2025 Collection Development Group

Established October 2021

Special Program Committees (SPCs) support organization topical meetings (summits, symposia or other) that require it. Each SPC terminates no later than three months following the corresponding meeting.

The committee’s primary responsibility is to assemble a quality program that aligns with the strategic objectives of MLA, in collaboration with MLA headquarters staff. This may include:

• developing the meeting theme
• calling for and evaluating contributed papers or other program submissions
• soliciting the participation of peer reviewers
• identifying and inviting speakers

The SPC consists of a diverse representation of individuals who are appointed because of their expertise in program planning and the topic area, and includes:

• one chair or two co-chairs
• 4 to 12 members as required based on the scope of the meeting
• one representative of the National Program Committee (NPC) if the special program is part of or adjacent to the MLA annual conference
• one representative of the Board of Directors
• the executive director and/or members of the MLA headquarters staff appointed by them

Appointed individuals may be non-MLA members (e.g. experts, publishers or other vendors) if appropriate to achieve the program objectives.

The committee is not responsible for logistics, budgeting including registration rates, exhibits if applicable, marketing or communications, and generally any activity that isn’t directly related to the programing content.