Conversation began at the 2017 MiALA leadership retreat regarding the role of Sections & Interest Groups within MiALA. Currently Interest Groups (IGs) fall under one of three Sections with the intention that the Section leadership work with their constituent IGs not only to communicate information from the Board and committees but as well as a guide to assist those IG leaders as they work with their members. It was recommended that a task force be convened to determine if the current structure of Sections and IG works for the good of the association and, if not, submit a proposal for a solution that may better suit the association.
Task Force
The board appointed the 2017-2018 Section Chairs (Arlene Weismantel, AD Section Chair; Breezy Silver, CL Section Chair; and Emilia Marcyk, UX Section Chair) to serve on this task force. The board tasked the current section chairs with researching potential options and developing a proposal to bring to the board that would address the issues and alleviate the current feeling of sections as not needed. The task force was charged to:
- Outline the benefits/drawbacks of the current three section model, and the benefits/drawbacks of the proposed IG coordination board
- Develop a detailed plan for a proposed IG coordination board, including:
*Structure
*Election Process
*Duties and Responsibilities
*How the IG board will function within the organization (i.e. relationship to MiALA Board, IGs, committees)
*How current elected section members will be incorporated into proposed board
- Make a formal recommendation to the MiALA board
The process for making this recommendation will include:
- Talking to stakeholders
* Interest Groups
>Interest Group leadership
>Interest Group members
* Sections
>Current Section leadership
>Past Section leadership
* MiALA Board
- Examining how other academic library associations manage and administer interest groups (or similar entities)
Membership survey
In October 2017, the task force sent a survey to their respective section memberships requesting feedback on what they like/dislike about the current three section structure, their thoughts on replacing the three sections with one IG board, as well as feedback on how IGs can be better supported.
Draft Interest Group Coordination Council Proposal
Using the feedback received from the survey, the task force presented the membership with a draft proposal replacing the three section structure with one Interest Group Coordination Council.
Town Hall Meetings
After the draft proposal was shared with the membership, the task force also hosted four virtual town hall meetings (January 29, February 9, February 13, & February 21, 2018) to answer questions regarding the proposal and to receive feedback from members on if this should be a proposal that should be explored further.
Report
Upon receiving feedback from the membership survey, talking to current and past Board members, and receiving feedback of the draft proposal from members during the virtual town hall meetings, the task force submitted the following proposal for consideration.
Click here for a FAQ page regarding the Interest Group Coordination Council Proposal
Timeline moving forward
The official bylaws amendments will be presented to the Board of Directors at their July 17 meeting - update: amendments were approved for presenting to the membership.
The amendments will then be presented to the membership (via email listed for each member in their member profile) for consideration. There will also be a notice for when the election will be open for voting on each proposed amendment.
The ballot for all proposed amendments will be sent by email to all members (individual, retiree, student, and each institutional representative) on the election opening date with a deadline to submit your ballot.
After the election is closed, there will be a notice sent to all members with the results of the amendment votes
If passed, an interim IG Coordination Council (IGCC) will be appointed
The Board and IGCC will begin to work on the transition process from Sections to IGCC to be ready to accept nominations during the normal association election cycle and have the first elected council ready to go on July 1, 2019.