The committee will promote and administer the Libraries' professional development program and distribute professional development/travel funds, made available by the Dean of Libraries, to librarians and members of the support staff.

Recognizing that both the effectiveness of librarians and support staff alike and the quality of Libraries service as a whole are improved by continuing professional education, scholarly research and investigation, and active participation in professional organizations, the Committee will:

1. Conduct periodically a development needs assessment and assist in identifying additional development needs.

2. Encourage and inform librarians and staff regarding professional development responsibilities, opportunities, and benefits.

3. Plan, recommend, coordinate, and schedule professional development programs for librarians and support staff.

4. Report to librarians and support staff on external professional development programs and projects, funding availability, and application deadlines.

5. Sponsor presentations, special workshops, seminars, and other professional development activities for the general benefit of librarians and support staff.

6. Review and act upon professional development/travel funding requests from librarians and support staff, and recommend approval or disapproval of these requests.

7. Sponsor annually an in-service day program for the entire staff dealing specifically with development topics and issues.

8. Maintain records on the number of professional librarians and support staff participating in committee-sponsored development activities.

9. Aid, assist, and/or participate in the evaluation of the development program and related activities.

10. Prepare an annual report for the Dean of Libraries on development program activities, accomplishments, and future needs.

C. Membership, Term of Office, and Election

1. The committee shall be composed of eight (8) members, four (4) librarians and four (4) support staff, elected with staggered terms. Five (5) members shall constitute a quorum.

2. The term of office shall be two (2) years on a staggered basis.

3. Election of librarians to the Professional Development Committee shall take place as outlined in section III.D of the Libraries' Department Procedures, Criteria, Standards, and Bylaws. The election of support staff members shall take place according to criteria determined by the Libraries' support staff.

4. Elections shall take place within a month of the Library faculty returning for the Fall Semester.

1. Within two weeks after the election, the Committee shall meet to elect a Chair and Vice-Chair/Secretary. Librarians in their first year of appointment are not eligible to be elected Chair or Vice-Chair/Secretary.

2. The Committee shall decide on its schedule of meetings based upon its projected workload for the upcoming year.

1. Vacancies shall be filled for the duration of the outgoing member's term.

2. Vacancies created by librarians shall be filled according to criteria outlined in section III.F of the Libraries' Procedures. Vacancies created by support staff members shall be filled according to criteria determined by the Libraries' support staff.

1. Upon the election of Committee officers, but prior to the second meeting of the academic year, the Committee shall request from the Dean of Libraries a list of librarians eligible for professional development/travel funds as well as the total sum of money available for the year. The Committee shall also request from the Dean the total sum of money available for the year for support staff travel and/or professional development.

2. For purposes of allocating these funds, the Committee will divide into two (2) subcommittees, one consisting of the four (4) librarians, the second of the four (4) support staff members. Each subcommittee's first order of business will be to elect a Chair. Each subcommittee will then be responsible for acting upon requests from their relevant constituencies (i.e., librarians for librarians, support staff for support staff).

3. Each subcommittee shall normally meet once a month during the academic year and advise librarians and support staff of the schedules of their regular meetings. Applications for professional development/travel funds should be submitted sufficiently in advance in order to be considered at any regular meeting.

4. Librarian applicants should submit a completed Professional Development/Travel Request Form to the Librarians' subcommittee. In the event that scheduled work time is used to participate in a professional development activity, this form must also be signed in advance by each applicants' primary supervisor.

5. Each request shall be judged by criteria established by the subcommittee members and published at the beginning of the academic year. The criteria will generally include the following:

b. Judgements as to the benefits of professional development/travel activities will be based in part on the justification provided by the applicants on the request forms.

c. Previous allocations to an individual librarian/support staff member during a fiscal year will be taken into consideration if the librarian/support staff member requests additional professional development/travel funds.

d. Any funds remaining at the end of a fiscal year will be divided among applicants who did not receive full funding for their professional development/travel funds.

6. Requests for funding under $50.00 may be acted upon by the Chair of the respective subcommittee without recourse to the subcommittee as a whole. Such action, however, will be reported back to the subcommittee.

7. If a request for funding is approved, copies of the Professional Development/Travel Request Form signed by the chair of the subcommittee and indicating the amount granted shall be forwarded to the applicant and to the Library Business Services who will maintain a record of professional development/travel funds. Staff will be notified of approved allocations on a regular basis.

8. Disapproved requests will be returned to applicants with a letter from the chair of the subcommittee indicating the reasons for disapproval.

9. Individual librarians and support staff members are responsible for submitting a completed Travel Expense Voucher to Library Business Services in order to be reimbursed for expenses incurred in professional development/travel up to the amount granted by the respective subcommittee. It is also the responsibility of the individual librarian/support staff member to inform the respective subcommittee chair if he/she did not attend a professional development activity for which funding was approved or if and allocated funds remain unspent.

10. Professional development/travel funds shall be disbursed by the respective subcommittees on the basis of the University's fiscal year.

11. At each scheduled meeting, the Committee will review the amount of professional development/travel funds allocated since the previous meeting, to whom, and for what purpose.

1. The committee should sponsor appropriate presentations, special workshops, seminars, and other professional development activities for the general benefit of librarians and support staff. Individual librarians/support staff members may also request/recommend that the committee sponsor specific development activities.

2. In general, funding for Libraries-sponsored professional development activities such as presentations, workshops, seminars, etc., must be secured from sources other than the professional development/travel funds allocation. It is the responsibility of the committee to seek out such sources of funding.

3. In the event that the committee wishes to apply to the Dean of Libraries for professional development activities funding, the committee will prepare a proposal outlining the specific activity it wishes to sponsor, its benefit to the Libraries and librarians/support staff, and the amount of funding requested and forward it to the Dean. The Dean will inform the committee of the approval/disapproval of the request.

The Professional Development/Travel Request Form is located on the Libraries' Staff Resources webpage. Proposals to change the Professional Development/Travel Request Form should be submitted to the Professional Development Committee. The Committee may also initiate changes. When the Committee approves changes, they will go to the Chair of the Libraries Governance for further approval. Upon approval from the Chair of the Libraries Governance, the changes will go to the Dean of Libraries for the final approval.