In 1998, the Section Council and MLA Board of Directors approved a motion to change the structure of the Council. The position of alternate would be eliminated and the Representative would continue to serve a three-year term, but the first year would be as Representative-Elect and then as full Representative for the remaining two years. The normal term would be:

• Representative-elect -- Year/Term One, training/backup year
• Full Representative -- Year/Term Two
• No representative-elect during this year
• Full Representative -- Year/Term Three, Last term
• NEW Representative-elect serves first term as training/backup year

In 1999, the MLA membership voted to approve the necessary MLA Bylaws revisions. The new structure became effective at the end of the May 2000 meeting. The implementation begins with the Section elections in Spring 2000. Since there will also be a change in the frequency of elections for the Council representatives, an implementation plan for switching elections from every three years to every two years has been developed. Below is a table with the schedule for when Sections need to make changes to their elections.

Election   Schedule

Spring 2000

Spring 2001

Spring 2002

Spring 2003

	Rep	Rep Elect	Rep	Rep Elect	Rep	Rep Elect	Rep	Rep Elect
Group I: Federal Libraries	X	.	.	.	.	X	.	.
History of Health Sciences	X	.	.	.	.	X	.	.
Medical Informatics	X	.	.	.	.	X	.	.
Medical Library Education	X	.	.	.	.	X	.	.
Medical Society Libraries	X	.	.	.	.	X	.	.
Public Services	X	.	.	.	.	X	.	.
Research	X	.	.	.	.	X	.	.
Veterinary Medical Libraries	X	.	.	.	.	X	.	.
Group II: Chiropractic Librarians	.	.	.	. X	.	.	.	. X
Consumer & Patient Health Information	.	.	.	X	.	.	.	X
Educational Media & Technologies	.	.	.	X	.	.	.	X
Hospital Libraries	.	.	.	X	.	.	.	X
Public Health & Health Administration Libraries	.	.	.	X	.	.	.	X
Technical Services	.	.	.	X	.	.	.	X
Group IIIA: Cancer Librarians	.	. X	.	.	.	. X	.	.
Collection Development	.	X	.	.	.	X	.	.
Dental	.	X	.	.	.	X	.	.
International Cooperation	.	X.	.	.	.	X.	.	.
Group III B: Leadership and Management	.	.	. X	.	.	.	.	.X
Nursing & Allied Health Resources	.	.	X	.	.	.	.	X
Pharmacy & Drug Information	.	.	X	.	.	.	.	X
Relevant Issues	.	.	X.	.	.	.	.	X.

• Hold elections for only the Representative in Spring 2000
• Position of alternate eliminated at end of 2000 annual meeting
• Representative becomes full rep immediately (no representative-elect or training period) at the end of the 2000 annual meeting and will serve for three years
• During Spring 2002, elect a Representative-elect who will start at the end of the 2002 annual meeting and serves the regular three-year term

Group II

• Maintain existing Representative and alternate during 2000/01
• Elect Representative-Elect in Spring 2001 and start regular (three-year) term at the end of the 2001 annual meeting
• Position of alternate eliminated at end of 2001 meeting
• During Spring 2003, next election for Representative-Elect

Group IIIA

• Elect Representative-elect in the Spring 2000
• Eliminate the current Alternate position at the end of the 2000 annual meeting
• The Representative-elect will begin the regular three-year term at the end of the 2000 annual meeting
• During Spring 2002, next election for the Representative-elect
• Elections on same schedule as Group I

• Maintain the existing Representative and Alternate during 2000/01
• In Spring 2001, elect only the Representative
• Eliminate Alternate position at end of 2001 annual meeting
• Representative becomes full rep immediately (no representative-elect or training period) at the end of 2001 meeting and will serve for three years
• During Spring 2003, elect a Representative-elect who will start term at the end of the 2003 annual meeting
• Elections on same schedule as Group II

By the year 2003, all Sections will be holding elections every two-years for Representative-elects who will become full Representatives at the end of their first term. The Sections will be split so that approximately half of the Sections will hold elections one year, and the other half will hold elections the following year.

Procedure Manual Table of Contents

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Last updated on: February 6, 2002.