Role Statements
All office bearers must be financial members of SLAQ
President | Vice-President (with ASLA responsibilities) | Vice-President (with SLAQ membership responsibilities) | Immediate Past President | Secretary and Company Secretary | Treasurer | ASLA Councillor (National Councillor) | ASLA Councillor (Projects Councillor) | ASLA Councillor (Publications Councillor) | ASLA Councillors | State Councillor | Publications Editor (Newsletter Editor - SLAQ Website Manager) | Professional Development & New Publications Officer/s (Professional Development - New Publications) | Executive Officer | SLAQ representation on and liaison with other committees | Subcommittees | Subcommittee Treasurers
The President will:
- chair meetings of the council, executive, the annual general meeting and any special general meeting;
- be the public spokesperson on issues involving SLAQ and represent the association at relevant forums;
- represent SLAQ on ASLA council or Executive;
- provide leadership and direction in long term policy and planning for SLAQ;
- oversee the preparation of the agenda for any meetings called by the state association;
- monitor the role of the executive officer;
- oversee revision of the Strategic Plan of the association as required;
- facilitate selection of award nominees;
- report regularly to the membership through the newsletter and other communication formats;
- maintain liaison at an executive level with other relevant professional associations.
Vice-president (with ASLA responsibilities)
The Vice-president (with ASLA responsibilities) will:
- be a member of the SLAQ executive;
- act for the president in their absence;
- represent SLAQ on ASLA council (See ASLA council member role statement);
- act as a communications link between SLAQ and ASLA;
- liaise with the president and executive officer of SLAQ;
- attend SLAQ executive and council meetings.
Vice-president (with SLAQ membership responsibilities)
The Vice-president (with SLAQ membership responsibilities) will:
- be a member of the SLAQ executive;
- act for the president in their absence;
- liaise with state councillors and presidents/chairpersons/convenors of SLAQ subcommittees;
- advise members seeking to establish a SLAQ subcommittee;
- liaise with the president and executive officer of SLAQ;
- attend SLAQ executive and council meetings;
- welcome new members of SLAQ through a letter of welcome each year;
- organise and facilitate professional development for SLAQ subcommittee office bearers and councillors as required.
The Immediate Past President will:
- be a member of the SLAQ executive and council;
- represent the president, if required.
Secretary and Company Secretary
The Secretary will:
- record the minutes of meetings of the executive and circulate to the council listserv for distribution. (The minutes of SLAQ teleconferences are recorded by a minute secretary and circulated via the council listserv);
- retain possession of SLAQ council records;
- be official signatory to legal documents.
The Treasurer will:
- be responsible for the financial management of SLAQ as authorised by council;
- oversee the development and implementation of financial matters of council;
- prepare an annual budget for council;
- prepare and present a financial report at each state council meeting based on figures and information provided by the executive officer;
- in consultation with the council’s auditor, initiate the preparation of SLAQ’s annual audited report for presentation at the annual general meeting;
- liaise with, delegate duties to and supervise the work of the executive officer in relation to the financial matters of SLAQ;
- be one of the legal signatories of the association.
ASLA Councillors (The following are the role statements relating to the Councillors’ responsibilities to ASLA.)
Each Member Association shall have the right to appoint three Councillors to attend the annual face-to-face meeting of National Council. For meetings held by audio teleconference Councillors are encouraged to meet at the one location. One of the Councillors appointed shall be the Member Association (National) Councillor and is the only person with the authority to vote on matters arising. By convention, the Councillors represent the view of the Member Associations, although they may vote differently from their Association’s advice if new information is made available during the discussion at the Council meeting.
Responsibilities:
ASLA Councillor 1 - (SLAQ Vice-president with ASLA responsibilities, if not a member of ASLA Executive . See para. 2)
The (State/territory) National Councillor will:
- work to ensure that ASLA remains the peak reference body for teacher-librarianship in Australia;
- participate in National Council meetings as the nominated attendee with voting rights;
- contribute to and participate in the formulation and revisions of operational policies and procedures within meetings of ASLA;
- report to Member Associations of ASLA business and bring Member Association issues to ASLA's attention, as appropriate;
- develop policies and procedures to further advocacy for teacher-librarianship at the national level;
- monitor and respond to advocacy issues at the national level;
- identify advocacy issues at the national level and respond appropriately;
- develop policies and procedures to further research into teacher-librarianship at the national level;
- monitor and respond to research issues at the national level;
- identify research opportunities at the national level.
