Dear Members:

The rapid evolution of the information industry, along with input from SLA members, has spurred the SLA Board of Directors to develop an updated strategic vision for SLA. This vision will serve as a roadmap for our association between now and 2014 to provide the best career-enhancing benefits to our 9,000-plus members worldwide.

The strategic vision reflects the fact that SLA Board members listened to a lot of member input. Given the diversity of SLA’s membership (academic, corporate, self-employed, etc.), we expect every SLA member to find some aspects exciting…and other aspects less so.  The strategic vision is a high level summation of bold goals, and we know boldness carries risk.  But we want to be bold, and we want your participation to follow the input you provided.  The specifics of implementing the vision will depend entirely on member engagement, and details will vary among each chapters and division.

We invite you to read the strategic vision with care, and then consider where you wish to put your efforts.  Members are the drivers for success in reaching the vision’s elements; where do you fit so that your volunteer contribution will generate the greatest benefit for your SLA unit and for yourself?

Your avenues for responding include the Future Ready 365 blog (today and during the first week of December), your chapter, your division, any special interest group (example: First 5 Years), the Board, and your personal professional network within SLA.  To facilitate idea-sharing, members of the Board will be hosting a Future Ready blog post detailing each focus area, and will be responding to members’ comments and ideas beginning November 28^th through December 2^nd.

SLA leaders look forward to hearing from you. Send an email to your chapter president or division chair, comment on the 365 blog right now, or call a board member.  We are here for you!

We’re pleased to unveil this updated strategic vision—a plan that is at once ambitious and realistic:

Vision:

SLA is a vibrant, global association of professionals who are employed in every sector of the information and knowledge economy. Our members thrive where data, information, and knowledge intersect and our strategic partners support SLA because they believe in the association’s mission and the future of its members. The goal of SLA is to support information professionals as they contribute, in their varied and evolving roles, to the opportunities and achievements of organizations, communities, and society.

Key Areas of Focus:

To supplement the strategic vision, priorities have been identified to guide the association’s leaders, volunteers, and staff toward fulfillment.  Focus areas include:

Annual Conference: SLA’s chief member-benefit is its highest priority. We will increase collaboration across SLA’s divisions to provide more focused, refined content. This collaboration will leverage our professional experience and institutional knowledge to ensure increased relevance of programming for SLA’s conference attendees. While increasing specificity of topics is key, focus will also be placed on broadening opportunities for learning (November 28^th blog post by Mary Ellen Bates, Division Cabinet Chair).

Professional Development: SLA’s value to its membership will be enhanced not only through improved in-person development offerings, but in combination with a year-round, virtual education program. We will define a new approach to providing reliable and useful professional development programming, comprising virtual opportunities throughout the year, and partnerships with schools of library and information science to co-develop content, communications, and delivery of educational programs (November 29^th blog post by Sara Tompson, Director).

Creating Richer Volunteer Experiences to Develop In-Demand Skills: A fulfilled association-vision will depend heavily upon SLA’s volunteer-force—the network that gives the association its strength and relevance. What better incentive to become active in the association than the fact that it will benefit your career down the road? New skills picked up as volunteers in our chapters and divisions may just be the stepping stones to a promotion or achievement at work.  Added focus will be placed on creating richer volunteer experiences in the areas of web development (search engine optimization, plug-in development and research), marketing (developing a marketing plan for local events and programs), program management (overseeing budgets, fund raising with local vendor communities), and more. SLA’s volunteers will be powerfully well-rounded in the years to come (November 30^th blog post by Daniel Lee, Director).

Opening New Markets Through Collaboration: A bright future for SLA depends on collaboration with key partners within the information industry. We will strive toward an increase in opportunities available to SLA’s membership through affiliation with schools of library and information science and the vendors who provide products and services that empower SLA members (December 1^st blog post by Brent Mai, President-Elect).

Growth Through Diversification:  The information profession is evolving faster than ever, thanks to the rapid rate of technological change and innovation. In this evolution lies opportunity to grow SLA’s offerings to new and nontraditional sectors of the information profession, and to enhance SLA as a professional home for these groups—e.g. competitive intelligence specialists, IT development specialists, and software and standards trainers (December 2^nd blog post by Richard Huffine, Division Cabinet Chair-Elect).

