Party on the Riverwalk!
SLA 2001 Marked
by Celebrations of the
Past, Present and Future
By SLA standards, the throng of 5,217 participants was modest in number.
But the crowd gathered in San Antonio, Texas USA for SLA's 92nd Annual Conference was vocal, active and ready to celebrate the greatness of the information profession.
Many themes were woven into the plot for SLA 2001, including the traditional meetings by the SLA Board of Directors and the Association's leadership; the installation of newly elected officers, the presentation of awards and honors; and the unveiling of new and innovative products and services in the Info-Expo, SLA's exhibit hall. The buzz, however, centered around the pending retirement of David R. Bender, Ph.D., executive director of SLA. Dr. Bender has served in that role for 22 years, and his impact on the Association will be felt for years to come. And many in attendance were curious about the coming tenure of Roberta Shaffer, who will assume her new duties in early September. With the Association's future on many people's minds, change in many areas of concern was generally the topic of choice.
A large number of conference participants arrived early to attend learning experiences, but the Association's leadership and the bulk of the conference participants made their presence known on Sunday, June 10 with a host of high profile activities. The day started with roughly 300 volunteer leaders from around the world attending the Leadership Development Institute, a full-day program designed to promote creativity and innovation in the leadership of SLA. That group also enjoyed a lunchtime presentation by noted business consultant and author, Nancy Austin. She challenged the audience to embrace the concept of change in the workplace and the marketplace, allowing each to complement the other.
The opening of the SLA Info-Expo took place in the afternoon with a splash. Factiva and the Texas Chapter of SLA hosted "Carnavale de San Antonio", a big party featuring drummers, dancers, fire eaters, clowns, and lots of food and drink. Conference participants flooded the exhibit hall to soak in the atmosphere and check out the latest applications and services from the information industry.
As the day came to a close, hundreds of contributors to SLA's endowments and fundsand many others who just wanted to have a good timecrowded La Villita, a tiny historic village with native American, Spanish, and European influences. That's where the 6th annual SLA President's Reception took place, and the gathering was treated to great food, a country music band, and a traditional Mexican violin troupe. SLA President Donna Scheeder (Congressional Research Service, Washington, DC USA) spoke of the virtues of leadership and making bold statements through financial support of SLA and the information profession. She honored retiring SLA Executive Director David Bender with a toast to his legacy after 22 years of solid, effective leadership. Scheeder also presented the SLA Presidents Award to Susan O'Neill Johnson (The World Bank, Washington, DC USA) for her efforts to establish and implement SLA's Global 2000 Fellowship Program.
On Monday, June 11, the main event got underway in the morning, when the Opening
General Session featured Molly Ivins, noted columnist, author and native Texan.
Her rambling, comedic style entertained 4,000 of the conference participants
in attendance, as she spoke on such topics as U.S. President George Bush, free
speech, and the varied cultures of Texas. The event included the recognition
of many SLA award winners, including Eric Brewer, co-founder and Chief Scientist
of Inktomi Corporation, who received the SLA Professional Award. Brewer was
the driving force behind the creation of FirstGov.gov, a unique web search engine
devoted to the organization of United States Government information.
SLA also inducted three long-time members into its Hall of Fame. Judith Bernstein (University of New Mexico), Roger Haley (U.S. Senate Library), and Fred Roper (University of South Carolina) joined an elite group of people who have devoted their careers to special librarianship and SLA.
The event was sponsored by LexisNexis, which was recognized as the inaugural member of the John Cotton Dana Circle. This honor is reserved for companies or individuals demonstrating the highest level of support for SLA. Bill Pardue, President and CEO of LexisNexis, accepted the award and introduced Ivins, a longtime friend and colleague. Additionally, LexisNexis joined Dialog and Factiva in being honored for service as the Major Partners with SLA.
Along with many other sessions held by SLA chapters, divisions, and standing committees, SLA unveiled its TechZone, a series of online and digital laboratory learning sessions. The TechZone featured such courses on such subjects as creating a first website, adding style to Internet services, and using databases to add dynamic content.
Learning and collaboration continued on Tuesday, June 12, as participants were exposed to a wealth of unique sessions focusing on everything from discussions on geographic information systems to conversations about the image of the profession.
The day started early for many, but was officially kicked off mid-morning, when Conference Planning Chair Denise Chockrek and SLA President Donna Scheeder opened the second day of the Info-Expo with style. Conference participants were treated to a coffee and pastry break in the exhibit hall, sponsored by SilverPlatter. They also experienced the sounds of the Arbuckle Boys, a western guitar group. Leslie Lees, Vice President for Content Development for SilverPlatter, also welcomed the crowd and thanked them for their professional commitment to using technology to meet the demands of today's knowledge worker.
