Open letter to ISLN Members regarding membership

Post date: Mar 07, 2010 1:41:47 PM

Dear Members

As the AGM approaches I would like to clarify our current membership options and the proposed changes that we will be voting on at the AGM.

Currently we have 4 membership options available

Professional – Institutional – Associate – Business

At the AGM we hope to change Professional Membership to Personal Membership. This membership is for the person holding the post of librarian or teacher-librarian and employed in a school in Singapore. This membership costs $50 p.a. Personal membership is not transferable. Personal members may vote and/or hold positions on committees.

Institutional membership costs $75 p.a. and covers a branch (a branch is a separate physical space that has members that identify as belonging to that branch) library. We hope to change this term to School membership at the AGM. It will still cover each individual branch rather than a whole school. This membership covers any professional library staff members (the person holding the post of librarian or teacher-librarian and/or those staff members holding library qualifications) employed by the branch. Some library organisations use a sliding scale based on the number of clients organisation has registered. When the Executive Committee discussed the fee scale we felt that per branch would be more suitable for our members needs. Institutional members should list the members covered by their membership on their membership application form. Membership is transferrable at anytime by notifying the secretary in writing. All members listed may vote and/or hold positions on committees.

Associate membership ($35 p.a) is open to any interested parties that do not fit into either of the categories above. Associate members do not have voting privileges. They may volunteer to serve on sub-committees in advisory capacities.

Business partner membership at $100 p.a is open to businesses whose staff may wish to attend meetings, social events and professional development. They do not have voting privileges. They may volunteer to serve on sub-committees in advisory capacities.

The committee welcomes discussion on the types of membership at meetings and if any members have ideas for improvements, please feel free to add it as an agenda item at a meeting to enable us to debate and move for any changes. Any changes that are agreed by a vote do have to be amended in our constitution.

Guests may attend meetings once a year without invitation. Guests invited to attend meetings and social events by the Executive Committee may attend whenever an invitation is extended to them.

I hope that this clarifies any queries, assists you in understanding your voting rights and facilitates discussion on this matter at future meetings.

Barbara Philip

President

International School Libraries Network (Singapore) -- (ISLN)