Dear Law-Libbers,
By now most AALL members should have received the April AALL Newsletter
which includes the text of the proposed revision of the BYLAWS OF THE
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF LAW LIBRARIES.
An edited version of the following report will appear in the May 1994
AALL Newsletter. It has been suggested that this report also be posted on
Law-Lib, so that comments and reactions might be solicited in
advance of the AALL business meetings in Seattle. We invite discussion.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
! !
! REPORT on the !
! !
! INTEGRATION of AALL's GOVERNANCE DOCUMENTS !
! !
! by !
! Alva T. Stone !
! Chair, Constitution & Bylaws Committee !
! !
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In April the AALL newsletter contained the text of the proposed
revision of The Bylaws of the American Association of Law Libraries. This
document represents a merger of the AALL Constitution and its Bylaws.
The Committee on Constitution and Bylaws drafted the integrated document
at the request of AALL President Kay Todd. It will be discussed this
July during the AALL business meetings in Seattle. members will be able
to vote on the new document later in the year. The following explanations
are offered to help the members evaluate the revision.
First, the title is "The Bylaws." The AALL Executive Board
prefers this title because of its simplicity and its consistency with the
recommendation in Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised.
Second, the articles and sections are generally arranged in
the same order as in the current Constitution and in the current Bylaws,
with two exceptions. The "Antidiscrimination" article was moved from the
end of the document to the beginning, and the dues provisions that were
previously scattered have been moved to a single new section.
Third, some stylistic changes were made. Gender-neutral language
is used. References to "section" or "SIS" were changed to "special
interest section." "Convention" was revised to "annual meeting," and
"business session of the annual meeting" changed to "business meeting of
the association." A few section captions were made clearer, and many
captions added where they had been lacking before. Discrepancies in
capitalization and in the punctuation of subsection letters were also
resolved.
Fourth, some provisions were reworded to correct errors or reflect
current practices. In the sections on Individual Members and Student
Members within the Membership article, the words "shall become a ...
member" are changed to "may become a ... member" because it is possible
that a person could be eligible for either class of membership. The
proposed document makes an explicit statement that honorary members pay
no dues. In regard to the Executive Board's ability to increase dues levels
according to percentage increases in the gross national product, the AALL
treasurer advised us that this should be changed to "Gross Domestic Product
Index Deflator." In the article on meetings, the title of Robert's Rules
is changed to Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised. We added the word
"designated" before "institutional associate members" in the Special
Interest Sections article. In the Chapters article, the provision referring
to a chapter's "constitution (and bylaws, if any)" has been changed to
"bylaws (and constitution, if any)" because most chapters having a single
governance instrument call it "the bylaws."
Fifth, substantive changes were made to the article on Amendment
of the Bylaws. This was necessary because the provisions for
amending the existing Constitution and those for amending the
existing Bylaws are quite different, and thus cannot simply be
merged. To amend the existing Bylaws, any voting member may introduce a
motion at the first AALL business meeting; the amendment is adopted if
approved by two-thirds of the voting members at another business meeting
at least one day later. To amend the existing Constitution requires a
proposal from the Executive Board or a petition signed by 10% of the voting
members; in either case the proposal to amend the Constitution requires
notification 30 days prior to the annual meeting and voting by mail ballot
following the meeting.
The AALL President charged the committee to "determine
the best way to provide for amendment, to ensure flexibility, but
to protect the document from frivolous or ephemeral amendments."
After numerous drafts and discussions with the committee, the Board
approved the version of article 12 that was printed in the April 1994
issue of AALL Newsletter.
Under the Board-approved procedure, amendments to the new
integrated Bylaws may be proposed by the Executive Board or by a
petition signed by 5% of voting members. The secretary must
receive amendment proposals at least 90 days before the annual
meeting, and notify the members at least 60 days before the
meeting. The proposed amendment is to be discussed and voted upon
during the AALL business meetings, and will be adopted if approved
by two-thirds of members present and voting, unless 5% or more
members eligible to vote have signed a petition requesting a mail
ballot. (Those petitions must be received by the secretary before
the beginning of the business meeting at which the amendment vote
is to be called.) The procedures for mail balloting are
essentially the same as in the current Bylaws, except that
reference to a committee on elections has been eliminated, to
reflect recent practice.
***************
(Readers of the AALL Newsletter report will be invited to send comments
and suggestions to me or to other members of the Committee on Constitution
and Bylaws. However, if there is no objection, we would like to invite
Law-Lib subscribers who are also AALL members to post their comments,
questions, criticisms, ideas, etc. to this list, for everyone's
consideration. This is not meant to take the place of debate at the
upcoming Seattle business meetings, of course. But any reactions we can
gather now may be very helpful for our realization of potential problems and
possible solutions.)
Thanks for your time and consideration! -- Alva T. Stone, chair
Constitution & Bylaws
____________________________________________________________________
Alva T. Stone
Law Library Internet: atstone@law.fsu.edu
Florida State University fax: 904-644-5216
Tallahassee, FL 32306-1043 tel: 904-644-2881
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