Home LITA Interest Group Chairs Orientation Tip Sheet

LITA Interest Group Chair Orientation Tips
August 2008

Interest groups are the core of LITA. They facilitate discussions among like-minded professionals and help to develop interesting and informative ALA programs, managed discussions, business meetings and educational activities.

Interest groups chairs coordinate activities of interest groups, preside at meetings, respond to correspondence from ALA Conference Services, be responsible for submitting news items to the LITA Newsletter, and report Interest Group activities to the LITA Board of Directors. Vice-chairs are responsible for programs and coordination with the LITA Program Planning Committee, the annual selection of officers, and for reporting the names of those selected to the LITA Office.

Annual Conference & Program Planning

• Planning Process
  • Prior to the annual conference, contact PPC chair or your IG liaison on PPC to reserve a 20-minute slot to present your IG program proposal for the following year annual program
  • Fill out the LITA program proposal form and take 15 copies of the form to the scheduled PPC meeting
  • Invite speakers for your program during September and October and send speaker / panelist consent/release form to your invited speakers/panelists
  • Revise if necessary or based on comments from PCC, your program proposal prior to the mid-winter meeting
  • Prior to the mid-winter meeting, contact PPC chair or your IG liaison to arrange for a 20-minute meeting with PPC to finalize your program
  • Revise and finalize your program description by February
  • Follow the LITA IG Chairs program planning calendar
• PPC IG Liaison
  • Know who your IG PPC liaison is. If you are unsure who you’re liaison is, contact the Program Planning Committee chair
• Marketing
  • Obtain speaker's short biographies
  • Finalize your program description
  • Create flyers or announcements including the program description, session date, time, location and speaker’s short biographies
  • Post your program announcements to listservs, LITA Blog, LITA Wiki, ALA Wiki, etc.
• Day Before the Program
  • Obtain all necessary forms at the LITA Table in the ALA Office at conference center
    • e.g., Program evaluation Form
  • Photocopy program flyer(s) for distribution at the session. ALA Copy Center is usually located in the ALA Office
  • Check the meeting room to make sure all A/V equipments are in place and in working order
• Day After the Program
  • Place the collected conference program evaluation forms in your IG folder at LITA Table in ALA Office
• Report
  • Write program report following the conference
  • Use the meeting report submission form or forward the program report to the IG Web Coordinator for posting
  • The report should be completed within two weeks of the completion of the conference
• Business Meeting at Annual
  • Reserve your meeting room when you sign up for your annual program room and AV equipments
  • Your business meeting can be a separate meeting or following your program
  • If you plan to schedule your business meeting at a separate time, you need to submit a separate meeting room request when you sign up for your annual program room and equipment.
  • Send out your meeting agenda prior to the meeting
  • Day before your business meeting, pick up meeting sign-in sheets at LITA Table in ALA Office
  • Complete your meeting report within two weeks of the completion of the conference and use the meeting report submission form or forward the program report to the IG Web Coordinator for posting

Midwinter Meeting

• Request a meeting space when you receive meeting room reservation notice from LITA staff
• Send out meeting agenda prior to the meeting
• Chair Meetings
  • Pick up meeting sign-in sheets at LITA table in ALA Office for meeting attendance
  • Pick up ribbons (member, chair, etc) at LITA table in ALA Office for distribution
• Write meeting reports
  • Use the meeting report submission form or forward the program report to the IG Web Coordinator for posting

Routine Business

• IG Renewal
• Renewal cycle for all interest groups is every three years. 
• Both chair and co-chair/chair-elect need to sign the E6 Interest Group Renewal Petition form
• Bylaws Committee sends out renewal reminders to the IGs that are due to renew.  
• Midwinter meeting is usually the best time for renewal.
• Place renewal form in Bylaws and Organization Committee folder at LITA Table
• IG Name Change
• IG rename petition form, E7 form needs to be filled out and signed by both chair and co-chair/chair-elect
• IG description change can be done at the same time
• Place the rename petition form in Bylaws and Organization Committee folder at LITA Table
• IG Chair Acceptance Procedure
• The chair-elect each officer of each Interest Group is asked to fill out, sign and return LITA interest group officer acceptance form, the E4 form immediately following each ALA Annual
• The form should be returned to Valerie Edmonds, LITA Program Coordinator (vedmonds@ala.org) during the conference or mail it to her after the conference if the form cannot be completed during the conference.
• LITA table at Annual and Mid-Winter is located in ALA Office. You can pick following items for your meeting needs:
• Handouts
• Forms
• Ribbons

Communication Tools

• LITA-L
• LITA Blog
• ALA Wiki
• LITA Wiki
• IG Listservs

Documents and Forms

• LITA Manual
• LITA Manual Section 6.  
  Lots of useful information for interest groups.
• LITA Committee and IG Chair Calendar
• Speaker/Panelist Release Form
• Annual Program Proposal (2008)
• Interest Group Formation Petition
• Interest Group Meeting Report (submit online)
• Interest Group Renewal Petition
• Interest Group Petition to Rename

Help

• The LITA staff is very knowledgeable and happy to answer questions. You can find their contact information at: http://www.ala.org/ala/lita/aboutlita/contactlita/contactlita.htm
• The LITA Officers and Board Members are also available to answer your questions. You can find a current list at: http://www.lita.org/ala/lita/aboutlita/org/litagov/board.htm