4.1 Objectives

4.2 Reports

4.3 Motions

4.4 E-mail and Voting

4.5 Declaration of Section Compliance

4.6 Petitions

4.7 Candidates for MLA Nominating Committee

4.8 MLA Directory Information

4.9 Correspondence

4.10 MLA News

4.11 Official Statements

4.12 Meeting Arrangements

4.1 Objectives

Each Section Chair is asked to formulate objectives for the year's activity. Instructions for the preparation of objectives are mailed from Headquarters at least 30 days prior to the deadline for submission of objectives. These objectives are usually discussed by the Section's officers or executive committee. The Chair prepares a final copy of the objectives and sends the original to MLA Headquarters, with copies to the Section officers, the Section Council Chair, and the MLA President. (Guidelines are included as Appendix 3.)

4.2 Reports

Sections communicate to the Section Council and the Board through regular progress reports. The reports should track to the Section's objectives, to the current MLA Strategic Plan, and to the annual MLA Priorities. An interim, or midyear report, is due in December for the winter Board meeting.

The year-end, or annual report, is due in March or April to allow time for printing for distribution at the Annual Meeting. One copy of the Annual report should be sent as camera ready copy to MLA Headquarters, where it will be prepared for distribution to the Board and incorporated into the Annual Report. Copies of the report also should be sent to all Section officers and the Section Council Chair.

Guidelines for the preparation of the reports will be distributed by MLA Headquarters at least 30 days prior to the deadline. All reports should follow the prescribed format. (A sample report and guidelines are included as Appendix 4.)

4.3 Motions

Requests for action by the Board should be submitted in the form of a motion and presented first to the Section Council for discussion. Motions should be formulated in conjunction with the Section Council Chair in order to assure continuity with other Sections. (The format for submission of motions appears as Appendix 5.)

4.4 E-mail and Voting

While e-mail supports communication and the conduct of Section business, voting by e-mail is not recognized by the state laws governing associations. Items requiring votes may be discussed through e-mail, but the vote must be done using a signed fax or mailed ballot. MLA has developed guidelines governing e-mail and voting. These can be found in Appendix 15.

MLA provides listservs to facilitate the dissemination of information and the discussion of issues within various units of the Association. Section Council maintains two listservs: one for Council Representatives and Representatives-Elect, and a second listserv for Section Chairs. The latter is used for distributing information, sending out reminders, and calling for discussions of issues. Appendix 20 contains instructions for subscribing to the Chairs' listserv.

4.5 Section Compliance

To maintain its status a Section must comply with the MLA Bylaws and Standing Rules or Order. Appendix 6 contains a full list of these requirements and the procedures for ascertaining compliance.

Every three years MLA Headquarters staff, in conjunction with the Council's Section/SIG Review Committee will conduct a compliance audit of all sections. MLA Headquarters will collect the following information on each section:

• number of members
• amount of dues and whether they are lower than MLA dues
• submission of annual reports over the past three years
• programs or business meetings held within the past three years and do not conflict with MLA general or business sessions
• existence of bylaws which have been examined and approved by the MLA Bylaws Committee
• officers and Section Council members are MLA voting members.

If the Section is in compliance with these basic criteria, no further action is taken. When a Section is not in compliance, MLA Headquarters notifies the Chair of Section Council and the chair of the Section Council Section/SIG review committee. The Section/SIG Review Committee will review the MLA data and the other requirements governing sections to determine if other problems exist.

The Committee will contact the Section to determine whether

• there is missing or inaccurate information;
• there are unusual problems preventing the Section from meeting the criteria;
• the Section should consider becoming a SIG;
• the Section should be placed on probationary status; or,
• the Section should be disbanded.

4.6 Petitions

Petitions to establish a new Section must state the purposes and projected activities of the proposed Section and be signed by a minimum of fifty of the Association's voting members (see 3.4 for an exception to the requirement of fifty). All petitions shall be sent to the Section Council, which reviews and forwards petitions to the Board with a recommendation for approval or disapproval and the reasons for such recommendations.

4.7 Candidates for MLA Nominating Committee

Each Section may submit to the Section Council the name of one voting member of the Association, chosen in accordance with Section bylaws, as a potential candidate for membership on the MLA Nominating Committee.

Section Council Representatives shall obtain from each potential candidate a biographical form, including a signed statement of willingness to serve if elected as a member of the MLA Nominating Committee (see Appendix 7.) The completed form should be mailed to the Section Council's Elections Committee by the deadline specified.

The Section Council selects six candidates from the names submitted by Sections and presents these names to the MLA Nominating Committee Chair.

4.8 MLA Directory Information

MLA Headquarters gathers data gathering using a form or e-mail (Appendix 8) for the purpose of updating Section information in the MLA Directory. All information should be verified by the Section Chair and returned to Headquarters by the stated deadline with an informational copy to the Section Council Chair.

4.9 Correspondence

Since Sections meet only once a year, much of a Section's work is done through the mail, electronic mail, phone or fax. Substantive correspondence, including minutes of Section meetings and Section reports, is retained at Headquarters according to a schedule and may be sent for permanent retention to the Archives. It is, therefore, imperative that the Section Chair submit copies of all correspondence and minutes of Section meetings to the Executive Director's Office for retention or archival purposes.

Copies of correspondence should also be sent to:

• Section Officers
• Section Members
• Section Council Chair

Copies of substantive correspondence should be sent for informational purposes to:

• MLA President-elect
• MLA President

Often it is useful to send copies of substantive correspondence to Chairs of other Sections and MLA committees with similar interests.

BECAUSE THE ASSOCIATION COMPONENTS ARE INVOLVED IN PROGRAM AREA ACTIVITIES, COMMUNICATION CAN BECOME A SIGNIFICANT PROBLEM. IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT SECTION CHAIRS CONSIDER THE HEADQUARTERS PROGRAM STAFF AS THE HUB OF THE COMMUNICATION WHEEL TO ENSURE THAT STAFF ARE INFORMED ABOUT ALL SECTION ACTIVITIES.

4.10 MLA News

Sections may wish to send information to the MLA NEWS. A fact sheet detailing the requirements for submission of information to the News has been issued by the Section Council's Communications Committee (see Appendix 9). Deadline for the submission of copy are set by the Section News Editor of the MLA News and are earlier than the deadlines which are posted by the MLA News in each issue and on the MLANet Web site. Sections wishing to submit information should contact the Section News Editor for exact deadline dates.

4.11 Official Statements

Section Chairs must ensure that publications are not developed from their Section's activities without due process, including approval by the Board of Directors. Similarly, it is important that Sections do not take direct action with respect to Association business or in the name of the Association, unless clearly instructed to do so by the Board of Directors. It is relevant to point out that all Sections are under the authority of the Board. The MLA Executive Director is the official public relations officer of the Association. All news releases and other MLA publicity are cleared through him/her.

4.12 Meeting Arrangements

Section meetings may be held at any time and in any place convenient for members, except that Section business meetings are to be held during the same period and at the same location as the Annual Meeting. No Section meetings are to be held at the same time that general sessions or business sessions of the Annual Meeting are conducted.

In order to minimize any meeting conflicts, the National Program Committee designates a Section Council liaison to coordinate the meeting schedule of all Sections. A calendar for the submission of information regarding meeting arrangements is established by the National Program Committee and Headquarters staff. MLA's conference coordinator makes room assignments and notifies the Section Council liaison well in advance of the Annual Meeting.

Chair's Manual Table of Contents

Send comments or questions to Webmaster Sharon Giovenale at sharon.giovenale@uconn.edu

Last updated on: March 21, 2001.