SLA helps to make it all happen through local chapters, professional interest divisions, conferences and events, and online experiences. Our job is to cultivate the network for the profession, so that information professionals may cultivate their minds and their careers.
Member Recruitment and Retention
SLA continues to focus on the recruitment of new members and the retention of existing or deactivated members. A variety of initiatives are being engaged, including direct mail and electronic marketing efforts.
2,487 new members were recruited from 47 different countries in 2005. At year-end, over 8,000 prospective members were encouraged to join SLA to take advantage of either the USD 125.00 rate prior to 1 January 2006 or the new USD 99.00 rate in the New Year.
Efforts in recruitment and retention during the second half of 2005 were bolstered by the addition of a new membership marketing director.
2005 Member-Get-A-Member Campaign
For the third consecutive year, we have conducted a fourth-quarter member-get-a-member campaign. Out of the 537 new members recruited by SLA during the campaign period, 153 can be directly attributed to the campaign itself. 126 SLA members joined the 2005 SLA President's Club, having recruited at least one member.
2005 Annual Conference and Info-Expo
(From the SLA post-conference press release)
The Special Libraries Association (SLA) concluded its 2005 Annual Conference, held 5 – 8 June in Toronto with attendance surpassing last year’s total by more than 37 percent.
“We had some fabulous speakers and an involved and energetic crowd. Toronto was a great city with friendly and helpful people,” Lachance said. “Overall, the 2005 Annual Conference was a huge success and raised the bar for our 2006 conference in Baltimore.”
Registration for SLA 2005 totaled 5,283 individuals. Of that number, 2,246 were SLA members and 405 non-members. The balance was comprised of exhibitors, vendors, Continuing Education students, speakers, and others.
INFO-EXPO, the largest information and knowledge management exposition in North America, attracted 715 people registering for free Exhibit-Only passes. The expo featured 262 individual companies and organizations with 441 booths. SLA welcomed 59 new exhibitors this year.
More than 740 participants attended the SLA Annual Conference for the first time. Participants represented 45 countries.
By comparison, the SLA 2004 Annual Conference in Nashville attracted 3,852 participants and the INFO-EXPO featured 235 companies and organizations with 415 booths.
Almost 160 non-members took advantage of the one-year free membership offered with registration.
Flashback
SLA 2005 officially began on 5 June at the Metro Toronto Convention Center in downtown Toronto. The opening of the INFO-EXPO featured a Finnish “shouting choir” and actors in international costumes.
That evening, 25 members and six strategic partners were presented with awards and honors in 14 categories at the 57th annual SLA Awards Ceremony and Reception. The Mistress of Ceremonies for the sold-out event was Ethel M. Salonen, SLA’s 2004-2005 President.
On 6 June, internationally-renowned business author Don Tapscott delivered the Opening General Session keynote address. The standing room-only crowd of more than 3,000 listened as Tapscott detailed the information professional’s role in the era of “The Naked Corporation,” the title of his most recent book. “People are getting unprecedented access to information. If you’re going to be naked, you better be buff,” he said.
A crowd of about 500 gathered that afternoon for the unveiling of SLA’s newest member service—Click University. The online learning system was designed expressly for the professional development and continuing education needs of information and knowledge management professionals around the world.
On 7 June, international technology design expert Bill Buxton delivered the Second General Session keynote speech. Buxton held the attention of the capacity crowd of about 3,000, discussing the relationship between creativity and technological design. “We aren’t in the midst of an information revolution,” he said. “We’re in a racket of noise and data overload.”
Also, the newly re-titled “President’s Showcase” featured up-and-coming author Dan Pink in an overflowing breakout room. Discussing the value of right-brain thinking in today’s economy, Pink elaborated on and discussed his assertions in his most recent book A Whole New Mind.
At the Closing General Session on 8 June, business “guru” Gary Hamel talked about Leading the Revolution, his latest book. Hamel, author of Competing for the Future, the best-selling business book of all time, is #4 on the “Global Ranking of Business Thinkers,” far outpacing icons such as Bill Gates and Stephen Covey. He urged the audience, “Move from being custodians of information to catalysts for renewal.”
New Leadership
At the Annual Business Meeting, SLA President Salonen presented 2005-2006 President Pam Rollo with the “Necklace of Nations,” symbolically passing leadership. A new Board of Directors was also seated. And SLA’s membership overwhelmingly approved measures to allow online voting and an alignment of the association’s governance year with its fiscal year.
First SLA Conference Blog
For the first time, SLA staff and conference participants provided a detailed account of conference activities through an official Weblog. The SLA Conference Blog (www.sla.org/conferenceblog) provided commentary, photos, and event updates to participants on-site as well as members who couldn’t attend.
SLA 2006
Next year’s Annual Conference will take place in Baltimore, Maryland. The theme is “Baltimore—Where Tradition and Transformation Converge.” Speakers will include public television’s Gwen Ifill and Walter Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal.
Information Outlook
Improving content quality was the prime goal for SLA’s flagship member publication in 2005. Staff committed to driving the development of articles and columns that focused on compelling subject matter for practitioners and industry partners. Some content was also driven by the educational programming offered by SLA, which enhanced the focus on SLA’s strategic goals.
Advertising sales remained sluggish throughout 2005, not just in Information Outlook, but in all professional publications in the field. Staff has reduced expenses from budgeted amounts to at least partially make up for the shortfall in sales.
Unit Development
SLA seeks to expand its reach into new locales and new areas of professional interest. In recent years, the Australia and New Zealand Chapter, the Competitive Intelligence Division and the Government Information Division were created with this philosophy in mind. In 2005, SLA created the Inclusion Caucus and the Architecture, Building Engineering, Construction and Design Caucus to explore new boundaries in membership. Additionally, the SLA Materials Research and Manufacturing Division was re-assigned as a section of the SLA Chemistry Division.
Online Networking
SLA offers a range of online services designed to bring the global community of information professionals closer together for sharing information, collaborating, and networking. While discussion lists are a ubiquitous part of online life in SLA, Web-based interaction is relatively new. SLA’s online Communities of Practice are growing in popularity, as members can post messages, files, links, and even schedule chats. The Communities have proven particularly useful to SLA chapters, divisions, and task forces.
In 2005, SLA began to explore the “blogosphere,” as Web logs (or “blogs”) became the newest open-source networking service for the community. SLA successfully executed a conference blog during its Annual Conference in Toronto, and over 1,500 people who were unable to attend the event were able to see and read about the activities and events taking place. The success of the SLA 2005 Conference Blog gave way to 8 new blogs by the end of 2005, mostly serving SLA divisions, task forces, and research projects.
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