SLA Membership Taskforce Report

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REPORT OF THE MEMBERSHIP TASKFORCE
SLA WINTER MEETING 2001
Savannah, Georgia, January 25-27, 2001

Taskforce Members:

• Terri Brooks
• Theresa Connaughton
• Bill Fisher
• Christy Confetti Higgins
• Carol Williams
• Tom Rink, Chair
• Lynn Berard, SLA Board Proctor
• Doug Newcomb, SLA Staff Liaison
• Stephen Abram, SLA Taskforces’ Monitor
• Donna Scheeder, SLA Taskforces’ Monitor
• Susan Dimattia, SLA Taskforces’ Monitor

Our Charges

SLA membership carries a collection of definitions; some are published and official (as defined in SLA bylaws) while others tend to represent personal perspectives and are largely anecdotal but may be strongly held.

According to SLA bylaws, the type of membership determines

§ the amount of dues charged,
§ whether election to Association-level office is permitted,
§ how many Divisions or Chapters can be included in the base membership price,
§ and whether the premier journal is included free.

No mention is made about distribution of other Association publications such as the Who’s Who Membership directory and the annual conference programs (preliminary and final).

Students, retirees, honorees are readily identifiable and undisputed categories of membership. No mention is made of unemployed members or vendors who may or may not have MLS degrees.

There are no membership categories for part-time or unemployed SLA members.

There is no current category for "virtual" members who might be expected to receive membership at a discounted rate if most, if not all, of these "e-members" agreed to forego print distribution of publications and accept digital versions from SLA’s web site.

While we have international members, they are largely in North America and northern Europe, and they must pay dues in U.S. dollars, a troublesome inconvenience at best and perhaps a greater deterrent to our total membership growth. There is no membership category as such for international members of lour Association.

The basic requirements for SLA membership (as stated in our bylaws) seem to be in the acceptance of the mission of our Association and experience in special libraries or information centers, not necessarily having a MLS degree.

Keeping all these elements in mind, our Membership Task Force has crafted draft definitions of SLA membership.

 

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 21^st 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/pro-fessional dedicated to delivering/fulfilling/providing/satisfying the infor-mation 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 21^st Century", and
· who follows the fundamentals of ethical professional conductbe 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.

 

CHARGE III. REDESIGNED STUDENT CATEGORY

Task Force Musings:

Students represent a huge market; there are approximately 12,000 students, only about 1,200 are SLA Student members.

A Student membership is currently only for 2 years (many students are part-time and take longer than 2 years to complete their programs).

Student should have "full" membership benefits.

Offer the "virtual" option to student members at reduced rate (all task force members agree that student membership, virtual or otherwise, should cost something).

Create a new category (or change the student category): New Member

offer a reduced rate for 2-4 years (progressive rate?)

for a trial period

member chooses "full" or "virtual" delivery

commit to a four-year membership in advance (credit card guarantee), or,

offer first year free for virtual delivery

commit to three additional years at reduced rate (student/new member category), or,

Create a new category (or change the student category): New Librarian (restricting the membership base?) which could cover students and members in the first two years in the profession; or

Student Virtual Member

first year is free, but the student has to actively "sign-up" to get it;

then, can join as a new member for 3 years at a reduced rate.

Build the student category to be more inclusive (partner with other organizations or related degree programs, etc.).

 

CHARGE IV. FLEXIBLE PLAN – MEMBERS CHOOSE SERVICES

Task Force Musings:

Original member benefits table: (see next page)

utilized existing benefits

provided more detail than the Board really needs; too complicated; should not concern ourselves with the detailed cost.

We should be thinking beyond this to what other kinds of benefits we could offer members.

Reduced dues structure for "developing" countries (non-North America)?

Sliding fee scale based upon salary (too difficult to administer?)

Cost is still a factor for North American members (current as well as potential).

What groups have we not considered?

Vendors? Full member (individual, not required to be a librarian—support the goals of the association) vs. Sustaining member (organizational).

 

 

The intent of the "virtual" category is to provide virtual access to the association. No more, no less. Because of this, the number of association benefits is very limited (within this category).
By paying the annual dues for any of the categories, the member is entitled to all of the highlighted benefits. The cost of any non-highlighted benefit would be in addition to the annual dues
In lieu of paying the annual dues, a member may elect the specific association benefit(s) that they desire to have and pay the amount accordingly.