Scheeder also announced the winners of SLA Palm Pilot Giveaway:
Laura McBride Felter, Merck Research Labs, West Point, Pennsylvania USA
Joseph A. Geissler, Walt Disney Imagineering, Glendale, California USA
Jim Oberman, People Magazine, New York, New York USA
Laura Reimer, Novartis, East Hanover, New Jersey USA
In the afternoon, a pair of back-to-back sessions focused explicitly on the
image of the profession and the branding of SLA –– subjects that are
inextricably linked. Linda Morgan Davis, the Chair of the SLA Public Relations
Committee, held an "Oprah-style" image interview/chat session with
Bethann Ashfield (a Wall Street financial industry information professional),
Kathy Kelly (Appleton Papers, Inc.), and Jill Konieczko (LexisNexis). The audience
ended taking over the discussion, focusing on the skills needed to enhance image
and the perpetuation of stereotypes.
Following that discussion, SLA President Scheeder held a President''s Series
discussion on branding SLA. Over the past year, the Association has conducted
a review of its branding strategy via the SLA Task Force on Branding. Earlier
this year, the Association and the Task Force hired Source, Inc. to serve as
the lead consulting group on the project. The Task Force has filed an interim
report, which is available in the Board of Directors Section of Virtual SLA.
The session itself produced a clearer perspective on the role of branding in
organizations, particularly non-profits.
The celebration continued on Wednesday at the SLA 2001 with the Annual Business Meeting and Closing General Session, featuring a farewell address by David Bender, SLA's executive director for 22 years. Dr. Bender will retire at the end of August. He was presented with a trip to Tuscany by outgoing SLA President Donna Scheeder. SLA staff presented a farewell video, followed by a cake which was served to those in attendance. The SLA presidency transferred to Hope Tillman of Babson College, who delivered an exciting inaugural address complete with her vision of the SLA of the future. The event was topped off with the hilarious wit of nationally syndicated columnist Dave Barry, who talked for almost a full hour on his observations of living in Florida, the Internet, his family, and life experiences.
The day also included more learning experiences and the wrap-up of the SLA Info-Expo. The final full day of the conference was capped with a delightful Gala Dinner, featuring the presentation of the John Cotton Dana Award to Dr. Bender for his longtime service to SLA. Judith J. Field of Wayne State University received the Rose L. Vormelker Award for her commitment to mentoring students and young information professionals. Guests were treated to a country and western band and an excellent meal. It was a perfect way to end a conference replete with celebrations.
During the SLA 2001 Annual Board of Directors meeting June 8-9, in San Antonio, several key issues were addressed by the board ranging from the appointment of the 2003 New York Conference Program Committee to the creation of an SLA Sub-Saharan Africa Chapter.
The slate of candidates for the 2002 spring elections were approved by the board. The candidates are as follows:
for President-Elect, G. Lynn Berard and Cynthia Hill; for Chapter Cabinet Chair-Elect, Davenport Robertson and Lois Weinstein; for Division Cabinet Chair-Elect, Pamela Rollo and Wei Wei; Directors, Betty Edwards, Jesus Lau, Dee Magnoni and Barbara M. Spiegelman. Information is now available on the 2001/02 Candidates for SLA Office. Complete details will also be available in the January 2002 issue of Information Outlook®.
The Research Committee's recommendation was accepted by the board to award Dr. Mark Rorvig, University of North Texas, for his project, "Exploiting Image Content Features for Image Index Term Assignment" as the 2001 Steven I. Goldspiel Memorial Research Fund Recipient.
Several routine financial issues submitted by the Finance Committee were approved as presented to the board ranging from the Annual Audit Report and Management Letter to requesting funds in the fiscal year 2002 Building Reserve Fund for capital improvements.
The Board confirmed Salt Lake City, Utah as the site of the 101st Annual Conference of the Special Libraries Association to be held June 5-10, 2010.
Committee on Committees submitted six documents requesting the board's approval for revising committee charges. The Board also approved the merger of the Government Affairs/Intellectual Property Committee into the Public Policy Committee.
Hope Tillman held the first meeting of the 2001/02 Board of Directors Thursday, June 14. The agenda included items regarding the Research Committee, funding request for the PAM Division and reports from the Board of their participation in Division. Members of the Board remarked on the meeting being the last in David Bender's career as executive director. He was offered many thanks and best wishes for a happy retirement.
