[continued]

Club Relations manages the accreditation of these clubs and oversees their progress from sanctioned to licensed to member club status. The department assists clubs with bylaw revisions and helps clubs in resolving bylaw-related internal disputes.

Also in the Executive Secretary’s domain are the AKC Archives and AKC Library. The Library collection—more than 18,000 volumes, bound periodicals, foreign and domestic studbooks, videos, stamps, bookplates, and photographs—is America’s most comprehensive of its kind, and is considered to be one of New York’s finest private research libraries of any kind.

In December, the Library launched a searchable online version of its massive catalog at akc.org.

The Library is located at AKC headquarters in New York and open to the public five days a week (212-696-8245; library@akc.org).

The facility features an exhibition of antique show trophies on loan from member clubs and is the home of perpetual awards from the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship.

The AKC Lifetime Achievement Award, a sterling-silver Tiffany bowl inscribed with the names of recipients, is on display at the AKC Library, as are perpetual trophies commemorating Award for Canine Excellence and Breeder of the Year recipients.

The Executive Secretary directs the activities of the Conference and Travel department, which coordinates transportation, catering, and lodging for meetings and events, including the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship.