*Note: The following is from our archived collection of older documents, and may not reflect the most current information.
By David R. Bender, Ph.D.
May 2001
Executive Summary
A thorough review of the history of information associations reveals a highly democratic, organized community that has, over time, dispersed due to increased demand for focused services to meet the needs of practitioners in a variety of fields. However, societal and organizational pressures and trends over the past thirty years have shifted the markets for these associations and increased the call for new and better services. Couple these dynamics with the fact that many familiar and unlikely competitors have co-opted traditional association services, drawing members away from associations. In their search for information, learning, community and many other benefits traditionally found in associations, the public has discovered a multitude of options. Finally, associations often operate on a flawed strategy (starting with their mission statements), and it is easy to see that new thinking is needed at this critical juncture.
Information associations must return to their roots. An understanding of their individual and collective histories – and some insight into strategy formation in the association industry – reveals some basic matters than require ongoing attention:
+ Returning to the concept of community building
+ Making innovation a priority
+ Committing to the creation of authentic learning opportunities
+ Implementing financial models that allow for wise assessments of revenue streams
There is no prediction in this paper regarding the future of information associations. Rather, this document’s focus is to reveal the commonality of the information association community, and the diversity of the individual association’s practices as a result of their divergent strategies. By re-focusing on their individual histories, these associations can implement change strategies that will continually allow them to meet evolving demands and pressures.
Introduction
There are very few, if any, association communities more democratic in organization and practice than the global network of library and information associations and societies (hereafter referred to as "associations"). By their very nature, the members of these organizations are true believers in open access to, and participation in, the processes that drive their associations. But then, they are librarians by training – which makes them teachers and facilitators, advocates of fairness for all who seek their guidance. It is no surprise that they expect the same of one another and in their dealings with the supporters of their profession.
But something has happened to this venerable profession in the knowledge economy, also known as the digital era, a.k.a. the information revolution, a.k.a. the post-industrial age. The democratization of access and the emphasis placed on individual knowledge assets in our schools, universities, workplaces, and communities have all conspired to make the information profession a very fractured entity. Librarians still exist, in the traditional sense, and they will continue to exist. But individuals trained in the information sciences have broken that mold, and evolved into webmasters and Internet managers, content and knowledge managers, competitive intelligence professionals, and a host of other careers that are not-so-distant cousins of the librarian.
Just as the profession faces change, so do the associations that serve them. They have scrambled in the New Economy to either cling to the traditional philosophies and practices of librarianship, grab for the new evolutions taking place, or find themselves muddled somewhere in the middle, trying to do both. What is the best answer for the future? There is no single answer for all information associations. They must strive to define their mission relative to the changes in the profession, and then apply that mission to their programming and practices. The good news is that the information profession is alive and well – albeit in a completely different form than existed 30 years ago. Those who left the profession long ago – and maybe some who still practice – would be hard pressed to recognize it today.
What this paper is about: This paper is a brief analysis of the trends that have, and will continue to affect, information associations into the long-term future.
What this paper is not about: This paper is not an analysis of the information profession’s growth to date; nor is it a projection of the profession’s future.
It is hoped that the reader will glean from this an understanding that historic traditions, coupled with the dramatic changes being wrought throughout society, will help to shape the future of information associations.
History of Information Associations
A look at the history of information Associations would be a failure without an assessment of why associations came into being in the first place. Alexis de Tocqueville noted quite accurately that the associations forming in post-Revolution America were reacting to the forming of the Bill of Rights (Democracy in America). With representative government already a hallmark of American government, the addition of the freedom of the press and the right to assemble gave citizens even greater impetus for coalescing in order to advance a cause or defend collective interests. The rest truly is history.
The first information association was not formed until 100 years after the revolution began, when the American Library Association was founded in 1876 Today, it is the oldest and largest national library organization in the world (American Library Association website – www.ala.org). A firm grasp on the library profession en toto, though, was not to be.
