*Note: The following is from our archived collection of older documents, and may not reflect the most current information.
Bridging the Gap with SLA
Annual State of the Association Address
David R. Bender, Ph.D.
June 14, 2000
Good morning. Before I share with you my thoughts on the state of our Association, I'd like to offer thanks to the many people who, over the last year, have been the drivers in our successes. First, a warm thanks to Lynne McCay and the rest of the 91st Annual Conference Program Committee. We all had high expectations for this conference and Lynne, you did not disappoint. Thank you for all of your hard work. We are proud to report that our total conference attendance this year was 7391. As reported earlier this week, our total number of exhibitors was officially 322 companies in 528 booths. Clearly, we've completed another very successful Annual Conference.
I would also like to thank Susan DiMattia for her leadership and willingness to "push the envelope" over the past year. Her vision and persistence in sharing the value of the profession - and communicating that value to others - have produced tangible, effective results, particularly in the way we perceive ourselves and our careers. Susan, you may be leaving office today, but the impact of your vision will be felt for years to come. Thank you for all you've done for the profession and the Association.
There are others who deserve kudos for making this past year a triumphant one. Your Board of Directors, elected Chapter and Division officers, caucus conveners, committee members and chairs deserve a hearty thanks for engaging in a year full of lively debate and discussion over the future of the profession and the Association. They have formed the perfect amalgam of individuals with global and local perspectives that allow your Association to move forward with great vigor while ensuring that all members keep pace with change. Last year, SLA staff found that, with nearly 1,500 member-volunteer leaders, each gives an average of 2 hours' work per week to the Association. We estimate that our volunteers' time commitment amounts to roughly $2.5 million dollars per year in volunteer support, which is absolutely crucial to meeting the needs of the membership. Let's all congratulate our wonderful volunteer leaders for committing a vast amount of time and resources to making SLA such a wonderful success.
I'd also like to personally thank the SLA staff for their energy and desire in making our Association's community the best it can be. Like you, we at International Headquarters engage in lively debate and spirited discussion on our collective course of action. I wouldn't have it any other way, for you and I reap the benefits of their commitment every day. I'd like to ask those on our staff who are in the room to please stand and be recognized for the value you bring to our profession.
And last, but certainly not least, I'd like to thank you all for being who you are: courageous professionals who strive every day to do your jobs and wage a battle that our profession has long endured. And simultaneously, you commit yourselves to making the Special Libraries Association a community that evokes pride. Your presence at this conference means so much for your career, our profession, and for the future of SLA. Keep learning and building, and you will not disappoint us, nor will you be disappointed.
My laundry list of thanks summarizes what I believe is the most important component of continued growth for SLA: volunteer leaders and staff dedicated to the principle of lifting our profession to its highest possibilities. It is our unique ability to achieve synergy between and among us that makes us such a vibrant and active community of professionals. This is the state of our Association, and we are proud of it!
So here we are, at the midway point of 2000. One year has passed since we last gathered, and the anxieties of Y2K and the new millennium are now past. Now we are refocused on a number of new issues and some others that have challenged us for years. Where do we go from here? How do we get there? Many of our questions about the Association's future will be answered through the efforts of your Board of Directors in the coming months, as they execute a new strategic direction and address other, more specific matters. They will require your assistance in making our shared vision a reality.
Last year, our Board of Directors set priorities for me and for the entire Association staff that speak very clearly to our common interests. These priorities reflect not only what we have accomplished, but also what we must achieve in the coming years: CHANGE MANAGEMENT, CAREER-LONG LEARNING AND PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS.
You may not necessarily associate these three important phrases as being inter-related. Upon closer inspection, though, I think you'll agree that they are intertwined in the daily progress of individuals, organizations, nations, and thus, the world. They make one another even more vital. Change, in and of itself, can be an intimidating process. But change is often the serendipitous result of learning through communication. And so we must consider them the trinity of our future.
I've often said, and I still believe, that SLA is so wonderfully in step with the information profession that the Association's changes mirror the changes taking place in your careers. I'm confident that we will continue down this path, for it will enable us to meet challenges with a high level of energy and speed, and allow us to anticipate the needs of the profession. Here are a few examples of our success this past year:
- you asked SLA to adopt a fresh perspective on learning and development in order to remain competitive. SLA is answering that call through the emergence of its Strategic Learning and Development Center, which is pursuing the ambitious vision of helping information professionals become indispensable through learning.
- many of you have stressed the need for enhanced communication to and about the profession and the Association. We've answered by taking many steps:
- over the last four years, Information Outlook has changed the way we deliver the Association to you. We've now completely redesigned the magazine so that it will expand our horizons beyond the information profession. You'll find it is more effective in sharing information, and it is more visually pleasing, too.
- Last month, we embarked on another effort to bring news you can use to your desktop, with SLA.COMmunicate, an E-Newsletter that shares information about our community and our careers. It is my hope that this new service will become an indispensible tool in your search for useful information.
- We created the SLA Conference Planner, which allows you to view the regularly updated schedule of events and activities taking place at SLA-sponsored conferences.
- We established the SLA Virtual Exhibit Hall, which allows you to browse the best of the information industry in one location, even if you can't attend the SLA Annual Conference!
- We revised and enhanced the Global 2000 Conference Website, which has served well as a gateway for information on the conference and the Brighton and Southeast United Kingdom.
