Section 1
The name of this organization will be the Association of Library and Information Science Students [ALISS] at the University of Washington.
Article II - Purpose
Section 1
The purposes of this organization will be:
To function as a student government.
To provide official channels for communication between students, faculty, and administration of the Information School.
To provide opportunity for social, cultural, and professional activities.
To foster cross-program interaction between all programs of the iSchool.
Article III - Membership
Section 1
Admission to the graduate program in Library and Information Science at the University of Washington, and enrollment therein,
will be the sole eligibility requirement for regular membership.
Section 2
The faculty and administration of the Information School will be honorary members.
Article IV - Executive Officers
Section 1
The executive offices of this organization will be the President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Publicity Officer,
Distance Representative and Webmaster/Alumni Liaison.
For the purpose of ensuring a smooth transition and the integrity of this organization's institutional memory,
officers shall serve for five school quarters and overlap their last term with incoming officers.
Section 2
The duties of the officers will be as follows:
President: The duties of the President are to: (1) call official meetings of theorganization and to preside at such meetings;
(2) be responsible for the administration of any business of the organization; (3) appoint GPSS senators;
(4) represent the MLIS student body in meetings of the faculty and other events as needed; (5) serve as general liaison between iSchool
administration and MLIS students; (6) communicate with student leaders of other iSchool programs; (7) run Winter quarter elections for ALISS and other
interested student organizations; (8) assemble a committee to accept nominations and award a MLIS student at the graduation ceremony.
Vice President: The duties of the Vice President are to (1) assume the duties of the President in the event of that officer's absence;
(2) oversee an editor to produce the Silverfish, the iSchool student publication; (3) organize or delegate responsibility for social events,
such as the End-of-the-Year Party; (4) act as liaison to other students groups or committees as necessary.
Secretary: The duties of the Secretary are to: (1) maintain ALISS records and correspondence; (2) maintain the calendar and bulletin board for ALISS;
(3)organize and delegate responsibility for the Booksale; (4) will serve concurrently as the chair for the Booksale committee and will serve in this
capacity until its completion.
Treasurer: The duties of the Treasurer are to (1) maintain ALISS financial records; (2) provide financial reports to the Executive Board;
(3) coordinate payments and reimbursements; (4) and maintenance of the Student Lounge and ALISS closet space.
Publicity Officer: The duties of the Publicity Officer are to: (1) coordinate marketing efforts for ALISS events;
(2) produce and post publicity in appropriate ways; (3) serve as liaison with the Student Activities Office;
(4) maintain the organization's visibility with the iSchool community.
Distance Representative: The duties of the Distance Representative are to: (1)gather input from distance students;
(2) act as a voice for distance students within the iSchool; (3) serve as a liaison between distance students, Distance Education Coordinator and MLIS administrators;
(4) oversee the efforts of the administrators for iPeer, a service for incoming distance students;
(5) facilitate a sense of cohesion for distance students and a sense of belonging to the iSchool community.
Webmaster/Alumni Liaison: The duties of the Webmaster/Alumni Liaison are to: (1) maintain the ALISS website, including keeping the information current and
useful (2) upgrade and add to the website as new technologies become available and are appropriate (3) make connections with MLIS alumni and invite them to
participate in the iSchool when appropriate.
The executive officers form a leadership team. As a team, duties may be shared and rearranged from time to time to accomplish the work of the organization.
Section 3
Any member of the association may be nominated or elected to an executive office. Although a candidate may be nominated for more than one office, the candidate will
have to decide, before the election, which office they will seek. Candidates may be part of the residential or distance program as long as they can fulfill the duties of the
position.
Section 4
The term of office for all officers will be one full year. This term will commence on the first day of the Spring Quarter.
Article V - Elections of Executive Officers
Section 1
Elections for executive officers will be held in the Winter Quarter.
Section 1.1
The current executive officers must solicit candidates during the quarter and post the candidates' names via a website.
