39th Annual Military Librarians Workshop
5-9 December, 2005
Las Vegas, NV
“Bright Lights – Military Librarians Shining in
Uncertain Times”
Remarks by Janice R. Lachance, Executive Director, SLA
Thursday, December 8, 2005
Thank you, Greta! Good morning everyone! I am so pleased to be with you for the third consecutive year! This is also the third time I’ve spoken in Las Vegas since I became Executive Director of SLA, and if history is consistent, everyone has had a great time. Just don’t gamble away your SLA dues money…
I don’t get to attend very many SLA division meetings, so I want to thank the leadership of the Military Librarians Division for inviting me to come back. In particular, I want to thank Carol Jacobson, the chair of the division, and Carol Ramkey, the immediate past chair, for your leadership over the last few years. I know that this division has always been an active – and pro-active – within the SLA community. But the two Carols have led with class, determination, and skill. I congratulate you on a job well-done.
I also want to thank the entire division board of directors for moving to make a contribution of $3,500 to the SLA Professional Development Campaign. I know that a lot of thought and consideration went into this decision. You have offered up a challenge to the boards of the 25 other SLA divisions that could have a far-reaching impact on the future of learning in the SLA community. Thank you for your willingness to take carefully considered risks.
To all of you here today, I want to say thank you – not simply for your commitment to SLA (for which I am eternally grateful). I want to thank you for supporting the vast operations of the armed forces. No matter what entity you serve, you do your profession a great service by supporting those who defend freedom and advance the cause of freedom. Thank you for your hard work.
Last year, when we gathered in South Carolina, I told you that the information profession is in a period of significant change, with numerous disruptive forces raining down on us. I also told you that the key to thriving in this environment was a serious commitment to four things: leadership, vision, risk-taking, and innovation. I also told you then that SLA was embarking on a series of initiatives to make this association the place where you can prepare to succeed and embrace that commitment. Today, I’d like to talk with you about where we’ve been since our last visit together, and where we are headed.
2005 has proven to be a banner year in the history of the Special Libraries Association. We started by announcing that we had completed 2004 with a small surplus – something of which we at SLA Headquarters are very proud, because we took action to reduce costs and seek out new revenue streams in order to avoid a deficit.
In my first public speaking engagement of the year, I urged the leadership of SLA’s chapters and divisions to make SLA a supportive, collaborative, and engaging community for all information professionals. The old thinking that SLA is cliquish, cloistered, and simply inaccessible, had to go. I encouraged the development of new ideas, new people, new opportunities, and a sense of optimism about them. I guess I should be careful about what I ask for in the future, though what I’ve witnessed since then is cause for a great deal of hope.
As 2005 progressed, we saw a lot of great things take shape. In the run up to the 2005 Annual Conference in Toronto, we asked you to consider two amendments to the association’s bylaws – one authorizing alignment of the SLA governance year with its fiscal year; the other authorizing the use of electronic voting. As most of you know, the latter had great implications for us later in the year. Both of those amendments were approved by the members attending the Annual Business Meeting in Toronto.
Speaking of Toronto, how many of you were there for SLA 2005? I know that I’m biased, but wasn’t that a great conference? I was so impressed with the quality of the programming, and the socializing wasn’t so bad either! I think we’ll look back at that conference in a few years and remember it as a significant and positive turning point in the history of SLA: 5,300 attendees representing 45 countries, well over 700 first-timers, and the largest Info-Expo in years with 235 exhibitors. But we can also remember the optimism of our time in Toronto as motivation for what is to come.
One of the coolest new developments of the SLA conference experience didn’t even take place in Toronto – well – sort of. Our first-ever conference blog gave more than 8,000 SLA members who could not attend SLA 2005 the opportunity to see and read about what they were missing. Several SLA staff and a score of members posted daily messages and photos about the activities and events, the new friendships and renewed acquaintances that we found in Toronto. Talk about an excellent example of staff and volunteer collaboration?!?!? I know many of the authors said they had a blast and received so much positive feedback, that they’re coming back for the second edition in Baltimore next June!
