Nominations and Elections Committee

Owned by Andrea Goldstein
Last updated: May 16, 2023 by Rebecca Lloyd
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TEMPLE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

ACADEMIC ASSEMBLY OF LIBRARIANS


NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS COMMITTEE

POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

PURPOSE

  1. To nominate candidates for elective office.
  2. To distribute reports of nominations at least three weeks prior to an election.
  3. To conduct the elections.
  4. To make reports to the Steering Committee.

[Authority: Bylaws of the Academic Assembly of Librarians, section IIIB 1, 2, and 6, amended as of 2005]

MEMBERSHIP

The Committee consists of two AAL members serving overlapping two year terms who are elected at the May meeting of the Assembly. [Authority: Bylaws, Section IIIB6] All members of the Academic Assembly are eligible for membership. [Authority: No section of the Bylaws specifies any limitations on membership.]

MEETINGS

The Committee meets irregularly as the need arises, primarily to prepare for the election in May.

ORGANIZATION

The Chairperson is usually the person with the greatest length of service on the Committee. If both members were elected at the same time, the person elected for the two year term will serve as the Chairperson.

The Chairperson is responsible for convening meetings, initiating the nomination and election process, reporting election results to the AAL membership, and providing a written report to the AAL Chairperson.

NOMINATION PROCEDURES

1. The Chair of the Nominations and Elections Committee uses the Committee Composition roster on the AAL website to determine which positions are to be filled by election and who will continue on the affected committees. The Chair uses the Membership List on the AAL website and may also request a list of librarians from the Director of Administration to determine which staff are eligible to serve in AAL roles. Vacancies on committees of more than six months duration will be filled by a special election at the request of the AAL Chairperson.

 2. The Committee sends a list of open positions to the AAL listserv, inviting eligible staff to nominate themselves and/or others for roles. The Committee cannot guarantee that it will place staff members on the ballot for the roles they request, as roles may need to be redistributed, with each nominee’s permission, in order to fill all ballot slots.

3. The Committee meets to review elected positions to be filled and to select nominees. The Committee should consider the following factors among others when nominating candidates: qualifications and experience, balance between those who have previously served on AAL committees and those who have not, and the importance of the nomination to an individual’s career, and how recently the individual has run for a committee role. The committee shall maintain a record of past elections, which will contain information about AAL members to be used in planning the ballot, for instance each member’s past service, past candidacies, unit/library within TUL, and other relevant details. The Committee members contact AAL members to obtain their agreement to appear on the ballot. AAL members are strongly encouraged to be on a ballot, or to serve on the Merit Committee, at least once every 4 years.

4. Candidates shall submit a 3-4 sentence statement of purpose to the Nominations and Elections Committee before the election, contextualizing their interest in the role. Context could include a desire for more experience, time at Temple, past AAL committee service, or other relevant experience. These statements will be shared with AAL membership along with the draft and final ballots.

5. When nominations are complete, and at least three weeks before each election, the Committee sends out a draft ballot to AAL members via the AAL listserv, together with the deadline for submitting additional nominations, which shall be no later than two weeks before the election.

6. Any additional nominees are added to the slate and a ballot is prepared. Copies are sent to AAL members at least a week before the elections. Ballots are distributed via the AAL listserv.

ELECTIONS

Elections are conducted anonymously online, with a voting deadline of noon on the day of the appropriate General Assembly meeting. Elective positions are filled by plurality vote. At the meeting, a member of the Nominations and Elections Committee will announce if a run-off election is needed. If this is the case, the run-off ballot will be distributed electronically after the meeting and will note the deadline for voting.

1. At the General Assembly, a Committee member will announce the names of the winners and of any persons tying for a winning position.

2. If there is a tie, a second election for that position is conducted online immediately after the meeting. Its result is shared via the AAL listserv.

3. The Nominations and Elections Committee announces via the AAL listserv the names of those elected. This message doubles as the formal notification of the Committee to the AAL Chairperson and is retained for the AAL’s files.

FILES

The official count of elections is forwarded to the AAL Chairperson after all AAL members are notified of the election results. Ballots and annual reports are kept for three years. Memos about the business of the Committee and other ephemeral

materials need not be kept longer than the current fiscal year. Minutes of meetings are not taken.


[April, 1995; March 2002; November 2005; May-October 2019; March 2022]