The 2001/02 Board of Directors will hold their fall meeting October 19-20, 2001, at the association office in Washington, DC. For complete details on all the actions taken during the board meetings, please point your browser to http://www.sla.org/content/SLA/Structure/index.cfm.
The President's Report
by Donna Scheeder
June 13, 2001
Last year, I stood before you full of hope and expectation, looking forward to the year to come. Today I stand before you to look back on that year while keeping in mind these famous words of Oliver Wendell Holmes, "I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving: to reach the port we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against itbut we must sail and not drift or lie at anchor." I am happy to report that the association has sailed forward this year. As you may recall last year I stated that "in SLA, change is our tradition" and I promised you that we would have a very traditional year. Your Board of Directors has made good on that promise. The association has advanced the strategic priorities set in the SLA strategic plan and I would like to highlight our major accomplishments in this area. It is by no means an exhaustive list and I apologize to those who worked very hard on a number of initiatives that won't be mentioned here. However, I am yielding time to Dave Barry this year, an innovative addition to this session that I am sure you will enjoy.
The strategic priorities for SLA are:
Guarantee the Future, Promoting our Value through marketing and public relations Strategic learning and development.
As OUR VISIONARY FRAMEWORK FOR THE FUTURE STATES,"These priorities are interrelated each one influencing and enabling the success of the others. Many of the actions taken by the Board this year address more than one of these objectives.
First and foremost, SLA has taken some bold initiatives to guarantee our future. The 5 Task Forces created by then president Susan Di Mattia have been hard at work this year and have presented the Board with bold and innovative choices.
The Branding Task Force identified and SLA hired Source Inc. to guide SLA through the complex process of examining its brand identity and developing a strategy to guarantee that the association brand clearly says to the world that SLA is the leading organization in the information and knowledge industries, which is the vision of SLA. We want to convey to the world, that you, SLA's members are savvy information professionals who are critical to the success of any organization. We want our brand to declare loudly that this is an organization for the information professional, regardless of the environment they work in. Source Inc. is in the process of helping us do that. Hopefully, many of you have already attended a presentation on the progress of this effort and if you have not, I urge you to visit the marketplace and speak to some of your colleagues from the Branding Task Force who will be more than happy to discuss the Branding initiative with you.
In the area of Membership, the Board of Directors voted at this meeting to create a virtual chapter. This action will assist SLA to grow globally by providing access to the SLA network and resources at an affordable rate to those outside the United States and Canada.
The Simplification Task Force looked at SLA's governance structure and came up with a number of recommendations to streamline the association. The Board will explore those possibilities in the coming year. Finally, the conference continues to evolve and I hope that you are pleased with the efforts displayed this week.
SLA's global presence was increased dramatically this year. The Global 2000 conference held in Brighton last fall saw information professionals gather together from around the globe to discuss the professional issues of today and tomorrow. Excellent keynote speakers as well as insightful programming by SLA divisions and partner associations resulted in a stimulating event that had the feeling of a convocation where diverse viewpoints were shared and wisdom was gained. The fellows program was a resounding success and all of SLA can take pride in this achievement since so many of our divisions and chapters contributed in some way to make this happen. 23 individuals from Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe were funded to attend the meeting and were given a one year SLA membership. The Board voted in January to continue global conferencing initiatives.
SLA also took a bold initiative this year to guarantee the future of our global initiative program with the creation of the David R. Bender Fund for International Development. Last Sunday evening over 300 of us attended the President's Reception raising over $100,000 in start up-up money for this endowment.
SLA has created a discussion list for library association Presidents which it hopes to expand, and last but not least, we accepted the petition and granted provisional chapter status to the Sub-Saharan Africa Chapter.
On the education and learning front, there are 2 particularly noteworthy developments in the last year. The Board approved SLA participation in a new independent accreditation office for graduate programs in library and information studies. This office would be a joint venture of a number of library and information associations, including ALA, Medical Library Association, Association of Research Libraries, and ASIST. While there will be a cost involved for all participants, the proposal is seen as an important means to influencing graduate curricula more directly in order to insure that competencies identified in the SLA document will be taught in more library and information science programs. It speaks directly to our strategic goals.
In addition, I have appointed a committee to review and update our competencies document. JoAnne Marshall will be chairing the group which will undertake the review.
