The 2020 MLA Nominating Committee welcomes nominations and self-nominations for a one-year appointment to the MLA Board as a Student/Early Career Representative for 2020-2021.
This appointment begins a three-year pilot initiative recently approved by the Board. The intent is to capture the feedback of those new to and entering into the profession of music librarianship while also helping newer members gain early insights into how MLA functions as an organization. The Board will make three one-year appointments over the course of the pilot initiative; the one-year terms allow for the swift transitions common to this phase of a person’s career.
For the Student/Early Career Representative appointment:
- This will be a one-year, non-voting appointment to the MLA Board. Incumbents may not succeed themselves.
- Terms will begin in the spring, after the annual meeting, and conclude at the end of the next annual meeting.
- The Representative must quality for early-career or student membership status in MLA at the time of selection and be a member in good standing in the relevant categories throughout their term.
- The Representative will be expected to attend all three Board meetings throughout the year and participate in Board activities.
- The Representative will have regular duties assigned to them, including compiling the Annual Report in cooperation with the Web Manager, and will also choose between serving on the Board’s Planning Committee or Finance Committee.
- MLA will cover the usual travel expenses for the Representative for three board meetings (spring/summer, usually in Middleton, WI but this year held virtually; fall somewhere else; winter at the annual meeting) as outlined in the Administrative Handbook for member-at-large positions, plus half of the Representative’s hotel and travel costs to the annual meeting if the Representative does not have additional financial support from their home institution or another source (such as the Kevin Freeman Travel Grant).
- The selected Representative does NOT need to be a member of MLStEP (Music Library Students & Emerging Professionals) or IAML (International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres).
For this first year of the pilot initiative, the selection timeline will be compressed in order to have the Student/Early Career Representative in place for the spring 2020 Board meeting.
Please send your nominations by the end of the day, Monday, April 6, to Melissa Moll (melissa-moll@uiowa.edu), Chair, Nominating Committee.
After the nomination period ends, the Nominating Committee will gather brief candidate biographies and statements of interest. Student and early career members of MLA will then have opportunity to provide feedback on the candidates. The Nominating Committee will recommend a candidate to the Board based on this feedback, and the Board will make the final appointment. Please note: only current student and early career members in good standing at the time of selection (beginning April 6, 2020) will be considered for the 2020-2021 pilot initiative term and have opportunity to provide feedback on candidates.
The Student/Early Career Representative for 2020-2021 will begin their appointment by attending the spring 2020 Board meeting, this year held online from May 20-22. The term includes the fall Board meeting (date and place to be determined) and concludes at the end of next year’s annual meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio (March 3-7, 2021). We will repeat the selection and appointment process for the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 terms, after which the pilot initiative will be evaluated.
For questions about the pilot initiative or the selection process, contact Melissa Moll (melissa-moll@uiowa.edu), Chair, Nominating Committee.
Thank you for participating in this important process as we launch the three-year pilot initiative for a Student/Early Career Representative to the MLA Board. The continued vitality and growth of MLA is dependent on the outstanding contributions of its members, and your nominations are critical to recruiting the leadership that the Association needs.