A week and a half ago, Maryland Chapter President-Elect Cindy Sheffield and I attended the SLA Leadership Summit in Washington, DC. Phew! What a whirlwind of activities and information. But it was all good! SLA leaders attend the Summit to learn more about SLA, gain leadership skills, and provide SLA headquarters with feedback and information from their units and members.
This year’s theme was Future Ready. SLA is ready to look towards and prepare for the future. Headquarters is making several changes. SLA.org will be remodeled by the end of this year, and unit (Chapters and Divisions) websites will move to a new platform (look for the MD Chapter’s to change too!). They have also centralized LinkedIn and Facebook groups. The Keynote Speaker Susan Robertson, who is the President of the American Society of Associations, provided an excellent address on the value of Volunteerism and the factors that influence volunteers. We are already gearing up to give Volunteerism the focus it deserves, so Maryland is well on its way to being Future Ready.
Unfortunately, SLA was also affected by the recent economic downturn. The SLA budget needs to be brought back in balance, and several changes have been made for 2011. This year, there will only be 10 ClickU’s, SLA will not offer scholarships and research awards, and they have scaled back interassociation activites and memberships. But don’t fret! SLA continues to offer a wide array of services and programs for members, and individual units can fill the gaps.
Speaking of great programs, the Annual Conference in Philly will be introducing something new this year. They will be offering Need-to-Know sessions geared towards area managers, colleagues, and others that may not quite “get” what a librarian or information professional does. Be sure to look for more information about this and invite your clients and supervisors. This is an easy way to let them see all of the possibilities you can fulfill if given the opportunity.
I am proud to say the Maryland Chapter was well-represented at the Summit this year! Susan Fingerman,one of the 2010 Maryland Chapter Champion Award recipients, and Chapter Student Liaison, Judy Tapiero, presented two of our Chapter’s success stories during “Expanding Community: Promoting SLA Outside Our Current Membership.” Susan spoke mainly about Xtreme Reference, the great program we had last October that she co-chaired. And Judy talked about her engagement with students at UMD and CUA, mainly via “chats” (by the way, if you’re interested in being part of the chats, let us know). Also, I spoke on a panel about unit tips, and shared many of the great things our Chapter Board does to provide great programs and continue to have a great Board of volunteers.
That’s a wrap. We’ll continue to keep you updated on the goings on in SLA and MD Chapter. Until then, best regards.
Ashley Conaway
2011 Chapter President
