NDSA:Membership Model

Decisions at Hand

There was a spectrum of suggestions for how to handle membership and determine membership eligibility:

• membership fully open to all interested parties
• membership based on shared values -- interested parties promise to share the values of the NDSA and promote the mission
• partially restricted membership --all potential members to be vetted by the Coordinating Committee and/or the Secretariat
• restricted membership -- technology vendors are not eligible for membership

Full Meeting Points of Discussion

Conversation focused on what the membership commitment represented, what organizations should be there, and what's the landscape look like levels of commitment and the ground rules content, service and/or technology.

Michael Stoller's Group

• Suggested the fundamental current commitment is to the “conversation,” though see this as an evolving organization. Committing to the mission of the organization, with the ground rules being bringing particular “expertise” to the table
• “Stakeholders”: bring the broadest possible range of participants if we want to inspire innovation

Grotke, Chute, Kimpton, Cariani Group

criteria for membership:

• Institutions not individuals,
• Primarily U.S.-based, proposed potential international members as part of an affiliate program
• Open to allowing consortia to join, as long as there is clear representation
• Demonstration of a commitment to preservation: education, technology development, participation in projects
• Application process that would state why they should join
• Suggestion that potential members be reviewed on an annual basis
• Consideration: Affiliates vs. core membership: tiered level of involvement, voting members plus strategic affiliates. The goal here being to provide a role for “smaller” affiliate institutions to participate and get benefits from the process.

Daphne

• Open application process, any interested entity is welcome. But...clearly defined membership expectations.
  • How to use logo,
  • Signing on to the values statement
  • Mission statement becomes the parameters by which organizations to behave
  • Protect working groups from potentialy being flooded by one institution by setting a maximum number of representatives that could be sent to any one working group
  • Potentially seek out alliances with trade organizations
  • If you want to be a member, you have to commit

Taylor Surface's Group

• Should membership be exclusive? We're signed to be inclusive but the first thing we're doing is defining membership.
• Membership should be about a commitment to the values of the NDSA.
• What's the difference between a member and a participant on an action team?
• Member gets a vote to set the agenda of the action groups. Scope of work is defined by the membership, implemented by action teams.
• How do you become a member?
• Proposal to change "sponsorship" to “nomination.” Suggested LC screen members for eligibility.
• Allow for self nomination
• Proposed value for inclusion: Member document should explicitly charge members to seek and nominate other potential member institutions
• Renewal of memberships need to be addressed in the next 3 years.

Kris Carpenter's group

• is there a need to have a formal evaluation of applications? What is the role of applications? What does it mean to demonstrate commitment?
• Proposal: Any institution demonstrating commitment and signing the application should be sufficient.
• Proposal: No measures to differentiate membership based on organizational structure except for the exception of international entities who would be engaged through an “affiliate” structure.
• Proposal to remove the revocation bullet.
• If we require specific criteria for participation, it needs to be transparent. DPC had a list of these requirements on their website.
• Remove the concept of sponsorship but encourage others to recruit members. Encourage the broadest and most inclusive set of organizations possible.

Funder questions

• Is there any issue with funders serving on working groups?
• Should funders have their own sub-group