However, in some ways, the greatest change is yet to come. After 22 years of leadership, David Bender has decided to retire. I will save my thoughts on this for later in the program. However, when I stood as your new president last year and said in SLA we are ready for anything because change is our tradition, I did not expect to be personally tested so soon. You can imagine my surprise when at breakfast the next morning, I received an envelope from David with a letter expressing his intention to retire. Finding a leader to fill his shoes was a significant challenge for this Board of Directors. The process combined the expertise of the professional search firm, Russell Reynolds Associates with the knowledge of a fabulous search committee chaired by Mimi Drake and the wisdom of the Board who interviewed the finalists. I am happy to say, and we hope you will agree that our executive Director-designate, Roberta Shaffer represents the best the information profession has to offer. I know we are all looking forward to working together on new and exciting initiatives that will help SLA realize its vision of the future.
Yes, it has been a very busy and rewarding year and I owe so many people a deep debt of gratitude for their encouragement, support, advice and friendship. It has been a joy to work with this Board, especially Hope Tillman who has been a wise and valued partner. It will be easy to turn over the gavel to Hope, because based on this past year, I know she will be among the greatest presidents of SLA. To Susan DiMattia, I say on behalf of the entire association many thanks for a job well done. It was under your leadership that the Board began this strategic journey. To Wilda Newman, Sandy Moltz, Juanita Richardson and Doris Helfer, I say thanks for your leadership, commitment and dedication. Thank you to all the committee chairs. Special thanks go to the Chairs of the 5 task forces, Carol Ginsburg, Suzi Hayes, Tom Rink, Judy Field and Ethel Salonen All of you provided excellent leadership this year and I wish I had more time to talk specifically about many of the things you have done.
I can't say enough good things about David Bender, Lynn Smith and the entire staff at SLA who are truly our partners in putting knowledge to work. I am constantly amazed at the speed with which they can take our thoughts and ideas and convert them into concrete actions that further our goals. They are the embodiment of Welsh's principles of stretch, boundaryless behavior, speed of change, simplification and competitiveness and there is no doubt in my mind they will reach their goal for the 2002 program year which is to hear the words amazing, wow, and fantastic from their community of stakeholders.
Finally, there is the home team and by that I mean Lynne McCay and the staff of the INF, who made it possible for me to give SLA the time and attention it so richly deserves. The Library of Congress was extremely generous with my time and I fully realized that when my colleagues started looking at me with smiles on their faces and saying, and saying, Oh! You're here today." Their support was unwavering and I will be eternally grateful to them for it.
It has truly been one of the most wonderful years of my life and I owe it all to all of you, Board, members, staff and friends for giving me so much support. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Next came President Hope Tillman who delivered her inaugural address.
President Hope Tillman's Inaugural Address:
I feel humbled at the opportunity to serve as SLA’s president, and I want to express my gratitude to all of you for giving me this opportunity. SLA has been a very supportive family for me and given me many opportunities to learn and grow.
The President-Elect year has been rewarding and a lot of fun. – I have enjoyed working with everyone on the Board and the SLA staff and to have the opportunity to work with David at least in his outgoing year. And I want to thank Donna Scheeder for her mentoring and leadership this year. I want to thank many, many SLA members, who have been helpful to me this year and in my road to today. Thank you.
The Chapter visits are a major perk – thank the officers and members of the South Carolina, Princeton-Trenton, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Kentucky, Florida, Hudson Valley, Connecticut Valley, Eastern Canada, Boston, and Southern California Chapters for their warm hospitality. I really enjoyed my chapter visits and learned a lot more about SLA and the diversity and vitality of its members. I particularly enjoyed meeting with the student groups and faculty at Rutgers, Queens, and UCLA, and at least having the opportunity to visit and meet faculty at McGill and University of Montreal.
My personal thank yous: to Babson College for allowing me to do this. I would like to acknowledge two of my staff at Babson College who are in the audience. They are part of the group taking care of business at home when I am out traveling for SLA: Chris Kelly and Frances Nilsson. And, of course, my love and thanks to my husband Walt Howe for standing by me and providing lots and lots of support.
Significance of San Antonio for me.
When our Annual Conference was last in San Antonio, I was chair of the Networking Committee. It was before the web, in the very early days of the Internet. I remember the intense interest in a program I planned on what is the Internet? In which I had Tracy LaQuey Parker, the author of the early Internet classic Internet Companion, come to speak from U Texas Austin. The room was so crowded that we moved to an auditorium, thanks to Jim Mears’ quick help.
This interest led Sharyn Ladner, one of this year’s award winners as SLA Fellow, who had preceded me as chair of the networking Committee, to plan with me a survey of early information professional/librarian adopters of the Internet, as we made our case that librarians should be involved. It is great to be back in San Antonio and Texas.
Technology is our friend and always was
Technology has been part of librarians’ bag of tricks for a very long time. You can go back to the era of card catalogs and see how librarians first made use of typewriters and were early adopters of automation.
