Jonathan--
Thank you for starting this conversation.
The idea is for chapters to communicate in ways other than face-to-face. There are several other options that melt geographical boundaries. The task force was envisioning online or web-based communication for which, of course, we will need a more robust IT infrastructure. We found in the survey comments and board interviews that there were very mixed/tending toward negative feelings about the usefulness of regional reps attending chapter meetings, from the point of view of both the reps and the chapter members. Certainly the current funding is not equal to the task of visiting every chapter meeting. Let us know if you have further thoughts on Canadian representation given this background.
--Lynda
--On Tuesday, April 10, 2007 8:18 AM -0400 [log in to unmask] wrote:
>
> Thank you for this insightful report. I would like to tackle the issue
> of regional and Canadian representation on the Board. The main proposal
> is to replace the five Regional Reps with five 'functional' Board
> members, each with oversight of, e.g. Education, Communications, etc.
> As a rider it is proposed that at least one member of the Board should
> be a Canadian at any one time.
>
> In a way, some of this comes down to travel $$$. Currently the 5
> Regional Reps are expected to connect with the chapters not least by
> using their travel allocations to attend chapter meetings. Agreed,
> networking by email etc has reduced the need for travel. So the 5
> Chapter liaison functions get fused into the role of the proposed
> Chapters Coordinator on the Board. At this point we either maintain the
> view that physical travel to chapter meetings is not justifiable, so the
> Chapters Coordinator has no more travel budget than other Board members.
> Or we say that the Chapters Coordinator, who will presumably have a much
> more focussed mission to the chapters than the Regional Reps have had,
> does require face-to-face contact. If the latter, they will need a
> special travel budget (and will they still have time for a day-job
> between travelling for ARLIS/NA?!) This is partly by way of preamble to
> saying that, for the purposes of Canadian representation on the Board,
> instead of a Canadian Board member who has no money to attend any
> Canadian chapter meetings, we might be better served by a Chapters
> Coordinator (of any nationality) who has funds and the obligation to
> attend Canadian chapter meetings.
>
> Jonathan
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ART LIBRARIES SOCIETY DISCUSSION LIST
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Lynda S. White
> Sent: Monday, April 09, 2007 2:58 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [ARLIS-L] ARLIS Assessment Task Force Recommendations
>
> We need your feedback!
>
> The ARLIS/NA Board and the Assessment Task Force want to move the
> discussion of the restructuring plan to the ARLIS/NA email list, hoping
> to foster broader discussion of the proposals before the conference.
> Below is an abridged version of the recommendations. For more context,
> you may want to refer to the report on the member's only website
> (http://www.arlisna.org/arlismembers/assessment/recommendations.pdf)
> before commenting on the list. Before and after organizational charts
> are also available there. (Email [log in to unmask] if you've forgotten
> the password.) The recommendations are based on your input from focus
> groups, interviews, and last summer's survey. We need to know if we got
> it right.
>
> Please take a look at the recommendations below and let us know your
> thoughts so that we can make any needed adjustments before the
> conference.
>
> Groups wishing to discuss the recommendations with task force at the
> conference should let me know ([log in to unmask]) as soon as possible
> so that we can make arrangements.
>
> If you haven't checked it out yet, there has been limited, but very
> interesting, discussion on the blog
> http://arlisna.org/arlismembers/blogs/.
>
>
> Sarah Falls
> Kathleen List
> Mark Pompelia
> Rebecca Price
> Lynda White, Chair
>
>
> ARLIS/NA Assessment Task Force Report and Recommendations, 2006
> Abridged ARLIS/NA Restructuring Recommendations, April 2007
>
> Based on what the membership has told the Assessment Task Force in the
> survey and focus groups, we recommend the following changes in the
> ARLIS/NA structure:
>
> DSRTs (Report, p.4-8)
> - Remove the current DSRT groups from the bylaws and policy manual
> (some means to retain the historical record should be devised) and
> replace them with informal "Interest Groups."
> - Groups should be allowed to arise spontaneously, designating
> leadership in any manner they choose.
> - They should be required to post notice of their existence on ARLIS-L
> and the ARLIS/NA website so that others may participate; Interest Groups
> should report their discussions to the entire membership using News and
> Features to share news and activities.
> - Groups should be freed of reporting to the Board unless they have an
> issue needing Board attention or wish to provide feedback and advice to
> the Board; they could propose projects to the Board and request funding
> for those projects through the Special Funding process.
> - Additional server space should be provided to accommodate technology
> for groups to communicate in whichever manner works best for that group.
>
> Executive Board (Report, p. 8-9)
> - Convert the five regional representative positions to functional
> positions with responsibility for specific committees, including
> appointing the chairs:
> > Chapters Coordinator: Chapters Council (see below)
> > Development/Marketing: Development Committee
> > Education: Professional Development (& Education Task Force), SEI
> > Communication (including oversight of technology needs):
> Publications Committee, including all editors, the ARLIS-L moderator,
> and Website editor
> > Conference Planning: Conference Planning Advisory Committee
> > These positions could be incorporated into the Bylaws in a flexible
> manner so that they can be changed by the Board as Society needs change.
