Abstract
In 1980 the Japan Library Association (JLA)revised its articles of association and rules for election of officers. In the JLA not only individual but also institutional members are given voting rights, eligibility for office, and resolution rights at meetings. The ratio of individual to institutional officers is 3 to 2. In this study, the author analyzed the contents of discussions that led up to the investment of institutional members with these rights and revealed whether the 1980 revision in fact reflected the conclusions of these discussions. Using literature and data on the JLA and research on public corporations and professional groups, the author revealed the course of these discussions, classified opinions, examined their validity, and raised several points. This research revealed the following points. First, the opinion that the JLA should be managed by the cooperation of both individual and institutional members rather than by centering on individual members was realized after plenty of discussion. Second, institutional members were invested with these rights because they were paying more in membership fees than were individual members and because they took on the burden of management of the All-Japan Library Conference and other conferences. Third, there was no comprehensive debate among members in regard to setting the ratio of individual to institutional officers and the possibility of shifting to a format of professional groups centered on individual members such as librarians.
