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B O A R D D O C U M E N T
TO: Board of Directors
FROM: Membership Taskforce
DATE: April 27, 2001
RE: Membership Taskforce Final Report
Recommendation: That the Board of Directors receives the final report of
the Membership Taskforce and accepts the recommendations that follow.
Background Information: The membership taskforce was given four charges:
(1) Prepare a Membership Definition; (2) Create a Virtual Member Category
for a Trial Audience; (3) Redesign the Student Category to Attempt to
Offer SLA Virtual Membership to All Qualified Students at No Charge; and
(4) Design a Flexible Plan to Allow All Members to Choose Member Services.
The taskforce has spent a great deal of time and effort in fulfilling its
charge. Numerous scenarios have been explored and vetted. Detailed
information for all of the background work completed in getting to this
point can be found at www.ibiblio.org/journalism/slataskmem.html. The
Appendices referenced in this Document are intended to serve as background
and in some instances to give the detail necessary for definition and
understanding of the issues. Specific recommendations are found below.
1. Prepare a Membership Definition: [see Appendix A].
Recommendation: Refer to staff to finalize a membership definition once
the results of the re-branding effort have been received.
Financial Impact Statement: If the Board agrees with our recommendation,
this charge will be funded as part of the consultant fee paid to Source,
Inc.
2. Create a Virtual Member Category for a Trial Audience: [See Appendix
B].
Recommendation: That the Board choose one or more of these options to be
the Trial Audience(s), then refers any dues structure issues to the
Finance Committee, and refers programming issues to staff to bring the
Virtual Member Category online as soon as possible.
Financial Impact Statement: While there may be loss of dues attributed to
those current members who opt for a reduced-fee Virtual Membership, there
may also be an increase in dues revenue by those new members who would not
have normally paid the regular member dues. This issue will need to be
analyzed and addressed by the financial officer.
3. Redesign the Student Category to Attempt to Offer SLA Virtual
Membership to All Qualified Students at No Charge: [see Appendix C].
Recommendation: A redesign of the student category is not recommended due
to practical considerations. However, it is recommended that input from
the Student and Academic Relations Committee be sought for value-added
services/benefits aimed directly at students.
Financial Impact Statement: Zero impact. Finances will remain the same.
4. Design a Flexible Plan to Allow All Members to Choose Member Services:
[See Appendix D].
Recommendation: Refer to staff and to the Finance Committee to examine the
feasibility of the 3-tiered approach described in Appendix D for flexible
member services.
Financial Impact Statement: If the Board decides to pursue any
"cafeteria-style" plan for member services, the financial impact would be
significant and would require review by the financial officer.
During the course of this taskforce, the brainstorming never truly ceased.
As a result, concepts/ideas continue to be discovered, even as we prepare
this final document. Some of these ideas fall outside our original
charges; some are peripheral. Rather than get bogged down attempting to
address each and every one of these evolving concepts, we've presented
them as "food for thought" in Appendix E.
Prepared by: Membership Taskforce
Reviewed by: Membership Taskforce
Produced by: Tom Rink, Chair
Taskforce Members:
Terri Brooks
Theresa Connaughton
Bill Fisher, Interim Chair
Christy Confetti Higgins
Mala Sistla
Carol Williams
Former Members:
Marty McDonald
Barbara Semonche, Original Chair
APPENDIX A
CHARGE I. DRAFT DEFINITIONS OF SLA MEMBERSHIP
While the taskforce has devised three possible membership definitions, it
recognizes that the selection of a definitive definition is premature at
this time. The Branding Taskforce, through Source, Inc., is seeking said
definition through its survey and analysis of the current and potential
membership. To bypass the efforts of that group would be a premature and
ineffective use of resources.
DEFINITION #1:
It is this Task Force recommendation that SLA membership be defined as
· any person embracing the vision, values, and mission of our Association
as stated in "The Visionary Framework for the Future", and
· who further subscribes to the professional and personal competencies of
information professionals as stated in the Association's "Competencies for
Special Librarians of the 21st Century", and
· who follows the fundamentals of ethical professional conduct
be accepted as a qualified member entitled to all the privileges of
membership upon receipt of the designated membership dues.
