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  • 1.  ALA Bylaws 3rd Draft - Member Leader Feedback by Dec 19

    Posted Dec 09, 2022 04:49 PM

    This message is being sent on behalf of the ALA Constitution and Bylaws Chair, Brian Schottlaender

     

    ~~~

     

    December 9, 2022

     

    Dear ALA Colleague,

     

    On behalf of the ALA Committee on Constitution and Bylaws (C&B), I am pleased to share with you DRAFT 3 of the General Revision of the ALA Bylaws currently being undertaken by C&B.  You may access the revision here.

     

    High level annotations have been provided for substantive revisions, recommendations, and language based on feedback we received about DRAFT 2. We did not repeat the annotations shared with DRAFT 1 or 2. Revisions made for purposes of clarity and/or organization have not been annotated as the intent of the language has not been changed.

     

    There have been no updates to Appendix A, which lists Articles and Sections from the ALA Constitution and ALA Bylaws not included in the General Revision of the ALA Bylaws because, either, they are considered no longer relevant, or, because they are being reviewed for inclusion in the ALA Policy Manual.

     

    As a reminder, the ALA Council voted overwhelmingly in the affirmative to rescind the ALA Constitution and tasked C&B with creating instead a thoroughly revised set of ALA Bylaws that integrates content from the Constitution into a single updated Bylaws document that reflects a modern, forward-looking Association. Almost immediately, C&B set about doing so.  Included in this General Revision are any TAG recommendations that have thus far been approved by Council.

     

    The current ALA Constitution and Bylaws can be found via these highlighted weblinks.

     

    As noted, this is DRAFT 3 of the General Revision-the third of four drafts that we plan to share with you for comment and feedback before the ALA Library Learning Experience (LLX) event in January 2023 in New Orleans.  There, we plan to host a face-to-face Bylaws Convention in order to put the finishing touches on the General Revision for Council approval. Following that, the membership will be invited to vote on both the rescission of the Constitution and the new Bylaws on the April 2023 spring ballot.

     

    A feedback form has been created for you to share your comments and suggestions with the committee prior to the Feedback Listening Session scheduled for December 19 at 11am CT. To register for this listening session, please click here.

     

    We look forward to hearing from you and thank you for your engagement!

     

    With my best,

     

    Brian S.

     

    Brian E. C. Schottlaender, Chair

    ALA Constitution and Bylaws Committee

     

    Attachments:

    ALA Bylaws General Revision DRAFT 3

    Appendix A: Articles and Sections Not Included in the ALA Bylaws General Revision (same as Draft 2)

     



  • 2.  RE: ALA Bylaws 3rd Draft - Member Leader Feedback by Dec 19

    Posted Dec 13, 2022 11:57 PM
    Hello all -

    the third draft of the updated bylaws came while I was away on vacation, so I apologize for the delay in getting these to you. If you have a chance, I encourage you to review and either share your feedback with me directly or share with us all - I'm happy to compile and share through the form, or you can do that as well. 

    I have not had a chance to review them myself yet, but I have heard the decision was made to have the division representation on the Executive Board be any member of Council who is a member of that division - so a councilperson who is a member of a division but has no connection or participation to the work of the division could be elected. 

    Stephanie

    ---------- Forwarded message ---------


    This message is being sent on behalf of the ALA Constitution and Bylaws Chair, Brian Schottlaender ~~~ December 9, 2022 Dear ALA... -posted to the "ALA Council" community
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    ALA Bylaws 3rd Draft - Member Leader Feedback by Dec 19
    Email a reply to the discussion Send a private message via email
    Dec 9, 2022 4:49 PM  |    view attached
    Sheryl Reyes

    This message is being sent on behalf of the ALA Constitution and Bylaws Chair, Brian Schottlaender

     

    ~~~

     

    December 9, 2022

     

    Dear ALA Colleague,

     

    On behalf of the ALA Committee on Constitution and Bylaws (C&B), I am pleased to share with you DRAFT 3 of the General Revision of the ALA Bylaws currently being undertaken by C&B.  You may access the revision here.

     

    High level annotations have been provided for substantive revisions, recommendations, and language based on feedback we received about DRAFT 2. We did not repeat the annotations shared with DRAFT 1 or 2. Revisions made for purposes of clarity and/or organization have not been annotated as the intent of the language has not been changed.

     

    There have been no updates to Appendix A, which lists Articles and Sections from the ALA Constitution and ALA Bylaws not included in the General Revision of the ALA Bylaws because, either, they are considered no longer relevant, or, because they are being reviewed for inclusion in the ALA Policy Manual.

     

    As a reminder, the ALA Council voted overwhelmingly in the affirmative to rescind the ALA Constitution and tasked C&B with creating instead a thoroughly revised set of ALA Bylaws that integrates content from the Constitution into a single updated Bylaws document that reflects a modern, forward-looking Association. Almost immediately, C&B set about doing so.  Included in this General Revision are any TAG recommendations that have thus far been approved by Council.

