Nevada Library Association Handbook

General Information
Bylaws

HISTORY
See Bylaws Committee Chair and General NLA History pages in this handbook.

Nevada Library Association Bylaws
As Amended through April 2014

ARTICLE I. NAME AND PURPOSE.

Section 1. Name.
The name of this organization shall be the Nevada Library Association, herinafter referred to as NLA.

Section 2. Purpose.
The purpose of NLA shall be to promote library service of the highest quality for all present and potential users of libraries in Nevada. NLA is organized and operated for educational and literary purposes, no part of the net earnings of which may be used to benefit any private individual or member.

ARTICLE II. MEMBERSHIP.

Section 1. Membership Year.
Membership will be for one year from the payment of dues. 

Section 2. Types of Membership.
There shall be the following types of membership:

a. Personal membership shall be open to anyone who is interested in achieving the purpose of NLA and pays annual dues.

b. Affiliate membership shall be open to members of other state library associations who pay annual affiliate dues.

c. Institutional membership shall be open to all libraries and other organizations which are interested in achieving the purpose of NLA and pay annual institutional dues.

Section 3. Membership Privileges.
Only personal members shall be eligible to vote and hold elected or appointed office in NLA. Members paying NYRA dues alone shall not be eligible to vote or hold elected or appointed office in NLA. All types of membership shall receive publications of NLA as determined by the board of trustees.

Section 1. Executive Officers.
The executive officers of NLA shall be a president; a president-elect, who shall act as vice-president, an immediate past-president, an executive secretary, a treasurer, and a finance chair. The immediate past-president is a non-voting, advisory member of the executive board. The duties of executive officers shall be those usually associated with these positions and as enumerated in the parliamentary authority, except when defined otherwise in these bylaws. Each executive officer shall submit a written annual report for the membership by the thirty-first of December of each year and shall be prepared to report at all board and membership meetings.

Section 2. Appointed Officers.
The appointed officers of NLA shall be the chairpersons of committees as hereinafter defined, an archivist, an editor, an elections chair, and a webmaster. The duties of appointed officers shall be specified in the NLA Handbook. Each appointed officer shall submit a written annual report for the membership by the thirty-first of December of each year and shall be prepared to report at all board and membership meetings.

Section 3. Selection of Officers.
The executive officers of NLA shall be elected by a majority or plurality of the legal votes cast for each office in either a mail ballot or an electronic ballot by December 1. The president shall notify the membership of the results of elections. Except where designated otherwise in these bylaws, appointed officers shall be appointed in December by the president-elect with the approval of the board of trustees.

Section 4. Removal of Officers.
Any executive officer may be removed from office by means of a recall petition signed by one-third of the personal members and presented to the elections committee, followed by a written two-thirds affirmative vote of the membership within sixty days.

The president shall notify the membership of the results of the vote. Any appointed officer may be removed from office by means of a majority vote of the voting members of the board of trustees. The procedures for removing executive or appointed officers must be in accord with the parliamentary authority.

Section 5. Terms of Office.
All officers shall take office on the first day of January following their election or appointment. Terms of executive officers shall be as follows:

a. The president and president-elect shall each serve a term of one year and until their successor takes office. The president shall not be eligible for the office of president-elect for a period of a least two years following the expiration of his/her term as president.

b. The executive secretary, treasurer, and finance chair shall serve terms of two years. The terms of the executive secretary and the finance chair shall begin in years alternate to the start of the treasurer's term.

c. Executive officers shall not succeed themselves in the same office and shall not hold more than one office at a time.

Appointed officers shall each serve a term of one year except as provided otherwise in these bylaws.

Section 6. Vacancies.
In the case of a vacancy in the office of president, the president-elect shall assume the office of president for the remainder of the unexpired term and for the following full term; the office of president-elect shall remain vacant until the next regular election. Otherwise, in the case of a vacancy in any executive office, there shall be a new election within thirty days. In the case of a vacancy in any appointed office the practice hereinbefore described for the selection of appointed officers shall be followed.

ARTICLE IV. BOARD OF TRUSTEES.

Section 1. Membership.
The corporate powers of NLA shall be vested in a Board of Trustees composed of the executive officers, one representative from the Northeast District, one representative from the Northwest District, one representative from the Southern District, one representative from the College and Research Libraries section, one representative from the Nevada School and Children Librarians' section, and one representative from the Public Library Association of Nevada/Nevada Association of Library Trustees section. Advisory, nonvoting members shall be the State Librarian, the library representative of the Department of Education and the NLA delegates, if any, to national and regional organizations. Members of the board of trustees may hold more than one NLA office at a time provided they occupy only one seat on the board.

