NASIG COMMITTEE CHAIRS ORIENTATION MANUAL

Prepared by Joyce Tenney and Steve Savage, with contributions from numerous Board members and committee Chairs.

This first draft of a Chairs Manual is intended to cover most items usually discussed during the Chairs Meeting during the annual conference. Information included here will not be discussed during this meeting this year unless you bring questions or comments about them with you, so be sure to read this thoroughly before the meeting. Please also keep note of any sections which are not clear, seem incomplete, or any other information which might be helpful to add to the next version of this manual.

Throughout this document, “chair” and “chairperson” are used to represent cases of either single chair positions or co-chairs, for committees, teams, task forces, working groups, etc. It is up to each set of co-chairs to work out how they will divide chair responsibilities between them.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Expectations for Committee Chairs
    A. Committee Chair’s role
    B. Role of the Executive Board Liaison
    C. Reports—when and what format
    D. Letterhead stationary
    E. Meeting times for committees at conference
     F. Conference calls
2. NASIG Working Calendar
3. NASIG Treasurer information
    A. Procedures for annual budget requests
    B. Reimbursement and Compensation Policy
    C. Forms
4. NASIG Newsletter
    A. Purpose of the Newsletter
    B. Submission Deadlines
    C. Format
    D. Publication Schedule
5. Publicist
6. Electronic Communications
    A. NASIG Lists
        1. Committee list
        2. List archive
        3. Chairs List
        4. Public e-mail address
    B. NASIGWeb
7. NASIG Archives
8. Importance of working with your Executive Board Liaison
9. Thanks!
Appendix: Important URLs
Attachments: Treasurer Documents (to be distributed during the Chairs Meeting; not included in the html version of this manual; links to some of these are in the appendix)
    A. Budget Request Form
    B. NASIG Travel Expense Check Request Form
    C. NASIG Non-Travel Expense Check Request Form

1. Expectations for Committee Chairs

A. Committee Chair’s Role in NASIG

NASIG functions almost entirely by committees. The most crucial element responsible for a committee’s success or failure is its chair(s). Consequently, the importance of chairpersons functioning well cannot be overestimated—you are extremely important!

There are no guidelines for how to manage your committee. As usual with any committee chair position, you will need to find a style that works best for you, your committee members, and your Board Liaison. The most crucial facet of any successful chairship is to thoroughly understand your committee’s charge, it’s most recent history (via annual reports and other reports to the Board during the past 1-2 years, at least), the Board’s expectations of the committee, how the committee fits in NASIG’s structure and how it relates to other committees, and your committee members’ skills and commitment to the group.

Your Board liaison will be available to help if you or your committee encounters any problems during the year. This particularly includes cases of committee members who are not participating adequately, or disrupting the group’s process. If you think a committee member should be removed—whether or not a replacement would be needed—discuss this with your Board Liaison sooner rather than later. The longer you wait to address such problems, the more difficult a resolution may be.

B. Role of the Executive Board Liaison

Your Board Liaison’s purpose consists of many facets:

• serving as a conduit of information between the Board and the committee chair
• providing support, assistance, and guidance to the chair
• provide problem-solving assistance as needed, esp. with major issues such as problem committee members or clarifying expectations of the Board
• referring the chair to other appropriate committees, etc., as needed
• assisting the chair with understanding NASIG policies and procedures
• etc.

The Board Liaison is not, however, a committee co-chair or a committee member. In extremely rare and troublesome cases of a chairperson who is not handling the chair’s duties well, the Board Liaison may have to step in and function to a small or large degree as the committee’s chair.

You should expect to work very closely, and be in frequent contact with, your Board Liaison. Both you and the Liaison will need this in order to handle responsibilities well. If your Board Liaison is not providing the assistance or support you feel is necessary, discuss this situation with the NASIG President sooner rather than later.

