Responsibilities and Expectations

Owned by Valerie Addonizio
Last updated: Apr 08, 2023 by Regina Carra
3 min read

  • Attendance: TAC and UAC members should attend council meetings whenever possible. When they can’t make it to a meeting, members are expected to give notice to a council leader and participate asynchronously, e.g., by reporting updates before the meeting, reading the agenda and meeting notes, and responding to questions posed during the meeting.

  • Participation: We want to hear everybody’s voice! Ask questions, voice opinions, and be a resource to your fellow council members. Don’t worry about saying the wrong thing, you’re here to help move discussions along.

  • Reflection and continuity: At the end of each term, each council as well as its component sub-teams and working groups takes time to reflect on and celebrate its accomplishments as well as think about things it could have done better. Future iterations of the council attempt to learn from those reflections and make any necessary positive changes.

  • Sub-Teams and Ad Hoc Working Groups: Every council member should participate in at least one sub-team or ad hoc working group. That means they should show up to meetings or participate in some other way. Generally 2 hours per week of workload is expected.

  • Positive affirmation: We’re here to support one another! When you hear about someone doing something you like, let them know.

  • Abide by our Community Agreements: In the spirit of participation and positive affirmation, abide by the ArchivesSpace Code of Conduct and our Community Agreements (listed below)

Sub-Teams and Ad Hoc Working Groups

At the beginning of each term:

  • review the previous term's retrospective;

  • view your mission (and update as needed); and

  • create a work plan.

During each term:

  • maintain your wiki space;

  • submit brief quarterly updates (1-2 paragraphs or bullet points) to the Chair when asked; and

  • look for opportunities to serve and engage the wider ArchivesSpace community.

At the end of each term:

  • do a retrospective (what went well, what you could have done better, etc.).

Leave Policies

Life happens! This work is hard! And most importantly, we are a community!

If you find you need to take a short leave, either planned or unplanned, please feel free to do so. Your spot on Councils will be reserved while you are away, with no expectations that you make up work upon your return. The only factor for short leave requests is that you give your Sub-team Lead as much notice as you can, so that they can plan for your departure and reassign work as needed. Please also be back in touch after your leave is over. Otherwise, notice is all that is requested. You need not share details of your leave unless you want to.

However, if you find that you will be on extended leave, or that you can no longer meet the requirements of serving on Councils, please consider stepping down so that your spot may be made available in the next recruitment cycle. No details are necessary unless you choose to share them.

Be well in life and ArchivesSpace!

Community Agreements

These are borrowed from Aorta’s Anti-Oppressive Facilitation for Democratic Process Community Agreements.

  1. ONE DIVA, ONE MIC

  2. NO ONE KNOWS EVERYTHING; TOGETHER WE KNOW A LOT

  3. MOVE UP, MOVE UP

  4. WE CAN’T BE ARTICULATE ALL THE TIME

  5. BE AWARE OF TIME

  6. EMBRACE CURIOSITY

  7. ACKNOWLEDGE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INTENT AND IMPACT