ALISS: Association of LIS Students

ALISS Constitution

Article I – Name

 

Section 1

The name of this organization will be the Association of Library and Information Science Students [ALISS] at the University of Washington.

 

Article II – Purpose

 

Section 1

The purposes of this organization will be:

 

  1. To function as a student government.
  2. To provide official channels for communication between students, faculty, and administration of the Information School.
  3. To provide opportunity for social, cultural, and professional activities.

 

Article III – Membership

 

Section 1

Admission to the graduate program in Library and Information Science at the University of Washington, and enrollment therein, will be the sole eligibility requirement for regular membership.

 

Article IV – Executive Officers

 

Section 1

The executive offices of this organization will be the (Co-)President(s), Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Communications Officer, Online Representative(s), First-Year Representative(s), IDEAS Representative(s), and Law Librarianship Representative. To ensure a smooth transition and the integrity of this organization’s institutional memory, all officers, except for First-Year Representatives, shall serve from the quarter they are elected to the end of the following spring quarter.

 

Section 2

The duties of the officers will be as follows:

  • (Co-)President: The duties of the President are to: (1) call official meetings of the organization and to preside at such meetings; (2) be responsible for the administration of any business of the organization; (3) appoint GPSS senators; (4) represent the MLIS student body in meetings of the faculty and other events as needed; (5) serve as general liaison between iSchool administration and MLIS students; (6) communicate with student leaders of other iSchool programs; (7) run Fall and Spring quarter elections for ALISS and other interested student organizations; (8) assemble a committee to accept nominations and honor one online and one residential MLIS student at the graduation ceremony.

 

  • Vice President: The duties of the Vice President are to (1) assume the duties of the President in the event of that officer’s absence; (2) organize or delegate responsibility for social events, (3) act as liaison to other student groups or committees as necessary.

 

  • Secretary: The duties of the Secretary are to: (1) maintain ALISS records and internal correspondence; (2) organize and delegate responsibility for the Book Sale; (3) will serve
    concurrently as the chair for the Book Sale committee and will serve in this capacity until its completion.

 

  • Treasurer: The duties of the Treasurer are to (1) maintain ALISS financial records; (2) provide quarterly financial reports to the executive officers; (3) coordinate payments and reimbursements; (4) and maintain the Student Lounge and ALISS storage space(s).

 

  • Communications Officer: The duties of the Communications Officer are to: (1) coordinate marketing efforts for ALISS events; (2) produce and post publicity in appropriate ways; (3) maintain the ALISS website; (4) serve as liaison with the Student Activities Office; (5) maintain the organization’s visibility with the iSchool community; (6) attend Communications Review Board meetings twice a quarter .

 

  • Online Student Representative(s): The duties of the Online Student Representative(s) are to: (1) gather input from online students; (2) act as a voice for online students within the iSchool; (3) serve as a liaison between online students and MLIS administrators; (4) facilitate a sense of cohesion for online students and a sense of belonging to the iSchool community.

 

  • First-Year Representative(s): The duties of the First Year Representatives are to: (1) gather general input from residential and online students about their first-year experience; (2) attend networking, iSchool, and iOrg events to pass information on to other first-year students; (3) communicate concerns and problem areas in the first-year experience to the Executive Officers and iSchool administration; (4) work with iSchool administration on outreach to admitted students. First-Year Representatives must be members of the incoming cohort.

 

  • IDEAS Representative(s): The duties of the IDEAS Representative(s) are to (1) serve on the iSchool IDEAS Steering Committee; (2) communicate concerns and problems regarding IDEAS in the program to the Executive Officers and iSchool administration; and (3) serve as a point of contact for students to communicate their IDEAS and equity concerns or issues.

 

  • Law Librarianship Representative: The duties of the Law Librarianship Representative are to: (1) gather input from law librarianship students; (2) act as a voice for law librarianship students in the iSchool; (3) serve as a liaison between law librarianship students and MLIS administrators; and (4) facilitate a sense of cohesion among law librarianship students and cultivate a sense of belonging within the iSchool community.

 

The executive officers form a leadership team (the Executive Board). As a team, duties may be shared and rearranged as needed to accomplish the work of the organization.

 

Section 3

Any member of the association may be nominated or elected to an executive office. Candidates may be part of the residential or online program as long as they can fulfill the duties of the position.

 

Section 4

The term of all officers except for First-Year Representatives shall be five school quarters. The term shall start after spring elections and finish at the end of the following spring quarter.

 

Section 5

The term of office of First-Year Representatives will begin on the day immediately following the end of elections for that position and will conclude on the last day of the following Summer Quarter. This ensures they are available to support incoming students through the summer and orientation.

 

Article V – Elections of Executive Officers

 

Section 1

Elections for executive officers, except for First-Year Representatives, will be held in the Spring Quarter. Elections for First-Year Representatives will be held no later than the last full week of the Fall Quarter. Fall elections should also serve to fill any vacancy on the Executive Board.

 

Section 1.1

The current executive officers must solicit candidates during the quarter and post the candidates’ names via an online ballot. Candidates must be members of ALISS and may nominate themselves or be nominated by another member. Candidates must confirm their nomination by submitting a campaign statement. The duration of the nomination period will be no less than seven days. In the event that no nominations have been made for one or more positions in any organization, the nominations for all those positions will remain open for seven more days. Voting must begin by the ninth week of fall quarter, with subsequent elections happening no later than the ninth week of spring quarter.