Technology is designed to make us more responsive and to enhance face-to-face activities. It is an enabler of two-way communication, increasing the ability to interact regularly not bounded by time and place. Technology can be used to provide customized and interactive content, bypassing the face to face if desired.
One of my favorite books this past year has been classicist James O’Donnell’s Avatars of the Word. O’Donnell wrote that, when printed books were introduced, they were looked on askance by those who were accustomed to hand-copied books. In fact, these patrons would take printed books and have them recopied by hand because they preferred reading that way. Technology is a tool and what people use is dictated by their comfort and what the tools do for them.
Technology enables change
As they have in the past, information professionals will continue to have a wide range of technology skills. Futurist Paul Saffo said, “Technology does not drive change at all. Technology merely enables change. It's our collective cultural response to the options and opportunities presented by technology that drives change. Just as it was ten years ago and has always been, it is impossible to predict how technology will be used going forward. I agree with futurist Paul Saffo on the difficulty of seeing ahead.
One of the current quotes on Paul Saffo’s web site about the turbulence in our times is, “[Today] nothing makes sense and won’t for two to three decades.” That makes it even more important for us to be flexible.
In the past several years under the leadership of Susan DiMattia and Donna Scheeder we have taken steps to transform the association to prepare it to meet our coming challenges. The five task forces charged with working on our primary strategic initiatives have worked hard. Four have completed their charge, and one --- Branding -- will continue its important work this coming year. However, nothing is complete. We must take the work of the task forces and make it part of us. We have to turn the vision into reality.
Donna spoke about growth and change last year, and that change is our tradition. I believe that everything moves in a continuum and that we build from the best of what has come before us. I see this coming Board as standing on the shoulders of all those before us. Change will continue to be the watchword for the coming year.
At the same time we need to create understanding and buy-in to new ideas before they can become real, and to do this communication is key. Benjamin Franklin said, “Would you persuade, speak of interest, not of reason.”
Communication: must be two way
We need to share information fully and openly so that what is happening is widely known and so the actions we want to take won’t take anyone by surprise. You can expect to continue to hear much about our strategic initiatives. Eliciting feedback is a technique to get past the obstacles to understanding.
I see communications as two-way. When communication takes place, there is a shared responsibility on both the communicator and receiver. Both have the responsibility of seeing that both have the same understanding. The receiver can test understanding by questioning, the communicator can test understanding by eliciting feedback.
The foundation for communication is listening. Listening can help create connected relationships and partnerships which can be translated into effective action. It is important that everyone has an opportunity to be heard. Our course of action is the result of everyone’s input. In any diverse organization there will always be some with other points of view. It is important to embrace other points of view as coming from loyal, caring members rather than the THEM in US versus THEM. We are a volunteer organization, and we are fortunate to have so many talented folks contributing their energy and passion for the association and our profession. We need to be inclusive not exclusive.
Dialog and Collaboration
Dialog can happen in face to face settings but now also on the discussion lists that are active throughout the divisions, chapters, and caucuses. David Bender has done an excellent job of promoting dialog with his regular chat sessions that have been going on for several years now. I have watched committee work happen via discussion list representing effective collaboration.
Collaboration also speaks to partnerships. Our conference in Brighton was all the more successful by our partnership with fellow information associations such as the Japan Special Library Association, etc. You see the partnerships here with member conference rates being extended to a number of our colleague professional associations with the same being extended to our members at their conferences. I feel strongly that we need to continue to build alliances with other library and information associations for the best positioning of our association and the benefit of all of us. We want to increase our share of the information professional association market, to be sure, and I believe the best way is to create services and products to attract members. Players in the information association marketplace we may see as competition or threats today may become allies as we both look at different roles viz a viz totally different competition tomorrow.
Mentoring
Mentoring is a form of personal communication, and one that has been embraced throughout SLA. There is the very visible mentoring that is acknowledged with the Diversity Leadership Development Program annual award winners and their mentors. The Library Management Division should be commended for the visible way in which they have approached mentoring as well. All the divisions and chapters are mentoring in some way, and I would hope that all of us in leadership positions see this as a role we play as well.
Let me tell you a little of my story of how I was mentored. I don’t think mine is an unusual tale at all but it got me here today. Mentoring is a way we communicate our values and goals.
As a new librarian back in the dark ages I looked for learning opportunities. The best programs in my town were those of the Princeton-Trenton Chapter of SLA, and the members of the chapter were quick to make me feel a part of the group and that I had something to offer and receive.
