President's
Page
As I write this in early July, a summer cloudburst is bucketing down and I am glad because the storm perhaps will clear the hot humid air that has plagued the Midwest since late May. In a way, what it is doing is what I want to do: clear the air. I sensed in Cleveland a kind of unrest about MLA, a confusion about how it works, a feeling that some individual members and groups are becoming alienated from each other and from MLA. Perhaps I can dispel some of this discomfort by explaining what MLA is, who does what, and what channels of communication are most effective. For the sake of clarity let me isolate various MLA elements as if they stood alone even though you and I both know they are incapable of independent existence. In order of importance, MLA consists of: 1) its individual and institutional members, 2) its committees, representatives, and delegates, 3) its groups, topical and regional, 4) its elected officers and its elected and appointed board of directors, and 5) its headquarters in Chicago. The last four are creatures of the first and exist for no other reason than to further the members' interests within an orderly framework. MEMBERS The members are all of us who pay our dues. We feel strongly enough about the goals of the profession we practice to have formed and supported an organization which can, and does, represent us and act on our behalf to further our enlightened self interest. Even though we properly spend most of our time tilling our own fields at home, we recognize our obligations to the larger health sciences library community. Whenever we feel a general need is not being met, we express our concern and we change our organization until it can respond. Regardless of our individual experiences, personalities, native Bull. Med. Libr. Assoc. 63(4) Oct. 1975
abilities-and regardless of our physical locations and financial backing-we volunteer our services to the organization that represents us and we work for our common good. That sounds pretty "preachy" and noble, but it is true. What is equally true and, I think at the root of our present discontent, is that many of us do not know how to go about expressing our concerns so that MLA can be responsive. We also, partially as a product of our unsettled times and partially as a result of our natural diffidence, feel a mistrust of our "establishment" and some doubt about the effectiveness any single one of us has. No member must ever feel that what is important to him is not important to his organization; every member must know that he is obligated to ask questions and that he is entitled to reasonable answers. He must also realize, of course, that he has the responsibility to inform himself before asking questions and that he has no right to act whimsically, lightly, or selfishly. What must be done is for each of us to familiarize ourselves with the details of our organization's structure and exploit it for our common good. This is much easier today when our annual directory contains not only our names and addresses, but also our charter, our bylaws, our committee charges and membership, and the names and addresses of board members and headquarters staff. Much of what we need to know is there but what is the relationship of the parts to each other and to the whole? COMMITTEES, REPRESENTATIVES
AND
DELEGATES
Committees These are of two kinds, standing and ad hoc. Only personal members may serve as committee chairmen. Standing committees are appointed each year in the spring by the president-elect after he has received advice from the Committee on Com-
423
PRESIDENT'S PAGE mittees at its meeting in December. They exist to pay attention to continuing definable concerns of the members and to advise and recommend to the board changes necessary so it may act wisely in areas where the committee has developed expertise. Ad hoc committees are appointed by the current president to examine questions concerning immediate problems or those whose longrange answers will have impact on MLA's entire span of interest. Chairmen of ad hoc committees especially welcome membership input and can be relied upon both to answer questions and to raise them with their committees. As ad hoc committees are appointed during the year, their purpose and membership are listed in the MLA News. Every committee interacts with the board and headquarters by submitting formal written reports twice a year before the full board meetings (held in December and in conjunction with the annual meeting) and by having as a full working member one board officer who serves as the committee's liaison. Board decisions concerning a committee's activities and recommendations are communicated to the committee informally (and very quickly) by their liaison officers and formally (perhaps less quickly) by headquarters. Members should write their opinions about subjects assigned to specific committees directly to the chairman of the committee concerned and should also send copies of their letters to the board liaison, the president, and the executive director. The member may do so with the assurance that he will receive informed answers, that the committee will examine his question with relation to its own activities, and that, if necessary, the matter raised will be referred to the full board or the Executive Committee, which meets between full board meetings. Committees also interact with each other, either directly or through the board or headquarters.
