Managing volunteers may be the biggest challenge you will face this year; it means directing the activities of people who are freely offering to perform a service. The great baseball managers make their teams successful by pulling together the specialized talents of others into a smoothly functional unit. Players are diverse individuals, highly motivated and talented. Most work hard, want to excel, care deeply about what they do, and appreciate the opportunity to contribute.

Our boards and committee members are the players on SLA?s team. We're all working toward the same goal: keeping the association strong, vibrant, and relevant--a contender. By knowing the strengths and weaknesses of the individuals we can manage the group as a cohesive team. This one needs an e-mail to both home and office, this one needs a fax. That person needs a lot of detail to see the big picture. This one only wants summaries and to be called on when a decision is at hand.

Sometimes volunteers believe they can do more and take it hard when they're not asked. But when people aren't timely or responsive, the work must continue without them. No one likes to be benched, but it's up to the manager to make sure that eight 100-percenters aren't dragged down by a ninth person who's not at peak performance in a particular situation or on a given day.

I invite you to have a fun year, train your volunteers (remember the Leadership Training Center on the web site), share enthusiasm to get the job done and under budget?and still have people ready to take on new tasks.

Let's play ball.

--Janice R. Lachance, Executive Director

Shape the Future of Your Profession:  A Message from the SLA President
Presidents of SLA often ask members to become involved in ad hoc investigations into subject matter and topics that are highly relevant to the profession and its needs. Typically, these task forces are created to address the strategic implications of challenges and opportunities facing SLA, its members, and the information profession at large.

In June 2005, SLA President Pam Rollo called for the continuation of two existing task forces that were created by Ethel Salonen, SLA Past President. Additionally, Rollo called for the formation of six new task forces designed to address a range of needs, challenges and opportunities.

Why are we forming these task forces?

• Explore creation of selected research projects to promote the value of the profession and to provide members with useful data
• Develop new avenues for career growth
• Identify new partners that can drive new value for SLA
• Analyze the chapter experience and options for enhancement
• Evaluate the best methods for recognizing the best of the profession
• To improve recruitment efforts to the profession and to SLA

Are you interested in participating?

Review the task force descriptions. If you are interested in serving, please contact Pam Rollo by phone (1.212.592.7220) or email (prollo@nypl.org).

New Leaders...Welcome!
Each month you will receive Leadership Connections via the Leadership discussion list. For easy reference, it is also posted to the SLA Web site. It is filled with information on Association happenings, helpful hints on how to lead your unit, and important deadlines and forms. Feel free to forward the entire e-newsletter or select portions of it to your other elected/appointed leaders. For more information or to make suggestions for articles for inclusion in Leadership Connections, contact Linda N. Broussard, Associate Executive Director, Leadership and Membership at +1.703.647.4938 or lbroussard@sla.org. Past editions are also posted to the web for your convenience.

Leadership Communications
Discussion List
New leaders have been automatically subscribed to the Leadership discussion list. This list, comprised of the Chapter and Division Cabinets, caucus conveners, SLA committee chairs and the SLA Board of Directors and candidates, also includes the immediate past presidents and chairs. Please use it to maximize your interaction, learning, and discussion about issues important to you as an SLA leader.

We have used your e-mail address as recorded in the SLA database. You may wish to receive your discussion list communications at another e-mail address. You may change your e-mail address as follows.

To access our lists via the web interface, you may either go directly to lists.sla.org or follow from the SLA home page via the Virtual Community bar. Enter your email address and I suggest you leave password blank. The next page shows you the SLA-hosted discussion lists to which you are subscribed. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click "Change Your Settings.? This page shows all SLA-hosted discussion lists and unless you want to subscribe to an additional list, go to the bottom, put in your new e-mail address and click "Update Settings Now.?

If you have questions or need assistance, contact Leadership Associate Sam Felder at sfelder@sla.org.

Other key leaders in your unit also have their own discussion lists and are being automatically subscribed in the next few weeks.

Communities of Practice
All Presidents and Presidents-Elect have been subscribed to the Chapter Cabinet Community of Practice and all Division Chairs and Chairs-Elect have been subscribed to the Division Cabinet Community of Practice. These are private lists for cabinet-level discussions. It is important that you visit the community and change your notifications so that you will receive an e-mail message in your regular e-mail that there has been a posting.

Resources for Leaders
The SLA website is a wealth of information for the new officer. Take a moment now to bookmark the Leadership section of the SLA website. The path to the Unit Leadership Section from the homepage (www.sla.org) is: Resources; Leadership Center; Leadership Resources. What are key planning and action dates? Take a look at the Chapter and Division Recommended Practices. The Leadership Training Center is a web-based orientation for the other key officers in your unit. You can also order mailing labels, rosters, emails via the web by visiting the SLA website .

While many of you are planning to survey your members at some point during the year, traditional techniques (paper or telephone) are too time consuming, costly, and difficult to analyze. The Association?s Leadership Department offers an online survey tool to make your job easier and at no cost to you. We?ve set up an account for you to use an online survey tool at www.SurveyMonkey.com. Your sign-in e-mail is: leadership@sla.org; and password: slaunits. If you have any questions, concerning Surveymonkey, please contact Leadership Services Specialist Sam Felder (+1.703.647.4937 or sfelder@sla.org).

2006 Call for Courses
The 2006 Call for Courses is your invitation to contribute to the information profession. By presenting a CE Session at SLA 2006 Annual Conference in Baltimore, MD USA, you have the opportunity to share knowledge and experience with those new and experience to the profession! The deadline for proposals is August 26, 2005. Additional Information

Mark Your Calendar for the January Leadership Summit
When SLA?s leaders gather in January, it?s more than a meeting; it's a Leadership Summit. Chapter and Division Cabinets, Committees, the Board of Directors and many Division Boards will come together in Houston, Texas, USA, for the SLA Leadership Summit. A special task force has convened to redesign this leadership experience. Watch for more details to be released very soon. Encourage other leaders or aspiring leader to attend; it will be a truly valuable experience. So mark your calendar for January 18-21, 2006, and plan to be there.

SLA Weblog Memorializes Frank Spaulding
SLA has created a weblog to honor the memory of former President Frank H. Spaulding, died July 24, in Fort Myers, Florida. He was 73. Friends and colleagues are invited to post remembrances of his life, tributes, and personal stories.

After the blog has been open for a few weeks, SLA staff will compile the posts into a remembrance for Mr. Spaulding's family.

The blog, Remembering Frank Spaulding, is at www.sla.org/spaulding. To post, scroll past the first entry to the ?Comments? link. Click that link and a comment window will open.

You may e-mail photographs to jadams@sla.org, and they will be posted promptly. Include your full name for credit. We also can scan in hard-copy photographic prints. Send them to: Information Outlook, c/o Remembering Frank Spaulding, SLA, 331 S. Patrick St., Alexandria, VA 22314-3501. If you wish to have the prints returned, please include an address.

We hope you will:

• Include information about the blog in any appropriate communications with members.
•   Post information about the blog on discussion lists to which you subscribe, inviting others to visit it and add their comments.

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