In this issue:
Important Leadership Dates
A Message from the Executive Director
Leadership Activites at Annual Conference
Chapter Presidental Visits
SLA 2005-06 Officer Forms
Nominations for the SLA Student Academic Relations Committee (SARC) Certificate of Merit Award
CHAPTER FOCUS - Washington DC Chapter E-Voting Case Study
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May 1, 2005 |
Chapter/Division/Caucus Annual Reports Due(Attention: Presidents/Chairs/Conveners) |
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May 1, 2005 |
Deposits due for Chapter/Division events at Annual Conference |
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May 1, 2005 |
Year End Financial Statements Due |
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May 6, 2005 |
SARC Merit Awards Due |
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June 5-8, 2005 |
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June 5, 2005 |
Leadership Development Institute |
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June 7, 2005 |
Chapter and Division Cabinet Meeting |
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June 30, 2005 |
2005-2006 Officer Forms Due (Attention:Presidents-Elect, Chairs-Elect and Conveners) |
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June 30, 2005 |
Mid Year Financial Statements Due |
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June 30, 2005 |
Chapter President Visit Requests Due |
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August 1, 2005 |
Endowment Fund Grants Due |
A Message from the Executive Director
Are You Today?s E-Leader?
We send and receive e-mails each day, SLA has e-bulletins, Information Outlook is available as an e-zine and we?ll be considering a bylaws change in Toronto to allow for e-voting. Placed before familiar terms, ?e-?can catch attention, create a buzz and signal a next-generation idea. As I considered this column, I pondered the attributes of being an e-leader. Today?s environment presents new challenges for leaders What qualities of an e-leader are the same, what has changed fundamentally and what has changed by degrees?
The one thing that has not changed in today?s environment is the role of people. Technology can make our lives easier and more productive but it is people who solve problems and identify opportunities. Leadership is about choosing the right people and helping them succeed in creating positive change. Leaders have to recognize, attract and retain other leaders so they can be successful themselves.
There are a number of timeless reasons why people are such an important aspect of leadership:
People still have variable abilities to cause and adapt to change. Leaders help break new ground, develop the best members on a team and smooth the path for the others to come along.
People still must believe that what they are doing makes a difference. Leaders help to articulate and communicate not only where your chapter, division, committee, or your company, is going but how to get there and what the results will mean.
People still must feel camaraderie and a sense of collective identity as they pursue an adventure. Leaders are the ones who help to catalyze that shared feeling, image and set of values.
People respond in complicated ways to the ups and downs of any journey. Leaders are there when needed to help them move constructively.
Leaders have always had to boost spirits, explain difficulties, celebrate accomplishments and capture imaginations. You can be an a-leader, b-leader, c, d or e-leader, but I hope as you, especially our ?-elects? about to take on your top leadership positions in SLA, will first be leader of people.
---- Janice R. Lachance, Executive Director
Leadership Activities at Annual Conference
Are you planning to arrive early in Toronto? If so, plan to attend the SLA Board of Directors meetings Friday and Saturday morning so you can see your association governance in action. All leaders should plan to attend the Leadership Development Institute on Sunday, June 5, 9 a.m. - noon. Come prepared to learn and bring any questions you have. Leaders should also the plan to attend the Tuesday cabinet meetings, which will be followed by a leadership reception hosted in your honor.
Chapter Presidental Visits
Would you like the SLA president or president-elect to visit your chapter? Send an invitation by completing the request form. The large number of chapters makes it necessary to consider time, distance and SLA budgetary limitations. The number of visits shall not exceed eight per officer per year. For more information, see visit the SLA Chapter Visit Request form. Please return to Chapter Cabinet Chair-Elect Patricia Cia by June 30, 2005.
In order to facilitate communication with chapter and division officers, we need to update our database and Web site with the newly elected 2005-2006 officers and committee chairs.
