Constitution

Assam Library Association

(As amended up to February, 2019)

1. Name

The name of the Association shall be the Assam Library Association (Asom Puthibharal Sangha) referred to hereinafter as the Association. Its headquarter shall be at Guwahati.

2. Aims and Objectives

The aims and objectives of the Association shall be

i) To promote establishment of libraries, development of libraries, library movement, library science education, extension of library services and publication of bibliographical tools in the state of Assam;

ii) To hold meetings, conferences, seminars, training programme, and to organize book festivals and book exhibitions for the development and propagation of ideas on Library Science and Library Service;

iii) To promote the formation of district, sub-divisional and other local Library Associations and to affiliate them to itself;

iv) To work for the promotion of legislation conducive to or necessary for the establishment, development, maintenance, regulation and management of the public library system and of the other library systems in the state;

v) To raise and accept grants, subsidies, gifts and endowments etc for the furtherance of the aims and objectives of the association and to collect funds for the association by way of membership fees, donations, contribution etc.

vi) To acquire, by purchase, lease or otherwise, all kinds of property, movable and immovable, and to construct and maintain buildings thereon for the purposes of the association and to improve, develop, manage, sell, lease, mortgage or otherwise deal with all or any part of the properties of the Association;

vii) To borrow and raise money as deemed fit and to invest the money of the association, not immediately required, in such manner as may from time to time be determined by the Executive Committee of the Association.

viii) To enter into any arrangement with Government, local or other authorities and bodies which may seem conducive to the furtherance of all or any of the aims and objectives of the Association and to obtain from such sources any rights, privileges, assistance and concessions which may be deemed fit or desirable by the Association; and

ix) To do all such other things as are incidental or conducive to the attainment of the above mentioned aims and objectives.

3.Membership:

a) Any person or institution, who subscribes to the aims and objectives of the Association and fulfils other prescribed conditions is eligible for membership of the Association.

b) The following shall be the seven classes of membership and their respective subscription

Classes

Subscription

i) Annual Member

Rs. 200/- at the time of joining with the validity till the end of the calendar year i.e. 31st December. Thereafter, Rs. 100/ as renewal fees per calendar year.

A member who fails to pay his/her renewal fees for two consecutive years will be struck off from the Register of Membership.

ii) Institutional / Association Member

Rs. 1000/- at the time of joining with the validity till the end of the calendar year i.e. 31st December. Thereafter, Rs. 500/- as renewal fees per calendar year.

A member who fails to pay their subscription for two consecutive calendar years will be struck off from the Register of Membership.

iii) Publisher / Distributor / Vendor Member

Rs. 2000/- at the time of joining with the validity till the end of the calendar year i.e. 31st December. Thereafter, Rs. 1000/- as renewal fees per calendar year.

A member who fails to pay their subscription for two consecutive calendar years will be struck off from the Register of Membership.

iv) Life Member

Rs. 1000/- at the time of joining with the validity till the end of the third calendar year i.e. 31st December. Thereafter, Rs. 100/- as renewal fees per calendar year.

The name of members whose annual fee is not paid continuously for 3 consecutive calendar years shall be removed from the Register of Membership.

v) Donor

A lump sum of minimum of Rs. 25,000/-

vi) Patron

Rs. 50,000/- or an endowment of not less than Rs. 50,000/- to a library or to a School of Library Science approved for this purpose by the Executive Committee of the Association or rendering of outstanding service to library cause approved for this purpose by the Executive Committee of the Association.

vii) Honorary Member

Any person, who has rendered distinguished service in promoting the aims and objectives of the Association or who has made a distinguished contribution in fields of library science and library profession, may be elected an honorary member of the Association by its Executive Committee of the Association.

c) A person, institution or association, except a Donor, a Patron or an honorary member, shall apply in writing to the General Secretary of the Association for enrolling himself as its member. Admission shall be made by the Executive committee of the Association. A separate register will be maintained for each class of members.

d) Save as otherwise provided in this clause all members of the Association, shall have the following privileges

i) Presence, participation and voting at all general meetings;

ii) Eligibility for election to any office of the Association; and

iii) Gratis supply of a Copy of each issue of any periodical which may be published as its organ; provided that privileges of an Institutional Member or Library Association Member shall be exercised through its duly accredited representative.

iv) Purchase any publication of the association at 30% discounted rate and participate in any event organize by the association at 30% concessional rate.

e) The privileges of membership shall not commence until the subscription is paid as required under clause (b) of section 3. An office-bearer shall cease to be an office-bearer if his/her subscription is not paid by due date or in case he/she is not a member of the association.

