IRA CL/R Bylaws

Bylaws

The current bylaws were revised, adopted by the membership, and approved by IRA during the 2000-01 academic year. The changes were designed largely to devise the means to expand democratization of the group and the participation of members.

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History of Our Bylaws

Many special interest groups in IRA are informal organizations which do not have a formal organizational structure. In contrast, the Children's Literature and Reading SIG members believe that a written structure is a means to assist members to become involved and to play a significant role in shaping the organization. The leadership serves as servants for the organization.

In order to operationalize this vision, bylaws were written and adopted in 1996. These bylaws served for five years, but in the meantime, the group had begun changing significantly. Beyond the annual meeting (Assembly) at the International Reading Association convention and the publication of The Dragon Lode, the group had launched the Notable Books for a Global Society Award Program focusing on multicultural literature and had initiated a partnership in publishing an annual list of Los Angeles' 100 Best Books. Additinally, leaders in the group have a vision that children's and young adult literature has a key role to play in the development of literacy and that to fulfill the vision many, many workers are needed in many places doing many tasks in concert with one another. To facilitate this further refinement of the vision, and to ensure the endorsement of the membership, the bylaws were revised.

The revision process was a lengthy one involving over a hundred different email messages with multiple versions of changes considered. The Bylaws Committee solicited input from all members and wove the suggestions into the bylaws. Once the Bylaws Committee had a proposed draft, they submitted it for consideration to the Board of Directors, who added more suggestions for refinement. After they endorsed the draft, the document was submitted to the membership for approval, and the bylaws were also submitted for approval to IRA Headquarters.

2001 Bylaws reflecting the changes from the 1996 bylaws.
2001 Bylaws as submitted to the membership for approval.

The Bylaws may be further amended by approval of the membership. Periodically a Bylaws Committee is formed to lead the process. When members believe that revisions are in order, they should notify the IRA CL/R SIG president.

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©2002 IRA Children’s Literature and Reading Special Interest Group (IRA CL/R SIG).
All rights reserved. Website: http://www.csulb.edu/org/childrens-lit
Dr. Kaye West, Webmistress
Date modified: May 7, 2004 . Feedback