Candidates must be members of this organization and may nominate themselves or be nominated by another member.
Candidates must confirm their nomination by submitting a campaign statement. The duration of the nomination period will be no less than seven days.
In the event that no nominations have been made for one or more positions in any organization, thenominations for all those positions will remain open for seven more days.
Voting will not begin until there is at least one candidate for each position. Regardless, voting must begin by the ninth week of winter quarter.
Section 1.2
Voting will be held during the week following completion of nominations. The duration of the voting period will be no less than five days.
The current executive officers must publish the campaign statements for all candidates during the voting period.
The ballot will provide a choice for a write-in candidate for each position, even if a candidate is running unopposed.
The votes will be tallied for each position during the weekend following the voting period. The candidate for each position with the most votes will be
selected as officer-elect for that position. Officers-elect will be announced during the week following voting. In the event that the top candidates for a position receive an
equal number of votes, a run-off election will be held for that position during the week following the initial voting period.
Section 2
Vacancies may be filled by appointment or special election at the discretion of the executive board.
Section 3
All regular members will be eligible to vote. Anonymous electronic ballot will be the method.
Article VI - Committees and Appointments
Section 1
The iSchool has many committees in which students members are needed. Such committees include, but are not limited to, the following:
Admissions Committee, Curriculum Committee, Research and Colloquium Committee and Diversity Committee as well as various ad hoc committees.
At the request of the committee chair, the ALISS board may assist in the selection of student committee members.
Section 2
The process for selecting and appointing members of student committees will be at the discretion of the committee chair.
Section 3
The executive officers may create ad hoc committees for conducting ALISS business as required.
In the past such committees included Booksale Committee and Spring Fling Committee.
Section 4
The President will appoint two GPSS Senators to represent the iSchool during Fall Quarter. Nominations will be taken for at least 5 days
prior to appointment. Senators may be from any graduate program within the iSchool. Ideally, each senator will be from different programs.
The duties of the GPSS Senators are to: 1) Inform and encourage involvement in UW campus-wide issues and events;
2) To represent the concerns and needs of iSchool graduate students to the GPSS;
3) Be responsible for applying for departmental funds and represent the majority of their constituency in deciding how these funds are used;
4) Be responsible for assisting GPSS in recruiting and placing qualified graduate students as representatives to university committees; and
4) To fulfill any of duties as outlined in the GPSS Constitution or Bylaws.
Article VII - Meetings
Section 1
Meetings of this organization will be held on the Call of the President. Open meetings must be held at least once a quarter
and at least five days notice will be given to members. Notice shall consist of postings on the ALISS bulletin boards, the ALISS calendar, the iSchool calendar,
and via email by posting on iSchool listserv.
Section 1.1
To facilitate communication between the iSchool administration and the students, it is recommended that administration be present for a portion of every open meeting.
Standing invitations are extended to the MLIS Program Chair, the MLIS Academic Advisor, the Dean of Academics, and the Dean of the Information School.
Section 2
A quorum will consist of no less than 6, including executive officers, committee representatives, and regular members present at a regularly scheduled or other
appropriately announced meeting.
Section 3
The President may call closed meetings of the executive officers for discussion of items for presentation to the regular association members.
A quorum for decisions made by the Executive Board will consist of no less than 4 officers. Decisions will be made by majority vote of the officers in the quorum.
Section 4
The President may veto any decision made by the executive officers. However, the other officers of the quorum may override that veto by a unanimous vote.
Article VIII - Advisor
Section 1
There will be one faculty advisor who will be a member ex officio, without a vote.
Section 2
By default , the advisor will be the current MLIS faculty chair. If the chair wishes, another advisor will be selected by the administration of the Information School.
Section 3
The duties of the advisor will be:
To advise and assist in class organization and activities of the association.
To serve as a personal ombudsman to students on matters other than those related to courses.
To act as liaison between the administration of the Information School and the members of this association.