DEFINITION #2:
It is this Task Force recommendation that SLA membership be defined as
· an individual who is a trained/educated practitioner/professional
dedicated to the delivery/fulfillment of the information requirements for
a specialized clientele OR an individual who is a trained/educated
practitioner/professional dedicated to
delivering/fulfilling/providing/satisfying the information requirements
for a specialized clientele
· who embraces the vision, values, and mission of our Association as
stated in "The Visionary Framework for the Future", and
· who further subscribes to the professional and personal competencies of
information professionals as stated in the Association's "Competencies for
Special Librarians of the 21st Century", and
· who follows the fundamentals of ethical professional conduct
be accepted as a qualified member entitled to all the privileges of
membership upon receipt of the designated membership dues.
DEFINITION #3:
It is this Task Force recommendation that SLA membership be defined as
· open to professionals committed to the fulfillment of information
requirements for a specialized clientele, and
· who subscribe to the Association's professional and personal
competencies for information professionals.
Appendix B
CHARGE II. CREATE A VIRTUAL MEMBER CATEGORY
FOR A TRIAL AUDIENCE
The Virtual Category was originally thought of not in terms of
cost-savings to the individual member, but rather as in bringing
additional members into the association. The taskforce considered a few
different categories of members for this trial audience: 1) non-North
American members, 2) members in developing countries, 3) student members,
and 4) members with no chapter affiliation.
· For the international members (categories 1 and 2 and a subset of 4) the
biggest advantage would be the availability of the print resources more
quickly and economically via web site access. Another possible advantage
would be the ability to network more easily with geographically dispersed
members. For this audience a reduction in the cost of membership might be
feasible as we feel that the combination of virtual access and lower cost
would result in more members overall, if there are ways for the
Association to advertise this option to the worldwide, non-North American
audience. Any international member could choose the Virtual Category, but
only those willing to have virtual access only (to publications) would get
the reduced dues option.
· There would be two big advantages for student members: access to
enhanced programming (web-based) specially designed for them, and
networking opportunities with students from other schools facilitated by
the Association through SLA-sponsored discussion lists, chat rooms, etc.
With the already favorable, low dues structure we do not recommend a
further reduction. (See also, Charge 3 below.)
· For the members with no chapter affiliation, choosing the Virtual
Chapter option would give them valuable networking opportunities. No
reduced dues structure is recommended.
APPENDIX C
CHARGE III. REDESIGNED STUDENT CATEGORY
The taskforce did not feel that this is a financially or strategically
feasible solution. The student membership dues are purposely held to a
relatively low amount ($35). Free student membership at the current
student membership count would cost the Association $70,000 in income,
requiring a $7 increase in regular member dues to compensate for this
loss. Studies show that when something is free there is little to no
perceived value. There would be minimal guarantee that the students would
become regular members upon graduation. In addition, the taskforce feels
that the Association should concentrate greater strategic efforts in
reaching a larger percentage of the students. (Currently there are about
12,000 students - 10% of them are student members.) Given the fact that
library schools have little focus on special librarianship, the
Association should create a cost-effective professional development or
learning track geared specifically toward students. This would make the
$35 investment more attractive and valuable. As well, there should be a
greater propensity to remain in the special librarianship field given the
expanded exposure to and knowledge of such.
EARLY MUSINGS: MOST OF THESE OPTIONS HAVE BEEN REJECTED AS BEING
IMPRACTICAL.
· Students represent a huge market; there are approximately 12,000
students, and only about 1,200 are SLA student members.
· A student membership is currently only for 3 years. (Many students are
part-time and take longer than 3 years to complete their degrees.)
· Students should have "full" membership benefits.
· Offer the "virtual" option to student members at a reduced rate. All
taskforce members were in agreement that a student membership, virtual or
otherwise, should cost something.
· Create/rename the category:
· New Member
· Reduced rate (but increases progressively) for a 2-4 year period.
· Member can choose "full" or "virtual" delivery.
· Member can commit to a four-year membership in advance (guarantee with a
credit card). Or,
· Offer the first year FREE (for virtual delivery only), if the member
commits to three additional years of membership (at a reduced rate).
