, to please consider submitting it to 
us for first.  Proposals should be submitted to one or both of the STHC Co-Chairs – 
Joe Anderson (rja@aip.org) and Joan Echtenkamp Klein (jre@virginia.edu) – by 
September 30.  This date provides some time to provide suggestions and feedback before 
the drop dead submission to SAA date of October 8.  The proposal form is available 
online at: http://www.archivists.org/conference/proposals.rtf.  Suggestions and hints 
for preparing a successful session proposal are available on the SAA Web site at 
http://www.archivists.org/conference/proposals101/.
 
If you would like to publicly discuss a STHC program idea or recruit speakers/discussants, 
consider doing so by signing on to and using STHC-L, the Science, Technology, and Health 
Care Archives Forum (http://www.archivists.org/saagroups/sthc/listserv.html).  Members of 
the STHC Steering Committee are also available and willing to aid you in developing a 
proposal.  These folks are listed at http://www.archivists.org/saagroups/sthc/members.html 
 
I attended the “Archives Unplugged: Tips on Strengthening SAA Session Proposals” session 
at the SAA meeting in Boston and have attached (and appended the text below for those 
who have difficulty opening attachments) a summary of my notes from that session.  Please 
do refer to these notes and the tips on the SAA Web site (http://www.archivists.org/conference/proposals101/) 
as you prepare your session proposals.
 
There were some excellent suggestions for session proposals made at the meeting, as well as a 
re-worked session proposal that will be resubmitted, and Joe and I look forward to seeing them 
fully fleshed out.  We also look forward to attending these same sessions at the meeting in 
New Orleans!
 
Joan Echtenkamp Klein
 
 
Greetings!

The STHC Roundtable meeting in Boston yielded some excellent suggestions for proposed sessions 
for the 2005 SAA Annual Meeting, in addition to the proposal that John Zwicky is reworking and 
will be resubmitting.

At the STHC meeting it was stressed that reworking and resubmitting proposals is encouraged; we 
have a good record of having proposals accepted the second time around.

The STHC Steering Committee as a whole is a good resource when developing session proposals. 
Members are delighted to provide input and offer suggestions. It is to our advantage to craft 
the strongest and most interesting session proposals possible. We look forward to working with 
your proposals for the 2005 Annual Meeting in New Orleans.

I attended the “Archives Unplugged: Tips on Strengthening SAA Session Proposals” and wanted to 
share what was said in the interest of getting as many of our session proposals accepted as possible.

In addition to what follows, anyone working on a session proposal should carefully read and follow 
the “Tips on Strengthening SAA Session Proposals” available on the SAA Web site 
(http://www.archivists.org/conference/proposals101/).

From my “Archives Unplugged: Tips on Strengthening SAA Session Proposals” notes:

The goal for the Program Committee is broad representation. 

The Program Committee rates each proposal on two scales: 
   Mechanically – all speakers in place and committed, etc. 
   Interest of SAA members in attending the session 

Each Program Committee member ranks each proposal based on how he/she believes the above 
criteria applies. 

Endorsements are then considered after the initial ranking. Sections and Roundtables no 
longer need to rank the session proposals they are submitting. 

The deadline for the 2005 SAA Annual Meeting session proposals is October 8, 2004. Persons 
interested in submitting a proposal may talk to the Program Committee any time before October 
8. The Program Committee is happy to give input or help reformat into another type of presentation. 

A strong, well-crafted proposal is essential and trumps a format choice; there really isn’t 
a preferred format if a session proposal is strong, so do consider all types of formats that 
may fit the proposed session best. 

Asking people outside the profession to speak is good and approved of by the Program Committee, 
but do realize that there is no money for speakers. It is recommended that the person developing 
the session proposal take advantage of the cities in which we meet, and utilize local experts. 

A proposal won’t be rejected because of AV needs. There is money for AV, but it is very costly 
to provide equipment, so please take that into consideration when developing a proposal. 

Although the rejection letters for proposals won’t go into detail, the Program Committee 
Co-Chairs stressed that they would provide real feedback on rejections, if asked, and they 
would encourage asking. They will tell you: If it was a weak or poorly crafted proposal; how 
to re-work for resubmission; if there was truly no room; if a similar session had been done 
too recently; suggest featuring new information or data on a topic that has been done before. 


The issue of discontent with the numbers of proposals accepted and rejected for the 2004 
SAA Annual Meeting in Boston was raised and addressed. The 2004 Program Committee 
Co-Chairs stated that space was a real issue; there were simply not enough slots to 
accommodate all the good proposals received. After seven slots were allotted for “Archives 
Unplugged” sessions and seven slots were used for “Presidential” sessions, there were only 
49 slots remaining for the 108 proposals received.

Respectfully submitted,

Joan Echtenkamp Klein
STHC Roundtable Co-Chair
 
 
Joan Echtenkamp Klein
Alvin V. and Nancy Baird Curator of Historical Collections
and Assistant Professor for Medical Education
Claude Moore Health Sciences Library
University of Virginia Health System
P.O. Box 800722
1300 Jefferson Park Avenue
Charlottesville, VA 22908-0722
434-924-0052; FAX 434-243-5873; jre@virginia.edu
www.med.virginia.edu/hs-library/historical/
<STHC-L@library.ucla.edu>   [STHC-L Archives -- Main Index]  [STHC-L Archives -- 2004 Message Index]