In 1898, the Medical Library Association was organized out of a desire to focus on learning and services that met the needs of health information professionals. (Medical Library Association website -- www.mlanet.org) In 1906, a similar need on the part of law librarians was borne out with the founding of the American Association of Law Librarians. This clearly signaled that ALA could not possibly deliver targeted, effective services to all sectors of the profession. In 1909, the Special Libraries Association was formed, which actually delivered a much more alarming blow to ALA’s efforts. SLA, at its heart, focused on business librarianship but has seen a gradual shift over many decades by academic, government, and non-profit information professionals into its ranks from other associations. The stage was set for a century of growth and innovation between and among the various new information associations. And these were groups that focused only on American information professionals and their needs. Others in Canada, Europe, and other developed and developing nations of the world quickly began to emulate these practices, particularly with the creation of individual national library associations.
From the late 1860s through the 1950s, information associations were very much like most other associations: they existed to communicate information to their members that, otherwise, would not have been communicated, or at least not as clearly or in the language best understood by their members. (A History of Associations, Meline C. Batten, CAE, for the Canadian Society of Association Executives, 1997) But the problems associated with information "haves and have-nots" was far more pervasive; and the consistency and regularity of communications from associations was not what we would consider acceptable today.
The 1950s through the 1970s were the first years when the impact of association automation was beginning to reach members (American Society of Association Executives). Information associations began to produce newsletters and other publications more regularly. Members became more aware of government activities that would impact their careers and their practices. And travel became more of a mainstream activity, so that national conferences became more widely attended. This was an important harbinger, for just as American society had led the way in the formation of information associations worldwide, it would do so again in the ensuing decades with the expansion of their roles in the lives and careers of their members. True growth was coming, and fast.
The 1980s and 1990s signaled a sea of change in the internal operations and practices of information associations, and certainly impacted their members. There were many reasons for these changes. First, the trend to operate like for-profit businesses began to sweep throughout the association community. No longer were associations merely sharing information and knowledge with their members and provide a sense of community. They began to teach their members (for a fee) what they needed to know to survive in the workplace. They began to publish more to meet specific demands for focused information. They began to aggressively lobby on behalf of their members’ interests before national legislatures and regulatory agencies, and provide research and in-depth studies on their constituencies and the impact of major policy changes on those constituencies. They even began to sell themselves - as resources for information to the public; as doers of the public good; and even as merchandisers for members and the public! The trend helped to bring information associations closer to their customers, deeper into the public consciousness.
All of these trends were recognized within information associations, although on varied levels. But the most important factor that affected all associations – but the information associations, in particular – was the advent of personal computing. Though computers had already become an integral part of association operations, personal computing transformed internal operations executed by association staffs. Then came the Internet.
Online computing has given the information association community a double case of overload. Association executives were just getting used to the changes and new demands placed on the mainstreaming of personal computing when the Internet became a viable commercial and public service tool. What was an association executive to do? The answer was to catch the wave, or fall prey to competition – or worse, become irrelevant.
The information profession has been one of the most Internet-adaptive professions. This has certainly aided in perpetuating their value in the workplace. They have had no choice but to stare down the barrel of technological development and make it their friend. Most have adapted such technologies willingly, for they enhance the services information professionals provide. From the perspective of association management, however, adaptation to the Internet as a useful and effective tool for members has been somewhat of a struggle.
While the challenges are, and continue to be, enormous, the Internet has also provided immense opportunities for any association to make a giant leap in the provision of services to a membership or to the public.
It also transformed communications, learning, and the inter-relationships that had been developed between the associations and their memberships. No longer are members looking to their associations for all of their professional community needs. Just as the average family has been inundated with entertainment options, professional communities have a multitude of options for developing relationships that can benefit their careers. And it doesn’t help that workplace cultures have shredded the traditional notion of clear specialization of labor, which aided the reliance of professionals on their associations for a sense of community.
