Jan. 25 LIT-SIS Executive Board Meeting Recap

Hi everyone – it’s your Secretary/Treasurer here with another update on what the LIT-SIS Executive Board has been up to.

The main topic of discussion was our proposed merger with the Digitization and Educational Technology Special Interest Section (DET-SIS), which is rolling along! You hopefully saw Amanda’s request for signatures on a petition to the AALL board go out on My Communities. If not, see her post at this link and please (please, please) sign the petition at this link. It’s important to the AALL board that we have as many members as possible sign.

Merger FAQ:

Why a merger? Our strategic planning committee a few years ago identified the potential for these groups to merge because of our shared goals. Our hope is that the merger will make us a stronger SIS.

Does DET-SIS want this? Yes. They have already voted and approved.

What happens next? Our petition as well as DET-SIS documents will go before the AALL board at their next meeting. If approved, the two groups won’t merge until after annual meeting time.

Is it really a merger? Not technically. To abide by by-laws both groups will dissolve and create a new group. The new group will still be named LIT-SIS and all members of the existing groups will automatically become members of the new group.

What will happen with officers? Both groups will share existing leadership over the next two years and will have elections as needed for future leadership. This year, we’ll have a regular election for Secretary/Treasurer and one Member-at-Large, but not Vice-Chair; since both groups have a Vice-Chair currently serving, one will serve as Chair next year and the other in the following year. (This does require a by-laws change, so watch out for an email to vote on that soon.)

Most of the rest of the meeting was spent exploring possibilities for new educational programming. There’s going to be an exciting panel on Friday, March 19, with Kenton Brice, Mari Cheney, Rena Seidler and Amanda Watson (moderator) discussing their experiences advocating for accommodations for their students during the pandemic, particularly in the online environment. Register here! And keep an eye out for future programming on online outreach, the ever-changing world of legal tech startups, tools and platforms for online conferences, and more. If you’ve got an idea for a program – whether it’s something you’d like to attend or something you’d like to present – just let us know.  

We also discussed Annual Meeting programming and grants; no meaningful updates on those yet, but we’ll have some for you soon.