History of the Membership Committee

In Fall 2018 to Spring 2019 the BCC Membership Working Group, consisting of members of the Executive Council (EC), met regularly to consider fiscal changes to the BCC’s membership structure. They created benchmark documentation to assess member benefits and rates in other communities and devised potential tiers of membership benefits and rates that the BCC could implement. With this documentation in hand, the BCC was in a great place to form a membership committee to produce a member recruitment strategy that includes membership benefit and rate changes that meet future BCC sustainability needs. The proposed changes will be voted on by the community. 

In Fall 2019, the Membership Committee formed as a standing committee to onboard and offboard member institutions, address questions related to new and evolving membership levels and benefits, and create documentation for the BCC espousing a recruitment philosophy and strategy. 

Over the following two years, we set out on an ambitious plan. We documented and implemented collaborative workflows for onboarding and offboarding members and managing member data through the process. We developed a recruitment philosophy and a toolkit for having membership conversations with interested organizations. Through a partnership with the BitCuratorEdu project’s Professional Experts Panel, we led the creation of a community-developed advocacy toolkit for installing BitCurator that is a foundation for developing targeted membership recruitment talking points. We also piloted three new member benefits: a webinar series, a workflow assessment for new members, and a peer mentor program open to both organizational members and individual BCC volunteers.

Upcoming Objectives

In 2021-2022, the Membership Committee expects to participate in a variety of activities related to piloting an Educators’ membership tier for the BCC that would benefit both educators and students, as part of a partnership with the BitCuratorEdu project. We also hope to move from pilot to implementation via community vote for the group membership tier pioneered by the Arizona Universities Library Consortium in 2018 and further manifested by the Smithsonian in 2019-2020. Eventually we will evaluate the three programs we began piloting in 2020 and assess for sustained implementation or sunsetting. 

After recruitment to the 2021-2023 Committee is complete, we will spend time getting to know new members, select and train up new leadership, and hold a workshop to develop consensus on 2021-2022 goals and a humane workplan.

Who Can Join?

The membership committee is open to all members of the BCC as well as individual volunteers who are not part of BCC member institutions. The committee is a standing committee that recruits as needed. Members are encouraged to serve an initial two year term, which may be extended. The committee works closely with the EC and other committees to address both short-term and long-term member needs. It’s a highly collaborative and flexible group and is a great way to start getting more involved in the BCC. We hope you’ll join us!