Nominations are now being accepted for the SLA Student Academic Relations Committee (SARC) Certificate of Merit Awards. Each year, SARC seeks to recognize the active development and participation of student members through their involvement in student group activities. In addition, SARC seeks to acknowledge the contributions of SLA chapters and divisions in support and participation of student group nurturing and development. If you have any questions or comments about Leadership Connections, we would like your feedback. Please share your comments with leadership@sla.org
SLA 2005-06 Officer Forms
Presidents-elect and chairs-elect are responsible for completing the attached. Complete the form listing the appropriate member name for each office and forward the form to Sam Felder (sfelder@sla.org), by June 30.
NOTE: In the interest of simplification, units may choose to fill only selected positions. The only required positions to be filled are those outlined in your governing document.
SLA's Leadership Department collects this information primarily for communicating with the leaders common in most units. Expanding the title listing would increase the officer codes to 188 with the vast majority of the additional codes having only one position with that particular title, e.g., webmaster would expand to Web manager, Web administrator, Web editor, Web development chair, Web page committee member, Web communications team member, technology, Web, Internet, Internet committee chair, Web site administrator, Web mistress. Please continue to use the unique leadership titles within your unit in publications and your Web site.
Caucus conveners: please advise Leadership Associate Sam Felder (sfelder@sla.org) if there are any changes in convener, discussion list owner, or webmaster. Otherwise, we will assume no change.
Chapter Officer Form
Division Officer Form
Nominations for the SLA Student Academic Relations Committee (SARC) Certificate of Merit Award
Any SLA unit or student group adviser, officer, or member may nominate a student group or chapter and division for a SARC Certificate of Merit.
The committee will determine the winners based on application guidelines and criteria. Merit Award winners will be announced in May, and officially recognized at the 2005 Annual Conference in Toronto.
The deadline for nominations is May 6, 2005.
For additional information on the SARC Merit Awards, please contact Todd Hebenton at 1-703-647-4936 or via email at thebenton@sla.org
the request form. The large number of chapters makes it necessary to consider time, distance and SLA budgetary limitations. The number of visits shall not exceed eight per officer per year. For more information, see visit the SLA Chapter Visit Request form. Please return to Chapter Cabinet Chair-Elect Patricia Cia by June 30, 2005.
CHAPTER FOCUS - Washington DC Chapter E-Voting Case Study
Using Survey Monkey for a Digital Chapter Election
Ellie Briscoe, National Geographic Society Library
April 15, 2005
In the spring of 2005, the Washington DC Chapter of SLA used Survey Monkey to run its annual election of officers. In brief, we nearly doubled the previous voter turnout from about 20% to about 40% of the membership. We reduced the expense and made vote counting much easier. Members could choose to vote digitally or request a paper ballot; 380 voted digitally, and only 9 used paper. There were some problems, but on the whole, it was very successful.
Background: In previous elections, a ballot was mailed to each member as part of the chapter newsletter, Chapter Notes, along with candidates? biographical information. Currently, all chapter members receive only one print mailing, a one-page paper chapter events calendar sent monthly to about 1,100 chapter members. Chapter Notes is now published primarily as a digital file posted on the chapter Web site, and members who subscribe to the chapter discussion list are notified of its posting through an e-mail. About 120 paper copies are mailed to those who do not have or choose not to receive e-mail.
This year, the following process was used:
As usual, the Nominations Committee recruited candidates. Biographical information about each candidate was posted on the Web site. The ballot information was supplied to the Election Committee chair, who created the ballot.
Paper ballots were enclosed in the paper copy of Chapter Notes but not included in the posted digital version. The paper ballot included the URL for candidate information, and a warning that the chapter requires members to put their name and address on the envelope in which the ballot is returned, so that each vote can be confirmed as coming from a valid voter.
The digital ballot was set up as a survey. The election chair subscribed to the professional level of Survey Monkey for two months, at a cost of about $40. The survey included a link to candidate information on the chapter Web site and an opportunity to write a comment after voting.
