ALA Plans Changes to Handbook of Organization

For the 2009/2010 membership year, the ALA Handbook of Organization will not be produced in a print, paper format.  There will also not be a PDF version online, as a substantial part of the cost of the Handbook is the preparation of the files to prepare the “typeset” committee information pages which form the basis for the PDF version as is currently online.

Recognizing that the Handbook serves two general purposes—record of the organization and guide to its activities and policies—two versions of Handbook information will be prepared:
1) Online, web-based Handbook information pages
2) Print copies of selected web pages, plus a report produced from iMIS of all committee rosters, to be bound and kept in the ALA Library and Archives (iMIS is the ALA membership management system).

Online Handbook of Organization
The Online Handbook will consist of an introductory page, plus a table of contents consisting of links to the elements of the Handbook, which will be resident elsewhere on the ALA website.  The following outline is for the current Table of Contents; the actual sequence and terms may vary slightly.

Quick Reference
Ways to Get Involved in ALA
Membership Categories and forms
ALA Ahead to 2010 Strategic Plan
Dates to Remember — link to a special landing page explaining calendar options
ALA Office locations
ALA Staff Directory
ALA Offices — list of office charges
Structure and Governance
Charter of 1879
Mission, Membership, Organization, Motto (needs some editing)
Officers and Executive Board
Council
Committees — link to http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/committees/index.cfm, though there will be a listing of charges, without rosters attached for reference purposes
Constitution and Bylaws
ALA Policy Manual — plus Current Reference File
Divisions–link to http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/divisions.cfm, but also with listing of division charges
Round Tables—same
Member Initiative Groups — link
Other Groups and Organizations
Chapters
ALA Student Chapter Groups
Other Organizations — link
Affiliates
Appendices
ALA Membership by States — report to be prepared and added to web
ALA Awards, Scholarships, Study Grants, Conference Sponsorships, and Research Grants — link to Awards database, which will include all of these
Acronyms & Abbreviations
Corporate Member Recognition — link to up to date page
Honorary Members — link to up to date page
ALA Presidents, Treasurers, Secretaries, and Executive Directors – page to be created
Past Conferences, 1876–2008 – page being created
American Library Association Periodicals page

Using online information for the reference materials will ensure that each page is up-to-date, not just at printing, but whenever an edit is needed, due to an action of Council, a periodical price change, etc.  Each page linked to the Handbook will be marked with a “pod” providing one-click access back to the Handbook table of contents.

Roster information
Roster information will be made available, not through the PDF output of the traditional Handbook pages, but rather on a committee by committee basis.  The Web Editorial Board has defined a Committee page template, which includes a heading for the roster, which will be generated from iMIS, using the already established code.  The public view of the roster will include only name and committee position; the member view of the roster will include full roster information.

This portion of the Online Handbook will only be as good as the contributing units make it; if the committee page is not prepared, its roster will not be available for consultation.  However, members may request from the staff liaison for each and every committee or other unit of organization a roster of current members.

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