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SLA 2009 Annual Conference & |
Good afternoon, SLA! I am so very grateful for the privilege of joining you once again for our Annual Membership Meeting.
Before we begin, I would like to recognize some very special guests . We are honored to have you here and especially pleased to have you join us in celebrating SLA's Centennial. As I call your names, please stand and wave so everyone can see you:
Carla J. Funk,
Executive Director
Medical Library Association
Kelly Moore
Executive Director
Canadian Library Association
Ed Keating
Vice President, Content Division
Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA)
Thank you. You and your organizations are very special to all of us at SLA.
There is one more person I'd like to give special recognition to: David Bender was SLA's Executive Director for 22 years. Let's thank him for his many contributions.
One of the great rarities in the collection of the New York Public Library is a small copper sphere--one of the first globes ever made. About five hundred years old, it depicts the newly discovered Americas for the very first time.
The cartographer did not, however, have the full picture. So to indicate parts of the planet that remained unknown, he--or she--engraved the Latin words "Hic Sunt Dracones"--"Here Be Dragons."
Dragons and other monsters were the shorthand used by cartographers to show the most frightening places of all: those that were unknown.
And that phrase--Here Be Dragons--is an apt metaphor for voyages into uncharted waters. It is also a fitting reminder of the advantages of knowing our course.
As our Treasurer informed us, SLA's staff and board spotted dragons on the economic horizon early, and they took steps to conserve cash and keep the association afloat, to cut unnecessary spending without making shortsighted budget cuts, to actually improve member benefits by focusing on what is most important.
As a result, even in these uncertain times, SLA has even more to offer its members, including the best Centennial gift we could wish for: The gift of knowledge--knowledge that is the result of robust research . . . that dragon-slayer we call the Alignment Project.
When John Cotton Dana and his fellow Info Pioneers founded our association 100 years ago, they headed into uncharted waters, equipped only with their belief that the special skills of librarians could launch more prosperous and successful organizations.
As we begin our journey into SLA's second century, it is a whole new world, and we are ready to conquer it because we have a true and accurate chart--one drawn from more than two years of exhaustive series of research studies about the information profession.
We have done extensive, global research on how information professionals view themselves . . . and how they are viewed by the organizations that employ them. We have delved deeper to find the messages you can use to demonstrate the value you add to your organization. And we are in the process of creating a new Internet portal with All Things Alignment: the process, the research findings, and, coming soon, the hands-on tools you can use to answer that age-old question: What's so special about special librarians?
I hope many of you had a chance to explore and comment on our Beta version at the SLA Marketplace, and had an opportunity to talk to our consultants from Fleishman Hillard. They have done a great job and have been terrific partners to work with.
You know that the information you so carefully turn into actionable knowledge creates a competitive advantage for your organization. You know that this advantage has a positive effect on your organization's bottom line. So in the months ahead, we will be adding new tools to the Alignment Information Portal, and together, we will start using the language that will wipe out any uncertainty that exists about the value of the information professional.
Throughout this conference, we have discussed the Alignment findings with our members, our vendors, and our partners. And you have told us over and over again that one of your greatest challenges is our name--SLA. It is a name that we hold dear, but a name that has little meaning outside the profession . . . a name that research shows us does not capture your contributions, your aspirations, your future. I assure you: we did not enter the Alignment Project looking for a name change. But the research--along with what we are hearing from all of you--leaves no doubt: SLA needs a new name for a new century. In the weeks ahead, we will be investigating the best way to go about getting the best possible name for your consideration. We will work with you, we will consult, and ultimately, you will have the final say, with a vote of the entire membership.
I think that John Cotton Dana would be thrilled, don't you? He always described the name Special Libraries Association as something he used, "lacking a better alternative." And don't you imagine that he would be equally thrilled to see his likeness in the Wall Street Journal this week? Thanks to our friends at Dow Jones, this ad ran both Monday and Tuesday--another most welcome gift for our Centennial.
I have one more bon voyage gift to tell you about, too. It's SLA-TV! Here you will find an enormous amount of SLA video . . . so you can share the videos of this year's award winners, catch lots of other conference material, even study a special channel with Alignment video content.
Despite all this good news, we cannot ignore the economic uncertainty all around us.. Some of our members have lost jobs, and others have taken pay cuts or had their hours cut. And if you are one of them, we know that you are being challenged, but that your SLA membership is more valuable to you now than ever before.
That is one of the reasons I am grateful that our board approved a new membership category, which allows those making $18,000 or less to join or renew for just $35.
With this new rate, we are also attracting new members from around the globe, particularly from India. That has never been more important. Anybody who doubted that ours is a global economy has become a believer in this recession! SLA is THE best place for global networking, knowledge sharing and collaboration . . . because we know this is the best route to exchange new ideas, trends and cutting-edge developments. Our new membership rate will help us move forward in our century-long mission to build a network second to none.
