1. Name
This organization shall be known as the Young Adult Services Division of the Suffolk County Library Association, located in New York State.

2. Mission and Purpose
The purpose of this association shall be to foster the development of high standards of library service to and for young adults in grades 6-12, to advocate continuous specialized young adult services to attract and retain teens through the transition from childhood to adulthood, to provide young adults access to a range of library materials and services while promoting active cooperation among schools, community organizations, and public libraries, and to provide the means for all young adults to expand the boundaries of their thinking, and to empower them to fulfill their academic, vocational, recreational and emotional needs.

3. Membership and Dues
Any professional certified librarian, librarian trainee, or Young Adult Specialist in the Suffolk Cooperative Library System working with young adults, defined as patrons in grades 6-12, may become an active member of the association upon payment of the prescribed dues.

Membership can be extended to professional librarians with the following qualifications upon approval from the Executive Board:

Active participation with teens on a regular part-time basis in their present capacities (i.e. reference services, programming, outreach) and an express interest in public library service to teens in the field of young adult librarianship.

4. Officers
The YASD Board consists of the President, Vice-President/President- Elect, Secretary, Treasurer, Webmaster, and Past-President. Committee Chairs are liaisons to the Board. The Suffolk County Library System YA Specialist is a liaison to YASD but not a board member.

The Executive Board shall consist of the officers of the Young Adult Services Division, chairpersons of the Standing Committees, and the immediate Past-President of the Young Adult Services Division.

Treasurer:

  • Submit monthly budget statements (form available from the SCLA Treasurer) for SCLA monthly meetings (third Friday of each month) and routes a copy of this to the Board.
  • Issues all checks for division needs.
  • Balances the division checkbook.
  • Organizes the annual luncheon at the annual October meeting. This includes selecting the venue and confirming a speaker.

Secretary:

  • Writes and issues minutes for all meetings. The minutes are submitted to the President for review and then forwarded to the webmaster to be posted on the YASD website.
  • Creates and sends out all monthly meeting flyers. One copy of each flyer is filed for YASD Archives and a second copy is sent to SCLA for their archives.
  • Sends confirmation letters to all speakers for YASD events and thank you letters to all event sponsors.
  • Keeps statistics of meetings- attendance sheets, flyers, and handouts. Handouts should be forwarded to the webmaster for the YASD website.
  • Contacts SCLA Membership Chair for mailing labels (allow two weeks for delivery).
  • Works with the President to plan programs and special events.
  • Works with the President to secure fundraising for Battle of the Books.

Vice-President/President Elect:

  • In the absence of the President, the Vice President shall have all the powers of the President.
  • BEST Award- Suffolk County YASD Division heads the BEST Awards in even years.
    • Every year , the Vice-President distributes award flyers and applications to all Suffolk County Libraries, organizes and chairs the selection committee (President, Past President, YA Specialist at SCLS), contacts the sponsors of the Suffolk nominees and gives them letters of commendation/certificates/awards. The final award is presented to the Suffolk County winner at the Long Island Library Conference during the keynote speech. The vice-president arranges for the award stipend ($150), plaque (coordinate with the Nassau YA Vice-President), and lunch at the Long Island Library Conference for the winner and a guest.
    • Even years, the Vice-President creates and issues the memo/flyers about the BEST Award applications for both Suffolk and Nassau counties in late January, receives nominations from both counties in early April, gets the name of the Nassau winner, orders and picks up both plaques for both county winners (pays our amount through the Treasurer and gets a billing invoice to forward to Nassau for payment), and introduces the BEST Award at the Long Island Library Conference keynote speech.
  • Prepares balloting and receives replies for the election in November.
  • Organizes and books the keynote speaker for the November meeting, when applicable.

President

  • Chairs Programming Committee and conducts not less than four (4) meetings throughout the calendar year.
  • Attends and has voting privileges at Suffolk County Library Association meetings on the third Friday of each month. A monthly report of the Young Adult Services Division’s activities is submitted at each meeting.
  • Writes about Young Adult Services Division activities for the Suffolk County Library Association Newsletter.
  • Writes about officers, committee heads, upcoming meetings, and library programs for Teen Talk the Young Adult Services Division newsletter.
  • Arranges an annual joint meeting with the Nassau Young Adult Services Division in even years including the securing of a speaker and issue advertising.
  • Calls board meetings as necessary.
  • Communicates upcoming events to the Suffolk County Cooperative Library YA Specialist.

Webmaster

  • Designs and updates the Young Adult Services Division website with all association news and events.
  • Designs and updates the Young Adult Services Division MySpace page.
  • Checks all YASD e-mails and forwards information to the applicable officers.

5. Standing Committees

Membership

  • Arranges the table and volunteers for the Young Adult Services Division table for the Long Island Library Conference.
  • Distributes applications to potential members.

Teen Talk Newsletter

  • The editor of Teen Talk creates, edits, and distributes the Young Adult Services Newsletter three times per calendar year.
  • The committee creates and distributes the Teen Read Week bibliography.
  • The committee organizes flashtalks at the end of each meeting.

Fran Romer Annual Workshop Committee

  • Selects the theme of each annual workshop.
  • Researches and confirms guest speakers in relation to the selected workshop theme.
  • Organizes and confirms the conference location, discussion groups, and the workings during the day long conference.

6. Elections

  • The Young Adult Services Division board will serve as the nominating committee.
  • The nominating committee will collect nominations at least eight weeks prior to the year end meeting.
  • At least four weeks prior to the year end meeting, all candidates will be announced. Candidates must be a member in good standing of the Suffolk County Library Association and a member of the Young Adult Services Division.
  • Names of the candidates for office shall be mailed to the entire membership before the Annual Meeting with a written ballot to be returned within two weeks.
  • Election shall be by majority vote.
  • New officers will be presented at the Annual Meeting to take office beginning January 1.
  • All officers shall be elected for a period of one year.

7. Meeting Yearly Timeline

  • Meetings are held the second Thursday of each month except July and August. There shall be a minimum of four meetings a year.
  • The President is responsible for choosing a topic for the January, March, June, September, November, and December meetings. Input from members is welcomed.
  • February is a joint meeting with the Nassau Library System YA Librarians for which the Suffolk President is responsible in even years and Nassau County is responsible in odd years.
  • April is the Fran Romer Memorial Workshop, when feasible.
  • May is the Long Island Library Conference. Suffolk County Young Adult Services Division is responsible for booking the young adult program in odd years.
  • October is the Annual Young Adult Services Luncheon.

8. Financing
The Suffolk County Library Association includes in its budget an amount for the operation of the Young Adult Services Division.

The Young Adult Services Division may make special requests for funds to the Suffolk County Library Association Board during the year if it requires additional funds above it’s budgeted amount.

9. Rules of Order
Twenty-five percent of members present and in good standing shall constitute a quorum at any regular or special meeting of the Division. A simple majority of members present shall be sufficient for the adoption of any motion that is in order.

10. Amendments
These by-laws may be amended by a majority of the members present and voting at any regular meeting of the division, provided that written notice of the prepared change is sent to the entire membership at least 30 days prior to the date of the meeting.

Proposed amendments to the by-laws tabled or referred back to committee by vote of the members must be re-submitted in writing at least thirty days prior to the date of the meeting at which a vote is to be taken.

By-Laws (PDF)

Adopted December 2007

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