Staff section stories: a history.

• Author: Mejeur, Jeanne
• Position: NCSL: The First 25 Years - Includes related articles on staff section trivia - National Conference of State Legislatures

Staff, an important part of any legislature, are also an important part of NCSL.

Legislative staff have been an essential part of the establishment, growth and direction of NCSL. Many legislative staff worked with the National Legislative Conference and supported the merger of that organization with the National Conference of State Legislative Leaders and the National Society of State Legislators into what is now NCSL. Legislative staff played a key role in the merger negotiations in the early years of NCSL to ensure that the new organization would serve as a source of support and professional development for staff. They fought for participation with legislators on the NCSL Executive Committee and the ability to govern their own affairs.

Early on, legislative staff saw the importance of working with their counterparts. Legislative staff before the 1960s were primarily generalists, performing many different tasks. And most of them who were active in the National Legislative Conference valued meeting with all types of staffers. But as staffing in legislatures grew more specialized, so did the staff organizations.

The staff groups, called "sections developed out of the need to share information and learn from colleagues in other states. Although NCSL provides an umbrella of support for the staff sections it has also greatly benefited from their leadership, participation and support.

Four of the staff sections predate the founding of NCSL, growing out of the National Legislative Conference. Their histories parallel the growth of NCSL.

American Society of Legislative Clerks and Secretaries (ASLCS) 1943

The American Society of Legislative Clerks and Secretaries was established in 1943, making it the oldest of NCSL's 10 staff sections. Joseph A. Beek, secretary of the California Senate, and T. Thomas Thatcher, clerk of the Michigan House, were the founding members of the society, which began with 107 members. Beek served as president for 25 years, beginning in 1943.

ASLCS has a number of milestones in its history. The society presented its first seminar in 1967 in Albany, N.Y., with 16 members in attendance. Its newsletter, The Legislative Administrator, was first published in 1969. Bylaws and membership dues were adopted in 1972. ASLCS published the first edition of its code of ethics in 1973 and had a logo designed in 1975. In 1993, ASLCS celebrated its 50th anniversary.

The society now has more than 350 members, including principal clerks, secretaries and associate members, and publishes a number of publications, including The Legislative Administrator, Journal of the American Society of Legislative Clerks and Secretaries, ASLCS Roster and Reference Guide, International Directory, and, in cooperation with NCSL, Inside the Legislative Process and Mason's Manual.

Legislative Research Librarians Staff Section (LRL) 1972

Legislative librarians began gathering informally in 1968 at a National Legislative Conference (NLC) meeting in St. Louis, Mo., and published their first directory in 1971.

The group formally organized as the Legislative Reference Library Services Section at the 1972 meeting of NLC in New Orleans, and elected Maine librarian Edith Hary as chair. Several current LRL members were among the charter members of the staff section, including West Virginia's Mary Del Cont, Louisiana's Suzanne Hughes and Irene Stone of California.

LRL published its first newsletter in 1977, adopted bylaws in 1978, printed its first directory in booklet format in 1980 and presented its first professional development seminar in 1989 in Denver with 22 librarians in attendance.

The support the legislative librarians provided to NCSL was invaluable in designing and maintaining LEGISNET, the first on-line searchable database of legislative research reports, program evaluations and articles. LRL currently publishes the LRL Newsline and an annual Staff Contacts Directory. The staff section also publishes Core Reference Collection for Legislative Libraries, Survey of Automation in Legislative Libraries, and Legislative Intent Research: A 50-State Guide.

National Legislative Services and Security Association (NLSSA) 1973

A...