Just under two weeks and I’ll be in D. C. for ALA Annual. I know I feel this way before every Annual, but I have to say it, “OMG, Annual is only two weeks away, how can it be so soon?”
That said, I’ve got a lot on my schedule for Annual Conference and as YALSA President there are a few things I want to make sure to highlight related to the meetings of the YALSA Board.
The agenda and supporting documents for YALSA’s Board meetings is now available on the YALSA website in the Governance section. When you take a look at the documents you’ll see that the Board is ready to have some interesting and important discussions related to the Association, projects in the works, and projects in planning and early implementation phases.
The Board plans to take action on:
- A proposal related to spending of Morris Endowment funds.
- The implementation of the Reader’s Choice list.
- The creation of a new interest group that will focus on managing teen services.
- An addition to the Association’s strategic plan which focuses on the member engagement and recruitment portion of plan.
Several topics are listed in the discussion portion of the agenda. These discussion items can have an action, but often when the Board discusses these items these discussions lead to a next step that may result in their appearance as an action item on a future Board agenda. Topics that will be discussed by the Board this Annual include:
- An evaluation tool under development that when completed will help librarians analyze how well their programs, services, staffing, and space meet the standards set-out by YALSA’s recently revised Competencies for Librarians Serving Youth.
- How to support chairs and members of the Association’s member groups in order to provide what’s needed to get the work of the Association accomplished.
- The role that YALSA can, and should, play in helping the profession succeed and move forward.
The agenda also includes informational items of which Board members and membership need to be aware. These items aren’t specifically discussed, they do however provide useful background and supplementary information for Board and Association members. These informational items cover:
- A report from YALSA’s Web Advisory Committee on the Association’s For Members Only section of its website. The report includes recommendations on what the section should include and how it should be revised.
- An update on the BBYA/BFYA transition that includes an overview of the work that’s been accomplished following the vote by the YALSA Board to transition BBYA to BFYA.
- A report from the Association’s Division and Membership Promotion Committee with information on the results of a membership survey which was made available to members after Midwinter 2010.
- Reports from YALSA staff on membership, communications, continuing education, and more.
The above is just a sampling of the topics, actions, and discussions the YALSA Board will focus on at Annual Conference. YALSA members are encouraged to read through the documents the Board will be working with at their meetings.
All Association Board meetings are open and members should feel free to attend. The Board agenda includes estimated times for each topic and you can use those as a way to gauge your attendance. (If there is a topic you want to make sure to hear the discussion on, you can determine when it will be discussed using the estimated times on the agenda.) Please note, the Board adopts the agenda with flexibility. That means that sometimes items on the agenda are moved and discussions might take place at a different time than anticipated.
I hope to see many YALSA members at our upcoming Board meetings, as well as at other events and programs. Over the next few days I’ll write about a few of the other meetings and events YALSA has planned for Annual Conference.
