The LITA Board met on Friday, August 15th for their first board meeting after ALA Annual in Las Vegas and under the new leadership of LITA President Rachel Vacek. Three major topics on the agenda were 1) the 2015 Budget; 2) the creation and disbanding of some LITA committees; and 3) an overview of the upcoming LITA Kitchen Table Conversations.
The revised 2015 LITA budget and accompanying summary were well received thanks to the great work of our new Financial Advisory Committee. Special thanks goes to Andrew Pace, Susan Sharpless Smith, Mary Taylor, and especially FAC Chair Zoe Stewart-Marshall for all their hard work. The vote to accept the budget passed.
Jason Griffey, the Bylaws and Organization Committee Chair and who serves as an Ex Officio member of the Board as our Parliamentarian, provided the Board with updates from the Bylaws Committee. The Board voted to disband both the Technology & Access Committee and the International Relations Committee due to this work being done now at the ALA level, which wasn’t the case when these two committees were created years ago. Also, because of the delay in which the draft charge was presented to the Board, the discussion and vote for the creation of the Communications Committee will take place online in ALA Connect for the week after the meeting. The charge has to be reviewed from the Bylaws Committee since it is a standing committee. However, the LITA 50th Anniversary Task Force doesn’t require a Bylaws approval, just a vote from the Board. (LITA will be celebrating its 50th Anniversary in 2016, so be on the lookout for fun times ahead!)
Finally, Rachel Vacek, President, and Thomas Dowling, Vice-President, presented to the Board an overview of a series of virtual and in-person informal conversations they will be having with the LITA membership over the remainder of the year. This will be a great opportunity to let members voice their thoughts about the current strategic goals of LITA as well as ALA’s goals and their overarching strategic planning process.
Board member Aimee Fifarek recorded action items from the meeting and will also be sharing those in Connect and on the Board’s listserv. We also discussed several other topics for the next board meeting which will take place in either September or early October. And I’m pleased to say we even finished the meeting a few minutes early.
For more details, here is the agenda and the accompanying documents from the meeting, all of which are available on ALA Connect:
- LITA Board Meeting Agenda
- Revised 2015 LITA Budget
- Explanatory Summary of Revised 2015 LITA Budget
- LITA Goals 2013-2015
- ALA Strategic Planning Process
- Draft charge for Communications Committee
- Draft charge for 50th Anniversary Task Force
New LITA Staff member Mark Beatty took notes and those will be approved and posted soon to ALA Connect, too. We also have an audio recording of the meeting if you care to listen.
If you have any questions about the meeting, the work of the Board, or about LITA in general, feel free to contact me at vacekrae at gmail dot com and I’m also on twitter. I’m always happy to talk with anyone about how to improve the LITA member experience.
Thanks,
Rachel Vacek, LITA President 2014-2015