The SAA Archaeological Record January 2012; Volume 12, Number 1 : Page 3

FROM THE PRESIDENT A REQUEST FOR RECOGNITION FOR SUPERIOR GOVERNMENTAL SERVICE AND SAA’S NEW INITIATIVES IN DIGITAL PUBLISHING W. Frederick Limp W. Frederick Limp is President of the Society for American Archaeology. Recognizing Superior Governmental Service We are all too aware that many commentators today have a very negative view of government—without entering into that minefield—we also know that there are a huge number of dedicated public servants in local, state, and federal government who every day do things that make a positive difference in our lives. This is especially true for those public servants who preserve and study the archaeological record. When governmental actions are taken or proposed that endanger archeological resources, the SAA is quick to speak out and this is as it should be. But we should also be equally willing to congratulate and hold up as an example those who take positive actions. This is not only the right thing to do, it is also wise. Let me provide an example. A few months ago Patty Crown of UNM called to the Board’s attention the excellent t work of the Interagency Fire Team in protecting cultural resources while they were fighting the extensive fires in New w Mexico. We investigated and followed her suggestion and pre-pared a letter for the team. Later we were told that the letter had moved through both the NPS and USDA agencies to the top leadership—highlighting and encouraging the activities. So not t only did we do the right thing, we also encouraged the leader-ship to support these activities. We want to do more and we need YOUR help. When you become aware of exceptional acts of governmental service in archaeology at any level please send a letter or e-mail to myself, David Lindsey (SAA Governmental Affairs), TJ Ferguson (Chair of Governmental Affairs Commit-tee), or any member of the GAC. With the extensive network that GAC has we’ll follow up and, where appropriate, prepare a letter or take other appropriate recognition actions. New Online Publishing Initiatives At its fall meeting the Board approved a number of sig-nificant changes to the SAA journal publication pro-grams. From the beginning of SAA’s relationship with JSTOR, the two most recent years of AQ and LAQ were not available online. Starting in 2012 the current issues of AQ and LAQ will now be available online to all members. They will not, at least initially, be available to institutional subscribers, just to our members. Sig-nificantly, the publishing platform will also permit the editors to place pre-publication copies of articles on-line, and this will dramatically increase the speed at which a paper is accessible. I should note that the Board has also been working with the journal editors on other new steps to substan-tially decrease the delay between article submission and publi-cation. Supplementary materials can also be published on-line with the article meaning that color images, video, databases, or other material can be considered by the editors. The new system will support standard tools such as RSS feeds, bibliographic applications (e.g., Zotero, EndNote etc.) and will be integrated into the larger arena of digital scholarship— growing the impact t of AQ and LAQ. Later in 2012 Current Research will also return— but only in a digital format. We’ll be providing more details on that in the future. I particularly want to thank the current journal Editors Alison Rautman, Gabriela Uruñuela, and Chris Pool and incoming edi-tor Ken Sassaman as well as the Publications Committee under the able leadership of Deb Nichols for all their hard work and for their help in this process. January 2012 • The SAA Archaeological Record 3

From The President: A Request For Recognition For Superior Governmental Service And Saa's New Initiatives In Digital Publishing

W. Frederick Limp

W. Frederick Limp is President of the Society for American Archaeology. Recognizing Superior Governmental Service We are all too aware that many commentators today have a very negative view of government – without entering into that minefield – we also know that there are a huge number of dedicated public servants in local, state, and federal government who every day do things that make a positive difference in our lives. This is especially true for those public servants who preserve and study the archaeological record. When governmental actions are taken or proposed that endanger archeological resources, the SAA is quick to speak out and this is as it should be. But we should also be equally willing to congratulate and hold up as an example those who take positive actions. This is not only the right thing to do, it is also wise. Let me provide an example. A few months ago Patty Crown of UNM called to the Board's attention the excellent work of the Interagency Fire Team in protecting cultural resources while they were fighting the extensive fires in New Mexico. We investigated and followed her suggestion and prepared a letter for the team. Later we were told that the letter had moved through both the NPS and USDA agencies to the top leadership – highlighting and encouraging the activities. So not only did we do the right thing, we also encouraged the leadership to support these activities. We want to do more and we need YOUR help. When you become aware of exceptional acts of governmental service in archaeology at any level please send a letter or e-mail to myself, David Lindsey (SAA Governmental Affairs), TJ Ferguson (Chair of Governmental Affairs Committee), or any member of the GAC. With the extensive network that GAC has we'll follow up and, where appropriate, prepare a letter or take other appropriate recognition actions. New Online Publishing Initiatives At its fall meeting the Board approved a number of significant changes to the SAA journal publication programs. From the beginning of SAA's relationship with JSTOR, the two most recent years of AQ and LAQ were not available online. Starting in 2012 the current issues of AQ and LAQ will now be available online to all members. They will not, at least initially, be available to institutional subscribers, just to our members. Significantly, the publishing platform will also permit the editors to place pre-publication copies of articles online, and this will dramatically increase the speed at which a paper is accessible. I should note that the Board has also been working with the journal editors on other new steps to substantially decrease the delay between article submission and publication. Supplementary materials can also be published on-line with the article meaning that color images, video, databases, or other material can be considered by the editors. The new system will support standard tools such as RSS feeds, bibliographic applications (e.g., Zotero, EndNote etc.) and will be integrated into the larger arena of digital scholarship – growing the impact of AQ and LAQ. Later in 2012 Current Research will also return – but only in a digital format. We'll be providing more details on that in the future. I particularly want to thank the current journal Editors Alison Rautman, Gabriela Uruñuela, and Chris Pool and incoming editor Ken Sassaman as well as the Publications Committee under the able leadership of Deb Nichols for all their hard work and for their help in this process.

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