ALCTS Network News v6n04 (August 10, 1993) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/ann/ann-v6n04 ISSN: 1056-6694 ALCTS NETWORK NEWS An electronic publication of the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services Volume 6, Number 4 August 10, 1993 In this issue ALCTS REORGANIZATION: THE NEXT STEPS ************************************************************************** [Editors' note: The following statement on the restructuring of ALCTS will appear in the _ALCTS Newsletter_, along with other perspectives. It is being redistributed in its entirety here as part of AN2's conference coverage.] ALCTS REORGANIZATION: THE NEXT STEPS At the Annual Conference in New Orleans, the ALCTS Board of Directors received the Report of the ALCTS Organizational Structure Task Force (OSTF). The Report was the culmination of two years' work by the Task Force, and it incorporated the many comments received at multiple hearings and in writing. The report appeared in the _ALCTS Newsletter_ (v.4, no. 4 [1993]) and in v.5, nos. 28 and 29 of AN2. This article gives a summary of the changes, their history, the reasons for them, and a timetable for the next steps. ACTION AT THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE After receiving the report at the first Board meeting, the Board referred it to the Organization and Bylaws Committee (O&B) for action. Based upon the Task Force report, other comments received since its publication, and discussion at the Board and section meetings, O&B crafted revisions to ALCTS Bylaws that would enable the Association to proceed with implementation of the Task Force recommendations. At its last meeting, the Board of Directors approved a motion to place these bylaws revisions to a vote of the entire membership this Fall. The bylaws changes you will be voting on will put into motion a significant restructuring of the Association. If you approve the revised bylaws, there will be further implementation efforts during the 1994 Midwinter Meeting and Annual Conference. These implementation issues will include deciding which existing organizational units (such as committees) will continue, be restructured, or be dissolved, and determining the reporting relationship of each (e.g., whether the unit should be a standing committee, interest group, or task force). Although we will vote on the bylaws revisions in Fall 1993, the actual implementation will occur no earlier than after the 1994 Annual Conference. This reorganization is a major decision point for all members of the Association. Your informed vote is critical in determining how ALCTS can meet your needs in this time of change. SUMMARY OF BYLAWS CHANGES The bylaws changes that you will vote upon are "enabling legislation" that will put into place the major organizational units within ALCTS. While the bylaws revisions contain a number of minor and editorial changes, the most significant changes are as follows: * SECTIONS. All existing Sections of ALCTS would be dissolved. * FORUMS. A new organizational structure called a "Forum" would be created. Although the bylaws describe the role and function of forums only briefly, a conceptual description of these new units appears elsewhere in this report. There will be further development of this concept as a part of the implementation process. * OTHER ORGANIZATIONAL UNITS. All standing committees, interest groups, and task forces whether currently at the section level or the division level would report at the association level. * COUNCIL OF REGIONAL GROUPS. All references to the CRG would be eliminated from the bylaws. During the implementation stage, CRG might be reconfigured as a standing committee, interest group, or forum (as appropriate) to support the information sharing component of CRG. * BOARD OF DIRECTORS. The composition of the Board of Directors would change to reflect the changes above. The section chairs and the CRG would no longer be on the Board. Six directors-at-large would be elected to represent the diverse interests of the Association. * STANDING COMMITTEES. Standing Committees would be retained to accomplish tasks that are ongoing in nature. Except for the Nominating Committee, specific committees would not be enumerated in the bylaws. * INTEREST GROUPS. Discussion Groups would be replaced by Interest Groups. (The Task Force report used the term "focus groups" to describe these units, but the Board determined that the term "interest group" was more accurate and descriptive.) Interest Groups would be empowered to conduct programs, request financial and other support, and engage in other activities such as membership surveys. Interest Groups could exist for five years, after which they could either petition to be re-established or they would cease to exist. * TASK FORCES. Provisions would be added in the bylaws to create Task Forces on an as-needed basis. Task Forces would normally last three years and work on issues of limited scope and specific purpose. * NOMINATING COMMITTEE. The Nominating Committee would be a division-level committee with representation from each of the forums in ALCTS. The Committee would nominate those who run for Association-wide elective office (president, vice-president, directors-at-large). OSTF OBJECTIVES AND MEMBER BENEFITS OF THE REORGANIZATION The Organizational Structure Task Force focused on defining an organization for ALCTS to meet the needs of librarians in library collections and technical services during the late 1990s and into the 21st century. Members expressed their desires to see ALCTS develop an ability to create programming in a more timely fashion, to move quickly on major issues, and to identify and to develop new leaders. The major objectives of the Task Force were to reduce the ALCTS bureaucracy and perceived elitism through measures such as reducing overlapping and non-essential committees, to empower the membership of ALCTS, to improve communication within ALCTS, and to enhance the identity of ALCTS. The bylaws changes that that you will vote upon incorporate most of the major recommendations in the Task Force report. The most significant differences between the Task Force report and the bylaws are the replacement of sections with forums (explained in detail elsewhere in this report), and the lack of inclusion of the chair of the Professional Development Committee as a member of the Board of Directors (pending further discussion of the nature and charge of the Professional Development Committee). Nonetheless, the bylaws changes align closely with most of the Task Force Report and would facilitate reaching its major objectives