By Helen Josephine, President, San Andreas Chapter
I was expecting some snow or at least cold weather, but Reno was having a mild winter. The conference hotel, John Ascuaga’s Nugget, was also host to attendees for the SCI (Safari Club International) conference for big game hunters, which made for some interesting elevator conversations.
The San Andreas Chapter was well represented at the Leadership Summit. Attending from the San Andreas Chapter Board were Lee Pharis, Joe Langdon, Helen Losch, and Helen Josephine. Libby Trudell attended as Chapter Cabinet Vice-President and George Plosker attended as the vendor rep for IEEE.
This annual gathering is a working meeting for the SLA Leadership, which includes the SLA Board of Directors, SLA Chapter Presidents and President-Elects, and SLA Division Chairs and Chair-Elects. The Annual Conference Program Planning Committee meets with the Division Program Planning Chairs, and the SLA Nominating Committee and the SLA Finance Committee also meet at this time. Several divisions held board meetings. Attendance is open to all, and several members attended because of interest in the program or due to other division or chapter leadership responsibilities.
Over dinner and between sessions, chapter and division leaders have a chance to network and share ideas. The West Coast chapter representatives met to discuss the expansion of the California Chapters Reception at the annual conference to include the Oregon and the Pacific Northwest Chapters. We agreed to open the fun and responsibilities to all West Coast chapters. This means that the San Andreas Chapter will be responsible for planning the reception for the Annual Conference to be held in New Orleans in 2012.
The meeting had two keynote speakers, Chip Heath and Ken Haycock. On Thursday, Chip Heath, Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, presented a talk on the concepts in his new book, Made to Stick; Why Some Ideas Die and Others Survive. Chip’s research is about what makes ideas succeed in the marketplace and how we can design messages to make them stick. His research indicates that messages should be simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotional, and consist of stories. Chip was a very engaging speaker and told excellent stories to illustrate and expand on his points. Chip was available afterwards to sign copies of his book (co-authored with his brother Dan Heath.) On Friday, Ken Haycock, Director of the School of Library and Information Science at San Jose State University, spoke on “Leadership and You; Tackling the Dragon.” Ken discussed the competencies, skills, and attributes of successful leaders and what we can do to overcome our own inner dragons. Ken is always an interesting and humorous speaker; he is not afraid to poke fun at some of our “sacred cows” and shortcomings.
Two skills-based workshops were held on Thursday, “Communicating Your Message” (marketing your message and developing an elevator speech) presented by Betty Jo Hibberd and “Running Effective Meetings” presented by Donna Scheeder.
From the association we had updates from President Rebecca Vargha, Executive Director Janice LaChance, Chapter Cabinet leaders Ann Caputo and Libby Trudell, and Strategic Realignment Committee members Cindy Romaine and Ethel Salonen.
SLA President Rebecca Vargha gave a short address on the year ahead. Key points included:
• Information Outlook is 10 years old this year; a new look for the publication was launched with the January issue.
• The SLA Centennial Commission and 2009 Conference Planning Committee was appointed. This group will be responsible for planning the Washington, D.C. conference in 2009 as well as the events throughout the year to celebrate 100 years of SLA. Ideas/suggestions can be sent to [email protected].
• SLA has purchased a new membership information management system which should be completely implemented by June 2007. This will provide units with current information on their membership and provide flexibility in generating lists and reports.
• Highlights of the Denver conference include Keynote speakers Al Gore and Scott Adams, Dilbert creator; a special session called the "unconference" featuring Stephen Abram, Eugenie Prime and Clifford Lynch; and the addition of synergy sessions.
SLA CEO Janice Lachance presented SLA's 2006 accomplishments and 2007 goals.
2006 Accomplishments:
• Drove growth in membership (recruitment and retention).
• Accomplished the first online election of the SLA Board of Directors.
• Increased use of technology, including version 4.0 of the SLA web site and launch of a newsfeed reader.
• Baltimore Annual Conference was a huge success in terms of number of attendees, generated revenues, and the quality of the programming.
• Formed an alliance with Information Today.
• Developed a partnership with Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) of which the first outcome is a course on Content Rights Management.
• Spoke out against the EPA's plan to close its libraries.
• Conducted the Annual Salary Survey.
• Participated in the Annual Internet Technology Forum.
• Approved the provisional Asian Chapter.
• Janice was asked (and accepted) to Chair the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) CEO Advisory Board.
• SLA is in its fourth year in a surplus budget!
2007 Goals:
• New Click University offering - Competitive Intelligence Certificate program was launched in January.
• SLA is now an authorized provider of IACET continuing education and training and can also issue CEUs.
• Provided new online offering of Gary Price courses - quarterly updates, new topics on searching and tips on good/new sites - for a cost of $15 each.
• Click University will be rolling out Leadership & Management courses. Current library includes over 930 ebrary offerings. Some are free; discounts are available on others.
• Working on a partnership with University of Toronto for online classes.
• Reinforced SLA's commitment to implementation of a new management system to improve unit and administrative management.
• SLA will participate in the Future of Library and Information Science Education Conference in 2008.
• Past SLA President Guy St. Clair is authoring a book on SLA's history.
• SLA is negotiating a group rate with Webex to help chapters take advantage of web delivery of programs and workshops.
• SLA will continue to enhance services, expand its global influence, and bring new technology such as blogs, wikis, online communities, and a technology laboratory.
The Chapter Cabinet meeting was chaired by Ann Caputo. Topics of interest included an update on the Chapter Modeling Task Force and programming plans for the annual conference. While the recommendations of the Task Force are not mandates, some chapters are considering changes to be more efficient and to meet the needs of their members. The request of the Michigan chapters to combine as one chapter was approved by the SLA Board. Notes from the Chapter Cabinet meeting are posted in the Chapter COP on the SLA website. The Report of the Chapter Modeling Task Force is Board Document A06-43 on the June 2006 Agenda. Program ideas for the Annual Conference included a poster session for chapters to highlight a program or innovative activity and additional leadership training. There was also some discussion on the need to change the focus of the chapter meetings at the June conference to align with the new fiscal year of the association.
Following the Chapter Cabinet was a Joint Cabinet session for the division leaders and the chapter leaders. The topics of this meeting included a presentation from two members of the SLA Board of Directors, Sylvia James and Kate Arnold, on the need to increase international membership and a recommendation to recreate the position of International Relations Chairs in the Divisions. The second topic of discussion was the work of the Strategic Realignment Committee, chaired by Cindy Romaine and Ethel Salonen. SLA is actively working on a strategic realignment of the Association. The strategic alignment actions include hiring an outside consulting firm to help provide an outside, unbiased view of the Association and the profession. SLA will use this information to reach out to logical partners and potential new members using the most appropriate messages for those communities. Part of this effort will coincide with the 100th anniversary.
Overall the programs and presentations at the Leadership Summit were informative and rewarding. The SLA HQ staff and Board have made improvements based on membership feedback. Plans are underway for the 2008 Leadership Summit in Lexington, Kentucky.
Helen Josephine can be reached at [email protected]
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