The results of this trend are still being calculated. From what we have seen so far, however, many implications can already be measured:
| 1. | Members expect regular, high-quality, accurate communications from their association headquarters. (This includes news, publications, alerts, research and reports, etc.) |
| 2. | Members expect immediate turnaround time on any request. |
| 3. | The inward pressure to implement a technology strategy, regardless of an association’s overall strategy, if immense. |
| 4. | The outward pressure to be more competitive in the delivery of services (edupreneurship, publishing, web services, merchandising, infotainment). |
Current State of Associations
Today, information associations face many challenges:
· A fluid optimal customer base – not only are information professionals managing libraries, they are also managing online content, intranets, knowledge strategies and tactics, information architectures, virtual and wireless information services, and a host of other amorphous demands placed on them by their employers. Some in older generations have grasped these new roles, but the younger generations consider them mainstream responsibilities for information professionals, whether they possess a master’s degree in library science or not.
· An aging loyal customer base – Today’s associations have clung to the traditional customer base of practicing librarians. That portion of the profession is the loyal base, which does not mesh with younger generations (see challenge number one).
· The choice between depoyment of human and financial resources based on traditional roles or based on the needs of the customers. Of coure, this requires an assessment of who an association's customers will be.
· The choice between being all things to all people, or focusing products and services where the profession needs them.
· The choice between committing to tradional governance and operating infrastructure – and thus, to the traditional customer base – or revolutionizing these infrastructures to meet the changing needs of the profession.
And there are many, many more. This paper is not the venue for addressing the best methods for meeting these challenges. Information associations – like all associations -- must consider all of the challenges they face, prioritize them, and move forward quickly to secure – or, at least stabilize -- their futures.
Rather than analyze the challenges, a simpler process would be to look at information associations and their method for achieving their ideal futures. The best method for capturing the current modus operandi of any organization is to look at the mission statement of that organization. This is an organization’s expression of how it will achieve its vision for the future.
The one true test of a mission statement is simple: it must cause change. It must change how people working for and with an organization act. Harry Beckwith, in his excellent book, Selling the Invisible, suggests an intriguing way to see if your mission statement is working:
"Three weeks after you reveal your mission statement to everyone, ask five employees, ‘Have you done anything differently in the last three weeks because of what the mission statement says? And are you likely to change anything that you do in the next three weeks?’ If you get ten no’s, throw out your mission statement. If it isn’t producing, fire it." (Beckwith, Harry, Selling the Invisible, pp 212-213. 1997, Warner Books.)
There are many organizations that have created simple and effective mission statements that have lasting value, even after decades of existence. Here are a few of those statements:
| The American Association of Retired Persons is a nonprofit, nonpartisan association dedicated to shaping and enriching the experience of aging for our members and for all Americans. |
| Boeing Company’s mission is people working together as a global enterprise for aerospace leadership. |
| The mission of the Greater Washington Society of Association Executives is to maximize the power and performance of association professionals, one person at a time. |
| The mission of Marriott Hotels is to enable life away from home to be extraordinary by providing consistent, dependable and genuinely caring experiences to guests. Sony Corporation’s mission is to create a stable work environment where engineers who had a deep and profound appreciation for technology could realize their societal mission and work to their heart's content. |
| Walt Disney Company’s mission is to make people happy. |
| Wal-Mart Stores’ mission is to provide friendly service and low prices while encouraging individual identity for employees. |
Most of these organizations’ mission statements have existed since their founding. Clearly, the founders’ ideals for the organizations have held firm, sometimes even for over 50 years or longer.