Section 2. Delegates.
The rules described herein governing the terms of office, selection, removal and replacement of NLA delegates to affiliate organizations shall be subject to the rules of those organizations. All delegates shall be members in good standing of NLA and their respective affiliate organizations. Delegates shall take office on the first day of January following their election, except for the MPLA delegate whose term of office shall begin at the first MPLA Executive Board Meeting following the delegate's election. All delegates shall serve a term of two years unless the affiliate organization's bylaws specify a different term of office (which shall be followed in those cases). Delegates shall be elected by a majority or plurality of the legal votes cast by the membership of the appropriate group in a mail ballot to be completed within thirty days after the annual meeting. If no appropriate group is identified by the affiliate organization, the delegate shall be appointed by the president with the approval of the board of trustees.

Section 3. Representatives.
Representatives to the board of trustees from districts and sections shall take office on the first day of January following their election and shall serve a term as determined by that section or district. Each district or section shall determine the manner of the selection, removal and replacement in case of vacancy, of its representative, and shall also provide for the selection of a proxy for its representative, in any democratic manner acceptable to its members. Each district or section having a representative shall notify the executive secretary of its chosen representative within thirty days after the NLA annual meeting.

Section 4. NLA Handbook.
A manual of association procedures and board of trustees policies shall be written and maintained at the direction of the board of trustees with the cooperation of committee, district, section and interest group chairpersons. The manual shall be known as the NLA Handbook.

a. Any NLA member may initiate a change in the NLA Handbook by submitting the purposed change in writing to the board of trustees. The board may provisionally accept a change by referral to the bylaws committee. Upon report of the bylaws committee, a change may be approved by majority vote of the board.

b. Approved changes shall be printed for distribution to all holders of affected sections of the NLA Handbook.

c. The executive secretary shall maintain the official copy and the distribution list of the NLA Handbook.

ARTICLE V. ORGANIZATION.

Section 1. Affiliation with National and Regional Organizations.
Upon a majority vote of their members and with the approval of the board of trustees, NLA and its constituent groups and committees may affiliate or disaffiliate with national and regional organizations. Delegates to these organizations may be elected by the membership of the appropriate group or appointed by the president with the approval of the board of trustees.

Section 2. Constituent Groups.
NLA constituent groups shall be defined as districts, sections and interest groups. Sections reflecting interests by type of library and districts reflecting geographical interests of groups within NLA shall be created by the Board of Trustees upon petition of fifteen prospective members with subsequent ratification by the membership at a general membership meeting. Interest groups reflecting statewide interest or activity may be created by the board of trustees upon petition of ten prospective members. Each constituent group shall be governed by its own rules of procedure, which shall not be in conflict with these bylaws. Upon petition of two-thirds of the affected members of constituent groups, the board of trustees shall merge, divide or dissolve the appropriate group(s). Board action on any petition shall be announced to the membership. Each constituent group shall annually elect a chairperson for the following year and shall notify the executive secretary of the results within thirty days after the annual meeting. If any constituent group fails to elect a chairperson for three consecutive years, this evidence of inactivity shall result in automatic dissolution of the group. Only NLA personal members shall be eligible for membership in constituent groups.

Section 3. Standing Committees.
There shall be standing committees to assist the board of trustees in formulating policy and carrying out activities in areas of continuing NLA concern and effort. These standing committees shall be: annual meetings, awards, bylaws, elections, finance, government relations, intellectual freedom, library planning, membership, personnel development, publications, publicity, young reader's award and such other committees as the board of trustees shall deem necessary. The duties of these committees shall be those usually associated with such committees and as outlined in the NLA Handbook or as specified in these bylaws.

a. All committee chairpersons shall serve one-year terms at the discretion of the president and the executive board, with the exception of 1) the intellectual freedom and government relations chairpersons, who shall serve two year terms as described in the NLA Handbook, and 2) the personnel development committee chairperson, who shall serve three year terms (beginning in 1996). The term of the intellectual freedom chairperson begins in the odd numbered year. The term of the government relations chairperson begins in the even numbered year. The latter is jointly appointed by the president and president-elect.


