Ad Hoc Committee on the Restructuring of IAML

I am delighted to announce the membership of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Restructuring of IAML:

 

Chair: John Roberts (Berkeley, CA)

Richard Chesser (British Library, London)

Janneka Guise (University of Manitoba, Winnipeg)

Barbara Wiermann (Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy", Leipzig)

 

I would like to express my thanks to Barbara, Jan, John and Richard for so willingly accepting this task. I hope you agree that we have created a committee with an effective blend of experience, enthusiasm and wisdom! Thanks are also due to everyone who has contributed to the Future of IAML discussions that have taken place over several years.

 

Some of you may not know that the stimulus for this came first from a review of the structure of IAML Conferences which was instigated at the Oslo Conference in 2004. Further proposals submitted by the Norwegian and Danish Branches of IAML were presented to us by Ole Bisbjerg and Siren Steen in Sydney (2007) and resulted in two further Committees to examine electronic voting and electronic publications. Plenary Sessions to discuss the future development of IAML more widely were announced at the Amsterdam Conference (2009), and took place in Moscow (2010), Dublin (2011) and Montreal (2012). So, as you can see, it has been an ongoing process that has really gathered momentum over the past eight years.

 

Much work was done between 2011/2012 by the Strategy Committee (chaired by Antony Gordon), who pulled together the many contributions from members at conference sessions, via surveys and from other feedback throughout the year.

 

A summary was presented to Council in Montreal, and the Board was charged with creating an Ad Hoc Committee to focus on the administrative structure of IAML and to make recommendations on ways that this can be streamlined to make IAML a more responsive organisation. The relationship between Board, Council and General Assembly had emerged as a fundamental issue which underpinned many of the other issues that were raised. It made sense, therefore, to address this first.

 

The following Terms of Reference have been drawn up:

 

Terms of Reference

 

The Ad Hoc Committee on the Restructuring of IAML is charged with investigating possible changes to the structure of the organisation, focusing specifically on the administrative structure of IAML (Board, Council and General Assembly).

 

The purpose of any proposed restructure is to ensure that IAML has an improved decision-making process, thus making it a more responsive and effective organisation. IAML must have a structure and strength of purpose that will support its goals and assist its members to operate effectively on both a national and international level.

 

It is expected that information from members gathered by the Strategy Committee and through more general discussions held at the Moscow, Dublin and Montreal Conferences will be examined. Implications to the IAML Constitution and Rules of Procedure also need to be considered.

 

Any proposals for a revised IAML structure should be presented to the IAML Board for consideration by the end of February 2012. The Ad Hoc Committee will be expected to work with the Board, so that an agreed recommendation can be notified to Council prior to the Conference in Vienna 2013.

 

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The Ad Hoc Committee may well need to consult with members, and I am sure that you will be willing to help if asked. The IAML Board will be meeting in Gothenburg in early March 2013, and we will look forward to seeing how the work of the Ad Hoc Committee is progressing. The deadlines are tight, but this can sometimes be a good thing!

 

Roger Flury

President, IAML

 

25 October 2012