4. The Executive Committee

a) There shall be an Executive Committee, which shall consist of the following, provided that at least fifty percent persons shall be those who ordinarily reside within the five kilometer radius of the permanent / temporary headquarters of the Association.

i) The President

ii) The Working President

iii) The Vice-President

iv) The General Secretary

v) The Assistant General Secretary

vi) The Office Secretary

vii) The Treasurer and

viii) Ex-Officio Member from Preceding Executive Committee: The President and General Secretary of the outgoing Executive Committee shall be ex-officio Members of the Executive Committee.

ix) Representative from Libraries and Departments: Seven members from the following categories elected by the General Body

            A) Public Libraries                                                                  1

            B) College Libraries                                                                1

            C) School Libraries                                                                 1

            D) University Libraries                                                           1

            E) Library Science Schools/ Departments                              1

            F) Special and Technical Libraries                                          1

            G) Rural Libraries                                                                   1

x) Representative from Division of Assam Library Association: The division of ALA can nominate from their Executive Body any two members who are already not a present executive committee member of ALA, to the Executive Committee of ALA and their term will be same as the term of any other executive members of ALA.

b) The meeting of the Executive Committee may be held at least once in three months on the initiative of the President or General Secretary or on the requisition of at least one third of the total membership of the Executive Committee, provide that the Executive Committee may also be transact business by circulation.

c) The quorum of the Executive Committee shall be one third of the executive committee.

d) The Executive Committee shall have the power.

            i) To administer the fund of the Association;

            ii) To frame rules and bye-laws consistent with the constitution;

            iii) To appoint sub-committee of which non members may also be co-opted;

            iv) To takes such others measures which may be entrusted to it by the general body from time to time; and

            v) To manage the affairs of the Association subject to the control of the General body.

e) An executive member will ceased to be an Executive Member, if he/she consecutively misses three Executive Committee Meetings; provided that at least the notification of the meeting is sent to him/her in a format that can be present as a valid proof for the same.

f) All office bearers shall be elected by the General Body from among the members by ballot or by the process the general body decides in the meeting.

g) The tenure of office of the office-bearers and the Executive Committee will ordinarily be two years or till the next General Body Meeting which will he held every alternate year or till the new office-bearers and the Executive Committee assume office, provided that any interim vacancy of the office-bearers of the Executive Committee may be filled up by the Executive Committee. Provided further that no act or proceeding of the General Body and the Executive Committee shall be invalidity of election, selection or nomination of the members or the office-bearers.

h) All members of Assam Library Association excluding Institutional / Association Member will have the voting right at a General Body Meeting and eligibility for election to any office in the Association.

5. Office-Bearers: There will be following office-bearers of the Association.

i) One President

ii) One Working President

iii) One Vice-President

iv) One General Secretary

v) One Assistant General Secretary

vi) One Office Secretary

vii) One Treasurer

a) The powers and duties of the President shall be

i) To preside over all meetings of the General Body, the Executive Committee and Annual and other periodical conferences of the Association;

ii) To perform all such functions as are warranted by the constitution and the bye-laws framed there under;

iii) To act as Liaison Officer between the Association on the one hand and the Government, National and International Associations etc on the other hand;

iv) To take such actions as may be necessary to ensure due effect being given to the policy enunciated by the General Body and the Executive Committee; and

v) To have general control over the affairs of the Association

b) The Working President shall act in place of the President during his/her absence or on such occasions as may be determined by the President.

c) The Vice-President will assist the Working President or the President in carrying out the work of the association.

d) Subject to the direction of the Executive Committee, the powers and duties of the General Secretary shall be as follows:

i) To administer the business of the Association;

ii) To attend the meeting of all the bodies and committees of the Association, and to maintain the minutes of their proceedings.

iii) To prepare the annual report on the working of the Association for the consideration by the Executive Committee and the General Body.

e) Subject to the direction of the President, the powers and duties of the Assistant General Secretary shall be as follows:

i) To assist the General Secretary in the discharge of his duties on all occasions; and

ii) To act as the General Secretary in the absence of the latter;

f) Subject to the direction of the President, the Office Secretary shall be in charge of the records of the Association and shall perform all such other functions as may be assigned by the President.

g) Subject to the direction of the Executive Committee, the powers and duties of the Treasurer shall be as follows:

i) To receive all moneys on behalf of the Association and to issue properly signed receipts for the same.

ii) To make payments for the charges incurred under competent authority.

iii) To maintain the accounts, to prepare the annual statement of accounts and the budget and to present the annual statement of accounts together with the audit report and budget for the consideration of the Executive Committee and the General Body.

