Committees

SCLA Handbook of Committee Charges 2024 PDF

General Responsibilities for all Committee Chairpersons

  1. Must be members in good standing of the Association.
  2. Know and follow rules of the Constitution and Bylaws.
  3. Attend each meeting of the Executive Board or give prior notice of the inability to attend. A written report should be sent to the SCLA Secretary before any Executive Board meeting if the committee chair plans to be absent. If an individual is unable to fulfill committee chair responsibilities, he/she should consider resigning so that committee can then continue functioning under another chairperson. Appointed Chairpersons who miss three consecutive Executive Board meetings without prior notice will be deemed to have resigned. A replacement chair will be appointed by the SCLA President with approval of the Executive Board.
  4. Inform the SCLA President and Vice-President of all committee meetings prior to the date of said meeting.
  5. Committee chairpersons may make motions at the Executive Board Meetings, however; only elected officers and division presidents may vote.
  6. Committee chairpersons are responsible for keeping the SCLA Executive Board as well as the Newsletter and Calendar editors informed of events to insure proper publicity coverage and avoid scheduling conflicts.
  7. For changing committee chairs, the current committee chair will submit a year-end report on activities of the committee and recommendations for new chairpersons. One copy should go to the SCLA President and a second copy to the new committee chair.

 

ANNUAL DINNER MEETING COMMITTEE
The charge of the Annual Dinner Committee is to:

  1. Contact restaurants for dinner prices.
  2. Arrange for speaker/entertainment.
  3. Create and distribute publicity materials.
  4. Select and purchase favors for attendees.
  5. Oversee ticket sales.
  6. Coordinate with the Scholarship Committee on the announcement of awards.
  7. Obtain agenda and previous year’s minutes for distribution at the dinner from the SCLA Secretary.
  8. Make sure there are tables for other divisions and committees to display materials.
  9. Provide decorations and arrange for a podium with a microphone.
  10. Coordinate special invitations to Award winners and to those who receive complimentarydinner invitations.

ARCHIVES COMMITTEE

The Archives Committee is responsible for the organization, storage and management of the records of the Association. These records document the history of SCLA. This includes the records of the Divisions and Committees. The archives are currently stored in space provided by SCLS.

CIVIL SERVICE
The charge of the Civil Service Committee is to:

  1. Keep the Executive Board informed of all Civil Service test dates, requirements, and changesto exams.
  1. Hold workshops to assist in strategies to increase performance on Civil Service exams.

COMMUNITY SERVICE
The charge of the Community Service Committee is to:

  1. Arrange the Toys for Tots Toy Drive for the Annual SCLA Dinner.
  2. Arrange the family charity drive (ex. Habitat for Humanity, Adopt-A-Family, etc.) for the Annual SCLA Dinner
  3. Actively pursue a variety of causes in Suffolk County for SCLA members to participate,fundraise, and disseminate information relating to volunteer opportunities in the local community.

CONSTITUTION AND BYLAWS COMMITTEE
The charge of the Constitution and Bylaws Committee is to:

  1. Serve as official parliamentarian at all SCLA meetings.
  2. Review existing Constitution and Bylaws and recommend revisions for approval by the Executive Board.
  3. Follow rules for amendment as mandated by the Constitution.
  4. Notify the membership of proposed changes and the reason for such proposals.
  5. Schedule voting for bylaw changes to be implemented.

CONTINUING EDUCATION/PROFESSIONAL CONCERNS COMMITTEE
The charge of the Continuing Education/Professional Concerns Committee is to:

  1. Work to improve and maintain continuing education activities and educational needs of themembership. This is in conjunction with institutions of higher learning or other associations.
  2. Maintain/update the database of members’ professional development hours and supply reports of continuing education activities to members as needed.
  3. Promote recognition of the value and effectiveness of library employees.

EXCELLENCE IN LIBRARY SERVICE AWARD (ELSA) COMMITTEE
The charge of the ELSA Committee is to:

  1. Recognize dedication to public service demonstrated by any staff member of a SuffolkCounty public, school, special or academic library.
  2. Advertise and publicize the ELSA award with brochures and flyers.
  3. Distribute nomination packets to the committee and receive nominations submitted by anyemployee or patron of a Suffolk County library.
  4. Notify nominators of winners and non-winners.
  5. Prepare certificates for ELSA winners and nominees.
  6. Coordinate a presentation of the award to the winner with the nominator.
  7. Provide a framed certificate, a plaque and purchase a monetary award for ELSA winner to bepresented at the Annual Dinner.
  8. Provide a press release of all names for listing in the SCLA newsletter and on the SCLA website.

 

INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM COMMITTEE
The charge of the Intellectual Freedom Committee is to:

  1. Keep abreast of intellectual freedom issues on the county, state and national level.
  2. Inform members and general public of issues concerning intellectual freedom, and the scope of activities of the committee.
  3. Provide advisory and educational support to librarians in Suffolk County who find themselvesunder the attack of censor.
  4. Actively participate as a representative of SCLA in county, state and national activities whichfoster the cause of intellectual freedom.

LEGISLATION COMMITTEE
The charge of the Legislation Committee is to:

  1. Promote libraries and library systems to our New York State legislators, making them aware of the continuing need for libraries’ fair share of the annual state budget and interests of thelibrary community.
  2. Be informed on legislation affecting libraries in New York State and inform SCLA members ofthis current legislation.
  3. Jointly sponsor an annual legislative breakfast with LILRC at which all Suffolk representatives to the NYS legislature are invited as well as members of the library community.
  4. Organize and publicize the annual Advocacy Day Albany bus trip including hiring a bus,coordinating refreshments and coordinating pick-ups as well as working to schedule workshopsthat educates members on legislative issues to be discussed.
  5. Work with LILRC to obtain appointment schedules for speaking with legislators.