Representatives and Delegates These interpret the interests of MLA to other bodies and bring back to the association information of interest to the membership. They are appointed by the president-elect with the advice of the Committee on Committees. Their activity, of course, is dependent upon the activity of the other organization involved. Or424
dinarily they report once each year at the annual iteeting. If urgent matters arise, they report to the board as needed. The member has the same access to them as to committees. All committees as well as representatives and delegates are under the charge of the board and may not commit the association on matters of policy without prior approval by the board. No committee chairman appoints members of his committee; all are appointed by either the president or president-elect. To inform the president-elect of your interest in committee membership or in becoming a representative or delegate, write him in the early fall. Examine charges in the directory issued in early August and indicate your choice and those qualifications you offer which fit you for the post you want; enclosing a curriculum vitae will help. If you do not write to indicate your interest, you will probably not be appointed because we can seldom afford to appoint those who have not indicated their personal desire to participate and their reasons for doing so. In the case of ad hoc committees, obviously the president must seek out those who are best able to do the job at hand, but he will first examine c.v.'s of those who have indicated interest and only later ask for help in making his appointments. The association needs to use the talents of all its members to the full but no member, widely known or obscure, will be "tapped" for committee membership or as a representative or delegate; he must indicate his interest. Remember, however, that only about 70 vacancies routinely occur each year and that just over 350 positions exist, so competition is fairly keen. Except in the case of board committees, or some ad hoc committees, members will seldom serve in more than one capacity at any one time. You should know, too, that, even though institutional representatives are eligible, they will probably be passed over in favor of personal members who, by themselves sustaining membership, automatically indicate a kind of commitment not necessarily evidenced by institutional representatives. No committee member is automatically reappointed. Each member may, and each committee chairman and board member must, make recommendations concerning individual effectiveness every year before the December meeting of the Committee on Committees. These recommendations are taken into consideration when appointments and reappointBull. Med. Libr. Assoc. 63(4) Oct. 1975
PRESIDENT'S PAGE ments for the next year are being made by the the Nominating Committee only once every five president-elect. years. As you know, we are dissatisfied with our GROUPS overall group structure and it is in the process of being examined by the Ad Hoc Committee to Topical Groups Examine MLA Group Structure, chaired by These exist within the association to allow James F. Williams, II. Sweeping reforms will, I members an opportunity to have contact with think, result from that committee's recommenthose who share common subject interests and dations, due in December 1976. I hope that are usually active only at the annual meeting. individual and group questions concerning this Topical groups are made up of members who subject either specifically or generally will be have combined together to petition the board conveyed to Mr. Williams as well as to the for recognition. Their officers must be voting president or to the board through headquarters. members of MLA. Their ordinary route of communication is through headquarters. A moBOARD OF DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS ratorium on the formation of topical groups will Board be in effect until the report of the Ad Hoc Committee to Examine MLA Group Structure Elected officers are the president, presidentis received. elect and immediate past-president as well as the seven directors. These comprise the elected Regional Groups board. Only personal members may serve on the These exist to provide localized forums where elected board. In addition, the executive dimembers can concentrate their attention on rector, director of education, Bulletin editor, problems common to their geographic area and MLA News editor and the financial trustee where members unable regularly to attend na- attend board meetings as resource personnel for tional meetings may keep contact with the field the elected board and so that they will be fully and the association and express their needs. aware of the rationale behind board decisions. They also serve as a training ground where The function of the full board is to represent members can gain experience that will make and define questions of interest to the memberthem more knowledgeable and effective when ship either at its own behest or as raised by they wish to enter the national arena. They members. It devises and implements ways of have another function, too. Nonmembers work- answering these questions. In addition, each individual elected board ing in health sciences libraries need a forum and contact with their peers; regional groups fill this member serves as a member of and communicafunction. They also, of course, serve to make tion channel for standing or ad hoc committees MLA visible in a local way and thus act to and acts to bring committee concerns to the recruit new members. board's attention in his capacity as board liaiRegional groups are formed whenever a num- son. One function board members have, which ber of members feel the need to organize and seems to be little understood, is that of serving request recognition from the board. Their offi- as a communication channel for the individual cers and committee chairmen must be voting member who may not know exactly what path members of MLA. Regional groups report the to pursue when wishing to express his concerns names of their officers and, briefly, their activi- about association affairs in general. Such memties to the board through headquarters, and by bers are, of course, free to go to the president or and large, communicate with the national orga- to headquarters, but other board members are nization through headquarters. No member is there for this purpose, too. Individual board members also serve on constrained from expressing his concerns individually to any appropriate arm of MLA, but he board committees having specific ongoing functions: the Committee on Committees, the Execmay wish to act through his regional group. Both topical and regional groups present a utive Committee (a kind of "miniboard" which candidate for the slate for the national Nomi- meets between full board meetings), the Finating Committee each year. This candidate nance Committee, and the MLA/NLM Liaison must be a personal member and may serve on Committee. Both their liaison functions and Bull. Med. Libr. Assoc. 63(4) Oct. 1975
425
PRESIDENT'S PAGE board committee memberships are assigned to elected board members by the president-elect.
