Acknowledge and Celebrate!
 | It's always time for your voice to be heard. You have an important role to play in sharing information about what you are doing and about acknowledging and celebrating successes.
Look around you and see whom you should nominate for a chapter/division or association-wide award. Or consider what you have been doing, and nominate yourself. SLA has an annual awards and honors program, and the deadline for most association-level awards is December 7, 2001. Are you familiar with the awards SLA gives annually and the qualifications for each? See the forms and brochure on the SLA web site. The Hall of Fame Award recognizes a member who is at or near the end of an active professional career for distinguished service to the association.
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But awards are not just for those nearing retirement. The Fellow of the Special Libraries Association award is bestowed to an individual member in recognition of leadership and outstanding contributions, as well as expected future service to the association. There is a wide range of awardsfrom the Innovations in Technology Award, given to a member for innovative use and application of technology, to the Media Award, given to an individual journalist who published an outstanding feature on the profession, to the Rose L. Vormelker Award, given to an individual member recognized for mentoring students or practicing professionals, to a number of others. Don't limit your nominations to association awards. Chapters and divisions have strong recognition programs as well. Feel free to suggest additional areas for recognition if you do not see one that you think should be there. What we acknowledge in our awards program demonstrates our values. Make sure your values are reflected by participating.
This is also a good time to recommend your choices for future leaders to the nominating committee.
It is an exciting time to be an information professional. We are an association of very talented members who have a lot to offer. The value of our members' skill base and knowledge base is impressive. As an information professional, you are often in a position where you have the answers before anyone else around you. Don't hide under a bushel; speak up! Make sure you are heard and acknowledged.
Think of our future and what we need to reward to make sure it expands. Are we recognizing all the right things by our awards and honors program, or are we overlooking key contributions? Don't use traditional awards as our model, but think of what we should be rewarding and are missing now, as our world changes.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Hope N. Tillman, SLA President
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