I wanted to try to do this from the Board meeting, but had some technical troubles. Therefore there will be some well ex post facto posts on Board actions.

The initial meeting began with a broad ranging discussion of creating a new structure for PLA. This process has been underway for more than a year. I had some concerns going in, but spent some time talking to a Past President who had been very involved in creating the current structure. The current structure was created to get away from a very traditional structure which had sections each with a bylaws committee, and other parallel structures.

However the cluster idea is not really working, and it is felt that the size of the PLA Board is too large. As in the larger association, many members cannot run for office or serve on committees because they have trouble getting funding and support for attending both Midwinter and Annual every year.

Part of what will happen is that there will be some association committees, but there will be flexibility to create (and disband) what ALA calls “Discussion Groups” and what PLA will call a “Community of Practice.

It is an interesting concept and the bylaws were crafted in such a way as to allow more flexibility.

There was considerable discussion on one section of the proposed bylaws which would remove decisions on dues increases from a vote of the membership and invest that decision with the Board. I believe the final decision is that this will be removed. A number of us (and yes, I was one) expressed concern that the dues issue could overshadow the re-structuring issue and cause the defeat of the whole package.

We will review the changes we discussed (some wordsmithing, some content) at our second meeting on Monday.