SLC Home Page March 2017
The SUNY Libraries Consortium (SLC), an independent organization, is formed to implement the vision of the Member Libraries of the Consortium (Membership) and support SUNY students, faculty, researchers and staff in support of the intellectual and economic development of New York State.
The SLC will provide structure for communication among SUNY library members, its associations and the Office of Library and Information Services (OLIS).
The SLC will foster collaboration among members for special projects by forming committees and task forces to accomplish discrete projects successfully, in a timely manner and with optimal budgetary consideration. These projects will provide better systems, infrastructure and research capabilities to the libraries of SUNY.
The SLC will provide a fiscal blueprint for SUNY libraries to run the consortium, organize meetings and collaborate with other departments of SUNY.
The Consortium will work to implement the strategic plan adopted by the SUNY Council of Library Directors as well as subsequent plans created by the consortium. Key specific priorities are to:
The SLC Board reports to its membership, comprised of the directors/deans of dues paying members of the consortium. Decision making authority for SLC activities rests primarily with the Board, acting within the confines of its allocated budget. Dues and changes in the framework of the SLC must be approved by membership. The Board will call a membership meeting at least once a year, preferably twice per year.
The Board has decision-making powers within the budget it manages. With the exception of the Library Services Platform Task Force, decisions that may change library processes or impact individual institutional budgets will be remanded to membership for a majority vote or an opt-in decision. Decisions regarding the Library Services Platform will be exempt from this restriction.
The SLC Board has the authority to organize as it deems appropriate. The Executive Director reports to the Board and is hired by a committee of SUNY Library Administrators, (e.g., deans/directors) or their designees appointed/formed by the SLC Board. The SLC Board will charge the Executive Director with organizing at least one meeting of SUNY Library directors or their designees each year. The Board will charge the Executive Director with:
The Board will meet with the SLC Executive Director on a regular basis and is responsible for evaluating the Executive Director annually.
The Executive Director shall convene an annual meeting of the organization which includes the voting representative from each member library, standing committees, working groups, invited guests and/or others deemed appropriate by the Board. Decisions on whether to convene a second meeting could be made depending on the need for votes or special projects needing the members’ input.
The Board should meet at least four-times a year and the membership should meet at least once a year with a meeting twice a year being optimal. The Executive Director will convene all meetings.
The full membership will vote on the composition of five of the seven-member board. Voting for the additional university centers’ board member is done by the university centers’ Library Administrators.
Term appointments are for a three-year term; Board Members can be elected for one additional consecutive term. Term positions run from July to June. The OLIS representative on the Board is not a term position and is not voted upon by membership.
If a member of the Board leaves his/her position before their term is up, and there is less than a year left on the term, the Chair of the Board should choose someone to fill their position. If however there is more than a year left on the term, a special election should be conducted by the Board with the Membership voting to elect a substitute to complete the assigned term. The transition to the permanent voting process is anticipated to take three years as members of the initial Board transition off. This will allow for staggered Board appointments so that not all Board members leave the Board at the same time. The voting process for the first three rounds of voting is articulated in Appendix A.
A committee or task force is formed by the Board to review a large project that will impact the consortium. The SLC Board constitutes and charges committees. Committee recommendations are presented to the Board for action. Committee members must be approved by their dean/director. Decisions made by the committee are presented to the Board. With the exception of the Library Services Platform Task Force, decisions that may change library processes or impact budgets will be remanded to membership for a vote or an opt-in decision. Once the committee or task force’s work is completed, a new group may be established for the purposes of implementation. For example a committee has been formed to review a new library system for SUNY (The Library Services Platform Evaluation Team). Once this process has resulted in selection of a new platform, a Task Force will be formed for the migration of the new LSP from the old product. This Framework document is also calling for the establishment of a Commercial Products Committee in the near term, and the Board may want to establish a group soon to address issues pertaining to membership engagement in system-wide assessment practices. In summary:
The Library Services Platform (LSP) Task Force, reporting to the SUNY Libraries Consortium (SLC) Board of Directors, will provide a University-wide perspective on the planning for the implementation and migration to a library services platform. They will work closely with the OLIS and with working groups that will be formed to address specific policies, workflows, and recommendations in various areas. In this role the LSP Task Force will
The SLC Commercial Products Committee works with the SLC Board, the SLC Executive Director, OLIS staff and member libraries to encourage cooperation and collaboration in identifying, evaluating and recommending the purchase and/or brokering of electronic information resources. The committee will identify and promulgate efficient and cost effective best practices, licensing and negotiating principles. The committee will advise on maximizing the consortium’s economies of scale and leverage in negotiations with commercial creators and third party providers of content. The Commercial Products Committee will seek opportunities to partner with New York State’s Office of General Services to seek efficiencies and cost savings in the procurement process. The committee has a specific charge to identify and provide savings to each member library that equal or exceed the library’s baseline consortia membership dues.
The committee may be assigned projects by the Board of Directors, or may independently develop projects and initiatives within the scope of its charge or in collaboration with other ad hoc groups. The committee will facilitate the development and use of statistical measures to inform decision making at both the institutional and consortia levels. The committee will prepare appropriate documentation and reports, and will submit an annual report of its activities and accomplishments to Board of Directors.
To be determined
For the next three years two people will leave previous SCLD voted positions each year until the new SLC Board is fully created as the Consortium Board.
The first series of voting will take place in May of 2017. Deadline for submission of nominations is April 21, 2017. The Secretary of the SLC Board will oversee the election. Elections will be conducted electronically, with each former member of SCLD being eligible to have two votes. The two candidates receiving the highest popular vote counts for each board seat/vacancy will be elected to a three-year term.
Once elections are complete two members of the former SCLD Board of Directors will step down. With the exception of the OLIS representative and the University Center representative, former SCLD EB members will rotate off the board in order of the date they were due to rotate off the prior SCLD Executive Board. In 2017, Oates and Rudecoff will rotate off.
The second series of voting will take place in May of 2018. Nominations will start being accepted April 1, 2018. The Secretary of the SLC Board will oversee the election. Elections will be conducted electronically, with each current director of an SLC member organization being eligible to have two votes. The candidates receiving the two highest popular vote counts will be elected to a three-year term.
Once elections are complete two members of the former SCLD Board of Directors will step down. With the exception of the OLIS representative and the University Center representative, former SCLD EB members will rotate off the board in order of the date they were due to rotate off the prior SCLD Executive Board. In 2018, Arnold and Heller-Ross will rotate off.
The third series of voting will take place in May of 2019. Nominations will start being accepted April 1, 2019. The Secretary of the SLC Board will oversee the election. Elections will be conducted electronically, with each current director of an SLC member organization being eligible to have one vote. The candidate receiving the highest popular vote count will be elected to a threeyear term.
Once elections are complete one member of the former SCLD Board of Directors will step down. In 2019, Callahan will rotate off. The University Center representative (Kendrick) will remain on the new SLC Board for the final of their full three-year term.