To appoint a temporary chairperson, if no executive officer is present to conduct the association's business.
Article IX - Amendment
Section 1
The constitution may be amended by a majority vote of the regular members (as defined in Article III, Section 1) by electronic ballot.
Section 2
Advance notice of proposed amendment(s) will be made via the ALISS webpage, the ALISS bulletin boards and iSchool listservs.
Section 3
Members will have no less than two weeks to review the proposed amendment(s) and to communicate their acceptance/rejection via electronic ballot.
Section 4
Any member can propose an amendment to the by-laws by submitting it in writing (print or email) to an executive officer.
The executive officers will consider the proposed amendment and respond to the member in writing within a reasonable time frame.
If the member is not satisfied with the outcome, they may petition the ALISS faculty advisor to act as mediator between the member and the officers.
Article X - Operation of the Organization
Section 1
Detailed guidelines for running the ALISS organization are contained within the ALISS Guiding Document. Each executive officer must have access to a current copy of this document.
Section 2
Any member may have access to the ALISS Guiding Document upon request.
Section 3
As an executive officer team’s term comes to a close, they are responsible for updating the ALISS Guiding Document to reflect the previous year’s activities.
An updated version of the document must be presented to the incoming officers by the first day of the new term.
ALISS Constitution
Article I - Name
Article II - Purpose
Article III - Membership
Article IV - Executive Officers
Article V - Election of Executive Officers
Article VI - Committees and Appointments
Article VII - Meetings
Article VIII - Advisor
Article IX - Amendment
Article X - Operation of the Organization
Article I - Name
Section 1
The name of this organization will be the Association of Library and Information Science Students [ALISS] at the University of Washington.
Article II - Purpose
Section 1
The purposes of this organization will be:
Article III - Membership
Section 1
Admission to the graduate program in Library and Information Science at the University of Washington, and enrollment therein, will be the sole eligibility requirement for regular membership.
Section 2
The faculty and administration of the Information School will be honorary members.
Article IV - Executive Officers
Section 1
The executive offices of this organization will be the President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Publicity Officer, Distance Representative and Webmaster/Alumni Liaison. For the purpose of ensuring a smooth transition and the integrity of this organization's institutional memory, officers shall serve for five school quarters and overlap their last term with incoming officers.
Section 2
The duties of the officers will be as follows:
The executive officers form a leadership team. As a team, duties may be shared and rearranged from time to time to accomplish the work of the organization.
Section 3
Any member of the association may be nominated or elected to an executive office. Although a candidate may be nominated for more than one office, the candidate will have to decide, before the election, which office they will seek. Candidates may be part of the residential or distance program as long as they can fulfill the duties of the position.
Section 4
The term of office for all officers will be one full year. This term will commence on the first day of the Spring Quarter.
Article V - Elections of Executive Officers
Section 1
Elections for executive officers will be held in the Winter Quarter.
Section 1.1
The current executive officers must solicit candidates during the quarter and post the candidates' names via a website. Candidates must be members of this organization and may nominate themselves or be nominated by another member. Candidates must confirm their nomination by submitting a campaign statement. The duration of the nomination period will be no less than seven days. In the event that no nominations have been made for one or more positions in any organization, thenominations for all those positions will remain open for seven more days. Voting will not begin until there is at least one candidate for each position. Regardless, voting must begin by the ninth week of winter quarter.
Section 1.2
Voting will be held during the week following completion of nominations. The duration of the voting period will be no less than five days. The current executive officers must publish the campaign statements for all candidates during the voting period. The ballot will provide a choice for a write-in candidate for each position, even if a candidate is running unopposed. The votes will be tallied for each position during the weekend following the voting period. The candidate for each position with the most votes will be selected as officer-elect for that position. Officers-elect will be announced during the week following voting. In the event that the top candidates for a position receive an equal number of votes, a run-off election will be held for that position during the week following the initial voting period.
