If I Only Had a Heart

For those of you who haven’t heard about the coming upheaval in our chapter, this post’s for you. There are several challenges facing our chapter in the coming year:

1. Elimination of the minimum allotment from SLA headquarters. The new procedure for calculating the allotment is based on a proration of the dues paid by our chapter members. The various tiers of dues determine the graduated percentages paid to our local chapter which translates into a loss of almost half of our allotment.
2. Local recession conditions with the concurrent layoffs, unemployment, and library closings.
3. Reduced budgets for professional memberships and professional development activities and travel experienced by many local employers.
4. Lastly, new member recruitment is negatively overshadowed by our chapter name that doesn’t accurately represent our geographic membership.

Did you know that the HOA Chapter started in 1948 with Kansas, Missouri & Oklahoma? In 1956, the Oklahoma Chapter was formed and took 17 active members from our chapter. On our silver anniversary, the Mid-Missouri Chapter was formed taking some of our members as well. Although the Mid-Missouri Chapter no longer exists, there is another chapter in Missouri called the St. Louis Metro Area Chapter which has about 100 active members from 3 states: Missouri, Illinois, and New Jersey.

When new recruits select a chapter, they typically look for the chapter that is geographically closest to him/her. A recent recruit in Kansas actually selected Oklahoma for the simple reason that our name is obscure. Consider this question: how many of you would know what area is covered by the following chapters based solely on the names: Rio Grande, Mid-South, or Rocky Mountain Chapters? Out of the 55 SLA chapters, ours is not the only one with an ambiguous name.

Our chapter’s geographic boundaries include the whole state of Kansas and select counties in Western Missouri. Out of approximately 70 active members, 13 are located outside the greater Kansas City area. This represents 20% of our membership, who are mostly located in Kansas.

This year is our opportunity to accomplish the following:

1. Ensure the future viability of our chapter,
2. Reduce recruitment mishaps where a new member is recruited by our chapter but accidentally chooses a neighboring chapter,
3. Enhance the evolving legacy that we’ll leave to future special librarians in Kansas & Western Missouri.

A survey was sent out in August to the HOA listserve and drew 39 participants which is a 56% response rate. Ironically, the results indicated that 56% of the respondents preferred the name Kansas/Western Missouri Chapter. Suggestions received from the survey that were eliminated from consideration were:

“Kansas & Kansas City Metro Area” (excludes Western Missouri counties)

“MO/KAN” (encroaches on St. Louis Metro Area Chapter which includes Eastern Missouri)

“Heart of America (KS/MO)” encroaches on St. Louis Metro Area Chapter which includes Eastern Missouri)

The Executive Board agrees with the preferences of the majority of our members. We considered names of other successful chapters in similar situations such as Louisiana/Southern Mississippi and Florida/Caribbean Chapters among the many other chapters that are clearly named after their individual state. Your input is requested during our upcoming Annual Meeting where a bylaw change will be presented and discussed. The bylaw change requires a two-thirds affirmative vote of the membership which will be done electronically during the week following the annual meeting. Voting will be open for 10 days and the results announced the first week of December.

The proposed bylaw change will read: The name of the chapter will be “Kansas/Western Missouri Chapter of SLA”. The new motto will be “Putting knowledge to work in the Heart of America.” This essentially flips the current name and motto. The bylaw changes have already been approved by SLA headquarters. A fresh approach to branding will give our chapter a fighting chance to maximize our membership, counteract the impact of the reduced allotment, and sustain us through the economic downturn. Other measures that our Executive Board is implementing include a silent auction, sales of branded merchandise, sponsorships, virtual educational programming such as webinars, and student outreach to Emporia State University and the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Anyone who would like additional information on the financial situation, bylaw changes, or upcoming vote may contact me or any Executive Board member. You may also leave comments below. Feedback and discussion are welcomed by the officers. Our chapter will continue to serve the Heartland even as our environment changes and our activities evolve. The mission stays the same, and our Tin Man still has a heart.

Mary Odom, President

Comments

[Joan Thomas]

Hi, Mary -- I really appreciate your honest post. I didn't know SLA was changing the allotment calculation. I fully support the fundraising ideas and look forward to sporting a Kansas/Western Missouri Chapter tee.

Many thanks!
Joan Thomas

[Ginger Shields]

Thank you for the update, Mary! If the new name is approved, maybe we could then look at updating our logo? Looking forward to the Annual Meeting.

Ginger Shields