Deutsch | français
| العربية 

nominations for candidates to serve on the Standing Committees for the period from August 2011 to August 2015

DEADLINE: 9 February 2011

IFLA’s professional programme consists mainly of Sections. Each Section is governed by a democratically elected Standing Committee consisting of professionals with expertise and an interest in the field of the Section. Serving on a Standing Committee provides opportunities for professional development, networking with colleagues from many different countries and helping to advance the profession in specific areas of practice.

WHO CAN NOMINATE A CANDIDATE?

To nominate a candidate for election to the Standing Committee of a Section:

  • you must be the authorised signatory of an Association Member, an IFLA Institutional Member or an IFLA Institutional Affiliate. The authorised signature is the individual who is listed in IFLA’s records as the highest official and whose name appears on the attached nomination form. This form may be photocopied, but please note that the nomination form cannot be used by anyone other than the authorised signatory of the member concerned; or
  • you must be an IFLA Individual Affiliate (Personal/Student), and
  • you must be registered as a member of the Section for which you want to put forward a nomination, and
  • you must have paid your membership fees in full for 2010 and not be in arrears.

HOW MANY CANDIDATES MAY I NOMINATE AND FOR WHICH STANDING COMMITTEES?

You may nominate ONE candidate for the Standing Committee of EACH Section for which you are registered. For example, if you are registered for three Sections, you may nominate one candidate for each of the three Standing Committees. IFLA Sections for which you are registered are listed on the attached nomination form.

WHO MAY BE NOMINATED?

Members of Standing Committees serve in a personal capacity. A candidate does not have to be a member of IFLA (or be employed by or be affiliated to a Member of IFLA). The important thing is what the candidate can contribute.

Candidates should:

  • have appropriate knowledge and experience to contribute to the Section’s work
  • be keen to be involved in IFLA
  • have a working knowledge of at least one of the working languages of IFLA (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Russian and Spanish). Since the business meetings of IFLA are generally conducted in English, reasonable fluency in this language is highly desirable
  • have a reasonable expectation of support to be able to participate in the work of the Standing Committees at no expense to IFLA. This means that they have to attend meetings. Standing Committees meet before the annual IFLA World Library and Information Congress on the Saturday before the Congress starts and possibly another meeting during the Congress week. Standing Committee members will be expected to attend 5 Congresses, beginning in 2011 (San Juan, Puerto Rico) to and including 2015 (location to be determined). Congresses take place in August each year. In between these meetings, business is conducted by email and post. Some Standing Committees hold midyear meetings by agreement of the Committee. Standing Committee members must be able to arrange their travel plans accordingly
  • contribute actively to ideas for projects and conference programme meetings
  • join in the work of the Section, for example, by undertaking projects, organising workshops, preparing translations, etc.
  • recruit new Members to the Section and to IFLA
  • respond to requests from IFLA HQ for advice, representation at meetings, etc.
  • assist in the production of a newsletter, promotional leaflets, and generally disseminating information about Section activities
  • help with the translation of newsletters, conference papers, promotional leaflets and other documents where appropriate
  • encourage participation in the Section by people in different parts of the world, by identifying potential new candidates and corresponding members
  • assist in the allocation of "portfolios" to individuals serving on the committee (for example, editing the newsletter, acting as information coordinator, Section membership recruitment, organising translations, preparing workshops, etc.)
  • act with respect, trust, confidentiality and transparency within the Committee and recognise the need to protect personal and privileged information. The member shall declare any conflicts of interest and abstain from consideration of any matters in which they have an interest.

You may nominate yourself, a member of your staff or a person in another organisation or another country who is known to have the required qualifications and interest in serving.

WHO MAY NOT BE NOMINATED

The following persons may not be nominated for the period 2011-2015:

  • persons who are currently serving on a Standing Committee for the period 2009-2013
  • persons who are currently serving their second (and final) term on a Standing Committee for the period 2007-2011.

Individuals completing their second term on a committee who are interested in serving a term on a different Standing Committee should make their desire known to a member eligible to make a nomination. No one may at the same time be a member of more than one Standing Committee. The only exception is that a person may be a member of the Standing Committee of a regional section (Africa, Asia and Oceania, and Latin America and the Caribbean) in addition to one other Standing Committee. To see those currently serving on the Standing Committees of the various Sections, please look in the IFLA Directory 2009-2011 [PDF] or on the IFLA website under Activities and Groups.

HOW DO I NOMINATE?

Attached to the letter sent by mail is a nomination form which bears the name of you or your organisation. If you want to nominate candidates for the Standing Committee of more than one Section, you will need to make one or more photocopies of this nomination form. Do NOT use a nomination form supplied to any other IFLA Member and do not make copies of your nomination form for use by other Members. This leads to much confusion and wastes a lot of time when the IFLA Secretariat checks the nominations to see whether they are valid.

Obtain the consent of your nominee, using the Consent Form, together with confirmation that the nominee meets the language and attendance requirements, and a brief statement of the nominee’s career and present position.

Complete the nomination form. For Association, Institutional Members and Institutional Affiliates: make sure that it is signed by the authorised signatory. One nominator is sufficient. It does not have to be seconded.

Send it to IFLA Headquarters by post or fax or as an email attachment (but it must be signed).

WHAT IS THE DEADLINE?

The completed nominations must reach IFLA Headquarters ON or BEFORE 9 February 2011. No late nominations can be accepted. To avoid disappointment please do not wait until the last moment but start the process as early as possible.

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE NOMINATIONS HAVE BEEN RECEIVED?

A confirmation of receipt of the nomination(s) will be sent to you upon request.

Each Section may have up to 20 persons serving on its Standing Committee. If the number of candidates for any Section exceeds the number of vacancies, a postal ballot will be held after the close of nominations. The postal ballot will be sent out in March 2011. If the number of candidates does not exceed the number of vacancies, then there will not be an election and eligible nominees are automatically appointed to the Section Standing Committee. These nominees will receive a letter confirming their appointment and election.

Once the election is complete, a list of the new standing committee members of the Sections will be sent to all Section Chairs so that they can communicate with their new members.

I WOULD LIKE TO NOMINATE A CANDIDATE, BUT MY ORGANISATION IS NOT A MEMBER OF THAT SECTION

You may have a colleague in your organisation or know a colleague who could make a great contribution to a Section, but your organisation is not a member of that Section. There are two possible solutions:

  1. Register your organisation for the Section
    You may choose to replace one of your current section registrations, or you may add the section to your existing total. There is no charge to replace one section with another. For registration in an additional section, there is a charge of EUR 51 (2011: EUR 52) for each extra section. This amount must be paid (and received by IFLA HQ) before the nomination deadline in order for the nomination to be valid.
  2. Identify another Member who is registered for the Section
    You may contact IFLA’s Membership Officer in order to check which organisations are Members of that Section; you may tell a Member that you know of a good potential candidate. You can also contact the Chair or Secretary of the Section concerned and suggest that they look for a Member to nominate the person you have in mind. Sections, particularly smaller ones, are often anxious to identify potential candidates and will be grateful for your suggestions.

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST …

The Standing Committees form the backbone of IFLA’s professional work. IFLA needs its Standing Committees to be widely representative geographically and in terms of language, age, gender, institutional background, etc. Please take some time to convince suitable candidates of the benefit to accept nomination. The work is rewarding; it presents possibilities for sharing knowledge and expertise with like-minded professionals in different parts of the world – and it helps IFLA achieve worthwhile developments on behalf of our profession.

Jennefer Nicholson
Secretary General