My comments under Douglas Allen's.

At 07:45 AM 05/12/2009, you wrote:
>  I recommend that you provide that input on future surveys or
>requests for comment that are provided as a part of ARMA International's
>Strategic Planning process.  We do have a process, it works, and it drives
>us to move forward with plans and projects that meet the needs as expressed
>by our members.

What if, in addition to survey your members, you surveyed potential 
members, all those who would become members if their needs were 
met--like me, my colleagues and my students, that is, if you threw in 
with the membership the subscription to a refereed journal? It should 
be possible to administer a web survey sending a questionnaire to all 
NA universities that administer courses in the RM area at graduate 
level. Do not forget that faculty members make up reading lists with 
required readings and do ask their students to become members of 
associations if they believe that it would be good for their 
intellectual and professional growth.  I do explicitly tell my 
master's and PhD students on the first day of class to become members 
of the ACA and the SAA if they are not already.  Not all of them do, 
but most become members, not because I say so, but because they 
realize that it helps them (not only providing 80% of their readings 
at a discount).  And we know very well that good habits acquired in 
youth last a lifetime (i.e. keeping memberships and subscriptions going).

>  Those who have pursued this are among our most respected former 
> Board members and volunteers - those who have donated
>thousands of hours to taking on a leadership role within the 
>Association. That doesn't make them automatically "correct", but it 
>certainly does get my attention, and lends credibility to their observations.

you mean, ...regardless of the fact that, in a profession whose needs 
change as fast as technology, those observations were made years ago 
by people who are either retired or have stated in this list that 
they can only speculate that nothing has changed?  This does not make 
any business sense.  Did you read the plea of Sofia Empel?...there 
are many like her...A professional association must support the 
young, the future of the profession.  Its old members should push for 
change, and, if they do not have the time or the energy, they should 
pass the torch on... If the ACA were to tell her new young members 
that it is going or is not going to make certain choices because 
Luciana Duranti, or her contemporaries, did believe or did not 
believe them to be right ten or five years ago, I would scream in 
outrage.  I am writing giving a voice to the needs of future RM 
professionals and academics, even if this is in conflict with much of 
what I have stated ten years ago, that RM belongs in archival science 
and so does its scholarly output.  Today there is too much going on 
out there that is new, that requires research, that calls for a 
strong intellectual discourse...specialization is needed now, so 
there is space for a RM journal. For example, the problems of cloud 
computing are not understood simply by looking at what people do in 
their shops or at the problems that the one or the other is 
encountering.  Dedicated analysis of all possible consequences and 
prototype testing need to be conducted.  Where are the results going 
to be published?  Probably in a refereed journal no ARMA member knows 
of or has access to. My article on digital records forensics is 
coming out in Archivaria's next number.  How many RM are going to 
read it besides RM students in graduate archival programs?

You say that "the problems and challenges pointed to by those who 
have made the effort, by those who have spent the time in such an 
endeavor.... have not been dealt with effectively by anyone."  It 
seems to me that they have been dealt with very effectively using 
arguments that show a vision for the future of the profession rather 
than data.  ARMA wants numbers.  It is not our responsibility to 
provide ARMA with the data or the numbers. It is ARMA's 
responsibility to listen and collect data to see whether there are 
better ways of serving the profession and its future.

ARMA, like all professional associations, serves a variety of 
constituencies. There is no doubt that a large part of that 
constituency is perfectly happy with the way it is served.  However, 
there are other parts who do not feel as well served, and for this 
reason many choose not to be ARMA members. So ARMA should diversify 
its efforts and cater to the entire profession, but especially to the 
new component, which is coming up through graduate education. Besides 
helping the profession to cope with the present, ARMA should lead it 
to control its future.  Rhetorical as it might sound, this is what we 
need.  AIEF is a great instrument for doing so.  Use it at its 
highest potential.  The students who have received its scholarships 
want to help.  Use them. PhD students like Corinne, Sofie and Elaine 
want to help.  Use them. We academics want to help.  Use us.  The 
most established records managers like Jesse and Dwight want to help 
by donating time or money.  Use them too.  Sometimes it pays off to 
act as a movement rather than as an old bureaucracy...The needed 
changes in RM require flexibility not entrenchment in old positions.

Submitted with great respect, as always, especially for those who 
have been the pillars of ARMA and for whose contributions my 
generation is extremely grateful.

Luciana

Dr. Luciana Duranti
Chair and Professor, Archival Studies
Director, The InterPARES Project www.interpares.org
Director, Digital Records Forensics Project www.digitalrecordsforensics.org
School of Library, Archival and Information Studies www.slais.ubc.ca
The University of British Columbia
The Irving K. Barber Learning Centre
Suite 470, 1961 East Mall
Vancouver, British Columbia  V6T 1Z1 CANADA
Tel: 604.822.2587
Fax: 604.822.6006
www.lucianaduranti.ca
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