6. Division of Assam Library Association: Each state or district level library association in Assam that works in the areas of Public Libraries, College Libraries, School Libraries, University Libraries, Library Science Schools/ Departments, Special and Technical Libraries, Rural Libraries can become a Division of Assam Library Association. The form for that purpose will be made available by the General Secretary on request from existing library associations.

a) The division of ALA can nominate from their Executive Body any two members who are already not a present executive committee member of ALA, to the Executive Committee of ALA and their term will be same as the term of any other executive members of ALA. These members can have a voice on all matters related to the ALA excluding the voting right in the election of ALA.

b) ALA will provide all technical and necessary support required by the particular division and they can use the logo and all other resources available with ALA without any further implications.

c) All the activities of Division of Assam Library Association will collectively be counted as the Activities of ALA and so, all their members should abide by the Constitution of ALA and all the activities of their body have to be at par the Constitution of ALA.

d) The Division of Assam Library Association has to submit the list of their members every year by 31st December.

e) In case of fund raised from membership (annual, life and others and its renewal), the Division of Assam Library Association has to deposit 10% of the total amount raised in the Fixed Deposit Account of Assam Library Association (opened for the purpose), however, no portion of the fund raised from other sources need to be deposited in the ALA account.

f) As per the direction of ALA any Office Bearer of ALA can inspect the register of the members of the Division of Assam Library Association and also can inspect the accounts of Income and Expenditure and Audited Report of the Division.

7. General Body

a) The General Body shall consist of all classes of members of the Association; provided that the Institutional and Library Association Members shall be represented by their duly nominated/ elected representative.

b) The General Body shall meet at least one a year for the consideration of the annual reports and the Audited Accounts in relation to the previous year and this meeting shall be called the Annual General Meeting; provided that at every alternate Annual General Meeting the election of the office bearer shall be held.

c) An extra ordinary meeting of the General Body may be called either at the initiative of the Executive Committee or on the requisition of at least twenty five (25%) percent of the total membership of the General Body specifying the subject matter to be considered. Such a meeting shall be called within one month of the receipt of the requisition.

d)  The General Body shall be the supreme body of the Association in respect of all the affairs of the Association.

e) The General Body shall give final approval to the Annual Budget of the Association in its Annual General Meeting.

f) The quorum of the General Body shall be one third of the members.

8. Finance

a) The funds of the Association shall be under the direct charge of the Treasurer who shall receive all the moneys on behalf of the Association and issue proper receipts and remit all the money to the State Bank of India as early as possible, but not later than a week of the receipt of the money;

b) All the bills which will be on behalf of the Assam Library Association shall be paid by the Treasurer after these have been passed for payment by the President, subject to the final approval of the Executive Committee and proper receipt shall be obtained for each payment. A proper account of all receipt and disbursements shall be maintained by the Treasurer which shall be countersigned by the President.

c) The bank account of the Association shall be opened in the State Bank of India at the headquarters of the Association in the name of the Assam Library Association

d) The account shall be operated by the President or General Secretary and the Treasurer jointly.

e) The Treasurer shall have imprest money not exceeding Rs.5000/-; provided that with the special permission of the Executive Committee, he may keep in hand an amount not exceeding Rs.10000/- for a period to be determined by the Executive Committee.

f) It shall be competent for the General Secretary to incur expenditure not exceeding Rs. 5000/- within budget provision after obtaining previous sanction of the President; provided that such expenditure shall be duly reported to the next meeting of the Executive Committee.

g) The annual budget of the ensuring year of the Association prepared by the Treasurer shall be submitted to the Executive Committee not later than 15th December of every year. After the budget has been passed by the Executive Committee, it shall be placed before the General Body for the final approval.

9. Voting

Each member present in a meeting shall be entitled to exercise not more than one vote even thought he attends the meeting, the issue shall be decided either by the casting vote of the chairman of the meeting or by drawing lots.

10. Amendment of the Constitution

The constitution shall be added to, revised, replace or amended by a two-thirds majority of the total members of the Association and who are present and voting at the meeting of the General Body for the purpose; provided that at least one month’s notice has been given to the members about the proposed amendments.

11. Dissolution of the Association

a) The association shall not be dissolved unless the dissolution is decided upon by a resolution passed at the meeting of the General Body of the Association convened for the propose by a majority of the total members of the Association and who are present and voting at the meeting; provided that at least one months’ notice has been given to the members about the proposed dissolution.

b) In case of dissolution of the Association if there shall remain, after the satisfaction of all debts and liabilities, any property, whatsoever, it shall be given or transferred to some other institution or institutions having objects similar to those of the Association and not running for profit.

12. Year

The year of the Association will be the financial year i.e. from 1st April to 31st March unless specified otherwise.

(Accepted in the General Body Meeting held on 9th February, 2019 at the Department of Library and Information Science, Gauhati University with Dr. Mukesh Saikia, Working President, ALA in the chair and Dr. Badan Barman as General Secretary of ALA)