SLA Biomedical and Life Sciences Division

DBIO Procedures Manual - Contributed Papers Session Committee

Function: The Committee solicits and organizes the contributed papers session at the Annual Conference.

Membership and Appointment: The Committee consists of four members: the Senior Co-Chair, the Junior Co-Chair, the Second-Year Member, and the First-Year Member. The First-Year Member shall be appointed annually in the month of April, or when unexpected vacancies arise. Committee members and the Division's Chair-elect, as Chair, will form a search committee to select new committee members, with the Division's Chair-elect formally appointing new members. All members advance in "seniority" to fill vacant position(s). All incoming members to the committee will start as first-year members, and will have the first year to orient themselves to the duties of the committee. All appointments to the committee shall be made in agreement with members of the standing committee. The Senior Co-Chair cycles off the committee after the Annual Conference, under normal conditions, all positions advance and the committee operates for two months, with two First Year Members until the Senior Co-Chair cycles off.

Qualifications: The Chair and Committee members must be members, associate members, or retired members of the Association, as well as members of the Biomedical and Life Sciences Division.

Duties: The Committee is responsible for publishing proceeding of the Annual Conference Contributed Papers Session on the Division's web site.

Senior Co-Chair:
  1. Serves as a member of the Division Programming Committee.
  2. Communicates meeting's needs with BIO chair (room requirements, equipment and so forth).
  3. Is responsible for organizing the group in previous fiscal year.
  4. Is responsible for initiating preliminary call for papers.
  5. Solicits theme ideas from committee members and organizes consensus for what goes into preliminary call for papers.
  6. Appears as co-contact person on Preliminary Call for Papers.
  7. Coordinates with Junior Co-chair of SLA Contributed Paper session.
  8. Sends titles and abstracts with topics general in nature to SLA.
  9. Receives bioscience-related abstracts from SLA.
  10. Receives abstracts from contributors.
  11. Serves as Review Committee Chair:
    • Distributes guidelines for review/score scheme
    • Distributes score sheets with abstracts
    • Collates scores
    • Conducts conference call and/or email discussion of abstracts and scoring
    • Notifies participants of results
  12. Notifies participants of deadlines.
  13. Communicates with participants throughout the year.
  14. Collects consent forms and full-text. Send forms to the Division Archivist. Sends electronic full-text to Junior Co-chair to be mounted on the web.
  15. Serves as co-convener at the conference session.
  16. Hands over supporting procedural materials to Junior Co-Chair at the end of the year.
  17. Touches base with participants (in November and then again in late February) and confirms accuracy of bibliographic citations of each presentation as each will appear as an entry in both the preliminary program and the final program.
  18. Reviews the appropriate sections of the Procedures Manual by deadline determined each year, and submit corrections, revisions, and so forth to the Director for inclusion in the next edition.
  19. By deadline determined each year (typically August), submits an estimated budget to the Treasurer.
Junior Co-Chair:
  1. In late November, early December (well before the Winter Meeting), asks Chair-elect of Division the title (topic) of the session over which current Chair-elect will serve as Chair and Junior Co-Chair will serve as Senior Co-Chair.
  2. Previous year, by January, works with First-Year member to fill committee for new term. This is coordinated among Junior Co-Chair Elect, Second-Year Member, and existing First-Year Member. All three select the new First-Year Member to fill a vacancy as Senior Co-Chair moves off committee. It is important that First-Year Member is involved as incoming member will be his/her Co-Chair as officers move forward.
  3. Administers marketing of the CPS.
  4. Appears as co-contact person on Preliminary Call for Papers.
  5. Serves on Review Committee.
  6. Generates web version of Proceedings.
  7. Writes foreword to Proceedings.
  8. Is responsible for getting Proceedings onto the Division web site, immediately after the conference.
  9. Serves as co-convener at the conference session.
  10. Turns over materials to incoming co-chair, other materials to archives.
  11. If changes are made in the program, works with SLA Headquarters to have them put into the Conference Update.
Second Year Member:
  1. Markets Contributed Paper Session.
    • Develops flyer
    • Distributes flyer at annual conference
    • Posts flyer on Division web site and in Biofeedback (deadline for summer issue is July 1)
    • Posts on relevant listservs three times during the summer (note: this may involve contacting the listowners of closed listservs)
  2. Serves on Review Committee.
  3. Participates in nominating incoming members of the committee.
  4. Works with the First Year Co-chair and BSD Chair-elect.
  5. Works with Junior Co-chair and First Year Member to nominate and select new committee member as Senior Co-chair rotates off the committee.
  6. Turns over materials to incoming First-Year Member, other material to first year Co-chair to send to archives.
First Year Member:
  1. Receives copies of all messages sent between current committee members to get a feel for the duties/problems he/she will face as a committee member.
  2. Takes active role in nominating new committee member (knowing new member will eventually be his/her Co-Chair).
Reports: An annual report is submitted by the Senior Co-Chair to the Division Chair in accepted format by April 1 or another mutually agreed upon date.

Records: Outgoing officers and committee chairs shall send the files which they used during their tenure to their successors at the end of their terms of office. All files they received the year earlier (from predecessor) should be reviewed as to the usefulness for archival retention (see information on retention in the Archivist section). Files include, but are not limited to, important correspondence, fax, e-mail, and summaries of verbal communications deemed important to the business of the Division. The officers and committee chairs may keep copies of any relevant materials but original materials should be transmitted to the BDIO Archivist on the regular schedule.

Expenses: The Division will provide funding for expenses for the Contributed Papers Session including room rental, equipment, and the cost of publishing the contributed papers as well as expenses including postage and telephone calls if not borne by the incumbent's organization. Other expenses will be approved by the Division's Executive Board. Expenses incurred for organization business will be paid in accordance with SLA guidelines. All expenses must be submitted with a Committee Expenses Form or a Travel Voucher form and be accompanied by the original receipts for reimbursement. Direct payment of bills can be made if the bill is accompanied by a Committee Expenses Form or a Check Request and Payment Approval Form. Advances for expenses may be obtained from the Division's Treasurer. Requests for advances should be made in writing and include an estimate for each item. A final report of expenses for reimbursement shall be filed with the Treasurer prior to or at the annual business meeting.

Rev. 4/00, J.Perez (Rev. 6/02, L.Scott)