Section 4. Special Committees.
Special committees shall be created by the president with the approval of the board of trustees, when the need arises and in the same manner as standing committees. Members of special committees shall serve until the conclusion of their business.

ARTICLE VI. MEETINGS.

Section 1. Open Meetings.
All meetings shall be open to members of NLA and to the public.

Section 2. Annual Meeting.
An annual meeting of NLA to transact business and to provide programs of general or specialized interest to members shall be held each year at a time and place to be determined by the board of trustees. Written notice of the annual meeting with agenda and any material relevant to the conduct of the meeting shall be posted to the NLA website, emailed, or mailed to the membership at least thirty days in advance of the meeting. The Board shall keep in mind possible conflicts with national or regional library meetings. As soon as dates and place are established for the Annual meeting they should be published in each issue of the Nevada Libraries.

Section 3. Board of Trustees Meetings.
Meetings of the board of trustees shall be held during the annual meeting and again in January of each year. Meetings may also be held at other times on the call of the president, on request to the president of one-third of the board's voting membership or on written petition of one-tenth of NLA members. If the last method is followed, a proposed agenda shall accompany the petition. The president may poll members of the board on matters of significance to NLA between meetings, provided that responses are documented in writing.

Section 4. Quorum.
The personal members present at any duly called annual, special, or constituent group meeting shall constitute a quorum. A quorum for board of trustees and committee meetings shall be a simple majority of the voting board or committee membership, provided that in the case of board of trustees meetings at least one of the executive officers shall be present.

Section 5. Voting.
Electronic or mail ballots not authorized elsewhere in these bylaws may be used for items of NLA business provided there has been an opportunity for discussion at a membership meeting or at district meetings. The elections committee shall conduct the balloting.

Section 6. Parliamentary Authority.
The rules contained in the current edition of Sturgis Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure shall govern NLA in all cases in which they are applicable and in which they are not inconsistent with these bylaws.

ARTICLE VII. FINANCES.

Section 1. Fiscal Year.
The fiscal year shall correspond with the calendar year.

Section 2. Budget Requests.
Each executive and appointed officer, delegate and chairperson-elect of each section, district, interest group and committee shall submit a written budget request and program justification to the finance chair by December 31st of each year preceding the year for which that budget is requested. The finance chair shall include the budget requests and program justifications, with its recommendations, in a written report to the board of trustees by January 15th of each year.

Section 3. Budget Approval.
The board of trustees shall approve the final NLA budget in its entirety at its January meeting. The finance chair shall notify the officers, delegates and chairpersons of sections, districts, interest groups and committees in writing of the budget for the year.

Section 4. Dues and Subscriptions.
Constituent groups shall not charge supplementary dues other than those charged by NLA. NLA or its constituent groups may engage in fund raising activities as long as the use of any funds received are expended in support of the purposes of NLA. Membership dues, prices of publications and subscription rates shall be determined by the board of trustees.

Section 5. Dues and Subscriptions Payable.
Annual dues shall be for one year from the payment of dues. If renewal dues are not paid by their expiration date, they shall be dropped from the rolls of the NLA. Individuals so dropped may reapply for membership. Subscriptions shall be due and payable on January 1st of each year of July 1st of each fiscal year. 

Section 6. Dues to National and Regional Organizations.
Unless authorized by the membership to withhold dues, the board of trustees shall provide in the annual budget that annual dues be paid to any national or regional organization with which NLA or its constituent groups or committees are affiliated.

Section 7. Annual Audit.
An internal audit will review the financial records of NLA annually. The internal audit committee shall be comprised of the President, the President-Elect, the Past President, and the Treasurer and Finance Chair, and incoming Treasurer (odd years) or incoming Finance Chair (even years). A certified public accountant may audit the financial records of the NLA as called by the executive board. When an audit occurs a written report of the audit and an explanation of the fiscal status of NLA shall be submitted for publication and distribution to the membership of NLA during the spring of the following year.

ARTICLE VIII. AMENDMENTS.

These bylaws may be amended by three-fifths of the legal votes cast, provided that copies of such changes have been circulated to the membership at least thirty days in advance for discussion before online voting. Amendments may be proposed in writing to the president by ten members or may generate from the board of trustees or the bylaws committee. Amendments as distributed may be altered after discussion and approval of three-fourths of the membership voting. Purely editorial changes not affecting the substance of an article or section may be made with the concurrence of a majority of the board of trustees or with a majority of the legal votes cast in online voting.