Form of Membership	Member	Part-Time/Unemployed	Student	Retired	Sustaining	Virtual
Benefit Annual Dues	$150.00	$75.00	$50.00	$50.00	$500.00	$75.00
Information Outlook subscription (print)	$35.00	$25.00	$20.00	$20.00	$75.00	N/A
Division affiliation – 1 at no charge (w/ annual dues)	$20.00	$15.00	$10.00	$10.00	$50.00	$20.00
Additional Division affiliation	$10.00	$10.00	$5.00	$5.00	$25.00	$10.00
Chapter affiliation – 1 at no charge (w/ annual dues)	$20.00	$15.00	$10.00	$10.00	$50.00	$20.00
Additional Chapter affiliations	$10.00	$10.00	$5.00	$5.00	$25.00	$10.00
Caucus affiliation (per caucus)	$12.00	$9.00	$6.00	$6.00	$25.00	$12.00
Each Division newsletter & directory (print)	$20.00	$10.00	$5.00	$5.00	$50.00	N/A
Each Chapter newsletter & directory (print)	$20.00	$10.00	$5.00	$5.00	$50.00	N/A
Annual membership directory (print)	$75.00	$50.00	$37.50	$37.50	$150.00	N/A
Preliminary conference program (print)	$35.00	$20.00	$10.00	$10.00	$50.00	N/A
Access to "Members Only"	$50.00	$35.00	$25.00	$25.00	$150.00	$50.00
CE courses discounted registration	$15.00 (10%)	$10.00 (10%)	$5.00 (25%)	$5.00 (25%)	$50.00 (10%)	$15.00 (10%)
Annual conference discounted registration	$15.00 (50%)	$10.00 (50%)	$5.00 (50%)	$5.00 (50%)	$50.00 (50%)	N/A
Books discount (50%)	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	$50.00	N/A
Books discount (25%)	$20.00	$10.00	$5.00	$5.00	$25.00	N/A
Group insurance, term life, etc.	$20.00	$10.00	$5.00	$5.00	$50.00	N/A
Product discounts	$20.00	$10.00	$5.00	$5.00	$50.00	N/A
Employment clearinghouse – position wanted	$20.00	$10.00	$5.00	$5.00	N/A	N/A
Employment clearinghouse – position open	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	$50.00	N/A
Online job search – position open listing	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	$50.00	N/A
Career advisory service	$20.00	$10.00	$5.00	$5.00	$50.00	N/A
Consultation service	$20.00	$10.00	$5.00	$5.00	$50.00	N/A
Information resource center	$20.00	$10.00	$5.00	$5.00	$50.00	N/A

 

 

TASK FORCE MEMBER INSIGHTS

Terri Brooks (Investment Company Inst., Library Services):

" Here’s my rationale for this "preamble’ (referring to definition #2) . . . It says that the person has studied and continues to learn (could be formal education or on-the-job training and continuing education through SLA and elsewhere) to provide some aspect of this specialized information requirement. (It does not say what specifically they studied or whether they earned a degree, or how they acquired their knowledge.) This includes the Librarian in a ‘traditional’ role and the Information Broker and the vendors and others who partner with us in support of the fulfillment of information requirements. I feel that it broadens the definition of membership to be more inclusive, which would seem important at this time when we are losing members and would like to reach out to extend and expand our membership base. Dedicated, information, specialized – all seem like key concepts that differentiate and embrace our Association . . . "

Tom Rink (Officer with the Tulsa Police Department):

". . . . The Special Libraries Association membership is comprised of information professionals in specialized library or information center settings who offer creative and innovative solutions to the dynamic informational needs of their highly specialized clientele using both traditional methods as well as cutting-edge technologies to accomplish this objective. . . . "

Carol Williams (BC Securities Commission):

". . . . The Association must make greater inroads with students by demonstrating the nature of special librarianship and the value of SLA membership. . . . Not only should we be looking at what SLA can offer each group but also look at what we are offering - are they the right 'products' - i.e. step back and look at this from a marketing perspective. That is, break down each 'category' into a Marketing Matrix and find out what the interests/needs of each group are: focus groups, online survey, whatever. We may find out they don't want some of the current offerings and would prefer ones we have not thought of yet. . . . "

Bill Fisher (San Jose State University)

". . . . One possible way to differentiate our membership is to have three categories of regular members:

Category I – fewer than five years experience working in an information environment related to the Association and its mission.

Category II – no fewer than five years and no more than 15 years experience working in an information environment related to the Association and its mission.

Category III – no fewer than 15 years experience working in an information environment related to the Association and its mission. . . . "

Marty McDonald (Greater Cincinnati Library Consortium)

". . . . I think it might be advisable to broaden the membership description a bit more, to encompass those of us who partner with special libraries, but who may never have worked in a special library ourselves. (There are a number of us within the membership. We belong to SLA as a means of developing strong, multitype library coalitions and partnerships.) I would like to suggest that more direct reference be made to "partnering," somewhere in the description of membership and benefits. . . . "

Theresa Connaughton (Los Alamos National Laboratory: Information and Records Management)

". . . . When I worked with the Library of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N. in Rome I became aware of the great benefits of membership in SLA for many information professionals in special libraries all over the world. Most of these individuals would have a difficult time qualifying for membership under the present bylaws. Also, many of our international colleagues would never be able to pay the current annual membership fee as it would be equal to amount one month's salary for some. Therefore, I suggest that we have at least two fee structures based on country of residence. That is, members from developed countries would pay one rate, while members from developing countries would pay a lower rate. The UN maintains lists of countries by income level (developed, industrial, developing, least developed, etc.-- we can take our pick) so the membership department would not have a difficult time assessing the correct amount of dues. . . . "

"Justification: (for definition #3) . . . A single (well-written) definition can be a very powerful statement. Because it is easy to comprehend and remember it can be used to promote the Association in its various written and verbal communications. It is inclusive of any professional (defined as a person prepared for work by extended study or practice by Roget’s 21st Century Thesaurus) so that, while we are now principally composed of professional librarians, it does not exclude other educated individuals. This is a key issue for some individuals, like myself, who are not associated with libraries but continue to embrace the values of SLA. Also, it places emphasis on service and competencies, keystones of our profession . . ."