Planning Committee FAQ

What is the purpose of the Planning Committee?

All Instruction Section committee chairs are expected to submit an annual planning form and an annual report each year. The annual plan outlines the projects the committee expects to complete during its tenure, while the annual report includes information on the progress of the projects. Both forms are created using the Instruction Section’s Survey Monkey account.  The timeline for submitting these reports is outlined on the Annual Planning and Reporting web page.

The Planning Committee revises the annual planning form and the annual report form as needed, and sends the draft forms to the IS Executive Committee for their approval.  The Planning Committee notifies committee chairs (via the IS-Advisory email list) when the forms are available, and serves as a facilitator in collecting these reports. Once all committees have submitted their forms, the Planning Committee compiles and distributes the data.

 What happens to each committee’s annual plan and report after it is submitted via Survey Monkey?

Each committee’s annual plan and annual report is extracted from the survey data and input into a separate document by members of the Planning Committee. A copy of this document is sent to the committee chair(s) and is sent to the IS web site administrators to be posted on the ACRL IS Planning Documents Archive. Committee chairs should expect to receive a copy of their report within one month of the submission deadline.

At the end of the year, committee chairs are responsible for submitting their committee’s annual plan and report, along with other committee documents, to the IS Archivist, as part of the formal ACRL/ALA archiving process.  For more information, see the Archiving Information web page.

 Who uses this information?

The IS Chair uses the annual reports to create the Instruction Section’s Plan for Excellence Implementation Report, which is sent to ACRL shortly after the annual conference.  The Plan for Excellence Implementation Report demonstrates how IS committee activities support the goals and objectives of ACRL’s Plan for Excellence.

The annual plans and reports are also useful to incoming committee chairs who can gain a better idea of their committee’s projects and progress by reading past reports.