An Update From the Knowledge Exchange
by John Latham
Unit Surveys
The Knowledge Exchange has completed a project listing membership surveys and assessments carried out by SLA chapters, divisions and caucuses (SLA Units). The goal was to provide a benchmarking tool for members who want to carry out their own survey and also provide a resource to showcase what types of surveys were being done by the units, the responses to these surveys and how the units were using these surveys to develop programs and services for their members.
We found that over the last five years 50-plus units had completed surveys the results of 15 are available on the respective unit's Web site. They include staffing surveys, needs assessments, salary surveys, automation surveys and membership profile surveys. Questions asked include how members spend their day, what type of annual conference presentation they prefer, what types of meetings their units hold, what type of library they work in and how they feel about the value of their library.
Methods of surveying included Web-based and e-mail surveys, mail-in or fax surveys, telephone surveys and focus groups. Another 41 units reported some type of survey had been completed, but the results are not available online. However, the summary can be found on Virtual SLA at www.sla.org/content/leadership/unitsurveys.cfm.
Applications of survey results included providing ideas for programs and workshops, the development of strategic plans, membership recruitment and retention and providing members with benchmarking and general information on the latest trends in librarianship.
In addition to making this information available to members, Knowledge Exchange staff and a small task force of directors will also be using it for a project initiated by the SLA board of directors to identify members and non-member needs (whether met or unmet) and determine how best to tailor SLA's services to meet these needs. We felt the best approach would be to build on all the hard work already performed by the unitsand not reinvent the wheel. The goal is to prepare a report to be submitted to the board in October.
If we have missed any surveys that are available online, please let us know at kex@sla.org.
Disaster Planning Portal
The Knowledge Exchange has completed the new Disaster Planning Portal (http://www.sla.org/disasterplanning), which is dedicated to the librarians who were killed or injured on September 11, 2001. This portal is designed as an ongoing resource to prepare librarians for future natural or unnatural disasters.
The portal includes the citations of journal articles, books and videos and links to full-text articles and Web sites on disaster planning for floods, earthquakes, tornados, bioterrorism and loss of computer systems. Several articles deal with the September 11th tragedy and how libraries are recovering.
The portal also stresses the importance of having a disaster plan and demonstrates how to get your library up-and-running after a disaster. If anyone knows of other resources to add to this portal or wishes to share experiences, please let us know at kex@sla.org.
Changing Roles of Content Deployment Functions
Outsell, Inc., has recently published the results of the survey sent earlier in the year to SLA members and members of other similar organizations. In 2001, the executive summary of the survey, "The Changing Role of the Information Professional," was made available to SLA members under Recent Industry Reports in SLA's InfoStore at www.sla.org/infostore. In 2002, the survey population was widened to broaden the scope across geographies and functions. The 2002 survey looks at the functions of the major buying and influencing units of the following professionals: Corporate Information; Academic Information; Government Information; Market Intelligence/Business Intelligence/Competitive Intelligence; Corporate Training; and Knowledge Management. An overall summary under the title, "The Changing Roles of Content Deployment Functions," was published in June and can be found in SLA's InfoStore as referred to above. Executive summaries of results of the six different functions above are being published separately throughout the summer and will be made available to SLA members in SLA's InfoStore.
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