Excerpted from the Manual of Duties and Responsibilities, with annotations
PART 4: DELEGATES
Term of office:
Delegates are elected biennially, in odd-numbered years, by the SUNYLA members at each local SUNY unit.
Elected delegates shall assume their duties at the first meeting of the Council after the Annual Meeting of the Membership following their election.
Election procedure:
If a unit has only one Regular Member, that member shall be the Delegate.
The Delegate whose term of office is expiring shall conduct the local unit election.
- A reminder will be sent by the 1st VP and/or Secretary in the spring.
Where there is no delegate, the local unit shall designate an Association member to conduct the election of a Delegate.
If a Delegate is elected as an Officer of the Association, the local unit may hold an election for a new Delegate. However, the Officer may act as the Delegate if the local unit so designates.
Duties and responsibilities:
1. Newly elected Delegates shall forward results of the election immediately to the 1st Vice President of the Association, or notify the 1st Vice President of any change in the Delegate.
- The 1st Vice President will make sure you get added to the Council listserv (SUNYLAC). Look through the SUNYLA website. Familiarize yourself especially with the Delegate Toolkit. If you have questions or suggestions, forward them to the 1st Vice President or the Secretary. Send website corrections to web@sunyla.org.
2. Are encouraged to attend Council Meetings and the Annual Meeting of the Membership, or designate an alternate to attend in his or her absence.
- Delegates are members of the Council; meetings are set by the President in consultation with other officers and/or the Council; usually March, June (at the Conference), September, & November; can usually attend the meetings virtually if you can’t be there in person.
3. Notify members in Delegate’s unit of all meetings and make the agendas available to them.
- Suggestion: set reminders at the beginning of the year to remind you of the meetings and to look for the agenda & distribute.
4. Route or distribute copies of all minutes to members in Delegate’s unit.
- Suggestion: create an email distribution list. Set reminders at the beginning of the year to remind you of the meetings and to distribute minutes. Don’t just forward the minutes, personalize the message & include a list of the major points. If there is something of particular interest for an individual or local committee, make a point of talking with them about it.
5. Keep members well informed on SUNYLA activities and issues.
- When President sends out a notice, it is the responsibility of Delegates to follow up.
6. Submit news items, articles, announcements and other items of interest from the unit to the newsletter editor(s) for inclusion in the SUNYLA Newsletter.
- Suggestion: set early deadlines & reminders at the beginning of the year to remind you to get stories from your library. Meet with some or all of your staff members (it doesn’t need to be members) to brainstorm and think about all that you’ve done and plan to do. Give yourself plenty of time to let folks write, then collect it and edit. For examples of stories, see the old SUNYLA newsletters online. Campus updates for meetings are typically briefer than those for the newsletter, though that is at the discretion of the individual delegate/library.
7. Recruit members from the Delegate’s unit.
- Suggestion: Make it a point to meet with new hires. Send them a link to the latest newsletter, or maybe to one featuring something they’d be particularly interested in.
8. Promote SUNYLA membership and communicate changes to the Membership Development Chair.
- Note: the membership year is twelve months beginning from receipt of dues. See Article 17 of the bylaws for the exact term. Don’t forget to keep your own membership current! Dues can also be paid online via PayPal.
9. Distribute and collect SUNYLA ballots from unit’s members at each spring’s election, and forward to Secretary.
- The Secretary will include instructions when he/she sends the ballots.
10. Distribute exit surveys to librarians leaving local unit and encourage them to complete it and send to Chairperson of Personnel Policies Committee.
11. Perform such other duties as assigned.