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Section Handbook


GENERAL INFORMATION
Currently there are ten Sections in WLA. The WLA Bylaws provide for interest groups in Article XIII, Section 1, A: “WLA establishes Interest Groups in response to membership interest in order to encourage information exchange, provide mutual support and promote continuing education.” Each of these formally structured groups brings WLA members together to discuss and/or act on a common interest, concern, or area within the library and information field. Membership in each is open to any WLA member upon payment of the appropriate dues; participation is encouraged but not mandatory.

While the by-laws provide a structural framework, each Section determines its own structure and degree of activity. All Sections have a formally elected Board. They meet at least annually, at WLA’s Annual Conference and are encouraged to meet at least once between Annual Conference times; some IGs meet in person while others hold their meetings online. Most produce at least one continuing education event each year, usually one or more programs at Annual Conference. Some organize events outside of conference, generally focusing on training or discussion of “hot topics” (e.g. a workshop on “Teenage Literacy”, jointly sponsored by three Sections and the WLA Board’s Literacy Committee). Some publish newsletters with information of interest to members (e.g. IFIG’s covers developments relating to Intellectual Freedom). All function as support groups for their members, keeping communication alive among library staff who may feel isolated or unsupported in the rest of their professional lives.

The Sections work together in the Section Council [By-Laws Art. XIII, Section 6A] “to plan, promote and coordinate Section activities, to assure that Section continuing education activities correlate with the priorities of the WLA Continuing Education Council or its successor, to review proposed fees for continuing education and training, and to orient new Section representatives to WLA planning, reporting and fiscal policies and procedures.” The Section Council is composed of one voting representative of each Section and meets at least annually.

In addition to their own activities, the Sections have a role to play in the general governance of WLA. Since they provide a large proportion of WLA’s continuing education effort, they are represented on the WLA Executive Board, the Publications Council, the Continuing Education Council, and the Conference Planning Committee by a Coordinator for Interest Groups. This person is appointed by the Section Council to a two-year term [By-Laws, Article XIII, Section 6B]. The Coordinator for Sections transmits information from the Sections to these groups and brings back their perspectives to the Sections.

The Section representatives and the Section Coordinators all cooperate closely with the WLA Association Coordinator, who has responsibility of supporting all WLA officers in their jobs.

HISTORY OF WLA INTEREST GROUPS (Now called Sections)
The current structure of Sections was set up in 1971. For a number of years WLA had maintained “sections”, which allowed members to come together for a common purpose with the backing and support implied by association with WLA. In 2016, membership approved changing the structure to once again call them "Sections."
  • 1971 – The New Directions Committee of WLA recommended the replacement of “sections” with “interest groups,” organized on the basis of several categories of activity: 1) Type of library: school, public, academic, special; 2) Type of service: reference, technical services, interlibrary loan, audio-visual; 3) Age of patron: children, young adult, adult, special populations; and 4) Cross-disciplinary: for those persons whose interest is outside the foregoing three. The intent of the New Directions Committee was to make it as simple as possible for people to function together in a common interest and not be hemmed in by legalities more than is necessary. Likewise, the WLA Executive Board should not be hemmed in by legalities in regulating the Interest Groups.
  • 1972 – The WLA By-Laws were amended to eliminate “sections” and establish “interest groups”.
  • 1975 – The Interest Group Council, composed of IG chairs, was first formed.
  • 1978 – The IG Representative was given voting status on the Executive Board.
  • 1979 – The IG Council voted to make the second highest candidate for IG Representative the official replacement should a need arise.
  • 1984 – The IG Council voted to start the term of all chairpersons beginning at the Annual Conference, with elections done by mail prior to the Conference or at the IG’s Business Meeting at the Conference. New Chairs take office at the Annual Conference.
  • 1995 – The Executive Board proposed a restructuring of WLA’s continuing education activity. The Board consolidated grantmaking authority in the CE Council (which includes IG representation), so that the IG Council no longer had to disburse special grant funds. This reduced the IG Council’s workload, enabling it to concentrate on its other tasks. Restructuring also changed the title of the IG Representative to the Coordinator for Interest Groups.
  • 2016 – WLA Membership voted to approve amendments to the Bylaws to rename Interest Groups to Sections. 
GUIDELINES FOR SECTIONS
The Executive Board welcomes and encourages the concept of Sections in the structure of the Washington Library Association and intends to give them as much autonomy as possible as part of the larger organization. The following guidelines are informational in content and are designed to assist both the Executive Board and the Sections toward better communication.

GENERAL POSITION:
Sections are concerned with specific areas of interest within the total library and information field. WLA as a whole (or as represented by the Board) is concerned with areas of common interests and with addressing the common problems of all types of libraries.

