If you are interested in joining the Literature Committee or if you have questions, please email us at literature@aadistrict5.org.

For monthly Literature Committee meeting time and place, please see the D5 calendar listings on this website.

BASIC LITERATURE COMMITTEE FUNCTIONS

See A.A.® Guidelines Literature Committees

Inform groups, district, or area assembly members, through displays and other suitable methods, of all available Conference-approved literature, audiovisual material, and other special items.

Encourage A.A. members to read and purchase A.A. literature from their local Intergroup/Central office or the AAWS Online Bookstore.

Consider suggestions regarding proposed additions to and changes in Conference-approved literature and audiovisual material (Click here for District 5 Summary of 2021 General Service Conference Literature Agenda Items).

Provide literature for groups, area, and district functions (during the pandemic we provide information about and access to web-based and digital literature).

Become familiar with the information on G.S.O.’s A.A. website (www.aa.org):

Click here to start reading or listening to the Big Book and Twelve and Twelve.

Click here for a list of all pamphlets. You can read each pamphlet online.

Click here for an online digital catalog of Conference-approved literature.

Does Your Group Have a Literature Representative? If you are interested, please read the following:

The A.A. Group, page 23 and Box 459

THE LITERATURE COMMITTEE PROMISE

The Literature Committee is dedicated to honoring the sentiments of our founders and acknowledges the importance of sharing conference-approved literature with our fellowship.

Bill Wilson once wrote, “Suppose, for instance, that during the last twenty-five years A.A had never published any standard literature…no books, no pamphlets. We need little imagination to see that by now our message would be hopelessly garbled. Our relations with medicine and religion would have become a shambles. To alcoholics generally we would today be a joke and the public would have thought us a riddle. Without its literature, A.A. would certainly have bogged down in a welter of controversy and disunity.” (The Language of the Heart, p.348)

Legacy of Service for District 5 Literature Committee

COMPOSITION: Committee is composed of one Chairperson and other members from District 5 Groups. If the need exists, the Committee may have an Alternate Chairperson, a Secretary, and Treasurer. Qualifications for Chairperson are recommended 3 years sobriety and the availability to attend all District 5 business meetings and the Area 15 Committee meeting each quarter year. Chairperson should compile a written and oral report to be presented to the District 5 body at each monthly business meeting. Alternate Chairperson, Secretary, and Treasurer should have 2 years sobriety. Committee members shall be any AA who wants to be involved in service work and enhance their sobriety. It is recommended that GSRs or their alternates be involved on a Committee during their term in service. The Committee elects trusted servants from within and reports results of election to the District 5 body for approval. Note: All Committee officers should have at least one year service in District 5 and past GSR experience.

SCOPE: To provide a forum for discussion on AA Conference-approved literature, and how to improve and update existing literature to more effectively carry the AA message of recovery. To add a voice in the Area 15 Committee, sharing experience and input that creates a more informed Group conscience when voiced at the AA General Service Conference.

PROCEDURE: The Committee holds monthly meetings to discuss any literature changes, based on Group conscience of the Committee members, the Area conscience, or the World Services agenda which is discussed every April. The Chairperson facilitates the meeting. The Committee provides a literature display at District 5 events and at the Area 15 Quarterly Assembly if the Area requests. The purpose of the display is to create awareness within our District and the Area of what is available from our General Service Office in New York and the local Intergroup office. The Chairperson provides a monthly report to the District 5 body at the business meeting and a Quarterly report at the Area 15 Literature Committee.