by: * Supporting your interests by realigning ALCTS to the realities of library collections and technical services today, in this decade, and in the next century. * Enabling committees, interest groups, and task forces to seek direct support, financial and otherwise, for their initiatives. * Enhancing opportunities for you to be involved in the work of the Association through the empowerment in particular of interest groups (the former discussion groups). * Creating a flatter organizational structure to support the ability of committees and interest groups to handle programming, publications, etc. in a timely and efficient manner. * Creating a leaner organizational structure that will cut administrative costs and member efforts to administer the Association by reducing the number of organizational units (such as sections and committees), particularly those with largely organizational maintenance responsibilities. * Improving communication within ALCTS as all the reorganized units will be positioned to increase the flow of communication. * Fostering programmatic cross-fertilization through a structure that allows multiple relationships between committees, task forces, interest groups, and forums (unlike the present linear relationship of sections and their committees). A Note About Membership Empowerment A specific objective of the Task Force report--to empower you as members-- received extensive discussion at the Annual Conference. Empowerment occurs when individuals or groups have opportunities and authority to take action. The bylaws changes clearly would enhance your direct involvement. Groups such as interest groups would be empowered to take actions (such as having a program) without seeking prior approval from either a section or the Board. Similarly, individuals would be empowered through forums, which would provide opportunities to learn about the work of the association, to exchange information, or to provide input. Members could go directly to the Board or another operational committee to seek action, rather than being required to go through an operational committee. Also, a major advantage of the new organization would be that it would encourage us as professionals to develop our abilities and a broad professional and organizational outlook. FORUMS: STRUCTURE AND PURPOSE Moving From Sections to Forums As noted above, the bylaws revisions create forums in lieu of existing sections to bring together broad communities of interests, e.g., acquisitions and preservation. The Task Force also recommended the creation of three sections with areas of interest extending beyond the interests of any single existing section: Bibliographic Access and Control, Innovative Ideas and New Technologies, and Resource Management and Delivery. Written comments received before the Conference and discussion at the Conference clearly indicated two major problems with the sections that the Task Force recommended: * There was no support for the separate section on Innovative Ideas and New Technologies because it was generally agreed that this was a responsibility of all members and groups within ALCTS, and not reserved for only one special group. * There was widespread concern that the other two sections did not provide the level of visibility for specific areas of interest of ALCTS members, and that larger sections were likely to be more bureaucratic than smaller ones. The evolving discussion at the Conference led to a return to the original idea of the Task Force to eliminate sections entirely, but to augment that idea with the creation of "forums" as a means of preserving an important function of sections: the creation of a functional identity. These new forums therefore are derived directly from the work of the Task Force and are very much in keeping with the spirit of the Task Force recommendations. Description and Purpose of Forums Forums would be semi-formal clusters of various committees, task forces, interest groups, and individual members around areas of interest. A forum could form around any area of interest as the bylaws do not specify the areas of interest that would or would not be supported by forums. Initially, forums would likely exist in the following areas: acquisitions, cataloging and classification, collection management and development, preservation, and serials. Additional forums could be created or dissolved easily, in part because it would not be necessary to vote upon separate bylaws each time a forum went in or out of existence. Forums would provide a high level of visibility for broad areas of interest and be focal points in the organization where people sharing those interests could come together. Forums would support information exchange between and among individual members as well as between and among various committees, interest groups, and task forces. Further, all committees, interest groups, and task forces could be part of the cluster around one or more forums, thus creating informal communication links across broad areas of interest. In supporting information exchange and serving as focal points for broad areas of interest, forums would continue the role that sections now have. Unlike the current sections, however, forums would not have any formal structure for overseeing the work of committees, interest groups, or task forces. The sharing of information will still result in some informal coordination and support of activities could occur within ALCTS. While the exact method to accomplish interdivisional cooperation and coordination must be further explored during the implementation process, it is envisioned that committees, interest groups, and task forces could align themselves with multiple forums and thus eliminate the need for duplication of functions. Committees, interest groups, and task forces would seek financial and other support for activities directly from the Board as the association level committees, e.g., as the Audiovisual and Preservation Microfilming Committees now do. Like interest groups, forums would be created through the initiation of a group of members to meet your needs. Forums would not have any formal structure (executive committees, committees, etc.) beyond leadership emanating from within the group. A forum may have formal leadership, but if it chose to do so then its leadership would be elected at the meetings of the forum, not as part of the ALA ballot. There would be no direct election of director-at-large from each of the forums; however, the Association would adopt procedures procedures during the implementation phase to ensure balanced representation in the nominating