Now that the SLA celebrates its 2009 Centennial Year and looks forward to a second century, it is repositioning itself to respond more flexibly to the evolving landscapes of the information profession and the needs of SLA members in the upcoming decades of the 21st century through the Strategic Alignment Project. And our Chapter robustly responds with its own forward-thinking initiative!
On February 22, 2009, our Chapter’s ad hoc Strategic
Planning Committee met for an intensive five-hour retreat. Cindy Sheffield, our Chapter Secretary,
expertly facilitated the planning session, hosting the event at her beautiful
country home near Hampstead, Maryland (pictures to the side and below). Other committee members present were Judy
Tapiero, Sandy Levy, Aryeh Cohen, and myself (Seán Henry).
We collaboratively
drafted a chapter mission statement and an outline for the strategic plan,
putting member needs at the forefront. We are still in early stages of revision,
but our emphasis will always focus on empowering and supporting our members as knowledge
leaders, fostering relationships through outreach programs and networking
opportunities, as well as supporting career advancement and professional
development.
A few more strategic planning meetings need to take place before we have a finished package for you. Plus, we also hope to pick up some very valuable tips from Betty Jo Hibberd at the upcoming Dialog Strategic Planning Workshop on May 14 at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, MD. That will be our second Chapter program of the year. Please save the date! I’ll have more detailed information about that event for you very soon.
The pictures above and below and many,many more from our Chapter are available in a captioned photostream for you to view at http://www.flickr.com/photos/30762689@N05/, which you can organize into specific galleries by clicking the "Sets" link near the top of the page. Your collaborative contributions and comments to these Web 2.0 chapter image Flickr galleries are always welcome. Thanks, Ashley Conaway, our Chapter Networking Chair, for setting us up with Flickr!
Regards,
Seán Henry
SLA Maryland Chapter President-Elect and Program Chair
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