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Options for Formalized Group

Page history last edited by Camden Tadhg 11 years, 9 months ago

THIS SITE WILL BE SHUT DOWN SEPTEMBER 1ST, 2012. TO ACCESS LIBRARY SERVICES TO YOUTH IN CUSTODY CONTENT, PLEASE GO TO WWW.YOUTHLIBRARIES.ORG

This page has been moved to the LSYC website here: http://www.youthlibraries.org/history-formalized-group-structure-decision Camden 8/17

Page One is below. Page Two - after our meeting in NOLA - is here.

Notes about options for a formalized group (transcribed from conversation between Beth Yoke (YALSA), Miguel Figueroa (OLOS), and Kathleen Houlihan)

Option 1: Round Table

The most formalized and political of the options, requires elections, bylaws, dues, and gets conference planning support, ALA staff time, legitimacy and an annual budget.
Requires participation, not allowed to go dormant if interest wanes, very political, must have 100 sig petition pass Round Table Coordinating Assembly, and then it must also be accepted by Council. Must have a demonstrated lasting impact, with a history of products (like articles, wiki, conference programs, webinars, etc). If they turn you down, then you can’t apply again.
I believe the fees portion means that you will need to be an ALA member to join – correct, Beth?

Option 2: Member Initiative Group

Less structured group, no dues or bylaws
Requires 100 signature petition
Flexible grassroots gathering
ALA level, so no division barriers
Downsides: No strong ALA staff relationship like we might get if we go under another Division, less care, resources, and support to make sure it flourishes

Option 3: Discussion or Interest Group

YALSA:

Support from ALA staff (Beth), assistance booking rooms for conference, legitimacy, flexibility, no dues
Downsides: limited to YALSA + ALA members, though others can sign up for any of ALA listservs or ALA connect (not limited to members only… not even lockdown
Requires 15 people to sign up saying they are willing to be active participants in the IG.
Currently we have 220 people signed up for YALSA-lockdown, so a pretty big core group to start from
Must submit a mission statement
Board will review mission statement and petition, and can vote immediately on whether to accept it (don’t have to wait)
NOTE FROM BETH YOKE: To learn what is needed for and how to submit a YALSA petition to establish an interest group, go to http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/aboutyalsab/faq.cfm. Before members circulate a petition, it is helpful if they submit a draft to me first so that I can be sure it has all the necessary components in place.

ASCLA:

One thing you may already be aware of, that ASCLA will be voting on a new set of bylaws this Spring. If it passes, it will mean the end of ASCLA forums, including Services to Prisoners, and could be replaced by an ASCLA Interest Group. ASCLA IGs will not be limited to ASCLA members only but open to all ALA members, though they must be implemented and chaired by an ASCLA member. Just another option for you to consider should the ASCLA reorganization pass. I happen to not be in favor of the proposed new ASCLA bylaws but that's neither here nor there.

Option 4: Subcomittees

ASCLA-LSSPS Library Services to Prisoners Forum

existing subcommittee in place, already has a history, and a presence on ALAConnect. This group produced the Prisoner’s Right to Read Statement.
downside is that they have membership barriers… must be an ALA member and an ASCLA member

OLOS (Office for Literacy and Outreach Services), Library Services to the Incarcerated Subcommittee

Existing subcommittee
It’s at the ALA level, so no division barriers
No Membership barriers, as it was set up explicitly so that nonmembers could take part
ALA Connect, Discussion Lists, and ALA staff support from Miguel would come with this affiliation
Early dibs on meeting times, support from ALA staff, no dues, Miguel would help identify speakers for programs, we’d have a roster of existing and past members
Could also be an ALA Advocacy Assembly as part of this subcommittee, which is across divisions, and requires engagement from the various divisions who would send representatives to the assembly
Can focus solely on Youth, if that’s what the core of those interested want to focus on
To set it up, we just email Miguel and he’ll get started now

ASCLA-LSSPS Library Services to Prisoners Forum

existing subcommittee in place, already has a history, and a presence on ALAConnect. This group produced the Prisoner’s Right to Read Statement.
Downside is that they have membership barriers… must be an ALA member and an ASCLA member

OLOS (Office for Literacy and Outreach Services), Library Services to the Incarcerated Subcommittee

Existing subcommittee
It’s at the ALA level, so no division barriers
No Membership barriers, as it was set up explicitly so that nonmembers could take part
ALA Connect, Discussion Lists, and ALA staff support from Miguel would come with this affiliation
Early dibs on meeting times, support from ALA staff, no dues, Miguel would help identify speakers for programs, we’d have a roster of existing and past members
could also be an ALA Advocacy Assembly as part of this subcommittee, which is across divisions, and requires engagement from the various divisions who would send representatives to the assembly
Can focus solely on Youth, if that’s what the core of those interested want to focus on
To set it up, we just email Miguel and he’ll get started now

Comments (4)

Would we be able to change the name of the OLOS subcommittee to reflect the mission of connecting those working with incarcerated youth?

Camden Tadhg
Acquisitions & Youth Institutions Consultant
Institutional Library Development
Colorado State Library
Colorado Department of Education
201 E Colfax Ave, Room 309
Denver, CO 80203-1799

Phone: 303-866-6727
Fax: 303-866-6940

Miguel said that we could propose a name change for the dormant subcommittee, if that’s what we decided to do. Alternatively, we could create a new OLOS subcommittee, if we decided the dormant one didn’t fit our needs/goals.
Kathleen Houlihan
Youth Program Librarian
Austin Public Library
Kathleen.Houlihan@ci.austin.tx.us

Amazing information gathering that you've put together here. You've made what at first glance appears to be a very complicated structure much more accessible. Thank you.

My first choice would be a MIG right now, although this may change after Annual when those present can address the pros and cons of joining existing subcommittees. As far as interest in the meeting at Annual, I think a MIG would be most inviting to the most amount of people from a diversity of ALA roundtables, committees, etc. And that's what we want, for librarians of all backgrounds interested in library services to incarcerated youth to feel welcome to share the work they are currently doing or would like to provide.

I just spoke with Beth (YALSA) and Miguel (OLOS) about our options for creating a formalized group for those providing library services to incarcerated youth. I have tried to capture everything we talked about this morning below, but it may be more beneficial for all the organizing crew to get together on a conference call to discuss our options with Beth and Miguel. If we would like to do this, we just need to let them know.

To me, it sounds to me like there may be better options for our group than a round table… see what you think.

My interpretation of this conversation is that a Round Table is where we may ultimately want to be in 5 years, but we have to start out smaller, so that when we go to council, we’ll have a history of meetings, a history of programming, and a history of other products that validate and justify this group becoming a Round Table, and will be successful in our petition.

What looks best to me is to revive the (dormant) Library Services to the Incarcerated Subcommittee under OLOS, and then work on all the things we’ve been talking about already – meeting at conferences, getting the wiki up, writing articles on behalf of the subcommittee, developing conference programs (YALSA’s RFP for 2012 was just released), doing webinars, etc so that we start to build interest and consistency in our group, and then in 5 years, if we decide we want to, we can proceed with making the group a round table.

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