Hi All! I am sorry for the very long delay in sharing my June conference report with you! Once I got back to Frostburg from SLA 2009, I had to immediately deal with chaotic and unexpected work issues that we can all relate to. Additionally, I experienced a sudden change in job position (a very positive one!), and moved into a new office - Seán
SLA 2009 (June 14-17) in DC several weeks ago was a blast! I saw many of you there. According to the July 1 SLA Press Release, the conference drew the highest attendance in six years (since our big bash at SLA 2003 in New York City – my “first-timer” event). Final attendance figures for SLA 2009 totaled 5,856 registrants from 30 countries, a 16 percent increase over SLA 2008 attendance. That is a remarkable feat, considering that a lot of professional association conferences have experienced dwindling attendance numbers in the current economy. However, we SLA members know how much value SLA conferences add to both our professional and personal growth as information professionals.
I enjoyed Leia Dickerson's photos and written essay from the conference, didn't you? I also attended many conference events, and below are a few highlights, reflections, and links from four of them, with the longest passage up front:
SLA Leadership Development Institute
This session, especially designed for chapter and division officers, started at a very early 7:30 AM on Sunday morning (June 14), and lasted until noon. I attended as the official representative of our chapter. I listened to an engaging panel discussion, an informative speech, and learned a remarkable outcome of the Alignment Project.
SLA President Gloria Zamora presided over the event, and SLA President-Elect Anne Caputo moderated a panel of 2010 candidates for SLA President-Elect and Treasurer. You can see some of their official position statements at the Board Candidates’ Corner. Some questions that the candidates fielded during the panel discussion were how they would brand our identity in the new SLA century and “broaden the tent” to open up the Association to more diversity.
For a little professional development, Maura Kennedy, SLA’s Director for Strategic Communication gave an instructive presentation during the Leadership Development Institute Session called Pain-Free Public Speaking, with the following three talking points:
- Plan It! - Identify the who/what/where/when/ why of your public speech (stay on topic, relate to your audience’s interest, etc.).
- Cook It! – Practice your speech three times.
- Serve It! – Present your speech with smiles, eye contact, and breath control.
Most enlightening were outcomes from the Alignment Project as reported by SLA President Gloria Zamora and SLA CEO Janice Lachance. The Alignment Project was designed as a thorough examination to bring clarity and unity to the core identity and values of the SLA, and provide a framework for discussing the inherent value in the profession and the Association in a cohesive voice, with tools for us all to vividly communicate our value as information professionals to our employers.
Consultants from Fleishman and Hillard compiled a lot of data for the Alignment Project over two years, and even included me (along with Susan Fingerman and Edna Paulson - Hey, Wilda Newman, weren’t you there, too?) in an early April 2008 focus group at the Alexandria SLA HQ , but research also incorporated worldwide feedback from multiple surveys and focus groups including us information professionals as well as our employers and stakeholders in the four categories of corporations, education, government, and health.
I have been keeping track of Alignment Project progress for over a year and knew that Fleishman and Hillard data indicated that the terms “special libraries” or “librarian” did not resonate well among any SLA focus group members, whether they be users (our employers, clients, and stakeholders) or providers (us). However, I was startled at the Leadership Development Institute to finally hear Gloria Zamora and Janice Lachance publicly state that now is the time for a name change.
I work as a reference librarian at a university and teach a course in library skills on the side, so I closely identify with the term “librarian.” In April 2008, as a Fleishmann and Hillard focus group participant, I was initially surprised that several others in the group responded negatively to “librarian” as a job title for themselves. However, since then, I have met many SLA information professionals working in a wide number of exciting fields and have learned that there are more than 2000 job titles in the SLA membership database.
Frankly, I had to step back, ponder long, and reassess: Maybe “librarian” or “special libraries” are no longer the best global terms to describe our diverse and vibrant Association as it grows into the future.
SLA Opening General Session with Keynote Speaker General Colin L. Powell
General Powell, our former Secretary of State, played to a packed house in the Convention Center on Sunday Evening from 5:15 to 7: 15 PM (picture above from Nicole Engard’s flickr conference photo set ). Powell had really done his homework researching the SLA and offered a lot of informed comments. Moreover, he appreciated the value that information professionals provide for the smooth running of organizations and even acknowledged members of his support staff sitting in the audience.
Although a strong advocate of technological innovation in the sharing of information, General Powell expressed a guarded skepticism of some of the newer trends in online communication that potentially impact personal privacy: He cited a recent example from his own life, which was blown out of proportion in the blogosphere. Powell’s thoughts about the clash between technology and privacy was later digested and discussed in many conference sessions.
Here are some links about the keynote speech that I found:
Hot Topic: SLA Hot Topic: Wikis, Tweets, and Blogs, Oh My!