· New Librarian (is using the "L" word too restrictive to the membership
base?)
· Covers students or members during their first couple of years in the
profession.
· Student virtual membership
· First year free, but the student must actively "sign-up" to receive
membership.
· Renew as a "new" member for an additional 3 years at a reduced rate.
· Build the student category to be more inclusive (partner with other
organizations or related degree programs, etc.).
APPENDIX D
CHARGE IV. FLEXIBLE PLAN - MEMBERS CHOOSE SERVICES
Having been through numerous scenarios to develop the "cafeteria style"
membership, the taskforce finds the prospects too cumbersome. The
taskforce's opinion concurs with the Finance Committee's findings of 1989
and 1994-5 of the overall process being too cumbersome. Instead of
attempting to deliver myriad products and services that end up costing
every member, the Association should focus only on those products and
services that the members need and value. Perhaps this is also an issue
for the Simplification Taskforce to look into. The Membership Super
Survey currently being conducted should help to define the relevant
products and services. However, this is not to say that there are not
other scenarios to explore.
· One such scenario is the delivery of services to developing countries
through a federation style membership fee to organized groups.
· Another scenario: the three-tier approach
You would have 3 tiers or categories for "regular" (not students, retired,
or virtual) members: (any of these labels-basic, standard, premium-can be
changed)
Basic: (for a reduced membership fee) identify a handful of services and
products, most of them electronic with just enough paper to distinguish
these members from virtual members (including access to SLA lists and such
is this is still an issue);
Standard: this is basically the regular membership category as it is
today;
Premium: this provides a set of value-added services/products for a
higher membership fee. This could include reduced registration at the
conference or for CE courses, tours, the Gala (maybe even include a Gala
ticket), bigger discounts on SLA products and/or satellite transmitted
programs, extra services from the IRC, etc. (Note: this would probably
need to go through our legal counsel so we don't "give" anything away that
would jeopardize our non-profit status.)
APPENDIX E
OTHER MEMBERSHIP CONSIDERATIONS (BRAINSTORMING)
· How are we going to increase and retain our membership numbers?
· Reduced dues structure for "developing" countries (non-North American).
· Extend reduced dues structure to non-profit associations?
· Sliding fee scale based upon salary (too difficult to administer?).
· Vendors or information professionals in new/emerging fields who feel
unrepresented by our current programming.
· Students/newcomers to the field.
· Retired/retiring members.
· Non-North American.
· Tap into/seek input from the Information Futurists and Librarians in
Non-Traditional Careers caucuses.
· Group membership category for those special libraries with x number of
people working at the same location. (One possible analogy: similar to
buying a site license to deliver some information service-you can buy one
license for one price and then for an additional cost add x number of
users, but the additional cost is less than adding individual site
licenses one at a time.)
· One person belongs to SLA, another belongs to ASIST, a third to some
other group-the whole idea being the member shares his/her benefits with
the others. For some fee ($400, for example) the group would get one
regular membership receiving all the benefits of any current member and
then also get x number of virtual members who would only receive virtual
benefits.
· Is group membership transferable among employees?
· This would help increase our overall membership count and provide SLA
with marketing opportunities to x members rather than just one.
· About half of SLA income comes from non-dues revenue and this is one way
to potentially increase that non-dues revenue stream.
· Deposit account approach. In effect, allow members to create a deposit
account at the time they renew their membership and pay dues. If at the
time you pay dues, you know that you will attend the annual conference,
take one CE course, buy one or two SLA publications, attend one satellite
transmitted program, etc., you could pay for these product/services "up
front" bundling them into your membership dues and potentially sending SLA
just one check (or credit card number) for the entire year.
· Benefits to the member:
· If you can bundle all of these other charges into your dues and your
organization is paying your dues, you get an invoice for dues in that
amount. You only have to make one request for funding.
· The deposit is made in the member's name, so even if they happen to get
"downsized" or the like, his/her conference fees have already been paid.
· Benefits to SLA:
· Has the money "up front" drawing interest. If the cost of something is
underestimated, SLA may still break even because the money has been
earning interest.
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