 

Section 1.2

Voting will be held during the week following completion of nominations. The duration of the voting period will be no less than five days. The current executive officers must publish the campaign statements for all candidates during the voting period. The ballot will provide a choice for a write-in candidate for each position, even if a candidate is running unopposed. The votes will be tallied for each position during the days following the voting period. The candidate for each position with the most votes will be selected as officer-elect for that position. Officers-elect will be announced during the week following voting. In the event that the top candidates for a position receive an equal number of votes, a run-off election will be held for that position during the week following the initial voting period.

 

Section 2

Vacancies may be filled by special election at the discretion of the executive officers. Special elections should follow the same timeline for nominations and voting as standard elections, per Article V Sections 1.1 and 1.2. Special elections may be held ad hoc throughout the year.

 

Section 3

All regular members will be eligible to vote. Electronic ballot will be the method.

 

Section 4

In the event that executive positions are unable to be filled during the election process, remaining executive officers may fill the vacant positions by appointment. New executive appointments must be voted on by the remaining Executive Officers.

 

Article VI – Committees and Appointments

 

Section 1

The iSchool has many committees in which student members are needed. Such committees include, but are not limited to, the following: Admissions Committee, Curriculum Committee, Research and Colloquium Committee and IDEAS Steering Committee, as well as various ad hoc committees. At the request of the committee chair, the ALISS Executive Officers may assist in the selection of student committee members.

 

Section 2

The process for selecting and appointing members of student committees will be at the discretion of the committee chair.

 

Section 3

The executive officers may create ad hoc committees for conducting ALISS business as required. In the past such committees included Book Sale Committee and iGala Committee.

 

Section 4

The President will appoint two GPSS Senators to represent the iSchool during Fall Quarter. Nominations will be taken at least 5 days prior to appointment. Senators must be from the MLIS program. The duties of the GPSS Senators are to: 1) Inform and encourage involvement in UW campus-wide issues and events; 2) To represent the concerns and needs of iSchool graduate students to the GPSS; 3) Be responsible for applying for departmental funds and represent the majority of their constituency in deciding how these funds are used; 4) Be responsible for assisting GPSS in recruiting and placing qualified graduate students as representatives to university committees; and 4) To fulfill any of the duties as outlined in the GPSS Constitution or Bylaws.

 

Article VII – Meetings

 

Section 1

Meetings of this organization will be held on the Call of the President. Town Hall meetings must be held at least once per quarter and at least five days’ notice must be given to members. Notice shall consist of postings on the iSchool calendar, ALISS-operated social media accounts, and via email by posting on iSchool listserv.

 

Section 1.1

To facilitate communication between iSchool administration and the students, it is recommended that administration be present for a portion of every Town Hall meeting. Standing invitations are extended to the MLIS Program Chair, the MLIS Academic Advisor, the Dean of Academics, and the Dean of the Information School.

 

Section 2

A quorum for Town Hall meetings will consist of no less than 6 or , including executive officers, committee representatives, and regular members present at a regularly scheduled or other appropriately announced meeting.

 

Section 3

The President may call closed meetings of the executive officers for discussion of items for presentation to the regular association members. A quorum for decisions made by Executive Officers will consist of no less than 4 officers. Decisions will be made by majority vote of the officers in the quorum.

 

Article VIII – Advisor

 

Section 1

There will be one faculty advisor who will be a member ex officio, without a vote.

 

Section 2

By default, the advisor will be the current MLIS faculty chair. If the chair wishes, another advisor will be selected and voted upon by current Executive Officers.

To identify a potential advisor, Executive Officers will contact a faculty member and discuss their vision for ALISS. If the faculty member is willing to serve as advisor, officers will vote. A majority vote by Executive Officers appoints the advisor who will serve for the full term.

 

Section 3

The duties of the advisor will be:

 

  1. To advise and assist in class organization and activities of the association.
  2. To serve as a personal ombudsman to students on matters other than those related to courses.
  3. To act as liaison between the administration of the Information School and the members of this association.

 

Article IX – Amendment

 

Section 1

The constitution may be amended by a majority vote of the regular members (as defined in Article III, Section 1) by electronic ballot.

 

Section 2

Advance notice of proposed amendment(s) will be made via the ALISS social media accounts and iSchool listservs.

 

Section 3

Members will have no less than one week to review the proposed amendment(s) and to communicate their acceptance/rejection via electronic ballot.

 

Section 4

Any member can propose an amendment to the by-laws by submitting it in writing (print or email) to an executive officer. The executive officers will consider the proposed amendment and respond to the member in writing within a reasonable time frame. If the member is not satisfied with the outcome, they may petition the ALISS faculty advisor to act as mediator between the member and the officers.

 

Article X – Operation of the Organization

 

Section 1

Detailed guidelines for running the ALISS organization are contained within the ALISS Guidebook. Each executive officer must have access to a current copy of this document.

 

Section 2

Any member may have access to the ALISS Guidebook upon request.

 

Section 3

As an Executive Officer’s term comes to a close, they are responsible for updating the ALISS Guidebook to reflect the previous year’s activities. An updated version of the document must be presented to the incoming officers by the first day of the new term.

 

Article XI – Removal of Officers

 

Section 1

Should any member or members of ALISS file a complaint about an officer, the Executive Officers will gather at the earliest opportunity to review the complaint and decide how to move forward.

 

Section 2

With a quorum, a majority of the Executive Officers present can call a special election, as per Article V, Section 2, to ask the membership whether to remove the officer from office. Arguments for both sides will accompany the ballot. If most of the votes favor removal, the officer will be removed from their position.

 

Section 3

Any former officer remains eligible to run for office in future ALISS elections