Hello Members of the Maryland Chapter of SLA!
I realize that other Chapter and Division listservs have covered
the waterfront about the name change and the alignment project, so
perhaps you've had your questions answered. If not, please feel free to
use this listserv as a Q&A forum.*
As President of the Maryland Chapter, I am interested in knowing
if you have any questions about the upcoming name vote or the alignment
project itself.
I'm also curious to know if you are leaning towards voting "yes" for:
-- "Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals"
or
-- "SLA"
And why?
Here are some information resources about the alignment and name
change to browse if you haven't had a chance to consider all this
before now.
This site provides recent information about the alignment research
results. My personal advice is to skip the video because it takes too
long to load. But definitely explore all the other sections to glean
insights into how the results of the alignment research results is and
will be used to verbally brand our association, our profession, and how
you can use it too.
This site is a hub for the name change discussion and considerations.
There are a number of discussion forums being used by members to
express their comments about the name and the alignment project. This
link gives you the links to the SLA Blog, Facebook and Twitter forums.
On Thursday, Oct 22, SLA President Gloria Zamora spoke to Chapter
members about the alignment and the proposed name change. Here is the
slide deck she used during that presentation.
SLA has organized a group of volunteers to act as ambassadors to
the alignment project, with the responsibility of addressing concerns
and passing questions along to SLA leaders. Sean Henry and myself are
ambassadors for our Chapter. With this message we invite you to use
this listserv to express your points of view, questions, and comments
about the proposed name change and the alignment project. In the
meantime, we will be posting information about the upcoming proposed
name vote and additional updates about the alignment project.
Best regards,
Chris
I support the alignment project, but I do not support the name change to Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals. I believe that a name of a business or an organization should clearly identify what the business sells or what services the organization provides for the membership. When I first read the new name, I could not envision or identify what the name meant. Therefore, from a marketing point of view, I believe that the new proposed name is inappropriate. The Board needs to remember that SLA is a professional organization for librarians. It is not a professional organization for corporations, and yet the Board created a new name based on words that resonates with corporations. I agree that librarians have expanded our responsibilities beyond the traditional tasks, but we need to come up with a better name that resonates with the membership, and would gain more respect from corporations. Here are a couple of possible names: Knowledge Managers and Researchers Assocation or Information Managers and Researchers Association
Posted by: Stephanie Altbier | October 28, 2009 at 12:27 PM
Thank you, Stephanie, for taking the time to voice your comments and concerns.
While I can understand your desire to have the name of an organization reflect its activities, member interests, location, target market, or other traditional aspects of a name, it's not necessary. Ummm. Google comes to mind as a quick example.
SLA counts among its members many more types of information and knowledge professionals than librarians. We are a diverse organization with members who have responsibilities across the full spectrum of information and knowledge management and services. In fact, approximately 2/3 of members do not have the word "librarian" in their job title. Instead, we have the education, knowledge, skill-sets, and passion for information as the common thread which weaves us together into one fabric. And at the same time, there is rich diversity among us reflecting different aspects of our profession. I think that it's the common fabric and our diversity which makes SLA a dynamic resource for members and a credible, thought-leader voice on professional issues around the world. In my opinion, changing the name to Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals opens up our organization to individuals who would have found a home at SLA all along, but were held back by the name "special libraries association."
The research from the Alignment Project has shown that the words used in the proposed name do exactly what you are asking them to do-- gain more respect from individuals in corporate settings. The words resonated with different professional groups and based on that research, plus my own experiences while working on 26 years worth of client projects, I am in favor of the proposed name.
Notice too, that it's the Association "for" strategic knowledge professionals. This is a very inclusive name. It's an umbrella which can comfortably cover a range of interests in our profession-- today and tomorrow. And that's part of the rub. We have to read a crystal ball about what our professional interests may be in 20-50-100 years. For me, that's the reason why the word "information" doesn't have a place in the proposed name. Information is transformed into knowledge, and when I look at the core product/business of an information service, it's about knowledge. The information age, which was predicted in the 1950's is in full swing, and we're finally getting around to realizing that it's all about knowledge. Or at least, that's my perspective.
When you cast your vote, you will have a choice of either the name "SLA", or "Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals." Our association has spent a lot of resources on the alignment research and proposal for a new name. I can't see our organization being able to afford to propose and vote on a new name every few years until we have 100% or even 90% of the members happy. I don't know how old you are, but I doubt very much it would happen in either of our lifetimes.
I hope my personal opinions and considerations help in your decision about the name. And thank you for being an active member of our chapter - and of our profession!
best,
Chris Olson
President
Maryland Chapter of SLA
SLA Alignment Ambassador
Posted by: Chris | November 02, 2009 at 07:05 AM