YALSA President’s Report July 2023

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Hi everyone!

I am pulling this report together on the last day of July which means I have been YALSA President for one month! For these reports, I am going to do my best to report to you, the YALSA members, what I have been working on each month. I will do my best to include bigger picture items and highlight as much of the work we do in governance each month as I can, though I am sure that I will unintentionally miss something.

I also want to take the time to give thanks each month. Thank you to all our YALSA volunteers! And especially to our newly appointed Strategic Committee, Advisory Board, and Task Force chairs. I have met with a majority of them so far this month (and have more meetings scheduled for next month) and I am so excited to be working with each of them as they are bringing an enthusiasm to their work this year that I am so impressed by. I can’t wait to see what we accomplish together this year.

Special shout out to our 2022-23 and 2023-24 Teen’s Top Ten Committees. We had a rocky year last year for Teen’s Top Ten. We started to recover when a past TT10 chair, Stephanie Charlefour, stepped in this spring to work with the committee to make sure we had a Top 25 list out in May. Stephanie is currently working with incoming chair, Karen Scott, to make sure the transition goes smoothly so this year’s committee can hit the ground running.

Finally, a big thanks to the YALSA staff! To Letitia for reading my mind when it comes to the different volunteer appointments and replacements we have to take care of together. To LaMoya for continuously pushing YALSA forward and for making sure our budget planning stays on track. And finally, to Sandra Ramirez. Sandra’s last day as our Communications Specialist was Friday, 7/28. YALSA works with a temporary agency right now to fill this Communications Specialist position, so we do see some turnover in the position that occurs quickly. Sandra did great work for YALSA and was very easy to work with. Thankfully, she is pursuing another opportunity so we wish her all the best!

Completed

  • Worked with YALSA Staff, Letitia Smith, to fill the remaining spots on our Strategic Committees to the best of our abilities. We still have openings on the following committees:
  • Reviewed and updated all the YALSA Board Member onboarding documents
  • Provided Board Training to all Board members on July 17
  • Introduced all the Board Liaisons to their committees (these change every July as we start a new Board year)
  • Set the Board meeting and Executive Committee meetings for the 2023-24 year. This year we will be transitioning to monthly meetings for both. The schedule will be posted soon on the YALSA website.
  • Met with the following chairs to review goals/projects for their strategic committees (meetings scheduled through August with additional chairs):
    • Celeste Swanson, Division Membership & Promotion
    • Josie Andrews, Presidential Initiatives Implementation Task Force
    • Kirsten Caldwell, Social Media Marketing
    • Gail Tobin, Financial Advancement
    • Traci Glass, Organization and Bylaws
  • Participated in interviews for the YALSA Executive Director position with ALA staff, YALSA’s ALA Executive Board Liaison, our Past-Past President, Past President, and YALSA Staff
  • The YALSA Board did some work this month to catch up on items that were lost in the transition from the last Board year (7/1/2022-6/30/2023) to this current Board year (7/1/2023-6/30/2024):
    • Appointed Kate Denier as YALSA Secretary due to a resignation
    • Approved the Endowment Planned Activities for FY23 worksheet (delayed from last fall)
    • Selected a Board Fellow (we are hoping to contact all applicants soon with the results of our decision)

Ongoing

  • Working with the YALSA Staff and Executive Committee to finalize the FY24 budget
  • I sat in on a YALSA Symposium Planning and Marketing task force meeting earlier this month–I am so excited for YALSA members to see our final schedule! The Task Force is really putting a dynamic conference together. Registration will open in the next couple of weeks!
  • Our first YALSA Board meeting will be on Monday, August 21. The agenda is being put together this week and among other topics, I hope we will be able to review the assignments of YALSA Board Strategic committees as well as looking at membership communication ideas for the YALSA Board this year.

Stats to report:

Official YALSA membership numbers as of *April 2023*
Total YALSA membership – 3,247
Personal memberships – 3,040
Organizational memberships – 195
Corporate memberships – 12

Posted in: Governance

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