C. Reports- When and What Format (NASIG Working Calendar)

Reports about your committee’s work since its last Board report will be due to your Board Liaison at least several days prior to each Board meeting. For the Board meeting that takes place during the annual conference, this report is the committee’s Annual Report. For all other Board meetings, these are less formal, less comprehensive update reports. Deadlines for submitting reports are announced by the NASIG President well beforehand. Other reports may be requested by the Board, the President, or your Board Liaison as needed.

Each committee should have a template for its reports to the Board. Using this eliminates a lot of hassles for the Board and also supports tracking information consistently over time, which is helpful to everyone.

D. Letterhead Stationary- Supplied by NASIG Secretary

The NASIG Secretary will send NASIG stationary (letterhead, envelopes, etc.) as requested. Be sure to request stationary several weeks in advance, in case the Secretary’s supply is already low and more must be ordered from our printer.

E. Meeting Times for Committees at Conference

Committee meetings during the annual conference are for the coming year’s committee members and are run by the coming year’s chair. Minutes for these meetings should be recorded; soon after the conference they should be reviewed and finalized by the committee members before sending a copy to the Archivist.

Approximately one month prior to the conference contact CPC to let them know if you will be meeting at the conference and the approximate number of committee member that will be attending.

Confidentiality of committee discussions and actions is very important. This includes all discussions on the committee listserv and any interactions with the Executive Board. It is very important that all committee members be aware of this.

Confidentiality of discussions and exchanges in the committees and within the Executive Board, is the key to creating an environment where everyone can participate fully and honestly. This need for confidentiality exists at the committee and Executive Board level. All must be aware of this and abide by it at all times.

F. Conference calls

NASIG supports use of conference calls by committees. Your Board Liaison will provide instructions. Be sure to let the NASIG Treasurer know about each conference call before or soon after it happens so it will not be questioned when it appears on NASIG’s monthly phone bill.

NASIG Committee Guidelines

http://www.nasig.org/public/committee.guidelines.htmlInformation on specific committees and committee membership

http://www.nasig.org/committees.index.htm - This site lists the NASIG committees and gives access to their individual pages.

2. NASIG Working Calendar

http://www.nasig.org/public/execccal.htm

This is the master calendar for all committees and the Board. Timelines and responsibilities are listed in this document. The NASIG Secretary controls this document. Any needed changes to this calendar should be conveyed to your Executive Board Liaison.

Please review this calendar monthly. Report deadlines and routine duties of the committees are listed in this document. Also, this document shows the interactions of the various committees and any joint timelines that must be considered.

The calendar is based on the annual conference taking place in June. For years when this is not the case, all events listed may occur slightly earlier than stated. Check with your Board Liaison if you have questions related to this.

3. NASIG Treasurer Information

A. Procedures for annual budget requests are detailed in the NASIG Committee

Guidelines, Section 4.0. (http://www.nasig.org/public/committee.guidelines.html)

Budget request are due to the Treasurer and the Executive Board Liaison by October 1 each year. The Treasurer will send you the following information: Budget Request Form, current-year to date expenditures, previous year’s total expenditures and allocations, definitions of budget categories. Questions about preparing your committee’s budget should be directed to your Executive Board Liaison first. If additional information is needed, the Treasurer may need to be contacted. Any line item request that is a 2% or more increase from last year must be accompanied by a justification for the increase. Each line item should be considered carefully in terms of what the committee will need to operate for the following year. The 2006 budget year will be the first budget under the new financial plan, so allow for refining of procedures and guidelines.

NOTE: An important component of the Financial Plan adopted in early 2005 is revision of the annual budgeting process. Please be mindful and patient that this process may evolve during the next few years. Do not hesitate to ask your Board Liaison any questions about this.

B. Reimbursement and Compensation Policy

http://www.nasig.org/public/reimbursement_policy.htm

Please read and review the NASIG Compensation Policy. Ask each of your committee members to review the policy at the beginning of the year. It is important that all committee members understand and follow this policy.