While we were in Toronto, we launched Click University, our new online learning experience. I think the importance of this member-only service cannot be overstated. Click is the first and only online learning center created and designed for working information professionals. It is growing to meet your evolving professional learning needs. You can use it on your schedule – anywhere, anytime when you decide to use it – at minimal cost to you. Many course libraries are priced below $100 US, and none is more than a few hundred dollars. The costs are low because Click University belongs to you. We’ll continue to develop it with your needs in mind, because that’s exactly what you should expect from SLA.
I am so proud of this accomplishment that I talk about it everywhere I go. I was at the Online Information Show in London last week, meeting with SLA members and industry partners and getting to know prospective members and partners. When I spoke about Click University, I could see the wheels turning in their heads. They would lean closer and ask, “What’s the Web site for that?
In case you haven’t been there yet, it’s www.clickuniversity.com. And it will be the center of all professional learning from SLA in the future. In 2006, look for our Virtual Learning Series to migrate to Click as an exclusive, member-only service. It’s just one more way we want you to enjoy the privileges of membership in SLA.
With the completion of the Annual Conference, a new board of directors was installed, and president Pam Rollo assumed her new role. She immediately took action, requesting the formation of 6 new task forces that are focusing on strategic areas of the association’s future: allies and partners, chapter modeling, contributing to executive growth, new visions for the profession, recognition, and research. Together, SLA members and staff are working together to assess the current state and future needs in these areas, so that SLA can grow with you, rather than reacting to your environment.
One of the most important areas in which we can grow with you now is in the area of public policy development. We’re working hard to represent the interests of the profession in legislative and regulatory matters, and we’re advancing partnerships with like-minded organizations in the United States and abroad, so that we can speak with a unified and more powerful voice. Just a few months ago, we took our existing public policy relationship with the American Association of Law Libraries and Americans for Fair Electronic Commerce Transactions (AFFECT) to the next level, hosting a special Virtual Learning Seminar on Click-On Licensing. We are also approaching other associations serving the global community of information professionals – particularly outside the United States to explore the prospects of sharing knowledge and assisting one another on policymaking activities.
It may not seem like a big deal for us to partner with other associations in our community on policymaking and educational programming. But we have to make it a very high priority moving forward, and engage many other associations in the effort. Associations in the modern age cannot afford to go it alone, so when we find friends who agree with us on things, we need to weave them into the fabric of the SLA experience. Particularly with Click University in our arsenal of services, we are now uniquely positioned to serve as the hub of learning for the global community of information professionals.
Recently, I was honored to serve as part of the American delegation to the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunisia. This event focused on the need to remove barriers to accessing information and bridging the digital divide in the global information society. This is a very important factor in the future growth of your profession. As the world becomes more integrated and connected, economic, social, and cultural development stand to lose or gain as a result of government and business practices.
A major goal of the Summit was to reach consensus on the future of Internet Governance. I believe the U.S. Delegation negotiated an excellent agreement. We agreed to establish an Internet Governance Forum that would discuss overarching issues surrounding the Internet but would not be involved in naming or day-to-day technological and administrative issues. This would give all nations, as well as stakeholders, the opportunity to voice issues of concern without interfering in a system that, for the most part, works well.
The new Internet Governance Forum will not have the power to control, but will have the ability to influence many things. This collaborative, inclusive approach is crucial for the future of global information sharing and advancement. The U.S. Delegation's spokesperson was sharp, thoughtful, and respectful of other nations' views and perspectives. I was proud to be a part of the deliberations, to represent LCA, and to have the negotiators listen to my views and incorporate my thinking into their language and positions. The U.S. Delegation also succeeded in negotiating language on freedom of expression, freedom of the press, and the free flow of information, which I also had a voice in shaping.
Government bodies and related international organizations play a critical role in establishing the legal and social framework within which SLA members conduct information services. With 2006 just around the corner, I am looking forward to new challenges to advance SLA members and the information society as a whole.
Overall, the momentum of our 2005 successes will propel several new initiatives in 2006. Click University will continue to garner significant attention as it begins to fire “on all cylinders,” but we will also be conducting several campaigns:
- We will be working to define the value of membership so that we can shape services that will keep you involved.
- We will be engaging in a major push to recruit new members to the association AND retain existing members.