In fact, Chapter President Janet Williams had me room with her at my first SLA Annual Conference and took me under her wing. From there I experienced the annual conference learning and networking and kept getting more involved. What kept me involved? It was the mentoring of many members and leaders who shared and listened. I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time to be asked to serve as chair of the Networking Committee at the start of the Internet era which fit in such perfect sync for my passion of using technology for communication: I was already a techie – at that time a ham radio operator, and I did meet my husband Walt Howe on the net before it was fashionable to do so. I never expected to write a book and now have done three. How has it affected me? SLA has given me confidence and skills to keep going and made me believe more than ever in the importance in giving back – you see I have a lot I owe SLA.
Storytelling
Storytelling is a very valuable tool to use to communicate values. SLA has highlighted the importance of storytelling in a variety of media this year. There have been two articles in Information Outlook this year, one by Stephen Denning and the other by Seth Weaver Kahan -- both of the World Bank. Stephen Denning’s book The Springboard: How Storytelling Ignites Action in Knowledge Era Organizations is a book well worth reading giving a clear picture of how stories can be used to make the case for change where dry words can’t. Denning will be featured in the June 27th virtual seminar, which will be held after you have gotten home from this conference and just about caught your breath.
Communication Tools and Techniques
We have a wide variety of communications tools to communicate with one another. Let’s start with face-to-face meetings – president and president-elect chapter visits (and I don’t mean to ignore those of the executive director, staff, and other members of the board of directors). Face to face situations allow sharing, listening, and eliciting feedback. At the annual conference and winter meeting we have the leadership development institute and town meeting as ways to promote dialog. As I mentioned mentoring happens at all levels of SLA and promotes the sharing of the values and mission that is SLA.
Internet technologies have enhanced ways we can talk with one another, but have not supplanted the need for face to face and voice. The Chat Sessions enable listening but have a directness in that they require each participant to make an effort to make his or her concerns known.
Other virtual techniques include the SLA-Communicate, the one way broadcast publication that sends great stuff to us periodically! The improvements of the SLA web site this year have been very noticeable. I hope you all have enjoyed these as I have.
There are so many SLA discussion lists today from those of the units – chapters, divisions, caucuses, committees, SLA-Leadership which is directed at all the officers of the various units, and others as needed.
Information Outlook is our primary published vehicle and now has a virtual life as well.
Communication is Everyone’s Job
Communication is key. Email – use discussion lists or your own address book depending on the group you wish to reach. Everyone has a different threshold for SPAM – or messages they are not expecting, and it is important to respect that. Communicate in multiple modes to reach everyone. Each of us have a preferred mode of receiving information and may tune out to other methods.
Repeating and repackaging will get the message across:
Consider the old adage: you need to repeat something seven times in a presentation before 80% of an adult audience “hears” the information.
Looking Forward
This year as we continue our path of change, I see my role as conduit and listener as well as spokesperson. This year will be a year of beginnings as well as continuations, and one FAREWELL. I am glad I have a few months to work with David Bender before he retires. I look forward to working with Roberta Schaffer our new Executive Director-Designate. I am in the enviable situation of having the opportunity to work with both of them and embracing both of their strengths.
I look forward to working with the new Board of Directors
I look forward to working with the results of the four task forces which have completed their assignments and to work to enable the fifth of our task forces to complete its charge in the coming year.
As change remains a constant, we need to update our environmental scan which led to our current strategic initiatives. We need to continue to make sure we are on the right track.
We will need to stay flexible.
Annual Conferences
The Annual Conference is a major event in my year. This year I am truly impressed with the results of Denise Chockrek and her committee and the division planners, SLA staff, and everyone else who has played a part in this excellent conference.
And I look forward to next June in Los Angeles. The Southern California Chapter is already hard at work on local arrangements and the Conference Committee under the able leadership of Bill Fisher has brought us along to this point working with Division planners and SLA staff. Ethel Salonen is taking the helm as Conference Chair, as Bill has other responsibilities now as President-Elect. The LA Conference will be an exciting event as we continue to look at ways to make our conference more effective.
Thank you.
SLA at the Crossroads
Annual State of the Association Address
David R. Bender, Ph.D.
June 13, 2001
Good morning. Before I share with you my thoughts on the state of our Association, I'd like to offer thanks to a few people who have been key to our successes over the last year. First, to Denise and all the 92nd Annual Conference Planning Committee: you've done excellent work making this week a reality. Thank you all for your diligence and vision. We are proud to report that our total conference attendance this year was 5,217. As reported earlier this week, our total number exhibitors was officially 345 companies in 480 booths. Another very successful SLA Annual Conference is now almost complete.
