ALA-APA Board of Directors
Spring Board Meeting
April 2004

TOPIC: ALA-APA Certification Program Committee

ACTION REQUESTED: Approval

PROPOSED MOTION: The ALA-APA Board of Directors approves establishment of an ALA-APA Certification Program Committee, which will be charged to (1) encourage and promote development of certification programs, (2) monitor and evaluate the progress of such programs, (3) encourage individuals to seek certification through such programs of the ALA-APA, and (4) make recommendations to the ALA-APA Board of Directors for general improvements to ALA-APA certification, based on evaluations and trends in certification practice. The committee shall consist of 5 individuals, including the chair. Appointments shall be for two years, renewal once. The committee will report to the ALA-APA Board of Directors twice annually. The chair of the ALA-APA Certification Committee will report to the ALA-APA Council annually on progress toward implementation of ALA-APA certification programs.

ACTION REQUESTED BY: Keith Michael Fiels, Executive Director, ALA-APA; Jenifer Grady, Director, ALA-APA

DATE: 5 April 2004

BACKGROUND:

At the 2004 Midwinter Meeting, the ALA-APA Board suggested that a certification standing committee - apart from the Certification Review Committee for each specific certification program - would be instrumental in encouraging and facilitating the development of certification programs.

ALA-APA committee may be established by the ALA-APA Board of Directors or ALA-APA Council, as outlined in Article VI, A:

The ALA-APA Board of Directors or Council may establish standing or special committees and prescribe their purpose and composition. Only personal members of ALA shall be appointed to these committees, except by authorization of the ALA-APA Board of Directors or by Article VII B of these Bylaws. In such cases, a majority of members must be personal members of ALA, and the quorum shall be a majority of the members of ALA on that committee.

For comparison, the charge of the Certification Review Committee is as follows:

There shall be a standing certification review committee for each proposed certification specialty program, appointed by the ALA-APA Board of Directors, to exist for the life of that program. Each Certification Review Committee will include active practitioners and library and information studies educators. Each review committee must include at least one representative of the public (who may not be a librarian or employed by a library). The purpose of a certification review committee will be to oversee development and administration of a validated method of measuring competence, based on the subject standards for professional practice, licensed from the American Library Association; establishment of an appeals process for the specific program; and, other implementation processes, subject to the approval of the ALA-APA Board of Directors and ALA-APA Council. Appointments to each certification review committee will be for four years, non-renewable. Initial appointments will be staggered. The certification review committee(s) will report to the ALA-APA Board of Directors. (ALA-APA Bylaws, Article VII, B.)