That's not all we've done to address member needs in this challenging economy, either. Fearing their own dragons, many organizations cut their professional development spending.
But we know that information professionals can never afford to stop learning. So we have made our Click University Webinars and replays free to members for the very first time.
Listen to just a few of the topics of upcoming Webinars:
- Electronic Records Retention: 10 Essential Elements
- Dispatches from the Front Lines of SharePoint-based Collaboration; and
- Federated Search in a Disparate Environment.
This is meaty, important learning--and it is free to SLA members. If you can't attend the live Webinar, you have access to replays at your convenience--any time, anywhere, even at home in your pajamas, or at the beach with your Wi-fi laptop. We won't know!
Listen to some of the comments our members made on a recent survey:
"Virtual seminars are very convenient for those who don't have time. I am exploring this format and think that it is exciting."
"The course was concise, delivered content as advertised and facilitated well."
"It was very well organized. The information was practical, concise and clear."
How many of you have taken advantage of Click U? It is SLA's online learning university, which also has premium content--our online certificate courses in knowledge management, competitive intelligence and copyright. If you have not used Click U, you are missing out on one of the great benefits of your SLA membership.
On the Click U site, visit our three online libraries and select books from hundreds of titles. Read synopses of the latest executive development and management titles on the execuBooks pages. Keep up to speed with all latest technologies in the Innovation Lab. Take advantage of comprehensive training for new SLA leaders and SLA leaders with new roles. And find out about significant discounts and member-only advantages offered by a number of prestigious universities to you as an SLA member.
And we are adding new free content all the time. We have just added a special SLA reference collection from Credo Reference. At your fingertips are dictionaries and encyclopedias covering Information and Library Management, Business, Finance, the law and medicine, and more. This is good stuff; check it out.
You know, the reason we all love reference material is this: Not knowing is scary--hence the dragons on those old maps and globes. And one of the great unknowns this year--my personal dragon--has been this very conference. With a turbulent economy, I feared we were heading into rough seas and uncharted territory . . . especially when we heard how many other organizations just like ours were seeing dramatic drops in registrations of up to 30 to 40 percent.
So I am especially grateful to everyone who said, "Damn the torpedoes: full speed ahead! " and came to SLA's home town for this outstanding learning and networking opportunity.
Dav Robertson, Lynn McCay, and the Centennial Commission . . . the Division Planners . . . DC SLA . . . I have a message for you: Land Ho! Your hard work has brought us a stunning conference.
And what can I say about our stellar SLA staff? They had to work harder and smarter and more creatively than ever this year to organize, promote and run the conference and the INFO-EXPO. They have all given so much to this effort, and I would like to ask all the staff members who are here right now to stand and be recognized.
I especially want to thank Nancy Sansalone, who so ably leads the staff. She is a quality leader, a helpful advisor, and a great friend to me.
You did it, folks. In this year of uncertainty, when so many other conferences have struggled, and even fizzled . . .I am proud to tell you that attendance at the conference this year is significantly higher than we had last year in Seattle . . . higher, in fact, than Denver the year before . . . even higher than Baltimore in 2006. As a matter of fact, we have absolutely the highest attendance of any SLA annual conference in the past six years. Numbers please! We have an amazing 5,856 attendees. That's a 16 percent increase over last year. And we have attendees from about 30 countries, too!
I am also pleased to tell you that the INFO-EXPO has surpassed last year, with 299 exhibitors with 462 booths...and 48 of them are first-time exhibitors. We value the contributions of our exhibitors and sponsors so very much. They are true partners in all of the Association's efforts. And I would like to once again acknowledge our major conference sponsors: Dow Jones and Company, Dialog & Proquest, and Springer. We couldn't do it without you.
A very personal word of thanks to our fantastic 2009 SLA President, Gloria Zamora. Gloria is a true and dedicated leader, a generous partner, and an inspiring professional. It is a special pleasure to have the chance to work so closely with her this year.
I also must express my deep gratitude to SLA's Board of Directors. This was an especially demanding year for them, and they have come through at every turn. Thank you, each of you, so much.
There is one more person I'd like to recognize--Loren Needles. Many of you have heard me talk about him, but for those of you who haven't, he has enriched every day of my life for almost 26 years now . . . and he is the person who makes it possible for me to spend so much time away from home representing SLA and our members. What may be even more relevant, though, is that he is the one who persuaded me to apply for this job--plus, he is the one who convinced me to take it.
Finally, thanks to all of you. You are SLA . . . the network, the learning, the advocacy. You, along with our staff and volunteer leaders, are captain, crew and passengers . . . You will take us into SLA's second century. We have our bearings, and we have each other. So if there are any dragons left out there, they had better get out of our way. There is no stopping us now.
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