SLA's Tides of Change

In the midst of stressful debate and wrenching change, members of the Special Libraries Association (SLA) will convene in New York City for their annual conference, June 7–11. They face a controversial name change for the 94-year-old organization, the prospect of a new executive director, who is expected to be in place for the conference, and plans to sell the landmark headquarters in Washington, DC, followed by a move to smaller, more cost-effective space. SLA finances and membership have been in decline, although membership seems to be rebounding. Economic realities and the international environment might keep attendance down, a blow to one of SLA's main sources of revenue. Underlying all is a corporate instability that has forced many people into significantly different job situations.

During the Annual Business Meeting on June 11, members will be asked whether SLA should change its name. If the vote is affirmative, they will select either "SLA" (simple acronym with one or more tag lines, selected at a later date) or "Information Professionals International" (IPI) as the new name. Based on preliminary, impassioned debate, the New York discussion promises to be lively.

No official identification of the new SLA executive director has surfaced, despite indications that the finalist was selected several weeks ago and that contract negotiations were underway with her. She will inherit multiple pressing issues immediately. Finances and membership levels are just the beginning.

The membership requires reunification after several years of turmoil and interim leadership. Wounds over the name change will need to heal. The future of SLA must be charted, with significant attention to the needs and attitudes of members and to opportunities for expanded influence and partnerships. A more realistic view of the international atmosphere, shifts in the profession, and the changing job market for SLA members will have to be factored in. The new ED will need strength to mold that direction and political skills to get the support and participation of member leaders. Her success is essential to SLA's future well-being.

The 2003 conference planners have mounted one of the strongest programs of continuing education (CE) courses and topical sessions in years. Members should not let SLA's governance debates overshadow these fine opportunities for learning and networking.

Knowledge management, benchmarking, change management, and competitive intelligence are among the CE courses offered on Saturday and Sunday. Side by side with them are sessions on electronic journals, customizing portal content, and storytelling. At least two courses are geared to job-hunters and those who want to update their professional skills and develop a career action plan.

Each of three days of SLA programs is labeled with an overall theme, launched by a big-name keynote speaker. Monday is "State of the Art" day, beginning with a presentation by author David McCullough. Positioning themselves as "state of the art" professionals and celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2003, members of the Military Librarians Division of SLA will march to Rockefeller Plaza. They will wear blue logo T-shirts, hoping to be in front of the cameras of NBC's Today Show. Also on Monday, the Business & Finance Division is sponsoring its own keynote session, "State of Wall Street," with a talk by Lawrence Kudlow, economist, columnist, and talk show host.

Tuesday's conferencewide keynote speaker is futurist and author Stewart Brand. The track for the day is "Future Directions." On Wednesday, "Globalization" day, the speaker is Madeleine Korbel Albright, Secretary of State in the Clinton administration and the first woman to hold the office.

There are "Hot Topic" sessions each day. On Monday, it's "Information Industry Revolution," an overview of changes in the supply chain. On Tuesday, you'll hear about "Quality Information: Our Touchstone," tips on how to evaluate information quality and deliver it to clients. "Virtual Teams: Tools for Global Team Work" is the focus on Wednesday.

What follows are LJ's selections from each time slot based on our assessment of their potential for usefulness, education, interest, or simply entertainment.

11:30 a.m.–1 p.m.

Guerilla Marketing: Strategy Sharing for Agile Action This program features rapid-response information services marketing in corporate and academic settings. A companion topic, "Marketing Your Information Center," is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

Digital from Birth: Information Architecture for Building a Digital Library Learn about technical, indexing and taxonomy, and subject content challenges in planning a digital library for the Homeland Security program at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA.

1:30–3 p.m.

Due Diligence—From Enron to Worldcom Speakers Morris Blatt and James Mintz focus on the expertise of librarians and how it can be applied to a company's due diligence work.

3:30–5 p.m.

Professional Competencies for the Digital Age: Cybrarian, Librarian, or Information Specialist? With the SLA document "Competencies for Special Libraries of the 21st Century" as background, the session will explore global competition, new technologies, and the current economic situation and how they impact graduate education, certification, and professional development and career implications.

11:30 a.m.–1 p.m.

Electronic Journals: Taming the Non-paper Tiger Four experts look at effective and economical management of the format, balanced against users' demands for better desktop access. "Electronic Journals: Facts, Fallacies & Frustrations," later the same day, is billed as a Town Hall meeting discussion, between librarians and vendors, of complex pricing models, convoluted license agreements, archive ownership, and remote access.

Customer Relationship Management Learn how CRM is used as a tool to build customer loyalty, identify critical success factors, and enhance the library's contribution to organizational goals and objectives.

1:30–3 p.m.

Wearable Technology, Mobile Technology Staff of the MIT Media Laboratory will discuss the latest developments in the field.

Social Engineering for Information Professionals Jane Dysart and Richard Hulser talk about strategies for enhancing the role of information professionals in their environments through the techniques of social engineering to connect clients and communities.

The Value of the Information Professional Information professionals who use traditional library experience in nontraditional ways will address how "value" is determined and other topics. "Career States in the Global Economy" on Wednesday afternoon offers a look at the unusual role specialized librarians can play in the information industry, comparing new challenges and opportunities to more traditional roles.

3:30–5 p.m.

Ad Lib: The Advertised Librarian This should provide some respite from the more serious programs at the conference. Positioning librarians as a "brand," the session will examine librarians as they are represented in advertising—from sex pots and information economy bumpkins to sophisticated, diverse professionals.

Training the Trainers Training is an increasingly important part of the job of the information professional. Developing an action plan, the mechanics of good training, and other issues will be hashed out.

Using Outcome Tracking To Plan Our Futures A panel of speakers will illustrate how to collect and present convincing outcomes as evidence that information services contribute to the bottom line.

7:30–9 a.m.

The World Is Changing—So Are We Janice Anderson of Access Information Associates asserts that as we face new challenges and crises, librarians need to apply creative library and information science best practices in the 21st century.

noon–1:30 p.m.

Government Information: Access Transforms Society Freedom of information, e-government, and other issues of access to information will be considered, including the decisions that are made by public sector agencies about what to offer, when, and in what format.

2–3:30 p.m.

The Challenge of Offering Services Globally This overview examines how law firms are doing reference, web service, and human resources in a global environment. A similar session in the same time slot, "Distance Services: Libraries Without Walls," presents the academic perspective. Advertising agency librarians plan to cover comparable issues on Tuesday from 1:30–3 p.m.

4–5:30 p.m.

Advocacy—Pay, Status, Skills, and Competencies Results of a survey of pay and status of information professionals in the UK will be presented, and the question, "What can and should professional associations do to improve the working situations of their members?" will be explored.