     

    The current ALA Constitution and Bylaws can be found via these highlighted weblinks.

     

    As noted, this is DRAFT 3 of the General Revision-the third of four drafts that we plan to share with you for comment and feedback before the ALA Library Learning Experience (LLX) event in January 2023 in New Orleans.  There, we plan to host a face-to-face Bylaws Convention in order to put the finishing touches on the General Revision for Council approval. Following that, the membership will be invited to vote on both the rescission of the Constitution and the new Bylaws on the April 2023 spring ballot.

     

    A feedback form has been created for you to share your comments and suggestions with the committee prior to the Feedback Listening Session scheduled for December 19 at 11am CT. To register for this listening session, please click here.

     

    We look forward to hearing from you and thank you for your engagement!

     

    With my best,

     

    Brian S.

     

    Brian E. C. Schottlaender, Chair

    ALA Constitution and Bylaws Committee

     

    Attachments:

    ALA Bylaws General Revision DRAFT 3

    Appendix A: Articles and Sections Not Included in the ALA Bylaws General Revision (same as Draft 2)

     
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  • 3.  RE: ALA Bylaws 3rd Draft - Member Leader Feedback by Dec 19

    Posted Dec 14, 2022 09:31 AM
    Stephanie and Council, I reviewed Draft 2 and Draft 3 of the bylaws and copied and pasted the text into Google Docs for further comparison. From what I can see, the language in the Elections section about the composition of the board was identical in both versions: 

    "The Council Committee on Committees shall nominate annually from among the current members of the Council three (3) at-large members, two (2) division members, one (1) round table member, one (1) chapter member, one (1) American Association of School Librarians member, one (1) National Association of Librarians of Color (NALCo) member, and one (1) Rainbow Round Table member for election by the Council to serve three-year terms on the Executive Board. Additional nominations for the Executive Board may be made by councilors from the floor. Upon election to the Executive Board, members shall continue to serve as councilors for the duration of their terms."


    Am I reading this wrong? (This is near the end of the draft, ca. page 19) Note also, Constitution and Bylaws isn't going out on a limb here; they are trying to represent the guidance that came from ALA Council. 

    My own thinking as a personal ALA member and longtime Councilor is that the more specific Council is about who gets elected to the Board, the less democratic the process is, particularly with a smaller Council to serve as the "farm team" for recruiting Board members. If a division member needed to be from the division's elected governance, that would further limit the pool. We could end up with a situation where the division councilor is the de facto board candidate and presumptive winner, which does not feel right at all. 

    Overall I am not a fan of the representative model. I would rather see the CoC nominate candidates they believe are most qualified to serve on the board of a very large national association, with all the responsibilities that come with such a position. I was willing to vote for the representative model once Rainbow got included (if we're handing out pork, don't overlook us gays), but I still don't like it. CoC can be tasked to focus on diversity as well as recruiting candidates from divisions that could be underrepresented. Thanks to the hard work of many folks, the Board has been much more diverse the past few years, and that is a very good thing.  Personally, I would also like to see ANY member of ALA be able to petition to be a board candidate once Council has tapped its own candidates, but that's getting way out there with a direction Council has yet to warm to (after all, when you get to choose your own power structure, you usually don't weaken it). 

    I encourage all Councilors to carefully read the Bylaws draft, including the comments from the C&B committee. 

    Karen G. Schneider
    ALA Councilor at Large







    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: ALA Bylaws 3rd Draft - Member Leader Feedback by Dec 19

    Posted Dec 14, 2022 10:53 AM
    Oh Karen, thank you for letting me know I sent the message I meant for Council to the PLA Board and vice versa - I wouldn't change what I said, though obviously y'all don't need to send me your thoughts, you can just contribute (lolz).

    As a division councilor, I am concerned about where we are with the representative posts on the EB. I feel like these positions came out of the work of the group I was on (Forward Together), when the assembly model and the idea of direct elections was still in place. The representative posts are so different, with some being specific and some being general, it's going to get muddy. I want us to be sure to have a really robust think (and discussion) about this before we get our new elements codified in the bylaws.

    Stephanie Chase
    PLA Division Councilor



    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: ALA Bylaws 3rd Draft - Member Leader Feedback by Dec 19

    Posted Dec 14, 2022 10:10 PM
    Stephanie, I think you nailed it here: "I feel like these [representative board] positions came out of the work of the group I was on (Forward Together), when the assembly model and the idea of direct elections was still in place." 

    I believe this is correct. Recalling the SCOE and FT discussions, the concern was that electing Board members from the membership at large would undo the work Council has done to diversify the Board slates. But the current direction is to continue to elect board members from Council. 

    Wearing my "at-large Councilor" hat, I am considering drafting a resolution to maintain the current model, in which Councilors meeting other eligibility requirements such as time on Council are eligible to be nominated for the Board.

    K. G. Schneider
    ALA Councilor at Large



    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: ALA Bylaws 3rd Draft - Member Leader Feedback by Dec 19

    Posted Dec 15, 2022 09:19 PM
    Hi all and thanks for the discussion on this point.

