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Handbook

YALSA Committee Chair
Duties and Responsibilities

Responsibilities to young adults:

To reflect, through committee activities and liaisons, YALSA's commitment to the rights of Young Adults to free and equal access to materials and services, involving youth participation in committee work whenever appropriate.

Responsibilities to the Young Adult Library Services Association:

Be aware of the charge to your committee, what type of committee it is and its expiration date (in case you need to ask for an extension of time to complete your task). The committee or program year begins the day after the close of the Annual Conference (or in the case of selection committees and the Nominating Committee, after Midwinter) and ends the same time the following year.

Read the “charge” statements of each of the other YALSA committees to familiarize yourself with their roles. Communicate with other chairs when appropriate. Cooperation, communication and sharing will benefit everyone.

Schedule regular committee meetings through the YALSA office. (Committee meetings not scheduled are irregular, are not listed in the official program, are not included in the official proceedings of the conference, and therefore would show no record of any work done.)

As with other businesses, YALSA’s communications are now in the electronic age. Work by committees is ongoing -- limiting committee work to biannual conferences only will not allow committees to fulfill their responsibilities and perform their tasks. Work is expected to be done between conferences so that YALSA can respond to ever changing demands in a timely fashion. Electronic communication empowers chairs to conduct business between conferences and to communicate with committee members frequently.

Except for selection committees, with budgets of $150, each committee has $40 in their annual budget. Expenses above $40 should not be incurred unless they have been approved ahead of time and/or funds for such expenses appear in the current division budget.

Begin preparing now for the time when you will be the outgoing chair. At that time you will be responsible for providing your successor with all pertinent committee material. Material in the files but no longer of current interest should be sent to the Deputy Executive Director. When a special committee is discharged, the chair’s files should be forwarded to the Deputy Executive Director for the archives. Send copies of all correspondence and other pertinent documents to the YALSA office.

Be familiar with YALSA policy and procedural guides, such as the YALSA Vision Statement, the division’s Strategic Plan (in .pdf), and the YALSA Bylaws. All can be found as part of the YALSA Handbook of Organization, located at our web site. Committee chairs may also find the ALA Handbook of Organization, including the ALA Policies, Procedures and Position Statements, useful.

Responsiblities to the YALSA President and Board of Directors:

Keep the YALSA President and Board of Directors informed of activities through pre - and post -conference reports. Contact the President when you have activities that require Board action, for example, funding requests, plans to liaise with other ALA groups or national youth-serving agencies, or requests to change your committee’s name or function statement. Fill out a Request for Board Action if it is needed and present it in the form of a motion to the Board in person or in writing. You will be placed on the agenda of one of the Board meetings.

Make recommendations regarding the reappointments of committee members as well as about the removal of committee members who are not fulfilling their obligations.

If a committee wants to present a program or is interested in developing a workshop or pre-conference, the chair must contact the division President, the YALSA Deputy Director, the YALSA Program Officer and the chair of the Program Clearinghouse Committee, who are responsible for all division program and conference meetings, at least eighteen months before the anticipated program.

Resignations of committee members should be sent by e-mail or regular mail to the President with copies to the Deputy Executive Director. If a chair finds it necessary to resign, he or she should send a letter of resignation by e-mail or regular mail to the President with copies to the Deputy Executive Director and to the members of the committee.

Responsibilities to the YALSA Deputy Executive Director:

A pre-conference report is requested about one month before each Midwinter Meeting and Annual Conference, and a post-conference report one month after. These reports must be sent to the Deputy Executive Director.

The communication norm for YALSA is e-mail. The electronic discussion list for chairs is YALSACOM. Please read your e-mail and respond in a timely manner. All correspondence, including appointment and report forms, will be sent to you via e-mail. It is also suggested that you subscribe to YALSA-L to keep current with all YALSA and ALA activities. Reply promptly to all inquiries from the Deputy and Executive Directors concerning questions and problems regarding the work of the committee.

If division stationery is needed, please request it from the YALSA office.

Frequently, individual libraries are willing to assume the expense of postage for committee work. In cases where this expense cannot be assumed by the library, the division will reimburse the member when it has been arranged ahead of time or is already included in the committee budget. Please send such requests to the Deputy Executive Director on the Request for Payment form, found in the Handbook section of the YALSA web site.

Inform the Deputy Executive Director of any publicity contemplated by a committee, in order that the work of various groups may not conflict. Reports or articles on the work or on studies of a committee may be published in print or electronically only with the recommendation and permission of the Publications Committee. Such reports and articles, when approved for publication, must be offered first to ALA periodicals, e.g., Young Adult Library Services. Deadlines for copy for YALS will be provided by either the Deputy Executive Director or the editor of YALS.

The Deputy Executive Director will provide whatever assistance the facilities and financial resources of the YALSA Headquarters office allow. This may, on occasion, include duplicating and mailing of notices.

Responsibilities to Other Members of the Committee:

Keep committee members informed about the work of their committee. This usually involves transmitting copies of memos and related committee correspondence, and sending these materials to committee members several times between conferences. (Some committee chairs set up electronic lists for committee communication.) Committee work can begin as soon as the term begins (after the Annual Conference, or in the case of selection committees or the Nominating Committee, after Midwinter). Planning for the term’s work can begin immediately at the start of term, using e-mail, electronic discussion lists, telephone or fax.

The committee chair is responsible for leading the committee. The achievement of the group during any year and the success of projects undertaken are due in large part to the chair's leadership. Initiation and completion of expanded or related projects indicate significant committee progress.

To orient them in committee work, it is recommended that new committee members be invited to those committee meetings which immediately precede the start of their term. Names of new members as well as contact information will be sent to the incoming chair as soon as this information is available to the division office.