Section 2
Vacancies may be filled by appointment or special election at the discretion of the executive board.
Section 3
All regular members will be eligible to vote. Anonymous electronic ballot will be the method.
Article VI - Committees and Appointments
Section 1
The iSchool has many committees in which students members are needed. Such committees include, but are not limited to, the following: Admissions Committee, Curriculum Committee, Research and Colloquium Committee and Diversity Committee as well as various ad hoc committees. At the request of the committee chair, the ALISS board may assist in the selection of student committee members.
Section 2
The process for selecting and appointing members of student committees will be at the discretion of the committee chair.
Section 3
The executive officers may create ad hoc committees for conducting ALISS business as required. In the past such committees included Booksale Committee and Spring Fling Committee.
Section 4
The President will appoint two GPSS Senators to represent the iSchool during Fall Quarter. Nominations will be taken for at least 5 days prior to appointment. Senators may be from any graduate program within the iSchool. Ideally, each senator will be from different programs.
The duties of the GPSS Senators are to: 1) Inform and encourage involvement in UW campus-wide issues and events; 2) To represent the concerns and needs of iSchool graduate students to the GPSS; 3) Be responsible for applying for departmental funds and represent the majority of their constituency in deciding how these funds are used; 4) Be responsible for assisting GPSS in recruiting and placing qualified graduate students as representatives to university committees; and 4) To fulfill any of duties as outlined in the GPSS Constitution or Bylaws.
Article VII - Meetings
Section 1
Meetings of this organization will be held on the Call of the President. Open meetings must be held at least once a quarter and at least five days notice will be given to members. Notice shall consist of postings on the ALISS bulletin boards, the ALISS calendar, the iSchool calendar, and via email by posting on iSchool listserv.
Section 1.1
To facilitate communication between the iSchool administration and the students, it is recommended that administration be present for a portion of every open meeting. Standing invitations are extended to the MLIS Program Chair, the MLIS Academic Advisor, the Dean of Academics, and the Dean of the Information School.
Section 2
A quorum will consist of no less than 6, including executive officers, committee representatives, and regular members present at a regularly scheduled or other appropriately announced meeting.
Section 3
The President may call closed meetings of the executive officers for discussion of items for presentation to the regular association members. A quorum for decisions made by the Executive Board will consist of no less than 4 officers. Decisions will be made by majority vote of the officers in the quorum.
Section 4
The President may veto any decision made by the executive officers. However, the other officers of the quorum may override that veto by a unanimous vote.
Article VIII - Advisor
Section 1
There will be one faculty advisor who will be a member ex officio, without a vote.
Section 2
By default , the advisor will be the current MLIS faculty chair. If the chair wishes, another advisor will be selected by the administration of the Information School.
Section 3
The duties of the advisor will be:
Article IX - Amendment
Section 1
The constitution may be amended by a majority vote of the regular members (as defined in Article III, Section 1) by electronic ballot.
Section 2
Advance notice of proposed amendment(s) will be made via the ALISS webpage, the ALISS bulletin boards and iSchool listservs.
Section 3
Members will have no less than two weeks to review the proposed amendment(s) and to communicate their acceptance/rejection via electronic ballot.
Section 4
Any member can propose an amendment to the by-laws by submitting it in writing (print or email) to an executive officer. The executive officers will consider the proposed amendment and respond to the member in writing within a reasonable time frame. If the member is not satisfied with the outcome, they may petition the ALISS faculty advisor to act as mediator between the member and the officers.
Article X - Operation of the Organization
Section 1
Detailed guidelines for running the ALISS organization are contained within the ALISS Guiding Document. Each executive officer must have access to a current copy of this document.
Section 2
Any member may have access to the ALISS Guiding Document upon request.
Section 3
As an executive officer team’s term comes to a close, they are responsible for updating the ALISS Guiding Document to reflect the previous year’s activities. An updated version of the document must be presented to the incoming officers by the first day of the new term.