Guidelines/Responsibilities of PCC Task Groups

The chairs of the various committees of the Program for Cooperative Cataloging may form Task Groups to address specific issues as needed with the approval of the PCC Policy Committee (PoCo). If deemed appropriate, non-Program members may serve on Task Groups, but a majority of each Task Group's membership should be Program participants. Each Task Group's membership shall generally be no more than seven and should reflect the diversity of the Program, thus ensuring that all participants are represented. In addition, OCLC, RLG, and the Library of Congress may name liaisons to each Task Group.

Requesting Approval:
When requesting approval of a Task Group by the PoCo, the chair of the committee sponsoring the formation of the Task Group will provide the following:

1. The descriptive name of the Task Group
2. The charge and the projected activities of the Task Group
3. The projected date(s) of the Preliminary Report(s) of the Task Group
4. The projected date of the Final Report of the Task Group
NB: A deadline of September 30th is required if a report is to be considered at the Annual PoCo meeting.
5. The name of the designated chair of the Task Group (if known), and when possible the names and institutional affiliations of the members of the Task Group

Responsibility of the PoCo:
It is the responsibility of the PoCo to assure that scope of the charge is appropriate to the task being assigned.

Approval:
Upon approval of the Task Group by the PoCo, the chair of the committee sponsoring the Task Group will send to the PCC Facilitator ( wsta@loc.gov ) items 1-5 above for posting to the appropriate PCC home page. If so desired, a Task Group listserv may be requested in order that an archive of discussions, etc. may be kept. Send request to: dawi@loc.gov

Reports:
Preliminary Reports may be informal but the Final Report of a Task Group should include the following:

1. An executive summary (may not be necessary if final report is less than 3 pages)
2. A list of recommendations, including:
(a) Specific mechanisms for implementing the recommendations, and
(b) Proposed assignment of specific responsibilities to institutions (or, if appropriate, specific individuals) for the implementation of the recommendations

Responsibilities of the chair of the sponsoring committee include the following:

1. Affirming that the recommendations of the Task Group's Preliminary Report and Final Report are in keeping with the charge of the Task Group
2. Transmitting reports to the PCC chair and/or PoCo with a statement as to the status of the report (i.e., approved, not approved, under review, etc.)
3. Notifying the PCC Secretariat that the Task Group has been discharged
4. Requesting that the Secretariat send letters of appreciation to each member of the Task Group

Responsibilities of a Task Group chair include the following:

1. Generally overseeing the work of the Task Group
2. Assuring that the work of the Task Group is paced to meet the report deadline and that recommendations under development are practical/realistic or arranged as long-term vs. short-term, etc.
3. Forwarding reports to the Chair of the sponsoring committee.

Responsibility of the Secretariat:
The Secretariat, in consultation with the chairs of the standing and/or operations committees, will annually review the recommendations of Task Groups that have submitted final reports and will send a list of outstanding recommendations to the chair of the committee sponsoring the Task Group for follow-up action or response.