Officers The president assumes office after having served one year as president-elect; he directs and coordinates board activities and presides over Executive Committee meetings, full board meetings, and business meetings of the annual convention. He appoints ad hoc committees as appropriate. He is an ex officio member of every standing and ad hoc committee except the Nominating and Elections committees. He also is ultimately responsible to the membership concerning headquarters organization, activities, and effectiveness. The president-elect serves as the Chairman, without vote, of the Nominating Committee immediately upon his election and throughout the rest of the association year until the next election; he also serves on the Elections Committee. He becomes Chairman of the Committee on Committees when he officially takes office at the close of the annual meeting after his election and, with advice from that committee, makes appointments to all standing committees. He is a member of the Executive Committee and of the Finance Committee and presides over the association in the absence of the president. The immediate past-president (worn from his intensive labors of the previous two years) serves his last year on the board both as solon and as a member of the Executive Finance Committee. He also is board liaison for all representatives and delegates as well as the Past Presidents' Council, the Program and Convention Committee, and the Annual Meeting Local Arrangements Committee (through 1977 and, after that, its still-to-be-named successor). HEADQUARTERS It consists of MLA's paid employees who function both as the association's focal point for
426
ongoing business, financial, and legal affairs and as the executive arm of the organization in areas where continuing association affairs of large and complicated nature demand more attention than can be given by volunteer members and officers. At present, both the operations end of the annual meeting and MLA's educational programs are in this category. Certainly our publication program belongs here and will be transferred to headquarters as soon as sufficient funds are available for the association to lend headquarters the necessary support for personnel and office space. The executive director is responsible for overall headquarters management and especially acts in the areas of annual meeting business arrangements and in the association's business, financial, and legal matters. He officially transmits board decisions to committees and members. The director of education has been delegated responsibility for executing MLA's education programs and is, at present, also acting as primary executive officer in many areas of professional concern to the membership, including our new certification program. The function of the director of publications will become defined in line with Publication Committee recommendations as soon as he can be ap-
pointed. All matters of overall or particular concern to the association should be directed to the proper committee or officer with copies of correspondence to the executive director, but he is the primary source of information in the areas delineated above. Headquarters serves as the association's memory, advisor, and executive. The executive director, director of education, and future director of publications are appointed by the board and serve at its pleasure. The storm is long since passed; it did clear the air. I hope I have been as successful. BARBARA COE JOHNSON
Bull. Med. Libr. Assoc. 63(4) Oct. 1975
Page
As I write this in early July, a summer cloudburst is bucketing down and I am glad because the storm perhaps will clear the hot humid air that has plagued the Midwest since late May. In a way, what it is doing is what I want to do: clear the air. I sensed in Cleveland a kind of unrest about MLA, a confusion about how it works, a feeling that some individual members and groups are becoming alienated from each other and from MLA. Perhaps I can dispel some of this discomfort by explaining what MLA is, who does what, and what channels of communication are most effective. For the sake of clarity let me isolate various MLA elements as if they stood alone even though you and I both know they are incapable of independent existence. In order of importance, MLA consists of: 1) its individual and institutional members, 2) its committees, representatives, and delegates, 3) its groups, topical and regional, 4) its elected officers and its elected and appointed board of directors, and 5) its headquarters in Chicago. The last four are creatures of the first and exist for no other reason than to further the members' interests within an orderly framework. MEMBERS The members are all of us who pay our dues. We feel strongly enough about the goals of the profession we practice to have formed and supported an organization which can, and does, represent us and act on our behalf to further our enlightened self interest. Even though we properly spend most of our time tilling our own fields at home, we recognize our obligations to the larger health sciences library community. Whenever we feel a general need is not being met, we express our concern and we change our organization until it can respond. Regardless of our individual experiences, personalities, native Bull. Med. Libr. Assoc. 63(4) Oct. 1975
abilities-and regardless of our physical locations and financial backing-we volunteer our services to the organization that represents us and we work for our common good. That sounds pretty "preachy" and noble, but it is true. What is equally true and, I think at the root of our present discontent, is that many of us do not know how to go about expressing our concerns so that MLA can be responsive. We also, partially as a product of our unsettled times and partially as a result of our natural diffidence, feel a mistrust of our "establishment" and some doubt about the effectiveness any single one of us has. No member must ever feel that what is important to him is not important to his organization; every member must know that he is obligated to ask questions and that he is entitled to reasonable answers. He must also realize, of course, that he has the responsibility to inform himself before asking questions and that he has no right to act whimsically, lightly, or selfishly. What must be done is for each of us to familiarize ourselves with the details of our organization's structure and exploit it for our common good. This is much easier today when our annual directory contains not only our names and addresses, but also our charter, our bylaws, our committee charges and membership, and the names and addresses of board members and headquarters staff. Much of what we need to know is there but what is the relationship of the parts to each other and to the whole? COMMITTEES, REPRESENTATIVES
