1 – Any Vermont Library Association (VLA) member may propose that VLA develop a statement around an issue by emailing their suggestion to VLA’s executive committee. Executive committee member names and emails are on this page: https://vermontlibraries.org/about/directory
2 – The executive committee votes on this, assigns someone to draft the statement, and alerts the entire board and the person who submitted the suggestion that this is in progress. The board has three to five days to finalize the vote. If the executive committee votes not to write a statement on the suggested issue, the president will email the person who made the suggestion with the reason.
3 – Once the statement is drafted, it is reviewed by the entire board with suggestions to the author. The entire board has three to five days to comment on the draft.
4 – A second draft based on edits from the suggestions is shared with the entire membership for comment. The membership is given five to seven business days to comment on the draft.
5 – If there are no significant changes to the substance of the statement based on edits from the comment period then the statement is final. If there are significant changes to the substance of the statement based on edits from the comment period then the revised statement should be approved by a majority of the board. The board has three working days to approve.
6 – The final statement is emailed by the president to the digital communications coordinator/s (https://vermontlibraries.org/about/directory) for posting to VLA’s website and social media accounts; and to all current members. The board may decide to also issue a press release.
7 – These timelines are guidelines and may be adjusted due to unforeseen issues.
Informational press releases may be published by a variety of section leaders without prior approval.
Adopted by the Vermont Library Association Board of Trustees, November 2023