SLA headquarters, upon request, sent an Excel spreadsheet with chapter members? names, addresses, preferred e-mail address, and unique identifying membership number. This replaced the usual request for mailing labels. The names, e-mail addresses, and membership numbers for the 815 members with email addresses were uploaded to Survey Monkey. That list was used to generate ?invitations,? which included a link to the survey. By using invitations, the respondents/voters? personal information was linked to their votes, making it possible to verify that a given vote was valid.
The election was open for nearly a month. Nearly 200 votes were received the first day that invitations were sent. We used Survey Monkey to send reminders with the embedded survey link two weeks after the start, four days before the end, and on the day voting closed, only to those who had not yet responded. We also sent reminders to the chapter discussion list. We included a ?remember to vote? message in the paper calendar. All reminders carried contact information for the election chair, so those who had not received a ballot could request one in either format.
Results:
In this election, 381 digital and nine paper ballots were received. One paper ballot was invalid, as it was received after voting was closed. One digital ballot was invalid, as one member voted twice; we kept the more complete, later ballot. In the 2004 paper-based election, the Chapter received 224 ballots, of which only 201 were valid?23 were lacking member addresses.
Counting the Survey Monkey ballots took about 20 seconds. Counting the paper ballots took about a minute. Names of those who voted in either format were checked off on the master list from SLA to confirm voting status and to be sure that no one voted more than once. Survey Monkey deposits a ?cookie? to reduce double voting, but this was more reliable.
There were 77 user comments, almost universally positive, describing the process as quick, efficient, convenient, cool, simple, easy, painless, cheap (no stamp required), and ?it avoids killing trees.? The word most commonly used was ?great.? Several of the later comments said the reminder e-mails were appreciated. One respondent said mail ballots would be preferable; one said the ballot required a change in cookie settings.
Troubleshooting:
Survey Monkey did not deliver bounced e-mails to the Election Chair, so we do not know how many ballot invitations were undelivered. We do know that none was delivered to AOL addresses, or the Library of Congress and that at least half a dozen members had incorrect e-mail addresses on file at SLA. About 20 members contacted the election chair to request either a paper ballot or a digital one, presumably because of announcements about the ballot on the Chapter discussion list, and the chair devised a workaround for those members.
? In the invitation to the election, make it clear we are using Survey Monkey for the SLA D.C. Chapter election, and that the invitation is not a phishing email.
? Include a place for write-in candidates, if the bylaws permit and the Board is willing.
? Do more advance publicity so members will watch for the ballot, and if possible to set up their e-mail system to allow e-mail from Survey Monkey. We sent only one notice, with no specifics, the week before the election.
Publicity should start a month in advance, alerting members to be sure their e-mail address on file at SLA is correct.
? Several members said they did not vote because they ?didn?t know the candidates.? That had nothing to do with the format. The biographical material was very dry, with no paragraph about why the candidates wanted the job; there should be something more personal, and perhaps a photograph.
We must assume that members who do not have e-mail receive Chapter Notes on paper and thus received a paper ballot.
To address the concern that not all members received the digital ballot even though they may have had e-mail, we ran a ?test? election immediately after the real election. This worked just like the real election, but in addition to the Survey Monkey invitation, we also sent a survey link in an open email to the chapter discussion list to see if there were many members who receive e-mail that way but who did not receive the invitation from Survey Monkey. One member complained that the test election e-mail added to her already overwhelming workload; the rest were positive about the electronic election process.
Using the open link would require members to fill in fields with their name and address so that votes could be verified, and the election chair would need to confirm each name and address. It would be considerably more time-consuming, off-putting for those who do not want to enter this information, and probably not worth the extra effort. Of the 88 members who participated in the test poll who said they had NOT voted digitally in the real election, only 28 said it was because they did not receive a digital ballot. Another 50 said they meant to vote but didn?t get a chance. Incidentally, Jane Eyre won out over Anna Karenina for president in our test election, and Bilbo Baggins won vice president running against Harry Potter. Write-in votes were received for Scrooge McDuck and the Scarlet Pimpernel, and Sam Gamgee was suggested for treasurer.
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