But take a look at many of the mission statements used by information and related associations, and you might wonder whether dramatic organization change has occurred at any point in the recent past. One note: these statements were acquired from the websites of the relevant associations. No adoption dates were available.
|
The mission of the American Library Association is to provide leadership for the development, promotion and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all. |
| The American Association of Law Libraries supports and serves its members, promotes and enhances the value of law libraries, fosters law librarianship, and provides leadership and advocacy in the field of legal information and information policy. |
| The Association for Computing Machinery, is an international scientific and educational organization dedicated to advancing the arts, sciences, and applications of information technology. With a worldwide membership of 80,000, ACM functions as a locus for computing professionals and students working in the various fields of Information Technology. |
| The mission of the American Society for Information Science and Technology is to advance theinformation sciences and related applications of information technology by providing focus, opportunity, and support to information professionals and organizations. |
| The mission of the Association of Research Libraries is to shape and influence forces affecting the future of research libraries in the process of scholarly communication. ARL programs and services promote equitable access to, and effective use of, recorded knowledge in support of teaching, research, scholarship, and community service. The Association articulates the concerns of research libraries and their institutions, forges coalitions, influences information policy development, and supports innovation and improvement in research library operations. A not-for-profit membership organization comprising the libraries of North American research institutions, ARL operates as a forum for the exchange of ideas and as an agent for collective action. |
| The Medical Library Association (MLA) is organized exclusively for scientific and educational purposes, and is dedicated to the support of health sciences research, education, and patient care. MLA fosters excellence in the professional achievement and leadership of health sciences library and information professionals to enhance the quality of health care, education, and research. |
The International Federation of Library Associations aims to: · Promote high standards of provision and delivery of library and information services |
| International Webmasters Association provides and fosters professional advancement opportunities among individuals dedicated to or pursuing a Web career, and to work diligently to enhance their effectiveness, image, and professionalism as they attract and serve their clients and employers. |
| The Library Association (UK) affirms that libraries are fundamental to a thriving democracy, culture, civilization and economy. The Library Association is therefore committed to enabling its Members to achieve and maintain the highest professional standards, and encouraging them in the delivery and promotion of high quality library and information services responsive to the needs of users. |
| The Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) is dedicated to helping professionals develop expertise in creating, collecting, and analyzing information; disseminating competitive intelligence; and engaging decision-makers in a productive dialogue that creates organizational competitive advantage. |
| The mission of the Special Libraries Association is to advance the leadership role of our members in putting knowledge to work for the benefit of decision-makers in corporations, government, the professions, and society; as well as to shape the destiny of our information and knowledge-based society. |
The one theme that seems consistent with these mission statements is that each association is attempting to be all things to all people – at least those who they would consider customers. And, in doing so, these associations have (likely unknowingly) boxed themselves into mission statements more focused than they probably intended.
Take, for example, the mission of the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP). They commit themselves to aiding their members achieve two goals, but they felt it necessary to define who their customers are in their mission (people with expertise in creating, collecting, and analyzing information; disseminating competitive intelligence.) First impressions for some who might otherwise consider SCIP for membership, might lead them elsewhere. The SLA mission also narrows the association’s focus by listing the types of organizations in which its members work. Not only does this narrow the scope of the association, but it also defines its membership in terms of their employers. In the knowledge age, this is likely to turn off many potential SLA members.
For information associations to thrive in the future, they will have to address their mission statements and make them not a part of their marketing strategy, but something their members and staff hold dear to their hearts. Once information associations begin the process to assess their future and then set a roadmap for realizing their future, success is not guaranteed. There are many external issues that will continue to infect their environments.
Challenges that Won’t Go Away:
Mega-Associations, For Profit Learning, Mass Media, and The Internet
As stated above, all associations now compete with a multitude of sources for their members’ attention, time, commitment, and money. The problem is not with striving to gain advantage in either of these aspects of the member’s life; the problem is that few of the competitors are associations. They are businesses that make money by doing for the public what associations have always done for their members. Let’s take a look.
The first threat to consider are the large non-profit organizations and associations that invest incredible amounts of resources to conducting research and generating publicity for their efforts. Quite often, these efforts compete with, or undermine, the accomplishments of other associations. Why? Usually, it is due to the ability of these "mega-associations" to convey their messages with the utmost credibility and the largest megaphone. Who can compete with that? It does not eliminate the obligation of associations to serve their memberships by generating the best possible research and publicity efforts. But it is obvious that most associations must find partners and use their limited resources wisely to achieve these goals.
