Special Libraries Association

Rio Grande Chapter (RGC)

Strategic Plan 2002-2005

 

The Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) is pleased to present the Rio Grande Chapter Strategic Plan 2002-2005.  This plan is a revision of the Chapter’s first-ever plan, the Rio Grande Chapter Strategic Plan 1998-2001, with a few apparent changes. 

 

This SPC was fortunate to have three returning members from its original five-member committee formed in 1997, lending continuity of thought and history to the latest process.  The SPC benefited from having the first plan as a blueprint. The knowledge of which parts worked and which parts were not as successful helped immeasurably in the creation of the current plan.  The results of the fall 2001 chapter member survey were also instrumental to the plan’s design.

 

Guiding principles and thoughts of the committee during deliberations were:

• Professional development is the overarching mission of SLA International and the Rio Grande Chapter.
• New members and/or newly energized existing members bring renewed vitality to an organization.
• Making membership worthwhile at the chapter level means giving members something they can use.
• The chapter plan must be useful to members the majority of whom do not list themselves as librarians and who do not work in traditional libraries.
• The chapter takes pride in being known as “The Mighty Rio Grande” and wants to maintain that image. The image means that the chapter, although one of the smallest in the whole organization, has an aggressive programming and professional development schedule as well as a disproportionate number of leaders in SLA International.

 

Issues and concerns of the committee during deliberations were:

• Losing chapter membership numbers.
• Difficulty in finding members willing or able to serve as officers and committee chairs.
• Serving needs of a hugely geographically dispersed membership.
• Presenting programs at times, dates, and places for a membership that expressed no clear overall pattern of preferences.
• Keeping the objectives measurable and ensuring their accomplishment, as much as possible, through assigning responsibility to a particular person(s).

 

Here then is the Rio Grande Chapter Strategic Plan 2002-2005 for your review and comments.  The adoption vote will come later this spring.  Thank you for this great opportunity to serve the great Rio Grande Chapter!

 

The RGC Strategic Planning Committee: Donna Cromer, Heather Hlava, Pamela MacKellar, Sandy Spurlock, and Heather Gallegos-Rex, Chair.       3-15-02