Guaranteeing the Future: The Chain of Change and Renewal

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Guaranteeing the Future The Chain of Change and
Renewal

• Donna Scheeder
• President, SLA

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What would I like you to hear today.

• Why we are focusing so strongly on the Task Force
  agenda.
• What we're communicating and what the message is
  .
• Tactics that we are going to use to make this
  work.
• The overall message about conscious renewal of
  SLA and your role in communication.

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Change is Our Tradition

• To set special librarianship apart (John Cotton
  Dana)
• Value of the Information Professional (Frank
  Spaulding)
• Focus on InfoPro Image (Joe Ann Clifton)
• Define the Visionary Future for SLA (Kitty Scott)
• Focus on PREPS (Guy St. Clair)
• Just Do It! (Didi Pancake)
• The Virtual Association (Jane Dysart and Sylvia
  Piggott)
• An SLA Renaissance with a revised Strategic Plan
  (Judy Field)
• Partnering with Educators (Suzi Hayes)
• Appointment of Strategic Task Forces (Susan Di
  Mattia)
• Guarantee the Future (Donna Scheeder)

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How do we guarantee the future?

• Recognize that Change is our Tradition
• Focus on people
• Architect SLA to "Guarantee The Future through
• a strategic focus on branding, partnership,
  membership, conferences, simplification

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Networking is the most highly valued benefit of
SLA

• As a net is made up of a series of ties, so
  everything in this world is connected by a series
  of ties.
• If anyone thinks that the mesh of a net is an
  independent, isolated thing, he is mistaken.
• It is called a net because it is made up of
  interconnected meshes, and each mesh has its
  place and responsibility in relation to other
  meshes.
• Buddha

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The Big 5 Whys?!

• Membership (which is tied to our financial
  health) will continue to shrink for demographic
  reasons alone if we are not proactive. Our value
  proposition must become as attractive to new
  librarians as current members.

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The Big 5 Whys?!

• Global strategies need to be developed,
  especially for member acquisition and service
  delivery.

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The Big 5 Whys?!

• Our environment is changing with respect to
  market demands for SLA services (website, CE
  learning, conference, publications, etc.)

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The Big 5 Whys?!

• We are not as nimble and quick as we need to be
  to succeed in the future. SLA IS over-managed
  and over-regulated.
• There are just too many rules!

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The Big 5 Whys?!

• We are suffering volunteer burnout due to task
  overload to maintain a large association. Too
  much administrivia. Let's get more value out of
  our Virtual Association investments.

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How are we going to accomplish this?

• Task Forces!
• Branding
• Membership Definition
• Conferences
• Partnerships
• Simplification
• Executive Director Search Committee

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Task Force on Branding

• Chair Carol Ginsburg
• Staff Lynn Smith / Doug Newcomb
• Board Dottie Moon
• Marian Bremer
• Holly Bussey
• Ava Goldman
• Neil Infield
• Roberta Piccoli
• Barbara Spiegelman

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Task Force on Membership

• Chair Thomas Rink (Barbara Semonche)
• Board Lynn Berard
• Staff Doug Newcomb
• Teresa Connaughton
• Bill Fisher
• Christy Confetti-Higgins
• Terry Brooks
• Carol Williams

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Task Force on Simplification

• Chair Suzi Hayes
• Board Liaison Wilda Newman
• Staff Liaison Linda Broussard
• Maurice Harris
• Fellows Liz Bibby
• Dan Trefethen
• Mike Perkins
• Susanne Baker
• Karen Bleakley
• Barbara Best-Nichols

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Task Force on Conference Planning Structure

• Chair Judy Field
• Board Liaison Doris Helfer
• Staff Liaison Jim Mears
• Betty Eddison
• Jill Ann Hurst
• Claire Kelly
• Scott Trask
• Wei Wei

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Task Force on Partnerships

• Chair Ethel Salonen
• Board Liaison Juanita Richardson
• Staff Liaison Lynn Woodbury
• Anne Abate
• Mary Beall
• Helene Kassler
• Cris Kinghorn
• Gary Price
• Molly White

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Principles of Task Forces

• All decisions are ultimately made by the elected
  Board.
• Member involvement and consultation is critical.
• All committees and task forces are comprised of a
  diversified group of members.
• This is an exercise in change management and must
  be coordinated and planned.

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Principles of Task Forces

• Those that require a Bylaws change MUST be
  debated and voted on by the entire membership.
• All major changes will be accompanied by a
  detailed communication plan and will be
  communicated to the leadership and the
  membership.
• Financial implications will be carefully
  considered by the Board, Treasurer, HQ Staff and
  the Finance Committee.
• We can retain the traditional and still embrace
  the new.

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Timeline

• Partnerships - phase 1 complete
• Branding - in phase 2
• Membership - report for June
• Simplification - report for June
• Conferences - report for June

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Executive DirectorSearch Committee

• UPDATE
• Search committee interviews - February
• Finalists to Board for interviews end of March
• Introduction of new Executive Director at June
  Annual Business Meeting

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Executive DirectorSearch Committee

• Chair Mimi Drake
• Board liaison Donna Scheeder
• Lynn Smith
• Barbara Holder
• Chris Hardesty
• Sandra Kitt
• Toby Pearlstein

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Discovering Our Future

• Our discovery process is to find 'what' change is
  needed - not 'that' change is needed.
• We are building on the past and inventing our own
  Association and Professional future.

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SLA Values Action

• You've got brains in your head and feet in
  your shoes and you can go any direction you
  choose . . .
• Dr. Seuss

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Please help me and your Board to vision the
future and guarantee it through positive action!
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Dr. Seuss Again . . .

• So, as fast as I could,
• I went after my net.
• And I said, "With my net
• I can get them I bet.
• I bet, with my net,
• I can get those Things yet!
• Dr. Seuss

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• Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six
  impossible things before breakfast!
• Alice, in Through the
  Looking Glass

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The Best Way to Predict the Future is to Invent
It
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Join me . . .

• Donna Scheeder
• President, SLA
• dscheeder_at_crs.loc.gov
• Im listening