- we've made the SLA Marketplace at the Annual Conference an interactive experience, with demonstrations by staff on a variety of services.
- we've continued to develop excellent services for you through the Information Resources Center, and more is on the way.
- and we continue serve as your voice on information policy, working in coalition with many other organizations around the world.
- the "Value Proposition" that Susan DiMattia has brought forth is now built into our staff's long-range planning. Media relations, learning opportunities, and promotional efforts are now shaped around building the business case for information professionals.
- many of our volunteer leaders stressed the need for enhanced leadership training, and we've met that need by rebuilding the Leadership Development Institute and creating "Leadership Day" on the Sunday of the Annual Conference. These opportunities will strengthen the impact of our volunteer leadership through the coming years and reap tangible benefits for all of us.
- Our scholarship program has been greatly enhanced through the generous contributions of Isabelle Weeks, Ruth Fine, and the Council of Planning Librarians. This will allow us to further develop students for a rewarding career in our profession.
- many Association leaders stressed the need to make SLA marketing and communications tools readily available. We've met that need by providing a one-stop ordering center on the SLA website, where you can not only place requests for SLA brochures and pamphlets, but also for promotional videos and conference programs.
- Last year, we produced a membership video that debuted during my remarks at this same meeting. It recalled SLA's history, its roots in our growth, and its influence on our future. This year, we've conjured another promotional video that reflects our global and virtual future. Let's take a look:
That video sets the tone for our future: fast paced, global, digital AND virtual, and changing to meet the needs of a new generation of information professionals. As we begin to experience a youth movement in our ranks, we must strive to understand what they want, need and expect from an association. We are already making plans for growth in many areas to meet or exceed your expectations:
- The SLA website is undergoing a major overhaul and will be strategically designed with your tendencies in mind. The look will be more visually pleasing, the content easier to locate, and updating will be significantly improved so that staff and unit webmasters can work quickly to keep it fresh. And responsibility for content design and management is being directed through the staff of our own Information Resources Center, so librarians are truly running the show!
- To answer your call for a more tangible way to measure your value, we've worked with Frank Portugal to produce "Valuating Information Intangibles," which will help you in determining your organization's return on investment in you and your services. You can pick up your copy at the Marketplace today.
- For our leadership, unit reports will be available online for on-demand generation. This will allow unit officers to review their unit reports at any time.
- And for our potential members, look for an online membership application to be released in the future. This will allow an information professional to join immediately, regardless of location.
- SLA Publishing will soon begin using e-book technology. This will enable you to select and obtain the specific information you need, when you need it.
- SLA's Strategic Learning and Development Center is embarking on an ambitious effort to create new learning experiences and to re-imagine many of SLA's current learning offerings.
- For example, SLDC is partnering with Information Outlook to present the 2000 Virtual Seminar Series, sponsored by LEXIS-NEXIS. Our first Virtual Seminar, entitled "I Know What You Did Last Quarter: The Growing Value of Competitive Intelligence," will be held on June 28.
- In January 2001, we hope you will join us in Savannah, Georgia USA for the Strategic Learning Symposium (SLS), which is replacing the Winter Education Conference. SLS 2001 will focus on "Powerful Client Service: Creating Indispensable Partnerships" and more information on that experience will be available soon.
- Finally, our Knowledge Executive Institute and Management Competencies Institute are being re-designed as richer, more meaningful and higher impact experiences. The new Knowledge Champions Institute will help position information professionals as leaders at the forefront of organizational knowledge-sharing initiatives. The new Management Development Institute will be an intensive, integrated learning experience that will help prepare learners for the emerging challenges of information center management and leadership.
- And finally, we will be conducting the next Membership Super Survey in the coming year. This instrument will aid your Board in charting the Association's course for the next five years.
And what will the younger generations require of SLA in the future? Many of the services we currently provide will remain in high demand, although they must be packaged differently and offered in a variety of forms and formats. Learning opportunities, networking, a sense of community are all facets of SLA membership that will endure. But there is no doubt that SLA must change in ways that will attract and retain the next generation of information professionals. The next wave are those who have integrated the Internet and digital technologies into their careers at an early stage, and they will desire new and different services from SLA. And our speed of service will need to match their expectations as well. Our publishing services, the content and organization of our conferences, our public and government relations services, and the level of service provided to the new crop of leaders will likely require changes in order to satisfy our youth movement.
Your need for changes in our services brought about increased communication and learning between Association leaders and staff. This, in turn, brought about changes in the way SLA helps you learn and communicate in your professional lives which, I assure you, will help to bring about change in your careers. We have created a powerful community that utilizes CHANGE, LEARNING AND COMMUNICATION fully. We have built an Association that fosters pride in all who identify with it.
As the next year - and subsequent years - unfold, the rate of change in our profession is likely to increase. We've been warned in the past that we must embrace change if we are to thrive. I believe this is all true, but there is much to do in the process of embracing change. Associations exist to partner with members through that process and to empower them to create their own futures. I urge you to not only participate in SLA programs and events, but also to become a change agent in the evolution of your Association's future. It will most certainly benefit your career in the long-term. Your continued involvement will ensure that we pass the torch to those who hold the Association's future in their hands. For as SLA changed for all of us, so too it must change for them.
Thank you for being here this week at our 91st Annual Conference, and for your continued commitment to making SLA the best it can be.
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