Article I
Membership
Sec. 1. Classification of Membership.
There shall be five (5) classes of membership:
(a) Regular Members. Any person interested in law librarianship and currently, or within the last two (2) years, employed at least 30% of full time to perform professional work by either: (1) a law library, a state library, or a general library having a separately maintained law section; or (2) an individual providing professional librarian services to law libraries shall become an individual member upon the payment of dues. Such membership cannot be transferred or assigned. One person is allowed only one vote.
(b) Associate Members. Any person not directly connected with a law library or with a separately maintained law section of a general library may become an Associate member upon payment of dues. Such membership cannot be transferred or assigned.
(c) Life Members. The Board of Directors shall nominate for Life Membership any member who has been a Regular Member for at least ten (10) years and was significantly active in LLAGNY leadership or committee work during regular active membership, but who has retired from active law library employment. Retirement is defined as the cessation of work not as a career change. Election to Life Membership shall be by ballot on a majority vote of the voting membership at any regular meeting of the Association or by ballot in LAW LINES. One person is allowed only one vote.
(d) Retired Members. Any person who meets each of the following requirements: (1) Retired from library work, and (2) was a regular member for a total of more than ten (10) consecutive years in the Association, shall become a retired member upon payment of annual dues. Such membership cannot be transferred or assigned.
(e) Student Members. Any student enrolled at least half-time in a degree program related to law librarianship and not employed more than half-time in a library position shall become a student member upon payment of annual dues provided that membership in this category is limited to five (5) consecutive years. The Executive Board is empowered to adopt procedures for verifying student status. Such membership cannot be transferred or assigned, and does not entitle member to vote or hold office.
Sec. 2. Dues, Rights and Privileges.
(a) Dues for each class of membership shall be determined by the Board of Directors subject to approval by two-thirds of the members present and voting at any regular meeting of the Association, provided that a written notice and explanation of any proposed dues change shall have been mailed to the members at least ten (10) days in advance of the meeting.
(b) Annual dues of Regular and Associate members shall be $40.00. Annual dues of Retired and Student members shall be $15.00. Members failing to pay dues by August 31st of the current membership year shall be dropped from membership. Suspended members may be reinstated at any time upon payment of the full current year's dues.
(c) The right to hold office shall be restricted to Regular Members. The holding of committee chairs is restricted to Regular Members. Voting is restricted to Regular and Life Members. All members shall receive the Association newsletter.
(d Dues shall not be prorated.
Article II
Meetings
Sec. 1. The annual meeting of the Association shall be held in the City of New York during the month of June each year, the date to be set annually by the Board of Directors.
Sec. 2. Regular meetings of the Association shall be held at such time and place in the City of New York as determined by the Board of Directors.
Sec. 3. Special meetings of the Association may be called by the president of the Association upon receiving a written petition requesting such a meeting, endorsed by at least 5% of the voting members in good standing.
Sec. 4. Quorum. Twenty-five (25) voting members present shall be a quorum for the conduct of business at any meeting of the Association.
Sec. 5. Voting. The affairs of the Association shall be conducted by majority vote of the members voting unless otherwise provided in these bylaws.
Article III
Officers and Board of Directors
Sec. 1. The officers of the Association are the President, Vice President/President-Elect, the Secretary, and the Treasurer each sitting on the Board of Directors. In addition, the Board of Directors shall include the last retired President, five (5) Directors, and the editor of LAW LINES. All officers and directors must be members in good standing of the Law Library Association of Greater New York. The President and Vice President/President-Elect must be members in good standing of the American Association of Law Libraries. No officer may hold more than one office at a time.
Sec. 2. Terms of Office.
(a) The term of office shall be July 1 - June 30.
(b) President. The Vice President/President-Elect shall become President of the Association on July 1 one year after his or her election, and shall serve a term of one (1) year.
(c) Vice President/President-Elect. The Vice President/President-Elect shall assume office on July 1 following his or her election, and shall serve a term of one (1) year.
(d) The Secretary and the Treasurer of the Association shall assume office on July 1 following his or her election and shall serve a term of two (2) years.
(e) Directors. There shall be five (5) Directors. There shall be four (4) Directors who shall serve a non-renewable term of two (2) years. Two (2) Directors shall be elected during each year and shall assume office on July 1 following their election. There shall be one (1) Director who shall serve a non-renewable term of one (1) year and shall assume office on July 1 following his or her election. This Director shall have been a regular member for no longer than five (5) consecutive calendar years preceding the nomination submission deadline.
