Duties of the Nominating and Leadership Development Committee

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ALSC Bylaws state:

Sec. 2. The Nominating and Leadership Development Committee shall prepare a slate to consist of: two (2) candidates for every anticipated Board vacancy (The Board shall consist of thirteen members: president, vice-president (president-elect); immediate past-president, division councilor, fiscal officer, new to ALSC director and seven directors-at-large). In years when multiple director-at-large vacancies are anticipated the slate shall include twice as many candidates as there are slots; sixteen (16) candidates for eight (8) Newbery Awards Committee members-at-large; sixteen (16) members for eight (8) Caldecott Awards Committee members-at-large; ten (10) candidates for five (5) Sibert Awards Committee members-at-large; six (6) candidates for three(3) Children's Literature Legacy Award Committee members-at-large every other year; and candidates to fill vacancies as approved in Article V, Sec. 3 of these Bylaws. The Nominating Committee will report the slate of candidates to the ALSC Executive Committee in writing by October 1, for the Fall Division Leadership Meeting in the year of the Nominating Committee’s appointment.

Appointment

The nominating and leadership development committee is appointed for a two-year term to develop a slate of officers for the ALSC Board and members to be elected to the Caldecott, Newbery, Sibert and Legacy committees. Additionally, the committee develops activities to support the development of potential future candidates for governance positions. The committee is appointed by the president-elect during the fall of first taking office. It has been tradition that the past-president shall be appointed to serve on the committee the year after leaving the Board since they will have recent knowledge of active and involved members, including skill and experience sets of the current Board. The past-president is usually invited to serve as chair. The committee operates virtually and the committee begins their work in January the year prior to the ballot year and works through conference calls and other online platforms. Members appointed to the nominating committee should not be potential candidates to stand for office nor should they be current members of the Board. Members may serve more than once on the Nominating Committee, but not more than three times, and not more than once in five years, except for chairs, who may serve a chair term within five years of a term as a member of this committee.

Duties

The nominating and leadership development committee should:

Follow the 91��ý elections calendar.
Consult the ALSC Bylaws and other supporting documentation.
Select candidates to stand for office who will take leadership responsibility seriously and understands the time and travel committment. Currently, Board members attend the Midwinter Meetings (or what will be 91��ý's equivalent) and Annual Conference for three consecutive years.
The committee shall seek nominations from the field (ALSC personal members) and seek input from current officers and committee chairs regarding members who have been particularly active, involved, and responsible.
Select candidates who have demonstrated an interest, commitment and understanding of the association by serving on a variety of committees and task forces as well as in other ways.
The committee will seek to develop a slate of candidates should represent, insofar as feasible, a broad spectrum of division membership across ethnicity, gender, age, length of service, interest, type of profession, and geographical location.
The committee will seek to develop potential candidates for future governance positions.

From: Sturgis, Alice. Sturgis Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure, 4th Ed. McGraw-Hill-Revised by the American Institute of Parliamentarians (2001)

“Duties of a Nominating Committee”

A carefully chosen nominating committee should be permitted to use its judgment in selecting the candidates who will give the best service to the organization. It should choose the candidates on the basis of what is good for all the members and not on the basis that an office is a reward to be given to a deserving member. The committee may invite suggestions but should not be limited by them.

A few organizations use the nominating committee merely as a computing group to which names from various areas or local groups are sent and the results tabulated. This type of committee does little more than compile a list of nominees based on the preferences stated by the various areas or local groups.

On the other hand, many organizations believe that the best leaders are secured by delegating to the nominating committee the duty to find and nominate the best candidates. The duties usually assigned to such a nominating committee are:

To select nominees whose experience and qualities meet the needs of the organization.
To contact prospective nominees and obtain their consent to serve if elected.
To prepare and submit a report, which may include the reasons for the selection of the nominees.