AND
DELEGATES
Committees These are of two kinds, standing and ad hoc. Only personal members may serve as committee chairmen. Standing committees are appointed each year in the spring by the president-elect after he has received advice from the Committee on Com-
423
PRESIDENT'S PAGE mittees at its meeting in December. They exist to pay attention to continuing definable concerns of the members and to advise and recommend to the board changes necessary so it may act wisely in areas where the committee has developed expertise. Ad hoc committees are appointed by the current president to examine questions concerning immediate problems or those whose longrange answers will have impact on MLA's entire span of interest. Chairmen of ad hoc committees especially welcome membership input and can be relied upon both to answer questions and to raise them with their committees. As ad hoc committees are appointed during the year, their purpose and membership are listed in the MLA News. Every committee interacts with the board and headquarters by submitting formal written reports twice a year before the full board meetings (held in December and in conjunction with the annual meeting) and by having as a full working member one board officer who serves as the committee's liaison. Board decisions concerning a committee's activities and recommendations are communicated to the committee informally (and very quickly) by their liaison officers and formally (perhaps less quickly) by headquarters. Members should write their opinions about subjects assigned to specific committees directly to the chairman of the committee concerned and should also send copies of their letters to the board liaison, the president, and the executive director. The member may do so with the assurance that he will receive informed answers, that the committee will examine his question with relation to its own activities, and that, if necessary, the matter raised will be referred to the full board or the Executive Committee, which meets between full board meetings. Committees also interact with each other, either directly or through the board or headquarters.
Representatives and Delegates These interpret the interests of MLA to other bodies and bring back to the association information of interest to the membership. They are appointed by the president-elect with the advice of the Committee on Committees. Their activity, of course, is dependent upon the activity of the other organization involved. Or424
dinarily they report once each year at the annual iteeting. If urgent matters arise, they report to the board as needed. The member has the same access to them as to committees. All committees as well as representatives and delegates are under the charge of the board and may not commit the association on matters of policy without prior approval by the board. No committee chairman appoints members of his committee; all are appointed by either the president or president-elect. To inform the president-elect of your interest in committee membership or in becoming a representative or delegate, write him in the early fall. Examine charges in the directory issued in early August and indicate your choice and those qualifications you offer which fit you for the post you want; enclosing a curriculum vitae will help. If you do not write to indicate your interest, you will probably not be appointed because we can seldom afford to appoint those who have not indicated their personal desire to participate and their reasons for doing so. In the case of ad hoc committees, obviously the president must seek out those who are best able to do the job at hand, but he will first examine c.v.'s of those who have indicated interest and only later ask for help in making his appointments. The association needs to use the talents of all its members to the full but no member, widely known or obscure, will be "tapped" for committee membership or as a representative or delegate; he must indicate his interest. Remember, however, that only about 70 vacancies routinely occur each year and that just over 350 positions exist, so competition is fairly keen. Except in the case of board committees, or some ad hoc committees, members will seldom serve in more than one capacity at any one time. You should know, too, that, even though institutional representatives are eligible, they will probably be passed over in favor of personal members who, by themselves sustaining membership, automatically indicate a kind of commitment not necessarily evidenced by institutional representatives. No committee member is automatically reappointed. Each member may, and each committee chairman and board member must, make recommendations concerning individual effectiveness every year before the December meeting of the Committee on Committees. These recommendations are taken into consideration when appointments and reappointBull. Med. Libr. Assoc. 63(4) Oct. 1975
PRESIDENT'S PAGE ments for the next year are being made by the the Nominating Committee only once every five president-elect. years. As you know, we are dissatisfied with our GROUPS overall group structure and it is in the process of being examined by the Ad Hoc Committee to Topical Groups Examine MLA Group Structure, chaired by These exist within the association to allow James F. Williams, II. Sweeping reforms will, I members an opportunity to have contact with think, result from that committee's recommenthose who share common subject interests and dations, due in December 1976. I hope that are usually active only at the annual meeting. individual and group questions concerning this Topical groups are made up of members who subject either specifically or generally will be have combined together to petition the board conveyed to Mr. Williams as well as to the for recognition. Their officers must be voting president or to the board through headquarters. members of MLA. Their ordinary route of communication is through headquarters. A moBOARD OF DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS ratorium on the formation of topical groups will Board be in effect until the report of the Ad Hoc Committee to Examine MLA Group Structure Elected officers are the president, presidentis received. elect and immediate past-president as well as the seven directors. These comprise the