    No need for a resolution at this point -- this is merely the 3rd draft -- the discussion session for Draft 3 is coming up on Monday, December 19: Register in advance for this meeting: https://ala-events.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMscuytqjMjHtwAv2truqt2UVyXdz-UjosB 

    Quite honestly, feedback and suggestions on Draft 3 are going to be very valuable for those of us on C&B as we try to read the tea leaves and address areas that we and others have identified as vague or where there are conflicting recommendations or where previous council actions were vague or occasionally inconsistent.

    Please, please, please take a hard look at Draft 3 and:
    1. send your feedback and recommendations via the provided link to the feedback form;
    2. prep any questions or comments for the Dec 19 session;
    3. listen to the suggestions / recommendations shared in the Dec 19th session *and feel free to send your responses to the discussions via the form, too*.

    C&B will read everything, organize feedback and recommendations by articles and themes, and try to incorporate everything we can into our final draft -- which will be used to kick-off the discussion(s) in NOLA.

    Thank you, everyone, for your interest and thank you for your discussion and recommendations!

    -Aaron
    :-)'




    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: ALA Bylaws 3rd Draft - Member Leader Feedback by Dec 19

    Posted Dec 16, 2022 05:37 PM
    Aaron, thanks. I have submitted my feedback to C&B in advance of the 12/19 meeting. 

    Karen G. Schneider
    ALA Councilor at Large



    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: ALA Bylaws 3rd Draft - Member Leader Feedback by Dec 19

    Posted Dec 16, 2022 02:50 PM

    Dear ITAC,

    Feel free to send in your comments.  Greatly appreciated!  Also, I have filled out the necessary form and sent our Charge change request to COO.  I am scoping out times for our meeting during LibLearnX.  It will be a virtual meeting and will probably need to take place sometime on Saturday, January 28th between 10:00am and 2:00pm Central Time.  I will send a Doodle Poll out shortly.

    Ed

     

    This message is being sent on behalf of the ALA Constitution and Bylaws Chair, Brian Schottlaender ~~~ December 9, 2022 Dear ALA... -posted to the "ALA Council" community

    American Library Association

    ALA Council

    Post New Message

     

    ALA Bylaws 3rd Draft - Member Leader Feedback by Dec 19

    Dec 9, 2022 4:49 PM  |    view attached

    Sheryl Reyes

    This message is being sent on behalf of the ALA Constitution and Bylaws Chair, Brian Schottlaender

     

    ~~~

     

    December 9, 2022

     

    Dear ALA Colleague,

     

    On behalf of the ALA Committee on Constitution and Bylaws (C&B), I am pleased to share with you DRAFT 3 of the General Revision of the ALA Bylaws currently being undertaken by C&B.  You may access the revision here.

     

    High level annotations have been provided for substantive revisions, recommendations, and language based on feedback we received about DRAFT 2. We did not repeat the annotations shared with DRAFT 1 or 2. Revisions made for purposes of clarity and/or organization have not been annotated as the intent of the language has not been changed.

     

    There have been no updates to Appendix A, which lists Articles and Sections from the ALA Constitution and ALA Bylaws not included in the General Revision of the ALA Bylaws because, either, they are considered no longer relevant, or, because they are being reviewed for inclusion in the ALA Policy Manual.

     

    As a reminder, the ALA Council voted overwhelmingly in the affirmative to rescind the ALA Constitution and tasked C&B with creating instead a thoroughly revised set of ALA Bylaws that integrates content from the Constitution into a single updated Bylaws document that reflects a modern, forward-looking Association. Almost immediately, C&B set about doing so.  Included in this General Revision are any TAG recommendations that have thus far been approved by Council.

     

    The current ALA Constitution and Bylaws can be found via these highlighted weblinks.

     

    As noted, this is DRAFT 3 of the General Revision-the third of four drafts that we plan to share with you for comment and feedback before the ALA Library Learning Experience (LLX) event in January 2023 in New Orleans.  There, we plan to host a face-to-face Bylaws Convention in order to put the finishing touches on the General Revision for Council approval. Following that, the membership will be invited to vote on both the rescission of the Constitution and the new Bylaws on the April 2023 spring ballot.

     

    A feedback form has been created for you to share your comments and suggestions with the committee prior to the Feedback Listening Session scheduled for December 19 at 11am CT. To register for this listening session, please click here.

     

    We look forward to hearing from you and thank you for your engagement!

     

    With my best,

     

    Brian S.

     

    Brian E. C. Schottlaender, Chair

    ALA Constitution and Bylaws Committee

     

    Attachments:

    ALA Bylaws General Revision DRAFT 3

    Appendix A: Articles and Sections Not Included in the ALA Bylaws General Revision (same as Draft 2)

     

      Forward  



     

     

    You are subscribed to "ALA Council" as edward.sanchez@marquette.edu. To change your subscriptions, go to My Subscriptions. To unsubscribe from this community discussion, go to Unsubscribe.




    Original Message