C. Forms

http://www.nasig.org/forms/index.htm

Expense forms and other important documents are stored on this section of the NASIG website. Two very important forms are the NASIG Travel Expense Check Request and the NASIG Non Travel Expense Check Request. All expenses are to be submitted on these official voucher forms. These forms must be signed by Committee Chair and forwarded to the Treasurer for payment. Any extraordinary expenses not covered in the approved budget must be approved beforehand and submitted to the committee chair, who must seek approval from the Board for the expenditure. Questions about expenditures should be directed to your Executive Board Liaison.

4. NASIG Newsletter

http://nasig.org/newsletters/index.html

A. Purpose of the Newsletter

Sharing of information about the activities of the organization (including committee activities, individual accomplishments, and annual reports), as well as serials-related information. Chairs are encouraged to urge their committee members to consider providing reports of conferences or workshops that have a serials component.

B. Submission Deadlines

One month prior to publication. Editor-in-Chief will send out a reminder about the deadline 6-8 weeks prior to publication.

C. Format

Reports should be submitted as attachments to email in Word or .RFT format. Identify the author(s) of the article. Annual reports should be provided using the established template for your committee.

D. Publication Schedule

July/Aug (special issue for Committee Annual Reports), September, December, March, May

5. Publicist

All external communications concerning NASIG and NASIG sponsored activities must be approved and communicated through the NASIG Publicist. External communications are any communications outside of NASIG-L. This means that email announcements to listservs and other channels of communication must come from the NASIG Publicist. The Publicist maintains email contact information for many serials and library related organizations and individuals. Ample turn around time should be given when asking for announcements to be made.

All membership brochure requests should be made to the Publicist. At least two weeks advance notice should be given on all brochure requests. The Publicist will not express mail brochure requests.

Any questions concerning brochures on announcements should be directed to your Executive Board Liaison.

6. Electronic Communications: NASIG lists and NASIGWEB

The Electronic Communications Committee is responsible for the set up and revisions of NASIGWEB and all of the NASIG Listservs. Each committee should have a web liaison to work with ECC on all electronic communication issues.

A. NASIG Lists

1. Committee lists

Each committee has its own listserv, which is managed for the committee by the ECC List Managers. Your list is private: only your committee members and Board Liaison are subscribed to the list. These are the only people who receive messages from the list, and, along with the NASIG President, are the only ones who may send messages to the list.

In June or July, each committee may be contacted for an updated list of committee members to be added to the committee listserv. Please respond to these requests with complete information and test your group’s list, once you have been told it is complete.

Most committee lists (CPC is a notable exception) allow sending of attachments, but have fairly restrictive limits on the size of such items. In most cases, a file roughly equivalent to a little more than 1 page in a Word document is the upper limit. (Using your committee’s private space in NASIGWeb (see below) is usually a better method for sharing larger files.)

2. List archive

Each committee list has its own archive, where all messages sent to, and distributed by, the list are retained until the archive is purged annually (usually in June-Aug.). Your Board liaison can provide the URL, user name, and password for accessing your list’s archive.

3. Chairs List

Chairs-l@nasig.org is a list for all committee chairs and Board members. It is used only for the infrequent cases of messages that need to go to many, or all, committee chairs. Any committee chair or Board member may send messages to this list. This list has its own archive.

4. Public e-mail address

Most committees also have a public address which may be used by non-committee members to send messages to the committee. Such messages are automatically delivered to the committee chair. These messages are not archived within NASIG’s systems.

B. NASIGWeb

NASIG’S website has a section for committee activities. Each standing committee has its own public page that includes its charge, roster of members, and in most cases a hot mailto link to the committee’s public address (not its list address, which is private).

In addition to the public pages, each committee can have a private space, where files are password protected to share information amongst the committee, only. Changes can be made either by the committee itself (usually by its web liaison) or by submitting requests to the ECC webspinner. Generally changes ECC batches these tasks and does them as their time allows, so if something is time sensitive, state it clearly on the request.