I would also like to thank you, Donna Scheeder, for your willingness to put up with me over the past year and for your efforts to manage what has become a very smooth transition to new staff leadership. But more importantly, I thank you for your patience, your kindness, and your friendship. Serving with you during my final year as executive director has truly been a pleasure. Thank you for all you've done for the profession and for the Association.
I will spare all of you the many other thanks that I could give at this point. Rather, I'd like to share a couple of thoughts on the state of our Association.
It seems not that long ago that I was standing before many of you and others like you, a brand-new association executive with a burning desire to lead an international organization. And the words I spoke in my first annual membership address back in 1980 still seem relevant today. For example:
"We are faced with a decade of crisis management, within the Association and within our libraries. We are continuing to learn that our resources are not limitless. Therefore, priorities must be set concerning the amount of and the consequences for distributing the resources to perform activities."
I also remember a time, some ten years ago, when we were in this very city for our eleventh meeting together. And my words then are even more germane today:
"Complexity is a powerful force driving the year's events. So what lessons can we learn? External challenges often lead us to some introspection about ourselves. It is an uncertain time... a time when we can choose to be assertive or passive, dynamic or hesitant. A time when, as my relatives back in Ohio would say, it is necessary to either fish or cut bait. I say, let's go fishing!"
Time truly is not a linear concept. It is more like a spiral, as the forces of the past continue to shape the present, and the future. The challenges and opportunities we currently face are not unfamiliar, if you take the time to acquaint yourselves with our history. You'll see that many before you have already faced these challenges and, for the most part, succeeded. Today, SLA stands at a crossroads, not merely because of the pending changes in staff leadership and management. I am extremely confident that Roberta Shaffer, as your executive director, will make all of us proud in the coming years.
The crossroads is also not simply a point in time where we are faced with making some critical strategic decisions, although the decisions we face will have a lasting impact on the future of this Association. Making some of these choices will be very difficult, and their results are likely to make some of us uncomfortable. But the recommendations to be proposed by the five SLA Task Forces will bring SLA forward as a leaner, meaner, and more effective Association.
In truth, the crossroads at which we now stand is a convergence of various forces: generational shifts, technology, the global economy, the social climate within our profession, and the status quo - for better or worse. To permit "analysis paralysis" accomplishes nothing. Our gut instincts for survival and success are an important part of the continuing effort to lead the Association forward.
At a recent Information Futurists Institute meeting, I presented a paper on the future of information associations. Clearly, SLA was at the center of my thoughts, but I believe my points in that paper reflect the needs in all associations.
In that paper, I laid out four points for re-establishing the role of the information association:
1. Returning to the concept of community building. Networking is the single most important benefit of membership in SLA. While the Internet and related communications technologies can support our community building efforts . they cannot supplant the power of face-to-face interaction among colleagues facing truly common challenges.
The management principles and practices of the Industrial Age are giving way to the new philosophies of The Knowledge Age. This shift is re-arranging priorities in the workplace, as new skills and capabilities are re-defining the role of all employees in today's organizations. No longer are products, services, or tangible assets seen as the greatest sources of value. People are now the most important resource available. Every individual's ability to manage knowledge and to embrace change contributes to the organization's overall greatness.
In our changed circumstances, it is imperative for information professionals to connect with each other through the communities of practice found across the profession. And it is our commitment to investing in the extraordinary human capital found within our membership that makes SLA so special and able to meet the demands of change over time.
2. Making innovation a priority. Even though innovation is critical to our long-term success, it is not often seen in the work of information associations. Frequently, new services that are viewed as innovative are simply borrowed ideas. This is not true innovation. Rather, innovation comes from imagination, creativity, flexibility, a sense of urgency and a willingness to fail fast in order to succeed quickly.
3. Creating authentic learning opportunities. Learning is yet another area in which we have the opportunity to become indispensable to information professionals from around our community. The variety of education and training programs available from a number of providers should continue to serve the profession well. Learning, however, is distinctive because it emphasizes the need to change the way information professionals think. more often than not, adults require "un-learning" of long-held beliefs and practices, and the exploration of new ideas and ideals that can advance their roles in their organizations, communities and society. I believe this core value should be a part of SLA's mission.
4. Implementing financial models that allow for wise assessments of revenue streams. We must also review our financial modeling, to ensure that our existing revenue streams are sustainable for the right reasons. Although we are a non-profit organization, SLA offers a wide variety of products, services and experiences that generate revenue. In addition,, SLA's Fund Development Program, the Finance Committee's Financial Long-Range Plan and the staff's Annual Program Plan are examples of our on-going push to bolster the Association's long-term fiscal health. But only through continued careful analysis, effective business planning and prudent management can we achieve the ambitious agenda that I have laid out this morning.