- We will be promoting the value and values of the profession to executives and hiring professionals in organizations.
- We will be participating in policy debates that will affect the profession at large.
As we move forward on these initiatives, the momentum from a successful 2005 gives us some advantages that, otherwise, we would not have. First, we are about to complete our second consecutive year with an operating net surplus – for the first time in this century. Further, the structure of SLA’s finances is being modernized by our finance team, led by Nancy Sansalone, our deputy executive director and chief financial officer. The combination of these two factors means we are investing our resources where our greatest needs exist.
Second, any of our future-forward activities are being planned and implemented with member and staff involvement. Many of your colleagues are involved in the process of making things happen IN CONCERT with staff. This is a significant departure from the association’s historical tendency of getting things done either by staff or by members. As we evolve into a more transparent organization, the goal is to maximize the output of the association’s work.
Third, we are increasing our focus on the use of technology to enhance your membership experience. Now, I know many of you have probably had issues with some of the technology-oriented services deployed by SLA headquarters in the past. And, just like any organization that takes risks, some of our efforts have succeeded, while others have failed. What the Board of Directors and I are committed to is the pursuit of technological excellence and experimentation. We seek to acquire back-office systems and technologies that make the commercial, accounting, and customer service-related components of our operations more efficient. But we also want to acquire the kinds of useful technologies that you can use enhance your interaction with other members around the world. We invite any SLA member to work with us to make sure this effort succeeds.
Fourth, we are developing what I believe is the best pool of talent among SLA leadership and staff that has existed in decades. By recruiting people for paid staff and volunteer leadership roles who expect nothing but excellence from our work, we can deliver what you should expect: EXCELLENCE!
Fifth, and possibly most important, we are staying committed to our strategy, which has evolved but maintained the course of focusing on the delivery of learning, networking, and advocacy for the profession and our strategic partners. Consistent leadership in disruptive times is essential to achieving success. And I think you’ll agree that the results are starting to show.
Now earlier, I referred to the historic vote by the members in Toronto to allow electronic voting on association business. Well, we wasted no time in making use of this capability. Back in June the SLA Board of Directors approved a proposal from the association’s finance committee to restructure member dues. This came about as a result of calls from the membership for greater flexibility based on income, but what most people don’t know is that the Board was already facing the possibility of considering a dues increase. The resulting proposal achieved both needs, but it required a change to the SLA bylaws in order to take effect. In September and October, you and your fellow SLA members, for the first time in the Association’s almost 100-year history, cast a member vote – a vote on a bylaws question – over the Internet.
Most of you probably saw the news that over 77 percent of those members voting approved the bylaws change and, thus, the Board’s restructuring plan will take effect on January 1, 2006.
Online voting is the future of association democracy. It means that any of you in this room – any full, voting member – can cast a ballot and have a say in the affairs of your association – whether you’re here in a hotel room in Las Vegas, or in an office in Milwaukee, or your home in New Zealand, or in a cyber café in New Delhi. We are a global association – a global leader – and tapping technology brings us closer together.
In six months, many of you will gather in Baltimore for SLA 2006 and the Info-Expo. We’ve got a great lineup of programming set for you, including keynote speakers political commentator Gwen Ifill and Wall Street Journal columnist Walt Mossberg.
By that time, much of what I have shared with you today will be in process or possibly completed. But it’s my BELIEF that, by that point, we’ll also be talking about the great things that you and other members are doing through chapter and division activities. We’ll probably be talking about many of the winners of SLA awards and honors, and celebrating their successes. But it’s my HOPE that we’ll also be talking about the future, about great expectations, and great possibilities for you and your colleagues as information professionals.
I want you to be a part of that excitement, but if you can’t be there, we are looking for ways to keep you connected to the action, including the renewal of our very-popular conference blog. We’re also looking at podcasting some of our programs, so that you can listen in to selected recorded sessions and get a feel for the atmosphere. Let us know if you have ideas that can help keep all members connected to the annual conference.
I’m hopeful that you have questions, and I’ll be happy to answer them. But I do want to wish you all the best in the coming New Year, and I look forward to continued success with you in 2006.
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