Organization and Planning Committee

The committee met during the RSS All-Committee Meeting at the recent ALA Annual Conference 2011 in New Orleans. Two primary topics were addressed at the meeting:

1. Cindy Levine, our new RSS Archivist, reviewed the new procedures for maintaining and archiving committee documents as described in the document, RSS: A Plan for Information Gathering, Maintenance, Organization, Access & Preservation.
2. Ideas for how to accomplish an annual assessment of the section were shared, with the most likely solution involving the development of an annual survey of the membership.

Since the close of the Annual Conference, the new membership of Organization and Planning has communicated by email to develop a set of goals for the 2011-2012 year:

1. Meet jointly with RSS Executive Committee in August, October/November, January, and April/May to review progress toward meeting goals and suggest any actions needed to address problems.
2. Work with committee chairs to improve, repurpose, or eliminate committees that were identified as having problems during the most recent section review and/or during the spring 2011 committee appointments process. Create new committees where appropriate. Solicit input from the RSS Executive Committee through this process.
3. Review the recommendations provided during the July 2011 RSS Executive Committee II meeting. Prioritize the recommendations and coordinate with RSS Executive Committee to implement appropriate changes.
4. Work with RSS Executive Committee to build and sustain relationships with MARS and other sections of RUSA as appropriate. (Note: This includes the planning for the joint RSS/MARS series of Midwinter Workshops, with the first to take place in January 2013 in Seattle. Responsibility for planning the content of these workshops is expected to be assigned to a joint subcommittee of the Education and Professional Development Committee of both sections.)
5. Review and revise the RSS Handbook.
   1. Create a program planning checklist. Include in next revision of RSS Handbook.
   2. Review the established communication channels used in RSS. Define the appropriate use of each and recommend addition of new channels or removal of existing channels. Include in next revision of RSS Handbook recommendations for use of each channel.
6. Assess the section’s success in meeting the needs of its members through a survey and other evaluative means.
7. The Organization  and Planning chair will provide a report four times a year for RSS Review.

I’d also like to take this moment to thank Operations and Planning’s past-chair, Barb Mann, for her work over the past year in revising the RSS Bylaws and RSS Handbook. The section is now better positioned to address the needs of its members due to the many improvements that were made to these documents!

Joe Thompson, Chair 2011-2012
Jthompson@washcolibrary.org