New Initiatives Advisory Council

The New Initiatives Review Advisory Council (NIRAC) consists of 7 association members appointed for overlapping terms of two years each. NIRAC members represent a cross-section of work environments and geographic locations so they bring different career experiences to the council.

SLA Restructure – Historical Context

In December 2019, the SLA Board of Directors approved a plan to restructure the leadership and financial systems of chapters and divisions. Under this plan, each “community” (chapter or division) will have only three required core leadership roles—president, vice president and secretary—who will concentrate their efforts on program planning, building connections and membership development. Communities can establish and fill additional roles on an as-needed basis.

The restructuring plan includes a new financial management model that will centralize chapter and division bank accounts into one central account. This will streamline the management of finances and reduce the administrative burden on SLA communities and volunteers while still supporting local delivery of programs, products and activities.

An additional feature of the restructuring plan is that SLA members will be able to pay one fee for membership and join as many communities as they like rather than receiving one chapter and one division membership free and paying to join more. This will create new opportunities for cross-pollination of ideas and joint development of programs and events. To join additional communities, login to your SLA account and then select “Edit My Units” to add the communities you wish to join.

Council Charge
NIRAC members oversee the approval of any new expenses from the SLA Communities. Community leaders submit their expense requests via the New Initiatives et management software. The content for each topic will comprise a “toolkit,” with each toolkit containing a mix of content formats—text, “how to” videos, podcast interviews, webinars, “ask the expert” online chats, and so on—to meet the different information needs of special librarians.