The Society of Indiana Archivists (SIA) –in partnership with Indiana University Archives, Bloomington–invites proposals for its 2026 Annual Meeting, Prioritizing Well-Being: Helping Yourself Help Others in Bloomington, Indiana on April 17, 2026.

As heritage professionals, most of us are passionate about our work: preserving and providing access to intrinsically valuable collections and serving researchers and the public. We want to say yes to the exciting collections, research requests, and projects that come our way – but what do we do when it’s no longer feasible to keep doing more with less. How do we create sustainable workloads for ourselves and our staff while maintaining our core mission and function as heritage institutions?

With this year’s conference theme, we invite those within or adjacent to the archival profession to share examples of how you or your institutions have navigated workloads and prioritized staff wellbeing. This can include setting realistic expectations for researchers and donors, declining or delaying new projects due to capacity, re-evaluating departmental goals, and finding space in our busy day-to-day for the work that brings us joy. We envision these sessions will provide attendees with practical examples of how to balance workloads while still achieving our core mission as heritage professionals and prioritizing ourselves and our colleagues’ wellbeing. 

Proposals can be for individual speakers, co-presenters, and panels. Poster presentations will also be accepted. Speakers and presenters do not need to be SIA members. Students and new professionals are encouraged to submit proposals.

Proposals can be submitted via the Google Forms link. Questions about the Annual Meeting can be sent to Katey Watson, SIA Vice President at watso217[at]purdue[dot]edu.

Submission deadline: Friday, January 2, 2026.

For more information, see our full call for proposals.