Envisioning a Bright Future:

The focus areas described above are highlights of our plan to fulfill a prosperous vision for the future. It goes without saying that each area of focus is inter-woven—each one depends on the other. As always, the value here lies in the opportunity to network, to try on something new, to step out of our comfort zones, and to achieve more than ever before. The Board of Directors encourages members to discuss ways in which they may participate and contribute to making the vision a reality. I am confident that as I pass the torch to incoming President Brent Mai and President-Elect Deb Hunt that the strength of the association’s volunteer force and staff will put us in a position that is both stable and pioneering within the information industry.

Here’s to success in 2012 and beyond!
2011 SLA President,
Cindy Romaine

Cindy Romaine is the current SLA President and is focused on encouraging members to be Future Ready 24/7 in 2011.

by Neil Infield, Europe Chapter, Business & Finance Division

I recently gave a talk to a room full of new information professionals on the topic of Continuing Professional Development (CPD).

I had been asked to fill in at the last minute, so didn’t have time to prepare. As anyone will appreciate, who shares my phobia of public speaking, this was actually a good thing.

However, what really surprised me, once I stood up and started speaking, was how passionate I became about the importance of CPD. And this wasn’t from some theoretical perspective about how we must continue to be aware of changes in our work environment and be on top of them. It was how my CPD activities resulted in bagging a great new job within six weeks of being made redundant from one I been in for sixteen years.

I was certain that no one would want to employ a librarian who had been stuck in the same job and become institutionalised. However, what I discovered was, the ability to deliver solutions and solve problems for my potential employers, gave me leverage in the job market.

These enhanced competencies came from a mixture of professional reading, signing up for workshops, regular networking with colleagues, and attending SLA events, particularly the SLA annual conference.

My favourite example, which led directly to a promotion at work, was discovering the concept of an intranet at one of my very first SLA conferences. I rushed home, and within six months had developed a rudimentary intranet for my company. And even though I was unable to explain to my boss why this would be beneficial for the organisation, six months later it became obvious to everyone how useful it was. And six months later, I was praised by our Chief Executive for introducing this wonderful innovation, swiftly followed by a promotion.

So, if you want to ensure you bag that next job, get a promotion, or just get to keep your existing one, CPD is not an optional activity, it is an essential one.

If you haven’t already had a go, I suggest an easy starting point is SLA’s 23 Things programme.

Since January 2006 I have worked at the British Library, where I am Manager of the Business & IP Centre. However, the postings here are my own and don’t necessarily represent the British Library’s position, strategy or opinions.

neil dot infield at bl.uk

Originally published in 2010′s “Best Practices in Government Libraries”)

by Chris Vestal, Washington, DC Chapter, Government Information, Leadership & Management Divisions

It all started with dinner. I was at the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered Issues Caucus’s (GLBTIC) annual dinner at the SLA Annual Conference in Denver 2007. I was about nine months into my MLIS program and this was the first conference I’d ever attended–but I’m getting a little ahead of myself. 

I was one of the students enrolled in Drexel University’s iSchool’s totally online program. One of the things that Drexel stressed was that being involved in a professional association was vital to staying on top of trends in the profession, furthering your professional development, and building a support network of colleagues so you could be in a strong position for an uncertain future. We were actually required to pick three different associations to research and then compare and contrast and see which ones could be the best fit for our interests. Most of the students that I talked to agreed that they could benefit from being a part of a professional association. 

What set me apart from most of my classmates though was that I had no library experience. I’d never even shelved a book in my life and because I also worked full-time in an unrelated field I didn’t have the time to take a part-time job or internship that would give me that experience. So to me getting involved in a professional association seemed like the only way to get some real world knowledge about the profession. I knew I was interested in working in a special library so SLA seemed like the right fit. I decided that year I’d attend the SLA conference. 

Like I said we’d already discussed the value of professional associations in one of my classes. Several instructors emphasized the impact that networking opportunities could have on our careers. But what we hadn’t talked about is what a shy person does at a conference where they don’t know anyone. All the faces were unfamiliar and the idea of randomly introducing myself to strangers was unthinkable–until I attended one session called “Networking for Wallflowers” and saw how many people felt the same way I did. After the workshop I did attempt to meet more people but it still felt awkward. 

