ARTICLE I: NAME & PURPOSE
Panopticon is a Simmons SLIS organization for students interested in arts, cultural heritage, and visual resources in libraries, archives, and museums. It intends to advance the cause of art librarianship and to promote the development, good management, and enlightened use of art libraries and visual resources collections. Its goals are:
(a) To promote the continuing education of its members by sponsoring and coordinating meetings, trips, lectures, workshops, and other exchanges of information and materials concerning all aspects of art librarianship and visual resources curatorship;
(b) To foster excellence in art librarianship and the visual arts by promoting improvements in the academic education of art librarians and visual resources curators at Simmons, and, when necessary, to make up for a lack of classroom education with extracurricular activities such as those listed above;
(c) To increase awareness of the arts at Simmons by means of occasional curated shows of art made by SLIS students and other affiliates;
(d) To encourage awareness of the variety of artistic resources in the Boston area, by means of promotion of events and shows over the organization’s list-serv and blog;
(e) To create a community of members who are aware of the variety of definitions of visual resources librarianship and who have a variety of opportunities to learn from one another.
Panopticon is affiliated with the Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS) as well as with its regional chapter, ARLIS/NE. We also maintain a relationship with the Visual Resources Association (VRA) of New England.

ARTICLE II: MEMBERSHIP & DUES
Section A: Eligibility – Membership shall be open to all interested students.
Section B: Dues – No Dues required.

ARTICLE III: OFFICERS
Section A: Officers – The officers shall be a Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer, Event Coordinator, Communications Coordinator, and Archivist. [These are general officers, and officers specific to the needs of the club, if necessary.]
Section B: Eligibility – Officers must be current students in SLIS. Simmons Main Campus, West Campus, and online students are eligible.
Section C: Election – The officers shall be elected through the LISSA elections every Spring and Fall.
Section D: Term – The officers shall serve for one year and their term of office shall begin at the commencement of the fall semester.
Section E: Vacancy – If a vacancy occurs in the office of Chairperson, the Panopticon officers shall vote in an interim Chairperson from the existing leadership for the remainder of the term and vacancies in any other office shall be filled by a special election.
ARTICLE IV: DUTIES OF OFFICERS
Section A: Chairperson
Description
The Chairperson is responsible for coordinating the activity and direction of the group as
a whole. This includes ensuring that meetings take place and run efficiently, that events
are planned and executed, and that other necessary tasks such as budgeting,
communications, and recording keeping happen in a timely manner. In addition, the
Chairperson is responsible for relationship building and cultivation with other groups,
including Simmons groups and administration, and external organizations. Finally, the
Chairperson is responsible for initiating, and facilitating planning for the year.
Tasks the Position is Responsible For
· Represent the organization to administration, students, and outside groups
· Facilitates meetings and oversees planning for the year
· Identify strategic goals

Section B: Event Coordinator
Description
The Event Coordinator oversees the location, reservation, and set up of venues for
events, ensures that publicity materials are made and distributed, and oversees
refreshments for events. In addition, if group members take on roles or tasks for an
event, the Event Coordinator ensures that each member is aware of and accomplishing
those tasks, and ensures a smooth and timely execution of tasks. The Event Coordinator
is also responsible for maintaining event supplies.
Tasks the Position is Responsible For
· Assist the Chairperson with the planning and managing of events
· Writes Summary of events to be submitted at the end of the year
· Creating and maintaining the EventBrite account for group events
· Delegate tasks when needed and Assist other officers if needed

Section C: Secretary
Description
The secretary is responsible for coordinating the time and place of Panopticon meetings. The secretary also ensures that notes are captured from meetings, posted online, and distributed among group members. The secretary crafts the agenda and make sure members are able to access and add items. In addition the secretary helps monitor the Panopticon e-mail account.
Tasks the Position is Responsible For
· Taking meeting minutes and circulating them to other group members
· Coordinating meeting times
· Crafting the agenda

