The function statement for YALSA’s Nominating Committee reads:
To recruit, vet and select candidates for the slate for the election of YALSA Officers, Directors and certain award committee members. When building the slate, strive to provide for broad representation, including but not limited to representation of the membership by: diverse background, type of library, special interest, and geographic location. To assist candidates in preparing for the election, including but not limited to planning and implementing a Candidates’ Forum.
That’s what the 2012 Nominating Committee (of which I am the Chair) is now working on. The Committee is made up of five YALSA members who have knowledge of the association and experience in YALSA governance and/or in a variety of YALSA process, selection, and award committees. Each person on the Committee is responsible for looking through rosters, volunteer forms, and a variety of other information and data in order to help the association develop the strongest slate possible. The group is looking for names of people that will help move the association forward as an organization that effectively serves those serving teens in the 21st century.
The Committee has the goal of generating names of potential candidates for the 2012 election slate by the first week of March. Once that is completed, each Committee member will take part in the process of contacting various potential candidates, talking with them about their candidacy, and then talking again with colleague Committee members about candidates for the final slate.
While the work of the Nominating Committee may seem unexciting to some, it actually is a key group for YALSA because those who get elected do have an important role to play in the association. You can read more about the work of the Nominating Committee, as well as see the forms that potential candidates need to submit in order to be considered for the slate, in the Governance section of the YALSA website. You might also want to take a look at documents the YALSA Board developed to aid those who might be interested in running for a YALSA Board position. These include:
At their Midwinter meetings the YALSA Board voted to put a potential change to the structure of the Nominating Committee on the 2011 YALSA ballot. If approved, this change will expand the Nominating Committee and help guarantee that the best candidates are selected for each YALSA slate. You can read the document the Board discussed related to the proposed change on the YALSA website. (Link is to a .pdf file.)
If you have any questions about the YALSA Nominating Committee, procedures, etc. feel free to contact me – Linda W. Braun, 2012 Nominating Committee Chair.