That changed though when I walked into GLBTIC’s annual business meeting. Here were professionals I felt totally comfortable around. I took advantage of the brief networking opportunities there and promised myself I’d attend the no host dinner later that evening. At the dinner I met more people and told them about my limited experience and asked what I should to position myself for job hunting when I finished library school. The answers varied but all contained one near universal nugget of wisdom–get involved in SLA. 

A year went by where aside from reading Information Outlook I didn’t have time to be active in SLA. But I still had vacation time so I made a point of attending the SLA conference in Seattle. I found that conference was a much easier experience for me in terms of networking. Now thanks to the GLBTIC dinner and other events I recognized several faces and was much less hesitant to introduce myself to new people. I was closer to graduating at that point and was avidly seeking out job leads. At one dinner someone told me that the most valuable thing I could do would be to get involved with my local SLA chapter. 

I took this advice to heart and started attending as many networking and professional development events as possible. I subscribed to the chapter listserve and read each message that came across. 

An announcement about DC/SLA Young Professional’s and Student’s Happy Hour came across the listserv and I thought it’d be a fun event to attend. One of the attendees there told me about the company she worked for and I remember thinking it sounded like a really interesting job. A few weeks later I saw an announcement over the listserv about a federal government career fair for librarians at the Library of Congress. I went to the career fair and ran into a recruiter for the company I’d heard about at the happy hour earlier. Within days of chatting with the recruiter I’d been hired in my first library related position. 

But that was really just the beginning of my involvement with DC/SLA. A few months later the DC/SLA President contacted me saying she remembered meeting me at function and wanted to know if I was interested in being the chapter Dine Around (networking dinners for members and friends at local area restaurants) Coordinator. I agreed and went to work recruiting volunteers to host the dinners and then marketing them to the chapter. 

I was surprised by the enthusiastic response we received from the chapter. We had 22 Dine Arounds over the course of 2009. I met so many people I might not have otherwise. I got to know people who became friends, people who challenged me, people on the verge of retiring, and people just starting off in their careers–like me. There’s no question that I learned a great deal in library school but I learned so much more about the profession, the association, and about myself by having dinner with all those different people. It turned out that even people I never met at a Dine Around would “meet” me; they’d recognize my name from the promotional emails I sent to the listserv and then approach me at other events. 

One Dine Around attendee told me about the DC/SLA New Members Reception and I decided to attend. There I heard Current SLA President Gloria Zamora and President-Elect Anne Caputo talk about the Alignment Project and what it meant for the profession. Recalling their presentation I signed up to be an Alignment Ambassador later that year. 

As an Alignment Ambassador I responded to member concerns via Twitter, the listserv, Facebook, and at a Town Hall Meeting. While I was doing this I realized something about myself–that I really enjoy public speaking and writing. But maybe even more importantly is that other people noticed me and I was approached to take over the chapter’s newsletter, Chapter Notes. Working on Chapter Notes in many ways has been like an extension of the Dine Arounds–I get to meet many people with different views, experiences, and skills and learn from them all while doing something I enjoy. 

So my point is I can’t possible overstate how important being active in a professional association is to being future ready. You get all the benefits you’d expect like networking and professional development opportunities, but chances are you’ll benefit in countless other ways too. Subscribing to an association listserv provides you with opportunities to get support directly from your peers (especially important for solo librarians) and invaluable information about what’s going on either in your field or location. By taking on different roles in the association there’s a good chance you’ll learn something about yourself–what you enjoy and what you’re strengths are. You can develop skills (like event planning) you might not get to utilize in your paid job which translates into increased marketability when job hunting. The people you get to know can help you grow in ways you’d never expect–like approaching you for opportunities you didn’t even think to look for. Talking with experienced people in the field can prepare you for issues in your work life and keep you from having to reinvent the wheel. For me, informal stories from Dine Around attendees helped me when I transitioned into my first position supervising other professionals. But perhaps most importantly being involved in an association gives others a chance to get to know you and see how you shine. And it can all start with something as simple as having dinner.

Chris Vestal is a Supervisory Patent Researcher with ASRC Management Services on its contract at the US Patent and Trademark Office. Chris is also DC/SLA’s 2011 Communication Secretary.