I consider these four points to be SLA's "horizon objectives." In the ebb and flow of organizational life, we may sometimes place greater emphasis on one or two rather than all of these objectives. Still, all of them should be integral aspects of the journey that SLA is yet to take in order to better serve our global community. Take note: we cannot be good at everything, but we must be great at whatever it is we aim to do. And we must change, in order to pass through our crossroads. As management thought leader Tom Peters says, we must be distinct, or we will become extinct!
In closing my first address to the membership, I asked that the all those present to please rise for there are a number of individuals I would like to thank for their guidance and help. The audience had been broken into 9 categories, today I have 12. As your category is named, please be seated.
1-All Past-President
2-Past Boards of Directors
3-President Donna Scheeder
4-Current Board of Directors
5-Volunteer Leaders
6-Lynn Smith and Stephanie Russell
7-Staff
8-Partners, exhibitors, vendors, sponsors
9-Information Community Press
10-Roberta Shaffer
11-Each of you the members who are SLA
12-My family: Lori and her husband Kevin; Scott and his wife Debbie; Robert and his wife Heather; and my partner, Philip
Thank you all for being here this week at our 92nd Annual Conference, and for your continued commitment to making SLA the best that it can be.
Remarks for the Retirement of David R. Bender, Ph.D.
by Robert Bender, on behalf of the Bender Family
June 13, 2001
I want to begin by saying thank you for the opportunity to publicly congratulate our father for his tremendous accomplishments with SLA. I am speaking tonight on behalf of our family including my loving wife Heather and daughter Jane, my brother Scott and his wife Debbie, my sister Lori and her husband Kevin, and my father's partner Phil who are all here tonight, and my mother Harriet in Baltimore and my father's sister and father in Ohio, as well as my father's two grandsons - Jake and Evan.
When I was asked to make some short remarks tonight about our father and SLA, many thoughts ran through my mind. First, it is hard to believe that it has been 22 years since he started with SLA at the annual conference in Hawaii. I remember that same week, upon his immediate return home, he drove 2 hours to meet me at my first Boy Scout camping trip. Quite an eventful week: a new job, needing to move to a new city, and sleeping in a tent. Through it all he has never lost sight of the things that are really important in life: family, friends, and the commitment to leaving this world a better place.
Second, I know what SLA has meant to our father. It has been more than a job. It has been his passion. With his guidance and leadership, and a supportive staff and board, he has taken SLA from a small association in New York City to an international association based in our nation's capital. Selfishly, that move allowed our family to be much closer together in many ways, having grown up in Baltimore.
Third, I thought about how we were asked as children, "What does your father do for a living?" We would respond, "Something with libraries, but he's not actually a librarian." Not that there is anything wrong with being a librarian. I still don't think we fully understand the complexities of what he does, but I assume you do or you would not be here tonight.
Lastly, I thought about my father's high school guidance counselor in rural Ohio who said he would not make it through his first year of college. Well, he made it through his first year and his second year, and all the way to earning bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees, as well as being recognized as an international executive. Our father has inspired us to accept and face challenges in our life and work, and to rise above them. His caring and nurturing side helped inspire my sister to pursue a career in nursing. His love for cooking motivated my brother to choose a career in the culinary arts. And his thirst for knowledge and excellence has helped guide me in my career in the resort industry.
To Roberta, our family wishes you
all the success and happiness that SLA has brought to
our father and family. To all the current and past
board and staff members we say thank you. And most
importantly, we say thank you to all of the members.
It is with great pride and love that we say congratulations, we love you, and we are
so glad that we could be here for this special
occasion. 
SLA Chapter, Division and Caucus Reports
The following Chapter, Division and Caucus Reports have been submitted to Information Outlook, and are available on the Web. www.informationoutlook.com
CHAPTER
by Ava Goldman
DIVISIONS
Biomedical & Life Science (DBIO)
by Virginia A. Lingle
by Brent Mai
by Fred McLean
by Marilyn Redmond
Environment & Resource Management (DERM)
by Mala Sistla
by Dee Magnoni
Insurance & Employee Benefits (DIEB)
by Brenda Stenger
by Katherine Bertolucci
by Sharon Lenius
by Jody Habayeb
Physics-Astronomy-Mathematics (DPAM)
by Jane Holmquist
CAUCUS
Association Information Services (KAIS)
by Susan Fournier
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