elected Regional Groups board. Only personal members may serve on the These exist to provide localized forums where elected board. In addition, the executive dimembers can concentrate their attention on rector, director of education, Bulletin editor, problems common to their geographic area and MLA News editor and the financial trustee where members unable regularly to attend na- attend board meetings as resource personnel for tional meetings may keep contact with the field the elected board and so that they will be fully and the association and express their needs. aware of the rationale behind board decisions. They also serve as a training ground where The function of the full board is to represent members can gain experience that will make and define questions of interest to the memberthem more knowledgeable and effective when ship either at its own behest or as raised by they wish to enter the national arena. They members. It devises and implements ways of have another function, too. Nonmembers work- answering these questions. In addition, each individual elected board ing in health sciences libraries need a forum and contact with their peers; regional groups fill this member serves as a member of and communicafunction. They also, of course, serve to make tion channel for standing or ad hoc committees MLA visible in a local way and thus act to and acts to bring committee concerns to the recruit new members. board's attention in his capacity as board liaiRegional groups are formed whenever a num- son. One function board members have, which ber of members feel the need to organize and seems to be little understood, is that of serving request recognition from the board. Their offi- as a communication channel for the individual cers and committee chairmen must be voting member who may not know exactly what path members of MLA. Regional groups report the to pursue when wishing to express his concerns names of their officers and, briefly, their activi- about association affairs in general. Such memties to the board through headquarters, and by bers are, of course, free to go to the president or and large, communicate with the national orga- to headquarters, but other board members are nization through headquarters. No member is there for this purpose, too. Individual board members also serve on constrained from expressing his concerns individually to any appropriate arm of MLA, but he board committees having specific ongoing functions: the Committee on Committees, the Execmay wish to act through his regional group. Both topical and regional groups present a utive Committee (a kind of "miniboard" which candidate for the slate for the national Nomi- meets between full board meetings), the Finating Committee each year. This candidate nance Committee, and the MLA/NLM Liaison must be a personal member and may serve on Committee. Both their liaison functions and Bull. Med. Libr. Assoc. 63(4) Oct. 1975
425
PRESIDENT'S PAGE board committee memberships are assigned to elected board members by the president-elect.
Officers The president assumes office after having served one year as president-elect; he directs and coordinates board activities and presides over Executive Committee meetings, full board meetings, and business meetings of the annual convention. He appoints ad hoc committees as appropriate. He is an ex officio member of every standing and ad hoc committee except the Nominating and Elections committees. He also is ultimately responsible to the membership concerning headquarters organization, activities, and effectiveness. The president-elect serves as the Chairman, without vote, of the Nominating Committee immediately upon his election and throughout the rest of the association year until the next election; he also serves on the Elections Committee. He becomes Chairman of the Committee on Committees when he officially takes office at the close of the annual meeting after his election and, with advice from that committee, makes appointments to all standing committees. He is a member of the Executive Committee and of the Finance Committee and presides over the association in the absence of the president. The immediate past-president (worn from his intensive labors of the previous two years) serves his last year on the board both as solon and as a member of the Executive Finance Committee. He also is board liaison for all representatives and delegates as well as the Past Presidents' Council, the Program and Convention Committee, and the Annual Meeting Local Arrangements Committee (through 1977 and, after that, its still-to-be-named successor). HEADQUARTERS It consists of MLA's paid employees who function both as the association's focal point for
426
ongoing business, financial, and legal affairs and as the executive arm of the organization in areas where continuing association affairs of large and complicated nature demand more attention than can be given by volunteer members and officers. At present, both the operations end of the annual meeting and MLA's educational programs are in this category. Certainly our publication program belongs here and will be transferred to headquarters as soon as sufficient funds are available for the association to lend headquarters the necessary support for personnel and office space. The executive director is responsible for overall headquarters management and especially acts in the areas of annual meeting business arrangements and in the association's business, financial, and legal matters. He officially transmits board decisions to committees and members. The director of education has been delegated responsibility for executing MLA's education programs and is, at present, also acting as primary executive officer in many areas of professional concern to the membership, including our new certification program. The function of the director of publications will become defined in line with Publication Committee recommendations as soon as he can be ap-
pointed. All matters of overall or particular concern to the association should be directed to the proper committee or officer with copies of correspondence to the executive director, but he is the primary source of information in the areas delineated above. Headquarters serves as the association's memory, advisor, and executive. The executive director, director of education, and future director of publications are appointed by the board and serve at its pleasure. The storm is long since passed; it did clear the air. I hope I have been as successful. BARBARA COE JOHNSON
Bull. Med. Libr. Assoc. 63(4) Oct. 1975