and appointments processes. Rationale for Forums Clearly the most unknown aspect of the proposed restructuring is the structuring of forums. You are being asked to discard the current "section" structure in favor of a new and untried method for bringing together your interests. It is difficult to say exactly how forums will work in practice in the absence of some real experience. This goes to the essential nature of a paradigm shift: we cannot see the new paradigm through our old concepts. We must take a leap of faith, be willing to take a risk, and try the new. Such was the challenge of the Task Force report. Forums would make it possible for you to be a part of ALCTS within your area of interest and expertise. Just as we now indicate to which sections we want to belong, you will be able to indicate of which forums you wish to be part on the membership and volunteer forms. The identification of individual interests and expertise will be especially valuable when making committee appointments. There is a question of whether the loss of the section-level structure might result in less involvement because there would be fewer elected officials. However, forums would foster the goal of empowerment by increasing the ability of all of us to have the opportunity to make a contribution and to carry out activities and responsibility within the organization. There is also some concern that the lack of sections would slow things down because too much of the activity would be at the high level of the organization. This runs contrary to current management theory. Just as institutions are reducing "middle management" to empower the work force, we should similarly expect that this elimination of a hierarchical level could serve ALCTS in a productive and responsive manner. For example, with a flatter hierarchy, proposals could go directly from a committee to the Board of Directors to be put into action. THE IMPLEMENTATION TIMETABLE AND PROCESS The ballots for the special election will be mailed Sept. 22, 1993 and balloting will continue through October 31, 1993. The ballots will include the complete bylaws with a summary of the proposed changes. Results of the balloting will be available for consideration at the November 4 meeting of the ALCTS Executive Committee. The nominations for the ALCTS 1994-1995 officers will proceed so as to ensure a full slate of nominations for the new structure (if approved) or the present structure (if the bylaws are not approved). Although the nominating committees began their work at the Annual Conference in New Orleans, they will not be contacting potential candidates until after the results of the bylaws vote are known. Therefore, if the bylaw changes are approved, the Spring 1994 ballot will elect a vice-president/president-elect and four additional Board members- at-large, bringing the total number of members-at-large from two to six. The two current members-at-large will complete their terms of office on the Board. If the bylaws changes are not approved, the Spring 1994 ballot will include the election of section officers as it has in the past. There would be no change in division or in section officers during the present term. All members who were elected or appointed to positions for the 1993-1994 year will handle their responsibilities under the current organizational structure through the close of the 1994 Annual Conference. The approval of the bylaws revisions would constitute only the first step necessary to make the shift to a new organizational structure. The next major step would be to determine the future status of existing committees, task forces, and interest groups, and to empower the new forums. The Organization & Bylaws Committee, assisted by the past chairs of the ALCTS sections, will review all division and section committees, discussion groups and task forces, and will prepare a recommendation for further review and implementation. If the bylaws changes are passed, the Organization & Bylaws Committee would also create an Appointments Committee to work with the vice-president/president-elect on the 1994/1995 committee appointments. The Appointments Committee would be appointed by the ALCTS president and would represent the diverse interests of ALCTS. Interest groups and forums would elect chairs at each Annual Conference. While the bulk of the bylaws revisions will appear on the special Fall ballot, it is possible that some additional minor refinements to the bylaws may be identified as the implementation effort proceeds. Should this occur, it will still be possible to place these refinements on the Spring ballot and have them put into place for a post-1994 Annual Conference implementation date. Should you have questions or comments about the new bylaws or the implementation effort, please do not hesitate to contact any member of the ALCTS leadership. -- Arnold Hirshon, Univ. Librarian, Wright State University and ALCTS Past President and Past-Chair, Organization & Bylaws Committee; AHIRSHON@DESIRE.WRIGHT.EDU. ************************************************************************* ************************************************************************* ALCTS NETWORK NEWS (ISSN 1056-6694) is published irregularly by the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services, a division of the American Library Association. Editorial offices: ALCTS, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611; Jennifer Younger, President; Karen Muller, Executive Director. Editor: Karen Whittlesey (u34261@uicvm); Editorial Advisory Board: Liz Bishoff, Jennifer Younger, Robert P. Holley; Editorial Assistance: Karen Muller. ALCTS NETWORK NEWS is available free of charge and is available only in electronic form. Opinions expressed in the articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the division. News items should be sent to the editor at the e-mail address above. To subscribe, issue the network command "tell listserv@uicvm sub alcts [your name]." Back issues of AN2 are available through the listserver. To find out what's available, send the following command to LISTSERV@UICVM: send alcts filelist Send questions about membership in ALCTS to the ALCTS Office, u34261@uicvm. All materials in the newsletter subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for the noncommercial purpose of scientific or education advancement. For other reprinting or redistribution or translations, address requests to the ALA Office of Rights and Permissions, 50 E. Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611. *************************************************************************