Candidates for members of book award committees should:

Be experienced in book evaluation;
Have access to new books as they are published
Understand the responsibility and workload involved with reading a large numbers of books throughout the year (and the space/logistics around receiving many shipments of material).
Understand and agree (securing permision from supervisor) to the in-person meeting requirements of the committee during the Annual Conference and Midwinter Meeting (or 91��ý's equivalent), with two other optional, but strongly encouraged meetings.
Understand that scheduling and ALSC's committment to offer as many opportunities to as many members as possible does not allow candidates to simultaneously serve on 91��ý Council or other 91��ý unit or divisions’ book award committees, and as such should not agree to run for multiple positions. The member must honor the commitment to the first committee they agreed to stand as candidate.
Must review the Policy for Service on Award Committees and the Award FAQ and discuss questions with the NLD committee members. Only after all potential conflicts have been resolved, should the member consent to stand for election. Candidates will be required to sign the policy, if elected.

Responsibilities

The Chair:

Schedules the committee's meetings. Conference calls are scheduled with the help of the ALSC office. These meetings are "closed" meetings.
Notifies committee members about the time and meeting details.
Solicits nominations, via an online form, from personal members-at-large in February/March (assisted by the ALSC office).
Invites, or delegates committee members to invite, individuals to be candidates for election and informs them:

that they must be personal members of 91��ý and ALSC, not only at the time of their election but also during their term of office;
that they must not stand for office nor take invitation to an award/notable committee at the same time for office in ALSC or any 91��ý unit or division.
that if they are currently officers in another 91��ý unit or division, they may accept nomination only if their term expires before the new term would begin; and
that candidates for ALSC Board positions will be asked to submit a statement of concern.

With committee input, decide on ranking of nominees: who should be contacted first, what if someone says no?
Follows-up with candidates to ensure consent to appear on the ballot is submitted by the deadline.
Keep a candidate log (template provided by the ALSC office): date, phone number/email address, who and where contacted. Share this information with the President-Elect to coordinate the ballot and fall appointments.
When contacting each nominee, be prepared to tell them that it is a provisional invitation and:
- When office/position begins and ends;
- requirements of the office;
- other candidates that are standing for election, if asked;
- that ALSC requests a biographical information and statement of concern (Board positions only; award positions do not submit as statement of concern);
- all potential Board candidates must also review the Board's conflict of interest policy to determine if there are nay potential conflicts prior to submitting their consent to stand for election;
- and verbally review the Policy for Service on Award Committees and FAQ (award committees only; no need to sign at this time) and that all potential conflicts must be resolved with the Nominating and Leadership Development committee prior to an award candidate accepting the provisional invitation and submitting their consent.
That all consents have been submitted by the deadline of September 15.
Sends completed slate and additional report and documents to the ALSC office by the October 1st deadline to include in the Executive Committee's fall meeting packet.
Writes or emails thank you notes to all candidates after the election.
Consider holding a follow-up meeting with the committee to prepare suggestions for the next nominating committee chair and to implement the next pahse of work related to leadership development.
Complete the slate early-it will be important to the vice-president/president-elect as they begin their fall committee appointments in August.
Correspond frequently with your committee via conference call or the committee's 91��ý Connect space.

The Nominating and Leadership Development Committee

Fully participates in all scheduled meetings and assignments
Understands the roles and responsibilities for each Board position to appear on the slate.
Reviews nominations from personal members-at-large, as well as their own nominations.
Each member contributes to the development of a candidate slate for all positions needed, as described in "Duties of a Nominating Committee".
Assists with inviting candidates and abides by #8 above when contacting potential candidates.
Assists in developing future candidates for governance positions.

The Executive Director/ALSC office:

Neither suggests candidates nor attends meetings of the nominating committee, but assists on matters of procedures, specific deadlines, etc.
Supplies a list of the offices and positions to be filled along with membership roster, lists of prior award committee members, priority group consultants, Morris Seminar attendees, etc.
Verifies the current membership of each candidate.
Confirms the submission of a candidate's consent and informs them on the process to submit biographical information for the ballot.
Publishes the slate and notice of election in the appropriate issue of the ALSCMatters! newsletter and on the ALSC website. Also works with the ALSC Blog editor to feature candidates for Board positions.
Prepares and submits the ALSC ballot to the 91��ý Governance office by the deadline.
Notifies the candidates of the election results via email when available.