(f) Vacancies. In the event that the office of the President becomes vacant, the Vice President/President-Elect shall automatically assume the office of the President for the remainder of the open term plus one (1) year. All other offices which became vacant shall be filled by the Board of Directors.
Sec. 3. Duties.
(a) The President shall preside at all meetings of the Board of Directors and the Secretary shall act as its Recording Secretary.
(b) The duties of the officers of the Board of Directors shall otherwise be those usually assigned to such offices in similar associations in addition to duties assigned by this Association. Business transacted at the meetings of the Board of Directors shall be reported regularly to the membership in LAW LINES.
Sec. 4. Powers. The Board or Directors shall have the sole power on behalf of the Association or any of its committees, to incur indebtedness, solicit funding, make or publish public statements and establish and maintain relations with other organizations.
Sec. 5. Quorum and Voting of the Board of Directors.
Five (5) members of the Board of Directors shall constitute a quorum for the conduct of Board business. Except as otherwise specifically provided herein, all matters coming before the Board of Directors for determination shall be determined by a majority vote of the members present or participating in the meeting. Any one or more members of the Board of Directors may participate in a meeting of the Board of Directors by means of a conference telephone or similar equipment which allows all persons participating in the meeting to hear each other at the same time. Participation by such means shall constitute presence in person at such a meeting.
Sec. 6. Meetings of the Board of Directors shall be called and the time and place for them set at the direction of the President. The President may decide to convene a meeting by conference call. However, there shall be at least five (5) meetings of the Board called and convened annually between the respective annual meetings of the Association.
Sec. 7. Publication of Resolutions and Organic Documents. The text of major resolutions and policy decisions of the Association shall be published in LAW LINES and posted on the LLAGNY Listserv and LLAGNY website. The text of the LLAGNY constitution and bylaws shall be published in the LLAGNY membership directory.
Article IV
Committees
Sec. 1. There shall be such committees of the Association as the Board of Directors shall create or as are created by majority vote of those present and voting at any meeting of the Association.
Sec. 2. There shall be two classes of committees: Standing committees and Special committees
(a) Standing committees shall be as follows: Advertising, Archives, Corporate Sponsorship, Education, Government Relations, Grants/Scholarships, Law Lines, Outreach Programs, Membership, Nominations, Placement, Pro Bono, Public Relations, Special Events, Student Relations, Technology, Union List, and Volunteers.
(b) Special committees shall be appointed by the Board of Directors of a stated period to accomplish a specific purpose. Terms of Special committees shall be determined by the Board of Directors.
Sec. 3. The President shall appoint all members of committees and designate committee chairs unless otherwise provided in these bylaws. The President shall be an ex-officio member of all committees except the Nominations Committee.
Sec. 4. No committee shall incur expenses on behalf of the Association except as authorized by the Board of Directors, nor shall any committee commit the Association to any course of action by a declaration of policy.
Sec. 5. Each committee shall submit to the Board of Directors a written annual report of its activities with recommendations for action if appropriate.
Article V
Procedure
Roberts' Rules of Order shall govern the conduct of all meetings of the Association and its Board of Directors.
Article VI
Nominations
Sec. 1. The Board of Directors shall appoint Nominations Committee Chair who in turn appoints three to five Regular or Life Member of the Association to the Committee, no one of whom shall be a member of the Board of Directors and no one of whom shall be a candidate for office in the Association at the succeeding election. Each member of the Committee shall serve for a one-year term.
Sec. 2. Beginning in 1995, nominations by the Nominations Committee shall be submitted to the Secretary of the Association by Mar. 15.
Sec. 3. Beginning in 1995, Association elections shall be by ballot prepared and mailed to the membership by the Secretary of the Association no later than Mar. 31. Ballots must include a space for a write-in candidate for each position. An elected write-in candidate will have ten (10) days following notification to decline the position; if the position is declined by a write-in candidate, it will go to the next highest vote-getter. All ballots must be returned no later than April 15 in order to be counted.
(a) Election ballots shall be returned to the Chair of the Nominations Committee. This committee shall have charge of the vote tabulation of the annual election and shall report the results of the election to the annual business meeting. The results of the election shall also be published in the first issue of LAW LINES published after the election results have been tabulated.
(b) Elections shall be decided by majority vote of the voting membership.
(c) In event of a tie, there will be a new vote by ballot for that position only.
Article VII
Anti-discrimination
Neither membership nor full participation in the activities of this Association shall be denied to any person on account of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability, or sexual orientation.
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