UNDER CONSTRUCTIONWelcome to your PCC leadership role! We are glad you are here and are delighted you have generously pledged your time and energy to leading a group within the PCC administrative structure. The group you are leading is comprised of experts in the field, and each brings a unique perspective and set of skills to the work. In order to ensure success and enjoyment for you and for everyone in your group, we invite you to peruse this guide. Please do not hesitate to reach out to your predecessor, the Chair of your parent committee, and/or the PoCo Chair if you need additional information or support in carrying out your duties.
Links to official documents:
- PCC Website
- PCC Code of Conduct
- PCC Governance Document
- 2023-2027 Strategic Directions
Guidelines/Responsibilities of PCC Standing Committee Chairs
- List of Past Task Groups
- Task Group Charge Template
- Task Group Final Report Transmittal & Tracking Sheet
Policy Committee (PoCo) participation guidelines:
- Standing Committee chairs are voting members on PoCoof PoCo; in the case of co-chairs, each committee gets one vote.
- Advisory Committee chairs are regular non-voting guests at PoCo meetings
- Task Group chairs may be invited as guests to individual PoCo meetings (to present a report, etc.)
- Start here for an orientation to PoCo meetings and communication mechanisms
Additional guidelines for standing committee and advisory committee chairs:
- Committee chairs may schedule and convene synchronous meetings at their discretion, based on the business needs of the committee.
- Historically, standing committees met synchronously twice a year: In January/February and in June/July (around the time of the ALA Annual Conference). In the present day, SCs may meet via Zoom at a frequency and schedule that aligns with their business needs. Additionally, SCs may meet in person at ALA Annual Conferences if they so choose.
- Historically, standing committee chairs have attended the Operations Committee (OpCo) meetings each may. PCC has subsidized the attendance of SC chairs. If a SC has co-chairs, the co-chairs may alternate use of the funding or may split the funding.
- Committee chairs may utilize various communication mechanisms for internal committee business at their discretion.
- Working documents of the committee should be stored on Google Drive, within the PoCo folder hierarchy.
- Editing permissions for each document may be restricted to current committee members as needed.
- When preparing the charge for a new task group that will report to your their committee, chairs the Chair should use the Charge Template and Transmittal & Tracking Sheet.
- Please share charge and transmittal sheet documents with current PoCo Chair (i.e., assign "Editor" role in Google docs) at the time of document creation
- When an interim or final report of a task group that reports to your committee is ready for PoCo review, submit it to the PoCo Chair.
- Please ensure that recommendations and/or prompt questions are as specific and clear as possible in order to generate useful discussion and feedback. The PoCo Chair can help you with this as needed.
- The PoCo Chair will clone a copy of the report for the purposes of PoCo review. PoCo will add comments which you may be called to resolve if possible.
- You may be asked to present the report at a PoCo meeting and lead discussion there.
Additional guidelines for task group chairs:
- Task groups may report to one or more of the standing/advisory committees, or they may report directly to PoCo.
- Task group chairs may schedule and convene synchronous meetings at their discretion, based on the deadlines and priorities of the task group.
- Task group chairs may utilize various communication mechanisms for internal committee task group business at their discretion.
- Editing permissions for each document may be restricted to current committee members as needed. Working documents of the committee should be stored on Google Drive, within the PoCo folder hierarchy (nested within the folders of the parent committee).
- Editing permissions for each document may be restricted to current task group members as needed.
- When an interim or final report is ready for review by the parent committee, submit it to the Chair of the parent committee.
- Please ensure that recommendations and/or prompt questions are as specific and clear as possible in order to generate useful discussion and feedback. The Chair of the parent committee can help you with this as needed.
- You may be asked to present the report at a PoCo meeting and lead discussion there.
Recruitment for committees and task groups:
Committees
- Each year, during late summer, the PoCo Chairs and SC/AC chairs prepare an open call for new members.
- Beginning in 2024, the PCC uses a permanent, rolling volunteer form. New members are drawn from submissions via this form.
- Around the time that the open call period ends, SC/AC chairs confer with one another and make their provisional appointment selections.
- SC/AC chairs send a brief report to the PoCo Chair listing:
- Members rotating off this year
- Members being re-appointed to second terms
- New members selected from open call
- After PoCo Chair consults on appointments, SC/AC chairs send same brief report to PoCo (generally by adding it as a new update to a monthly meeting agenda)
- SC/AC chairs begin the onboarding process for new members
Task Groups
- While a task group charge is being drafted, provisional recruitment may begin, particularly for highly specialized roles and liaisons
- After a task group charge is approved by PoCo, the chair(s) of the sponsoring committee should begin recruitment in earnest if they hadn't already started during the drafting phase
- As a roster comes together, the chair(s) of the sponsoring committee should identify a chair or co-chairs for the task group
- After the roster is complete and the task group is officially charged, work may begin