> That is, the Bylaws should specify only that there will be five
> functional board officers with committees reporting to them; it should
> not name each officer or functional area.
> - The remaining board officers would be responsible for and appoint
> chairs for the following committees:
> > Past President: Cataloging Advisory, Standards
> > Secretary: Membership Committee
> > Treasurer: Finance Committee
> > President: Awards Committee (subcommittees would continue to report
> to the umbrella awards chair), Nominating Committee
> > Vice-President: Interest Groups
> - Remove manual recording of the minutes from the Secretary' duties.
> This would allow the Secretary to participate in Board deliberations.
> - The Nominating Committee will need to look for operational skills in
> addition to geographic diversity.
> - The Nominating Committee should ensure that at least ONE member of
> every Board is from Canada.
> - Institute a Chapters Council, consisting of chapter officers, of
> which the Chapters Coordinator would be chair. The Chapters Coordinator
> would also be responsible for the Chapters listserv and any other means
> of communication among chapters and with the Board; for coordinating and
> setting the agenda for meetings of the Council; for orienting the
> Council to ARLIS/NA policies and procedures.
>
> Committees (Report, p. 9-10)
> - The Board should continue to appoint special task forces to carry
> out finite tasks but an end point should be specified in each charge.
> - The Board could appoint advisory committees as needed that would be
> "on call" to advise the Board on specific topics as issues arise-to take
> the temperature of the membership.
> - The Board should ensure that committees have the resources to
> communicate their actions to the membership, perhaps through brief
> quarterly reports to News and Features, their own page on the ARLIS/NA
> website, emails to the listserv, blogs, or a combination of these and
> other means.
> - Cataloging Advisory should be maintained as a standing committee;
> its charge is already clear and strong, and ARLIS/NA members feel that
> it accomplishes its goals.
> - Standards should be maintained as a standing committee; its charge
> should be clarified and strengthened.
> - The Diversity Forum should become an Interest Group, which would
> allow it to continue to provide advice to the Board concerning diversity
> issues.
> - International Relations and Public Policy should either be disbanded
> or be reconstituted as advisory committees.
> - All committees should be reviewed periodically for overlap and
> effectiveness.
>
> Liaisons (Report, p. 10-11)
> - Each liaison position should be reconsidered and re-justified,
> defining its relationship to affiliated societies; determine a charge
> and expected outcomes for the positions that remain, posting these
> duties on the website and adding the concept of Liaisons to the Bylaws
> and Policy Manual.
> - Determine how these liaisons should communicate with the membership,
> perhaps via ARLIS-L, space on the ARLIS/NA website, and through News and
> Features.
>
> User Groups (Report, p. 11-12)
> - User Group Meetings should not conflict with conference sessions and
> all-conference events.
> - ARLIS/NA should continue to provide self-scheduled meeting space for
> those groups that are not sponsored by vendors, particularly for open
> source products.
> - Membership sponsored groups can be offered communication
> technologies through headquarters; vendor groups should provide their
> own technologies and communication paths.
> - Vendor sponsored meetings should continue to be listed in the
> conference program, but vendors should provide the meeting space, or
> alternatively, ARLIS/NA might consider providing vendor meeting space in
> return for conference sponsorship.
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Lynda S. White, Associate Director
> Management Information Services
> 562 Alderman Library
> PO Box 400114
> University of Virginia
> Charlottesville, VA 22904
> (434)924-3240 / [log in to unmask]
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> That which is measured is done.
> --Mark Warner
> Governor of Virginia, 2002-2006
> __________________________________________________________________ Mail
> submissions to [log in to unmask] For information about joining
> ARLIS/NA see: http://www.arlisna.org/join.html Send administrative
> matters (file requests, subscription requests, etc) to
> [log in to unmask] ARLIS-L Archives and subscription maintenance:
> http://lsv.uky.edu/archives/arlis-l.html Questions may be addressed to
> list owner (Judy Dyki) at: [log in to unmask]
>
> __________________________________________________________________ Mail
> submissions to [log in to unmask] For information about joining
> ARLIS/NA see: http://www.arlisna.org/join.html Send administrative
> matters (file requests, subscription requests, etc) to
> [log in to unmask] ARLIS-L Archives and subscription maintenance:
> http://lsv.uky.edu/archives/arlis-l.html Questions may be addressed to
> list owner (Judy Dyki) at: [log in to unmask]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lynda S. White, Associate Director
Management Information Services
562 Alderman Library
PO Box 400114
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA 22904
(434)924-3240 / [log in to unmask]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That which is measured is done.
--Mark Warner
Governor of Virginia, 2002-2006