CAIL+Committee

=Purpose & Goal=

//[What is the purpose and objective of this committee? How does this fit into the larger purpose of the MSA? etc.]//

The Capital Area Islamic Library was started quite a few years ago by the hard work and donations of many brothers and sisters. Their goals were to gain Allah’s pleasure through encouraging members to utilize the valuable resources available at CAIL, and to give members the opportunity to contribute to the MSA through helping to run the library. The founders’ dream for the future was to have CAIL open to the public for the entire community to use as a resource for Islamic knowledge, but in recent times all of CAIL’s wonderful resources have not been fully utilized. Alhamdulillah CAIL has just been recently renovated and we want to make sure it continues to grow as a place of knowledge. Br. Tarif himself will tell you that the best thing we can do in this time of our youth is to gain knowledge and read, and //it is our goal to make CAIL a primary source of knowledge, discussion, and growth for the MSA and the community at large.//

=Structure=

//[How is the committee structured? What are the different positions on the committee? Are there any sub-committees? What are the responsibilities of the committee head? What are the responsibilities of the Cabinet-Liaison? What are the responsibilities of each sub-committee (if applicable)? How is responsibility distributed amongst general committee members? How often did the committee meet? How did the members communicate outside of meetings?]//

The committee consists of a head librarian (committee head) and then several assistant librarians. It is best to have as many assistant librarians as possible to allow them to have flexible schedules. The responsibility of the committee head is to: recruit librarians, train librarians in the library system, create a schedule for when CAIL will be open, promote the use and growth of CAIL through events, fliers, etc, ensure that CAIL rules are being followed (some of which are listed in "Methods"). The responsibility of assistant librarians is to: ensure smooth library operations (checkin/checkout books, properly re-shelve books, make sure CAIL is clean, etc.), make sure they are in CAIL during their library hours, help with promotion/events.

For the year of 2010-2011, CAIL committee made an effort to meet every two weeks. Outside of meetings, email was the primary method of communication. =Methods=

//[Describe how the committee achieved its previously outlined goals. Were there any events, activities, initiatives planned by the committee? (Link to the appropriate Wiki page) Describe the complete process for operating CAIL.]//

It is best to create a schedule for CAIL by the second week of school. MSA usually has a introductory meeting the first Friday of the Fall semester, which is a good time to promote CAIL and recruit librarians. It is also a good time to have people sign up for library cards. You should take the signup forms and actual library cards so that people can sign up and have their card right there. (their information can be entered into the system later. Make sure you write down their library card number if you plan to do this!)

The library is run on the same system used by the Library of Congress. There was a guide on how to use the library system that has been misplaced, so it will either have to be found on the internet or borrowed from the library. The first meeting that the committee has should be a training session on how to use the library system. Accordingly, the committee head should be familiar with the system before the first meeting inshaAllah. During the first meeting library hours should also be established. //CAIL should be open and running by the beginning of the third week of school.// //A note on library hours:// While you should work with your librarians to work around their schedules, the best time for library hours, are around Dhuhr and Marghrib, as well as before and after Jumah.

Some standard rules for CAIL include: books should be returned on time, late fees should be established and people should be held accountable for them, people can only check out books if they have a library card, people cannot just take books off the record, books should be returned in good condition, the library is NOT a storage room, if librarians cannot make it to their hours they should inform head librarian ahead of time //A note on late fees//: For the year of 2010-2011, CAIL committee decided to absolve all late fees from previous years because of the very large amounts that were due. New records should be made for the 2011-2012 school year

=Review=

//[Reflect on the outcome of the committee. Did it achieve its goals? Why or why not? Was the plan executed correctly? Why or why not? What might have been changed in the// plan? Was the planning process effective? //Why or why not? Was the communication between member effective? Was the committee structure effective? What improvements would you have made (in general)?]//

The goal for the year 2010 - 2011 was to finish up projects that were unable to be completed in previous years. Of those projects, we were able to repaint CAIL and get some new books. For the most part we had regular CAIL hours. Unfortunately because of technical difficulties we were not able to fulfill all the duties of CAIL.

//Before CAIL can function as a library a working computer with the library system installed on it (the original CD cannot currently be found, the receipt for the program can be found in the receipt drawer)// Some goals/task for the year of 2011 - 2012 --create a budget --send out an email to people who have not returned books from previous years. --found out which books are missing from the shelves from the master list --get new MSA members to get library cards --start a book club --head an MSA meeting --continue to get and promote new material, book, etc --work with the Historian Committee help create archives --work with Al-Nur to start creating archives --convert the video tapes into CDs --properly catalogue all the CDs and books that we have --make sure that CAIL does not turn into a storage room --during finals have a study session hours (for brothers and sisters separately) --get a laminator for use by all the committees (are around $50) --continue to decorate CAIL and keep it clean regularly