"Special Libraries" Name a Burden, So SLA Considers Name Change

Research process suggests need to respond to marketplace concepts

Lynn Blumenstein -- Library Journal, 7/2/2009

• Two-year research effort concludes
• Need for "marketplace" language
• New vision and mission statements drafted

The Special Libraries Association, which six years ago began doing business simply as SLA, is again considering changing its name. "As SLA enters its second century, it is clear that we are burdened with a name that not only causes confusion but also fails to capture the aspirations of our members," CEO Janice Lachance wrote in June's Executive Connection column.

The SLA Alignment Project, the two-year study that helped redefine the association’s "positioning in the marketplace," has reached that conclusion, simultaneously with the 100th anniversary of SLA’s inception on July 2, 1909.

The board will hold a teleconference on July 9 to review specific plans to accomplish the name change. Plans include "a special web portal that will present the alignment findings in a useful, straightforward way and possible appointment of alignment ambassadors to present findings to our chapters and divisions," said Lachance in a statement to LJ. "When the Board is satisfied that members are informed, it will recommend a new name for member vote. There is no specific timetable."

Need for a name change
"When SLA undertook the Alignment Project more than two years ago," Lachance wrote, "a name change was not in our plans. However, the research has made it abundantly clear that we must consider one." 

The terms "special library" and "special librarian" were the lowest-ranking concepts tested, she noted.

An effort was made in 2003 to change the name of the Special Libraries Association, but a two-thirds majority could not be mustered. The choices at the annual meeting were SLA (a simple acronym) and Information Professionals International. Six months later, the SLA board voted to "brand" the association as SLA, keeping the full legal name but adopting the acronym under the "doing business as" (d.b.a.) device.

Language matters
Based on research results garnered from the efforts of Fleishman Hillard, together with existing data from Outsell and SLA, SLA has drafted revised positioning, vision (internal use), and mission (external use) statements as well as its core professional values and key messages.

Among the findings was a recommendation to use "language that the marketplace recognizes," including the following shifts:

Acquisitions → Purchases
Collection Development → Selection
Cataloging → Organization
Taxonomy and Metadata → Classification
Reference → Customer Assistance
Library Instruction → Teaching/Training
Online searching → Research
Information Analysis → Market Intelligence

Dial testing
The final research exercise, dial testing, took place the Washington, DC, area and in Toronto, with groups made up of both corporate executives and information professionals. 

Using findings from the earlier phases of research, audience members were shown taped sessions with SLA leaders using new and current language. They used dials to indicate how positive or negative they felt about what the person on tape was saying.

More findings
Among the key findings: "promote unique, value-driven" aspects of profession; don’t defend or be negative. "Knowledge" is an important concept; it "is the bridge between information and action." 

Executives want to know how that information will "create competitive advantage" and "benefit the bottom line." Also, users rated higher the following services than did info pros: providing competitive intelligence, managing internal content, and integrating content into work processes.