Friday morning, those of us attending SAA heard outgoing president Helen Tibbo talk about the future of the archives profession, and the problems it currently faces. She talked about the archivists who have been laid off, or who have had to lay off employees, or who have lost their jobs and been unable to find new ones. And I applaud her for reminding the audience about our colleagues who are struggling.

But conspicuously absent from this talk about the future of archives was any mention of new and future archivists. The archivists who wonder why they?re taking on tens of thousands of dollars in debt to enter a profession that doesn?t seem to have room for them. The archivists who are 6 months or a year or more than a year out of school who still can?t find jobs within the profession. The archivists who spend years in project positions and have no job security. The archivists who have the tech skills that our profession needs, but can?t break into the field to use them. The archivists who can?t afford to come to the annual meeting.

New archivists are a growing force within SAA. At the business meeting on Saturday, we heard that 27% of SAA?s members are students. Add to that the number of members who are new professionals or still looking for their first professional job, and the ratio becomes even more significant.

We are the future of the archives profession. We are the future of SAA. And without official representation within SAA, which this roundtable would provide, I worry that our current and future leaders will keep ignoring us.

Interested in having a roundtable specifically for new archivists? Join the conversation at:?http://newarchivistsroundtable.wordpress.com