Section D : Archivist
Description
The archivist ensures that materials produced by the group are collected electronically and preserved in a consistent filing system and/or posted online. The archivist also ensures that printed materials generated over the course of the year are gathered in triplicate and provided to the LISSA archivist at the end of the year. Additionally, maintenance and organization of the files should be completed in a consistent manner and location, and should follow an easily approachable format.
Tasks the Position is Responsible For
· Collecting, archiving and maintaining items such as fliers, handouts, promotional items, meeting minutes, surveys, etc. in the appropriate spaces
· Maintaining and organizing the file structure of the dropbox
· Performing administrative tasks such as creating copies of fliers and assisting in distributing them

Section E: Treasurer
Description
The treasurer is responsible for managing the group’s finances. This includes submitting
budget requests, managing reimbursements, maintaining the budget, managing invoices, and working with other group members to allocate funds for events and activities.
Tasks the Position is Responsible For
· Manages the budget
· Arranges reimbursements
· Keeps copies of invoices
· Prepares a budget request for the following year (Due April 1st)
· Assists other members of the group as needed.

Section F: Communications Coordinator
Description
The communications coordinator produces physical communications material for
distribution by the Event Coordinator and other group members, as well as managing
access to, and content for social media and other electronic communication accounts
such as the email account and listserv account. This position provides Panopticon content and information to members outside of in-person events.

Tasks the Position is Responsible For
· Updating the Panopticon Facebook, Twitter, and other chosen social media venues
with events, discussions, and articles or websites of art, visual resource, or cultural
heritage interest, or coordinating with other members to do so
· Sending e-mails to the Panopticon-l listserv about events, jobs, etc.
· Maintaining the listserv
· Updating the Panopticon website
· Communicate with [email protected] with updates to the SLIS website on
student groups

ARTICLE V: MEETINGS

Section A: Meetings – Regular meetings shall be held monthly during the regular school year.
Section B: Special Meeting – Special meetings may be called by the Chairperson with the approval of the Executive Committee.
Section C: Quorum – A quorum shall consist of [example: two-thirds (2/3)] of the membership. [The number required should be small enough to ensure that a quorum will usually be present but large enough to protect the club against decisions being made by a small minority.]
Section D: Parliamentary Authority – Robert’s Rules of Orders, shall govern this club in all cases to which they are applicable and in which they are not inconsistent with these bylaws.
ARTICLE VI: EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Section A: Responsibility – Management of this club shall be vested in an Executive Committee responsible to the entire membership to uphold these bylaws.
Section B: Membership – This committee shall consist of the officers as listed in Article III and the faculty advisor.
Section C: Meetings – This committee shall meet at least once between regular meetings of the club to organize and plan future activities.

ARTICLE VII: ADVISOR
Section A: Selection – there shall be a faculty/staff advisor who shall be selected each year by the membership.
Section B: Duties – The responsibilities of the faculty advisor shall be to:
· Maintain an awareness of the activities and programs sponsored by the student club.
· Meet on a regular basis with the leader of the student club to discuss upcoming meetings, long range plans, goals, and problems of the club.
· Attend regular meetings, executive board meetings as often as schedule allows.
· Assist in the orientation of new officers.
· Explain and clarify campus policy and procedures that apply to the club.
· Maintain contact with the Student Life Office.
· Provide direction in the area of parliamentary procedure, meeting facilitation, group-building, goal setting, and program planning.
· Assist the club treasurer in monitoring expenditures, fundraising activities, and corporate sponsorship to maintain an accurate and up-to-date account ledger.
· Inform club members of those factors that constitute unacceptable behavior on the part of the club members, and the possible consequence of said behaviors.

ARTICLE VIII: COMMITTEES
Section A: Special Committees – The Chairperson shall have the authority to appoint any special committees, with the approval of the Executive Committee, from time to time as need demands.

ARTICLE IX: AMENDMENTS
Section A: Selection – these bylaws may be amended by a two-thirds (2/3) majority vote of the chapter membership.
Section B: Notice – All members shall receive advance notice of the proposed amendment at least five days before the meeting. [The time may be extended to the following meeting.]

Revised Spring 2015