LIAISONS
The charge of liaisons between the Suffolk County Library Association and other entities is to foster broader cooperation among the institutions. Representatives of other library organizations (i.e. PLDA, NCLA, CLASC, SCLS, LILRC) attend SCLA Executive Board meetings and make reports on their organizations. The SCLA President will appoint an SCLA Liaison to attend other library organization meetings, who will report as necessary to the Executive Board.

The responsibilities of liaisons are:

  1. Attend all meetings of the SCLA Executive Board and make reports.
  2. Keep SCLA Executive Board informed of all System projects, activities and special events between organizations.
  3. Keep SCLA Executive Board aware of activities of which may be of concern to the SCLA membership.

 

LIBRARY DIRECTORY ASSOCIATES (LDA) AWARD

The LDA Award is a bi-county award which is currently sponsored by Long Island’s Suffolk and Nassau Library Associations. The award founder and original sponsor for LDA was under the direction of Andrew Ippolito. The first award was given in 1978. The charge of the LDA Award Committee is to work cooperatively with the Nassau County Library Association to:

  1. Advertise the LDA Award to the library community. 2. Create the Call for Nominations brochure.
  2. Select a candidate who has made an outstanding contribution to libraries on Long Island.
  3. Coordinate award presentation at the Long Island Library Conference.

LISTSERV
Listserv is maintained and monitored by SCLA and the webmaster.

LONG ISLAND LIBRARY CONFERENCE COMMITTEE
The charge of the Conference Committee is to work cooperatively with the Nassau County

Library Association to:

  1. Plan, coordinate and promote the annual Long Island Library Conference.
  2. Prepare a financial report for SCLA at the close of the Conference.
  3. Total cost of the keynote will be 5000 dollars. Any additional cost would have to be voted on for approval.
  4. The Library Conference should run as a profit.

LONG RANGE PLANNING/ MARKETING COMMITTEE
The Long Range Planning/Marketing Committee is charged with the responsibility of providing guidance and direction for the future growth and well-being of the Suffolk County Library Association, as well as promoting the Association and library services. Its focus will be to:

  1. Develop and maintain a long range plan for SCLA.
  2. Oversee and review progress toward meeting these goals and objectives.
  3. Make recommendations to the SCLA Executive Board regarding future direction.
  4. Make recommendations to the SCLA Executive Board and the Constitution and BylawsCommittee regarding amendments to the SCLA Constitution.
  5. Develop media campaigns.
  6. Prepare press releases.
  7. Coordinate specific information for dissemination to the public.
  8. Develop ways to increase SCLA membership.

NEWSLETTER COMMITTEE

The Newsletter Committee is charged with producing a quarterly newsletter, which functions to:

  1. Promote and publicize the activities of the association.
  2. Accumulate, edit and publish information about SCLA and its divisions, of interest to public, academic and special libraries.
  3. Provide a monthly summary to be distributed to the listserv on a recap of what was posted.

NOMINATING COMMITTEE
The Nominating Committee is chaired by the SCLA Vice President. The charge of the Nominating Committee is to:

  1. Create a slate of SCLA Board members for the coming year, to be presented to members of the SCLA Executive Board in accordance with the SCLA Election Timeline.
  2. Collect biographies of candidates, submit this information post to the Listserv, and coordinate with the SCLA webmaster to display candidate biographies on the SCLA webpage.

NYLA CONFERENCE PROGRAM PLANNER
The charge of the NYLA Conference Program Planner is to:

  1. Plan, coordinate and promote programs for the annual NYLA conference that are sponsored or co-sponsored by SCLA.
  2. Attend Conference Program meetings at the NYLA office and Annual Conference.
  3. Attend NYLA Annual Conference.
  4. Coordinate speakers, room monitors and program needs at the NYLA Annual Conference.
  5. Report to the SCLA Board on all programming aspects of the NYLA Conference.

SCHOLARSHIP COMMITTEE
The charge of the Scholarship Committee is to:

  1. Advertise and publicize the SCLA Scholarship and the SCLA Continuing Education Award forLibrary Support Staff to all members of SCLA, member libraries of SCLS, library schools andother potential qualifying candidates.
  2. Select a candidate for each award from those who have met eligibility requirements and have completed the application process. Candidates must be a resident of Suffolk County andhave completed at least 12 credits in a library or information science master’s degree program.
  3. Notify all applicants of their status, including those who did not win either of the awards.
  4. Notify the recipients of each award.
  5. Collect donations for the scholarship award.
  6. Run the raffle at the Annual Dinner.
  7. Present awards to winners at Annual Dinner.

STUDENT OUTREACH
The charge of the Student Outreach Committee is to:

  1. Provide informational packets and membership forms to all four library schools (St. John’s,Queens, Pratt Institute and LIU) as well as informational packets and membership forms toSuffolk Community College, Dowling, Five Towns, and Stony Brook University.
  2. Offer programs to schools in the form of class visits and orientation visits as needed/requested.
  3. Act as a liaison to the schools and any Suffolk Libraries looking to set up library visits.

WEBMASTER
The mission of the Webmaster is to:

  1. Update and maintain the Suffolk County Library Association webpage.
  2. Post events sponsored by Suffolk County Library Association and its divisions to the online calendar.
  3. Ensure the accuracy of information on the SCLA webpage.
  4. Maintain the SCLA Listserv

CN 2024