RBMS Manual / Organization / Liaisons
Charge: To coordinate activities and report to RBMS.
Comment: Liaisons to other organizations are appointed when deemed useful for informational purposes, for example, to the ACRL Western European Studies Section, the Preservation of Library Materials Section of the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services, and the ACRL Publications Committee. From time to time liaisons are appointed for specific activities such as cosponsored programs in accordance with the RBMS guidelines for cosponsoring programs. Under the RBMS guidelines for cosponsoring programs, other organizations are invited to appoint liaisons to RBMS.
The chair of the RBMS Executive Committee serves as liaison to the ACRL Board; the chair of the Membership and Professional Development Committee as liaison to the ACRL Membership Committee; and the chair of the Publications Committee as liaison to the ACRL Publications Committee. Liaison terms are usually for two years (except to the ACRL Board, which is for one year.)
RBMS currently has two liaisons to GODORT and MAGERT who are intended to serve as the section's representatives on the MAGERT/GODORT/RBMS Joint Committee on Government Documents as Rare Books, should it ever be formally established. The Committee began as an ad hoc committee whose official continuance as a standing interdivisional committee of the Maps and Geography Round Table, the Government Documents roundtable, and RBMS has never been formally confirmed. The intention is that two members be appointed by each group; the RBMS vice chair/chair-elect would appoint the two RBMS members, as with all other RBMS committees. Formal creation of this committee would eliminate the need for RBMS to appoint liaisons to MAGERT and GODORT.
The Committee on Archives, Libraries, and Museums (CALM) is the official channel of liaison between ALA, the Society of American Archivists, and American Association of Museums. The ALA members of that Committee, appointed by the president of ALA, are often members of RBMS and thus serve also informally as de facto liaisons between RBMS and SAA. Informal liaison relationships also exist between RBMS and the American Printing History Association, the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America, the Association of Research Libraries Special Collections, the Bibliographic Society of America, the Society of American Archivists, and the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading, and Publishing.
Liaisons decide for themselves how best to perform liaison duties with regard to which meetings to attend, which issues to report on, etc. (Executive Board minutes, 1 July 1991).