LITA Committee Chairs Orientation Tip Sheet

June, 2005, revised December, 2005

1.The LITA homepage and the LITA online manual, both of which have recently been revised, contain a lot of information that is helpful for committee chairs. Of particular interest:

a. The Committees page has links to many of the other relevant areas including the individual pages for each committee.

b. The page for your individual committee (linked from above).

c. Organization of Division Committees and Responsibilities of Committee Members (section 4 of the LITA manual). Lots of useful information here. Depending on the nature of your committee, some parts may not apply to you (e.g. length of term, reappointment rules, etc. are different for some types of committees, some committees do their work via email and don’t have scheduled meetings, etc.).

d. For more specific information, see the page for your committee and any other relevant sections of the LITA Manual (e.g. Section 7: Publications and Publishing and Section 8: Awards Procedures)

e. The LITA Awards also has information about procedures related to each of the award and scholarship committees.

f. The LITA Committee and Interest Group Chairs Calendar (section 5 of the LITA Manual) is an important guide to the steps in planning for programs and meetings at Midwinter and Annual. Note that this calendar is somewhat out of date in references to mailings (since everything is sent via email at this point). The timings in the calendar are also not always exact since the dates vary depending on the dates of the conferences. The most important thing is to watch for the emails (which come from the LITA staff). These contain information about deadlines, and some of them also contain links to the ALA meeting planning documents for the current conference. Finally, note that the calendar is misnamed. It could better be called the “LITA Committee and Interest Group Chairs Program and Meeting Planning Calendar” since it does not contain the many dates relevant for other activities that Chairs may be responsible for.

2. Other good sources of information:

a. One of the best sources of information is the past chair of your committee. Don’t hesitate to contact her/him and ask questions.

b. The LITA staff is very knowledgeable and happy to answer questions.

c. The LITA Committee Chair Coordinator (listed and linked on the Committees page) is available to help answer your questions or else direct you to someone who can.

d. Each Committee has a liaison from the LITA Board (listed and linked on the Committees Page).

e. Last, but not least, the LITA Officers and Board Members are also available to answer your questions. You can find a current list at: LITA Officers and Board Members.

3. There is a LITA Committee Chairs Meeting starting at 8:00 a.m. on the Saturday of every ALA conference (Midwinter and Annual). Watch for announcements and/or check the meeting schedule.

4. You will be subscribed to the COMCHAIR discussion group automatically after you are appointed as a Chair. If you don’t get an email saying that you have been subscribed, ask the Committee Chair Coordinator or LITA staff to make sure that your subscription to the list is active.

5. Committee Chairs are urged to attend LITA functions, such as the LITA Open House, the LITA Town Meeting, and the LITA President’s Program. These are important venues for discussion and information exchange that help to shape the organization. Watch for announcements, or check the meeting schedule.