If the silent movie spoof
for AACRAO’s recently published State & Regional Guide is any indication, the State and Regional workshop webinars presented by the Guide authors was entertaining, informative, and, well, a little bit goofy. (Webinar participants attest.)
State and regional ACRAOs (S&Rs) are independent from the national association. However, AACRAO recognizes the importance of healthy local associations and supports the networking among S&Rs for the exchange of knowledge and resources. Toward
this end, the Board of Directors put out a call for a Work Group to address common issues for S&Rs, resulting in the publication of the Guide and the subsequent webinar series.
Bylaws, nonprofit incorporation, and charters, oh my!
Steven Smith, Registrar, Adelphi University, served as chair of the Work Group (and director and star of the Guide’s campy trailer),
as well as co-presenter for the well-received webinars.
“We were pleased when AACRAO put out the call for this Work Group,” Smith said. “It’s a great way to strengthen the tie between the national and state and regional associations. The State & Regional Guide is a great way to
bring together some of this information and offer guidance and assistance to all S&Rs.”
The three webinars addressed the following topics, which can be viewed via the links below:
A living document
“We’re hoping that AACRAO can find a way to take what we’ve created and make an online repository and reference place for S&Rs, with things like bylaws, histories, and directories,” Smith said. “This can help establish
a knowledge base, as well as support continuity for S&Rs; because sometimes all it takes is one person — President, Historian, Secretary, etc. — changing jobs or moving and the institutional memory is lost and the history disappears.”
“Steve and Patti [Mathay, Work Group Vice Chair] have put together a document that is an excellent start, but it’s not finished,” said Jerry Montag, Work Group member, AACRAO Vice President for Leadership and Management Development,
and Registrar at Northern Illinois University. “It needs to be continuously updated to serve as an ongoing resource for S&R leaders.”
Other resources for S&R members include the S&R listserv and a Facebook group for leaders.