ASLA Councillor 2 – (SLAQ President, if not a member of ASLA Executive See para. 1)
The (State/territory) Projects Councillor will:
- work to ensure that ASLA remains the peak reference body for teacher-librarianship in Australia;
- participate in all meetings;
- contribute to and participate in formulation and revisions of project policies and procedures within meetings of ASLA;
- manage any specific projects for ASLA that have responsibilities within the member association;
- provide project leadership to any project teams as a communicator and facilitator, and ensure the project is kept on track and to budget;
- act as a catalyst in sourcing documentation on projects identified by National Council;
- seek out expertise in relation to the identified projects;
- facilitate relationships with external and international organizations, which support the objectives of ASLA.
ASLA Councillor 3 – (SLAQ member elected at Annual General Meeting.
The (State/territory) Publications Councillor will:
- work to ensure that ASLA remains the peak reference body for teacher-librarianship in Australia;
- participate in all meetings;
- contribute to and participate in formulation and revisions of publication policies and procedures within meetings of ASLA;
- liaise with the Executive Committee in regard to ASLA publications;
- assist in planning ASLA publications particularly in relation to intellectual content;
- solicit and do an initial edit (if required) of articles and contributions for publication and submit to Access Editor by required date;
- assist in the determination of publication schedules/topics;
- assist in the editorial process as required;
- respond particularly to local contributors with feedback and thanks;
- ensure that Member Associations are aware of the way in which publication proposals are submitted;
- identify and liaise with members of the ‘expert group’;
- be active in the promotion and advertising of ASLA products and the publications of their member associations and national publications.
Common roles - in addition to the specific roles above - all ASLA Councillor positions also have the following responsibilities
- assume personal responsibility for duty of care, diligence and understanding in the management of ASLA;
- promote the Vision, role and operation of ASLA to grass roots members of the Member Associations.
ASLA (Australian School Library Association) Councillor
Each of the three elected ASLA councillors whose ASLA positions are described above will:
- be an active member of SLAQ council and executive;
- maintain current knowledge of issues facing Queensland teacher-librarians and resource centre services at the school, district and state level;
- attend national teleconference meetings;
- attend ASLA council meetings;
- contribute to ASLA subcommittees as and if required;
- report regularly to SLAQ council and inform of items on the ASLA national agenda;
- write reports for the SLAQ newsletter;
- attend ASLA state council meetings if designated to do so.
The State Councillor will:
- attend local SLAQ subcommittee meetings and where there is no subcommittee maintain contact with local SLAQ members;
- participate in SLAQ council meetings and vote on behalf of subcommittee members or where there is no subcommittee the local members of SLAQ;
- act as a two-way communication link between local members and the state association;
- promote SLAQ activities, programs, objectives and policy to SLAQ subcommittees, local teacher-librarians and other library staff, the community and local region;
- provide proxy vote when absent from SLAQ council meetings;
- encourage local teacher-librarians to become observers at council meetings;
- seek nominations from SLAQ members for awards such as the Brian Bahnisch Award and Australian Teacher-librarian of the Year Award.
Publications Editor
The Publications Editor has a role firstly in relation to the newsletter and secondly in relation to the publication of material on the SLAQ web site.
The Publications Editor will:
- produce a quarterly newsletter;
- together with the executive officer be responsible for organising printing and distribution;
- maintain current knowledge of issues affecting school resource services in Queensland;
- liaise with SLAQ members, subcommittees, council and executive to gather content;
- be responsible for production and annual review of newsletter editorial policy and procedures in conjunction with the executive;
- collate information for the section of Access that publishes state news and ensure that it is passed on to the relevant state ASLA councillor to meet deadline dates for the national journal.
The Publications Editor will:
- work with SLAQ web committee to gather, review and edit material for the SLAQ web site;
- together with executive officer, liaise with SLAQ web master to ensure currency of material;
- be responsible for production and annual review of web site editorial policy and procedures in conjunction with the executive.