The second threat is one that has evolved over time, more so due to the threats that we will discuss later. For-profit learning, or "edupreneurship," has often been received by the public rather cynically, and for good reason. With education and learning historically perceived as lofty goals better served by impartial or non-profit interests, businesses making money from professional development and training have lacked credibility.
Advantage: associations. But edupreneurs, never willing to merely cede credibility, have successfully developed a solid reputation for delivery of excellent learning opportunities, particularly in the information management arena. Why? Follow the money. The people who can teach new ideas, new technologies, new services, new practices, also like the idea of getting paid to do it. Edupreneurs willing to charge hefty sums for their learning experiences are only too willing to share in the profits and the publicity. Disadvantage: associations.
As stated previously, information is the most valuable commodity that associations can offer members. After community-building, it is the one thing that associations have historically been able to deliver to their members, often exclusively (or at least it has been perceived by members to be that way). But the last two decades have seen an explosion in the mass media, a proliferation of sources and resources for information. More often than not, these sources are much quicker in delivering information to the public – and thus, association members. Without an edge in the information marketplace, associations are forced to struggle – and, ultimately, invest far more in it than ever before – to deliver something their membership can’t get from CNN or Bloomberg. Ironically, prior to the 1990s, the likes of CNN or Bloomberg wasn’t considered all that much of a threat to associations. Then, the Internet went supersonic.
The staggering amount of data, information, and knowledge available on the Internet – including that which is available on free, a la carte, or subscription based services – presents everyone with an opportunity for complete empowerment, particularly in areas that have been the domain of associations: news, research, advocacy, education, publishing, even community-building – in a virtual sense.
There are many futurists who suggest that the Internet is the first death knell for a significant number of associations. It is more accurate to say that the Internet is the last in a series of warning bells for many associations. For nearly three decades, warnings have popped up everywhere, suggesting that changes were required in the association industry. Those warning bells have varied, depending on the industry, profession, or cause served. But the Internet is the one warning that makes all other warnings pale by comparison. And the message is loud and clear: change, or die.
Information associations and their members have embraced Internet and information technologies. Maybe they have all realized that doing anything else would surely mean, at the least, diminution in stature or relegation to irrelevance. The important thing is that initial steps have been taken to make the Internet a tool, a resource, a medium that allows an association to expand its sphere of influence. But answering the call to engage in virtual services is only the beginning. Everyone else – competitors, outside threats, everyone – is doing the same thing. And they are investing unbelievable amounts of time, money and resources to make their information, their learning opportunities and their communities the most desirable.
Back to the Basics: A Strategy for the Next 150 Years
So what’s next for information associations? There is surely no single answer that fits all. It would seem, though, that a return to what associations did right from the very beginning would be an excellent start. Community building and networking will likely be the single most important benefit of membership in any association. The Internet is a perfect vehicle for proliferation of an association’s community beyond traditional boundaries and physical meetings. But it is only the beginning to merely adopt Internet technologies and applications that give a superficial sense of community – chat rooms, web conferencing, message boards, and related services. Associations must move beyond the mere provision of services and commit to fully integrating them into the culture of their membership.
Associations cannot merely continue their existing community-building strategies, which have existed within the context of an association services array that mutes greater attention, resources, and priority to what truly matters. To make community-building the top priority for information
associations, attention must be given to the customer-member, the environment in which the customer-member exists, and the future of the information profession.
The infrastructure of the association must be arranged so as to respond quickly and effectively to changing member needs. And the environment through which customer-members interact in the association must be organized according to existing economic and business philosophies. The tenets of the industrial age determined how people were managed and how they organized themselves. The knowledge age has broken those tenets, as new practices and philosophies have become the norm. No longer is the organization or its products or its capital assets considered the most valuable. Human capital is now the most valuable currency available, and so an individual’s roles, receptivity to change and knowledge assets help to define the organizations overall value. So it is, then, that information associations must organize according to the communities of practice found throughout the profession, for they will allow associations to maximize the value of the human capital found in their memberships.