Be sure to familiarize yourself thoroughly with all other sections of NASIGWeb. There are many areas that contain information that may be helpful for your committee work.

7. NASIG Archives

All Committee Chairs are responsible for submitting their official documents and Executive Board Reports to the NASIG Archivist in one group just before or after the annual NASIG Conference. The official NASIG Archives are housed at the University of Illinois, however all potential archives material should be sent directly to the current NASIG Archivist, not to the University of Illinois. The NASIG Archivist for 2007-2009 is Sheryl Williams from University of Nebraska Medical Center.

If you are unsure about whether something should be sent to the Archives, please inquire of the current Archivist. Remember that it is far easier for the Archivist to turn down the offer of unneeded material than it is to track it down at a later date. Items that are considered of sufficient historical, legal, fiscal, and /or administrative value to warrant permanent preservation include, but are not limited to the following:

• Agenda (Executive Board only)
• Annual Reports and other final reports and documents*
• Artifacts from annual conference, such as T-shirts and other memorabilia (check with Archivist before sending such items)
• NOTE: If possible, send the archivist only a digital photograph of the item(s), rather than the items themselves.
• Conference Proceedings and Handouts
• Select Correspondence (particularly pertinent internal and external Executive Board Correspondence)
• Financial Reports/Records
• Guidelines
• Legal Records
• Manuals
• Minutes
• Personal papers of members which relate directly to NASIG work
• Photographs
• Posters
• Procedures
• Publications
• Rosters
• Sound Recordings
• Surveys and their reports, and any other “end result” product of a committee or task force.

*NOTE: Committee chairs do not need to send any materials submitted for Board meetings to the Archivist. The Secretary routinely sends a copy of all Board meeting materials to the Archivist soon after each meeting.

8. Importance of working with your Executive Board Liaison

As you can see from all of the information above, it is of vital importance that you communicate regularly with your Executive Board Liaison. The committee chair and the liaison should be in contact at least once a month, so the liaison stays abreast of any issues and concerns of the committee. The Executive Board Liaison is not a co-chair and does not vote on committee issues, or participate heavily in the work of the committee. However, to keep the full Executive Board informed of committee activities, they must be informed of committee activities and deliberations. Again, confidentiality of communications within the committee and with the Executive Board should be maintained at all times.

9. Thanks!

Your dedication to NASIG is greatly appreciated. This is no small task and your commitment to NASIG is what makes this organization so vibrant. Again, thank your for your efforts and don’t hesitate to ask any questions at any time. NASIG is relies on an extensive network of teams of volunteers, so working closely and helping each other out needs to be a cornerstone of all of our NASIG efforts—and these qualities can make our work fun, educational, and interesting, too!

APPENDIX: IMPORTANT NASIG URLS

NASIG COMMITTEE GUIDELINES
http://www.nasig.org/public/committee.guidelines.html

NASIG COMMITTEES
http://www.nasig.org/committees.index.html

NASIG WORKING CALENDAR
http://www.nasig.org/public/excccal.htm

http://www.nasig.org/public/excccal.htm

NASIG FORMS (including Check Request Forms)
http://www.nasig.org/forms/index.htm

Travel Expense Check Request Form
http://www.nasig.org/forms/travexpense.doc

Non-Travel Expense Check Request Form
http://www.nasig.org/forms/notrav.doc

NASIG COMPENSATION AND REIMBURSEMENT POLICY
http://www.nasig.org/public/reimbursement_policy.htm

NASIG BYLAWS
http://www.nasig.org/public/bylaws.html

NASIG LOGO
http://www.nasig.org/forms/index.htm

NASIG MEMBERSHIP SURVEY
http://www.nasig.org/membersonly/index.htm

NASIG 2003 STRATEGIC PLAN
http://www.nasig.org/public/strategicplan03.pdf

NASIG 2005 FINANCIAL PLAN
http://www.nasig.org/members/financial_plan_2005.htm

NASIG NEWSLETTER
http://nasig.org/newsletters/index.html

drafted May 2005