Professional Development and New Publications Officer/s
- identify professional development needs of teacher-librarians and others involved in school information services;
- coordinate the establishment and review of guidelines for financial support by state council for professional development activities;
- coordinate the approval or otherwise of subcommittee, individual or group submissions made to state council for financial support;
- coordinate the planning, organisation and presentation of professional development activities carried out by state council.
- identify materials appropriate for publication;
- coordinate the preparation and production of publications for sale (including copyright permission and promotion);
- promote published material through appropriate channels and/or programs;
- liaise with executive officer to organise the storage and distribution of ‘for sale’ products.
The Executive Officer is responsible to and reports to the president. The executive officer carries out duties, as directed by the president, in support of activities of the association and will:
- maintain membership records;
- update membership records for distribution of the SLAQ newsletter and Access;
- arrange teleconferences, meetings and the annual general meeting as directed by the president;
- in conjunction with the president, prepare and circulate the agenda of executive and council meetings;
- attend state council teleconference and executive meetings;
- provide a clearing house function for the association;
- monitor in-coming correspondence and reply on behalf of council as required or directed;
- alert the executive of tasks requiring attention between meetings;
- research issues of concern to the association, as directed;
- keep custody of the financial records of SLAQ;
- be responsible for the SLAQ seal;
- be empowered by the executive on behalf of council, to make day-to-day decisions to ensure the smooth operation of the association;
- assist the treasurer to manage the financial records on behalf of SLAQ by:
- operating the bank account/s;
- maintaining the records of all financial transactions;
- reconciling bank statements with records of financial transactions;
- ensuring payment deadlines are met;
- providing the treasurer with regular updates of the state of the finances of the association.
In relation to state conferences:
- The executive officer shall be responsible to the organising committee for the maintenance of the conference database, the receipt and banking of monies from participants, sponsors and trade exhibitors and the preparation of regular reports in both areas, for the conference committee.
SLAQ representation on and liaison with other committees
From time to time a member may volunteer or be elected to act as a SLAQ representative on an association or other committee. One such current example is the Joint Council of Queensland Teachers’ Associations.
The role of such a SLAQ representative is to:
- attend all meetings of the association or group;
- provide SLAQ council with reports of the association’s or group’s meetings;
- keep the SLAQ Council informed of the outcomes of any actions that may affect SLAQ objectives;
- respond on behalf of SLAQ (as directed by SLAQ council) to the association or group;
- seek out expertise from SLAQ members in relation to any identified projects;
- facilitate relationships with the association or group that support the objectives of SLAQ
A subcommittee will support and implement SLAQ’s objectives in the local area by
- organising local professional development;
- providing a response, through its local council member, to national/state educational issues on which the association is providing comment;
- taking responsibility for project development that has a statewide focus, eg mentoring programs;
- liaising with the local state councillor in promotional and advocacy activities at the local and district level;
- assuming responsibility for the organisation of SLAQ biennial state conferences on a rotational basis;
- keeping records of activities and reporting for the benefit of collegiate groups via the state teleconferences, newsletters or website;
- promoting SLAQ activities, programs, objectives and policy to local teacher-librarians and other school library staff, district schools and the community;
- taking responsibility for making available to teachers outside a subcommittee area information about the availability of SLAQ activities and planned professional development.
Subcommittee treasurers have a responsibility not only to the local subcommittee but also to the state association in relation to the keeping of records from which accurate figures can be obtained for the quarterly Business Activity Statement (BAS).
Subcommittee treasurers will:
- operate the subcommittee bank account;
- maintain the records of all financial transactions in the format approved by the state association auditor;
- reconcile bank statements with records of financial transactions;
- provide to the executive officer of SLAQ the information required to complete the quarterly BAS by the 7th day of January, April, July, October in each year. (The submission of the BAS to the Australian Tax Office on time is a legal requirement and can only be achieved if the timeline given is adhered to);
- by the date of the annual general meeting of the association return to the executive officer the statement of the receipts and payments for the year signed by the president and treasurer of the subcommittee in the format provided.
Last updated 6 April 2008