FORMATION AND GOVERNANCE OF SECTIONS:
ARTICLE XIII , Sections 1-8 of the WLA Bylaws describes all actions necessary for the formation, governance and dissolution of Sections. Membership in any Section is open to any member of WLA.

AUTONOMY OF SECTIONS:
The self-determination of the Section membership is an essential part of the Section concept. Therefore, a Section may shape and change its internal structure as long as it remains in compliance with the WLA bylaws. Sections may choose any of a number of ways to communicate and provide for the continuing education needs of its members. These might include print and/or on-line newsletters, business meetings, workshops and/or programs at the Annual Conference.

COMMUNICATION OF INTEREST GROUP CONCERNS:
Interest Groups may express viewpoints within the Association as Interest Group positions. They may request an endorsement of a position by the WLA Executive Board and, upon approval, the Association President in consultation with the Interest Group Chair and the Coordinator of Communications, shall determine the method of publicly communicating the position and shall designate an Association spokesperson.

An Interest Group statement not consistent with a WLA-endorsed position may not be publicly communicated, orally or in writing, outside Association membership. Before communicating within the Association, any such statement must be forwarded to the President, Vice-President/President-Elect, Coordinator of Communications, and Interest Group Coordinator for their information.

These guidelines are not intended to prohibit a WLA member from expressing a personal viewpoint or statement that is represented as a personal viewpoint, not that of WLA or a WLA Interest Group.

LEGISLATIVE ADVOCACY:
The WLA Executive Board shall provide legislative advocacy in areas which may be of direct concern to particular Interest Groups. Interest groups wishing support of the Legislative Liaison should contact the Coordinator of Interest Groups and the Association President. The President will work with the Legislative Planning Committee in determining if there is a role for the Legislative Liaison.

ANNUAL CONFERENCE
The Conference Committee has the primary responsibility for planning the annual conference. A sub-group, the Conference Program Committee, lays out the program schedule, arranges for conference-wide programs (dinners, keynote speakers, etc.), and coordinates programs offered and meetings held by the Interest Groups and other sub-units of WLA, so that all of the activities fit into the available time, space, and other resources. To facilitate this massive process, the Conference Program Committee usually asks Interest Groups to begin planning the programs for each conference a year or more in advance. The Committee supplies a timetable and forms for program proposals, and appoints members to work with IGs in bringing their plans to final form. Most IGs discuss plans for the following conference during their business meetings at Annual Conference, beginning with a “brainstorm” and then selecting the best ideas. They then appoint program chairs to draw up proposals for submission to Conference Committee. Annual Conference is also a good place for networking with other IGs which may share common interests, making possible the joint sponsorship of programs. Conference program committees tend to favor jointly-sponsored programs because they tend to draw larger, more-diverse audiences than singly-sponsored ones. As the representative of the IGs the IG Coordinator serves on the Conference Program Committee (and thus on its parent Conference Committee). S/he will ensure that each IG’s proposals are carefully considered and fitted into the overall plan for the conference. S/he also confers with IG program chairs to modify the proposals, if necessary, to ensure their success.

Most important: no program plans can be considered final until the Conference Committee has approved both the program and its funding, so DO NOT PROMISE ANYTHING to proposed speakers, panelists, or members before then. The Association President must sign all contracts (the Association Coordinator will facilitate this process.)

NEWSLETTER PRODUCTION
One of the most important means of communication available to each IG Chair is his/her IG’s newsletter. WLA has a budget line for IG newsletters under Budget Category B, Postage, Newsletters. Note that this is separate from the IG’s membership-generated funds. IG chairs or newsletter editors must request newsletter funding as part of the regular budget process. Newsletter Funding Request Form

If you have access to desktop publishing capability or can otherwise produce your own camera-ready copy, one way to produce your newsletter is through the WLA Office. Check with the office for current copying and mailing charges before production. Some groups have been able to have production done by a library; determine what costs if any attach to that choice The association maintains a bulk mail account. Mailings in excess of 200 copies can take advantage of that slightly lower postage rate. Mail to be sent bulk must have a bulk account imprint where a stamp normally goes & must be mailed from the association office and use its address as the return address. Copy to be produced and/or mailed by the WLA office must arrive at the Office in time for one of the quarterly deadlines: The Association Executive Director will post those deadlines on the WLA Calendar. Within two weeks of each deadline, the Association Coordinator will make the appropriate number of copies and mail them to the IG membership list and to the WLA Board.

Interest groups are also encouraged to post their newsletters on their web pages linked to the WLA web site. IG Web Guidelines & the WLA Web Guidelines can be accessed directly. The Association Executive Director will be happy to answer questions or assist your group with this process.