Copyright is a particular interest of mine, and this early Monday afternoon panel discussion dealt with issues surrounding the issue of copyright when it comes to social networking and new media. The panelists included Michael Moniyhan, Senior Editor at Reason Magazine; Keith Kupferschmid, Senior Vice President for Intellectual Property Policy for the Software Information Industry Association(SIIA); Jill Hurst-Wahl, President, Hurst Associates, Ltd.; Laura Malone, Associate General Counsel, Associated Press; and Christopher Kenneally, Director, Business Development, Copyright Clearance Center.
The discussion revolved around the differences between attributing content and copyright clearance in the Web and print worlds. Additionally, Hurst-Wahl, who teaches copyright law at the Syracuse University School of Information Studies, introduced the term “tolerated use”: the best practices for publishing blog cross postings and “re-Tweets.” In general, if a blog or Twitter post is stolen without attribution or used in a way that misrepresents the original message, it is a violation of tolerated use. Whew, I feel so much more confident in sharing others' blog information with you after this session!
I managed to get my own two cents worth into the discussion by asking a pointed question about Google: Is Google helping our profession by pushing the copyright litigation envelope with its vast resources and teams of lawyers and creating case-by- case copyright precedence for the rest of us to follow? The answer from the panelists was “perhaps,” but Moniyhan and Hurst-Wahl quickly noted that Google was a self-interested money-making concern that could have chosen a different business model if it really wanted to help us information professionals - like give its book scans to libraries!
SPOTLIGHT SESSION -- The Library of the Future: Discovery in the Round
This fun, late Monday afternoon session took on the format of a 1950’s game show, in which four visionary panelists competed against each other for the best future scenarios of our profession. The moderator was Donna Scheeder from the Library of Congress, and the four panelists were Linda Stoddart (Director of Knowledge Management at the United Nations), SLA Fellow Richard Hulser (Richard P Hulser Consulting), current SLA Past President Stephen Abram (Sirsi Dynix), and former SLA President and current Chair of the SLA Virtual Worlds Council, Cindy Hill (Hill Information Consulting Group). The image of the panelists above is cross-posted from the SLA Blog.
All four painted a rewarding future for us information professionals, when our authoritative skills and expertise will be in high demand globally, and when we will be paid according to the value of the work we do. Not only did the panelists talk about the enhanced services we’ll be able to provide for clients a few decades from now, but they also discussed how they would creatively educate, recruit, hire, mentor, and retain the talented information professionals of the future. Although there was a four-way tie for "game show winner" among the panelists at the end of the session, I especially enjoyed Stephen Abram’s imaginative take on the future, after the “Great Google Collapse of 2015”!
SLA General Closing Session and Membership Meeting
This was an exciting event in the main Convention Center Ballroom, where everybody had a rock music intro: For example, when our President Gloria Zamora entered the stage, the Van Morrison tune “Gloria” as sung by the “Shadows of the Knight” erupted from the speakers! The membership meeting business was brief, to the point, and repeated most of what I already shared above in the Leadership Development Institute Report.
The highlight of the closing session was the closing keynote panel discussion moderated by Judy Woodruff, senior correspondent for PBS' News Hour with Jim Lehrer, and one of my favorite broadcast journalists. Judy expertly guided Neil deGrasse Tyson (Astrophysicist and host of PBS’ NOVA ScienceNow), Robyn Meridith (Senior Editor for Forbes Magazine in Asia and author of The Elephant and the Dragon), and John R. Patrick (retired IBM Chief Internet Technology Officer and founding member of the World Wide Web Consortium) in a lively discussion of the future of information.
In the course of discussion, Neil deGrasse Tyson passionately spoke about how K-12 education in the USA is lagging behind the competition abroad, and John Patrick focused optimistically on the promise of information technology. I found Robyn Meredith to be the pragmatic and savvy middle voice most in tune with the SLA audience. I had never heard from her before the conference, but now I want to buy her book!
Marydee Ojala , editor of ONLINE: Exploring Technology & Resources for Information Professionals, sums up this closing session nicely at the InfoToday Blog.
Almost Too Many Other Things to Mention!
Above are just a few highlights! I also attended other conference events, and attended meals and receptions where I networked a whole lot on behalf of our Chapter. I especially enjoyed our Mid-Atlantic Chapter Reception at the Renaissance Hotel, the Dow Jones International Reception at the Zambian Embassy, a wine party for the GLBT Issues Caucus members and friends at the beautiful home of Cy Behroozi of the Brookings Institution, and a fine French dinner at La Chaumiere in Georgetown, hosted by Rhode Island Chapter President Cherine Whitney for several SLA leaders, including newly inducted SLA Fellow Tony Stankus, and other friends I have made at present and past SLA conferences.
Looking Forward to 2010!
SLA 2010 will be in New Orleans with exciting keynote speakers Mary Matalin and James Carville. I hope to see you all next summer in the “Big Easy”!
Seán
Henry, SLA Maryland President-Elect and Program Chair
