[board-unyoc] FW: About the MLA bylaw requiring chairs of standing committees be MLA members

[Abigail A. Smith]

Good afternoon,

Please see the below communication from Donna Berryman, Chair of MLA Chapter Council, regarding Chapter Council's proposed change to the MLA Bylaws.  If you recall we discussed the current MLA requirements at our Summer Executive Board meeting.  It is now official: MLA will not enforce the requirement that Chairs of Chapter Standing Committees be voting members of MLA.  Please contact me with any questions.

Best wishes,
Abby

Abigail Smith, MSLIS, AHIP
Health Sciences Library
Upstate Medical University
smithab at upstate.edu<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http*3A*2F*2Fsmithab*40upstate.edu*2F&data=04*7C01*7CSmithAb*40upstate.edu*7C4bfc6571980342b3bb6808d9425140fa*7C5cf50a665e2641dd89f883cf73ffee98*7C0*7C0*7C637613739033484271*7CUnknown*7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0*3D*7C1000&sdata=LMbjHfUKkrnbHEDLvKmx6Z99NgvpymLRam0LM9XQbJw*3D&reserved=0__;JSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUl!!GobTDDpD7A!Yy6431yFCH6DQnuILseHUhQXz4iHoWmGtIkfrckQyyS_0O0YSK7jW_b_5VswlaseQOGbSPQIhQ$ >

From: Donna Berryman <chaptercouncil at lists.mlanet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2022 12:51 PM
To: chaptercouncil at lists.mlanet.org
Subject: [EXTERNAL] [chaptercouncil] - About the MLA bylaw requiring chairs of standing committees be MLA members

Greetings, Chapter Council People!

I know that for a long time, there has been a desire for a change to the MLA bylaws that require MLA membership for chairs of standing committees in the Chapters.

As you all know, it takes time to make changes to bylaws and most changes require a vote of approval by the MLA membership. There are several bylaws changes under consideration at this time and the MLA Board would like to be able to schedule one voting session for all the changes rather than to do this sort of thing piece by piece. That makes sense. But, unfortunately, it does not produce the changes we want in the timeframe we would like.

BUT - there is good news!

After discussion with Kris Alpi, MLA President, and Kevin Baliozian, Executive Director, it has been decided that we can immediately begin to act as if the bylaws change has already happened! Yes! Any Chapter Member, whether or not they are currently MLA members, may serve as chair of a standing committee. Or, if you would like a more official version, here is the email that I received from Kevin:

This email is regarding the MLA bylaws Article XI Section 5 on Officers and Committee Chairs that states that "Officers of Chapters and Chairs of Chapter Standing Committees are required to be Voting Members of the Association."

The Executive Committee discussed the practicalities and procedures of when and how this paragraph could be modified so as to no longer require MLA members for the chairs of chapter standing committees (while still requiring for the officers of chapters). As per the bylaws, any change approved by members in 2022 would take effect on January 1, 2023, so after the typical 2022 chapter appointments done in October. In addition, given the complexity and onus of bylaw changes and that certain areas need more work to be examined at a time when we have a full slate of important initiatives and areas we need to focus on, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to complete bylaw changes in 2022.

Therefore, the simplest way forward to achieve your objective to remove the requirement of MLA membership for chairs of chapter standing committees is for MLA to simply not enforce that requirement, given that the board supports the change. It  already likely reflects the reality of the situation in some chapters.

Please feel free to communicate to MLA chapters that MLA won't be enforcing the requirement of MLA membership for chapter chairs of standing committee while we work on a comprehensive bylaw change.

So, it's good news for us and time for the happy dance!

If you have questions, please feel free to contact me (as Chapter Council Chair) or PJ Grier (as Chair-Elect).

Thanks,
Donna

Donna Berryman, MLIS, EdD (she/her/hers)
Interim Associate University Librarian - Analytics, Collections, Outreach
222 Lockwood Library
University at Buffalo
Buffalo, NY 14260-2200

ph: 716.829.5750
email: donnaber<at>buffalo<dot>edu<mailto:start at buffalo.edu>
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This email has been sent to: smithab at upstate.edu<mailto:smithab at upstate.edu>
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