The AGM kick-off with a nice introduction and recognition of board of directors and other MLA representatives. With 377 attendees, we far exceeded quorum for the business meeting. One of the first orders of business was to make an amendments to motion 1. There were 13 total amendments that were recommended. Some of the amendments included cleaning up the language in the bylaws so that they were gender neutral throughout, and speeding up the business making process so that it could be more streamlined. Other amendments would give more power to groups such as Sections. Mary Helms gave an explanation of the different amendments to Motion 1. One particularly amendment included procedural issues such as the bonding of the Director. The Parliamentary Board vote was to not have the Director bonded anymore. After much deliberation and a vote, it was decided in favor of what the Board recommended which was that the Executive Director should not be bonded. In addition to the debate related to the bonding of the Executive Director, the AGM meeting also included a discussion on dues changes being in the hands of the Board. It was explained by the Board that they recommended that this change be made in order to allow for more flexibility. The Board reminded us that we need to intrust our faith in our elected Board and that if these changes were not in the hands of the Board that it will continue to take 2 years to make changes to du
es.
Final comments on the AGM and budget:
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Bylaws will be passed Jan 1, 2017
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All MLA members will be able to vote again on the bylaws this summer
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MLA news in April will include annual budget on MLAnet.org
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Annual audit report will be available June 1
Incoming President Teresa Knott's Address:
Teresa Knott opened her address by thanking Michelle Kraft for her presidency. Her talk focused on the topic of building value within MLA. She discussed this idea in terms of audience were she described the process by which the Strategic Task Force went through and created lists of primary audiences (health sciences librarians, members, donors, vendors, international librarians, etc.) and considered what MLA can do for each. They looked at what they can provide, how they would offer them information, advocate for them, attract them to annual meetings, etc. Knott also looked at the core value of education within MLA. She described how MLA will continue to work towards developing courses that build on cultural competencies, provide more online trainings, and how MLA will build value through the expansion of its educational offerings. Of particular priority is to build new trainings that fill gaps in new areas of the profession. Also mentioned in her talk was MLA's push towards international presence by building a network that will strengthen our community.
As a first time AGM attendee it was hard to keep track of everything that was occurring and I seemed to be a little out of the loop although I got the full experience of the passing and deliberation of bylaws! I was excited to see membership engaged in the process!
