GPALS - Georgia's Private Academic Libraries

The name of this organization shall be Georgia's Private Academic Libraries or GPALS.

GPALS shall be a consortium of private academic libraries in the State of Georgia. Its purposes are:

1. To provide a forum where librarians from Georgia's private academic libraries may meet to discuss and to act on matters of interest to all. 
2. To provide a means for the development of projects beneficial to one or more of the libraries and to provide an organizational structure under which member units may develop joint cooperative projects.

1. The officers of this association shall consist of a Chair, Vice-Chair, a Secretary, and a Treasurer.
2. Duties of Officers

2.1  The Chair shall preside at all meetings, appoint committees, and perform other such duties as pertain to that office.
2.2  The Vice-Chair shall be the Chair Elect and shall succeed the outgoing Chair when her or his term expires. He or she shall coordinate the scheduling of meeting places and appropriate programs. The Vice-Chair shall preside at all meetings in the absence of the Chair.
2.3  The Secretary shall keep a record of all meetings and record official actions of the Association. The Secretary shall preside over meetings in the absence of the Chair and the Vice-Chair. 
2.4  The Treasurer shall maintain the financial records of the Association and shall conduct its financial affairs, with the advice and consent of the Executive Board. The Treasurer shall preside over meetings in the absence of the Chair, Vice Chair, and Secretary.
2.5  The four elected officers, plus the immediate past Chair, shall constitute an Executive Board.

 

1. New Membership Qualifications and Procedures

1.1. Eligibility for membership shall be based on the following five factors:

1.1.1. applicant's parent institution must be a degree-granting institution of higher education, with tax-exempt status under the provisions of U.S.C. Section 501(c)(3);
1.1.2. applicant's parent institution must be fully accredited by an accreditor listed on the Institutional Accrediting Agencies page of the U.S. Department of Education; the entire institution must be so accredited, not just a division or program.
1.1.3. applicant's parent institution must have a physical facility where instructional sessions are held located within the State of Georgia;
1.1.4. applicant's parent institution must have a designated library at such location within the State of Georgia;
1.1.5. applicant parent institution's library must be managed by a full-time, professional librarian who possesses credentials recognized as such in the State of Georgia.

1.2. The Executive Board shall examine applicants and recommend new members to the membership. It may consider, and propose for membership, institutions which do not meet all the criteria stated in section 1.1 above.
1.3. The membership shall vote on the admission of new members. A two-thirds majority of the member institutions present and voting shall be required to admit new members.

2. Continuing membership shall be based on two factors

2.1 Timely payment of membership dues and other financial obligations, as provided for in the Bylaws;
2.2 Maintenance of accreditation of the member's parent institution.

1. All gifts and grants accepted by this Association's membership shall remain subject to the conditions originally attached to them by the donor or grantor. They shall be held in trust by the Executive Board for the membership.
2. The Executive Board shall have authority to hold, invest, disburse, or otherwise deal with all funds, including gifts, grants, membership dues, member's participation fees for resource-sharing agreements, and other assessments. It shall submit a financial report to the membership at all scheduled meetings.

Article VI 
Representation and Voting

1. Each member institution shall be entitled to one vote in conducting the official business of the Association.
2. A member institution may choose any library staff person to serve as its voting representative at meetings.
3. The voting representative of a member institution must attend meetings to cast the vote of the member institution.
4. A quorum of the membership must be present at meetings to conduct votes on the official business of the Association.
5. A quorum is deemed to consist of all the members present and voting at a meeting.

Article VII 
Amendments

This Constitution may be amended at any meeting by a two-thirds majority vote of the member institutions present and voting. Notice of pending amendments must be distributed to each member at least two weeks prior to the meeting at which a vote to amend the Constitution is to occur.