Innovation is an absolutely critical factor that is rare in information associations. Some new services are perceived as innovative, but they are more reflective of innovations in the association industry than of the changing trends in a given association’s market. As a result, associations often fail to truly innovate for the benefit of their members’ needs. They innovate based on a strategy developed from another association. This is a commonly accepted practice, but often a flawed one, too. To innovate for the benefit of a specific membership, its association staff must invest in market research, studies, surveys, and ask their members the right questions. But the critical factor is to ask at the right time: when everything is going well, and no one can see challenges or trouble on the horizon.
Learning is yet another area where information associations have an opportunity to become indispensable to information professionals of all types. There are many education and training programs available in the information association community and in the edupreneurship sector. These should continue to serve the profession; however, learning is distinctly different in that the opportunities to change the manner in which information professionals think are rare.
More often than not, adults require un-learning of long-held beliefs and practices and re-learning of new ideas and ideals that can advance their roles in organizations, communities, and society. That is a core value that should be a part of any information association’s mission.
Financial modeling for information associations must also be assessed, so that existing revenue streams are perpetuated – but for the right reasons. This actually is a systemic problem in any organization, but more so for associations. Although they are non-profit organizations, associations have a wide variety of revenue-generating opportunities. In fact, associations can often be more innovative than for-profit organizations in this regard. The danger exists when a revenue stream works in the short- or mid-term, but is inaccurately projected for the long-term. This happens quite often, as associations are rarely responsive enough to pick up on trends in their markets that impact on member needs.
Accomplishment of all these objectives is not something to which information associations should necessarily aspire; completion of the journey is not an option. Rather, they should be integral components of the journey taken by information associations to better serve their members. One association may be better at innovation than another, but the latter may be the quintessential provider of community services. But information associations must consider these strategic objectives absolutes. Change, or die.
Conclusions
If you’ve skipped to the conclusions for a "final answer," forget it. There is no one answer, except that there are some basic precepts any association – but particularly information associations – must integrate into their long-term strategy. Additionally, if any one association finds itself listing in a sea of competition, commoditization of services, and tight markets, it need only do one thing: Go back to square one. Why do we exist? Is it the same reason that we began to exist? If not, what do we need to do now? If so, how do we continue to meet our members needs in the knowledge age?
An association’s history is a critical component of its future strategy. Most organizations fail to realize that. But think about it: if your organization has existed for any length of time, thrived for extended periods, survived tough economic times, and continued to draw interest from its markets, there is a lot to be learned from its history. This is a simple proposition, and one that must be considered, even once a new strategy is formed and implemented. To proceed with implementation without continuing to consider the organization’s history is the ultimate violation of the tenets of effective knowledge management. And no information association should ever be guilty of that.
Bibliography
Publications:
Built to Last, James Collins and Jerry Porras. Harper Collins, 1994.
Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville.
Non-Profit Management, Peter Drucker. Harper Collins, 1990.
Selling the Invisible, by Harry Beckwith. Warner Books, 1997.
The Social Life of Information, by J.S. Brown and P. Duguid. Harvard Business Press, 2000.
Periodicals:
Association and Non-Profit Management Journal, Vol. 11, Number 3, Spring 2001, pp 353-370.
Websites:
American Association of Law Librarians – www.aallnet.org
American Association of Retired Persons – www.aarp.org
Association for Computing Machinery – www.acm.org
American Library Association – www.ala.org
Association of Research Libraries – www.arl.org
American Society of Association Executives – www.asaenet.org
American Society for Information Science and Technology – www.asist.org
Canadian Society of Association Executives – www.csae.ca
Greater Washington Society of Association Executives – www.gwsae.org
Library Association (UK) – www.la-hq.org.uk
Medical Library Association – www.mlanet.org
International Federation of Library Associations – www.ifla.org
International Webmasters Association – www.iwa.org
Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals – www.scip.org
Special Libraries Association – www.sla.org
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