Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2000 18:15:07 -0500 (EST)
From: Barbara Semonche
To: Susan Dimattia ,
Bill Fisher ,
Christy Confetti Higgins ,
Marty McDonald ,
Barbara Semonche
Subject: SLA Task Force on Membership
Greetings and salutations!
Welcome to our group. Susan DiMattia tells me that more will
joining us and I'm eager to have them on board so we can get started ASAP.
Note that I've got Susan down as our Task Force Board proctor, but I'm not
certain that's correct. I do know that word on who will be our Staff
Liaison should be forthcoming soon. Christine Kennedy was our
Association's director of membership until she left sometime in January of
this year. I believe that Linda Broussard took over many of Christine's
membership responsibilities, but I'm not certain. We'll need to get a
clearer grasp of the status of this position.
I've taken the material Susan sent me about the Task Force charge,
background and goals and posted them on a web site for our perusal. The
URL is: It may
become the basis of a working document as time passes. Please let me know
what you think of it, especially what needs to be edited, omitted or
added.
I will be at the Philadelphia conference arriving Sunday, June 11
and departing June 16. I'll be staying at the Park Hyatt. All our
schedules will be busy, but perhaps we can find a time and place to meet
and exchange some ideas. Bear in mind that the SLA Board is expecting a
proposal (with financial implications of our recommendations) from our
Task Force at **this June annual meeting**. Let's become familiar with our
charge, draft our ideas, exchange them via email and then get together
over a conference call *before* the June conference. By my count we have
about two months to get organized. Undoubtedly this assignment will have
to be parsed among us and later gathered together into a meaningful
document for the Board to take action.
More to come. Best regards,
Barbara P. Semonche, Library Dir. Email: semonch@metalab.unc.edu
UNC-CH School of Journ. and Mass Comm Phone: (919) 843-8300
Carroll Hall, CB# 3365 FAX: (919) 962-0620
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3365 USA Semonche's web site:
http://metalab.unc.edu/journalism/welcome.html
*****************************************
Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2000 16:08:16 -0800
From: fisher@sjsu.edu
Greetings to my favorite Tarheel!! In the midst of basketball fever
there, I'm glad to hear from you. I'll look over the material on the web
and get started. We have spring break next week so it will be
(hopefully) a good time to get going on this kind of project. Also, I
wanted to let you know that I will be getting into Philly Thursday
evening (the 8th) so I can be at the early Board meetings, so if there is
anything we need to "present" I will be available.
Much more later!!
Best regards,
Bill
***************************************
Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2000 08:11:31 -0500
From: Marty Mcdonald
Barbara,
Thanks for your message and the explanatory material concerning the SLA
Task Force charge. I think the Web site you have established will be a
useful forum for creating a document. As we get into things further, I'm
sure I will have questions.
I have been a member of SLA for over 10 years, but my involvement has been
limited to the Cincinnati Chapter. Since I am the director of a
multi-type library consortium that extends into two states, my job
requires me to belong to several library-related associations. Until now,
most of my national activities have been focused on ALA. (I have been a
section chair, etc.) I am seriously considering attending the national
SLA conference for the first time this year, so it is very possible that I
will be able to attend a meeting if we decide to schedule one in
Philadelphia.
Thanks again for the work you have done on the Web site.
Marty
Marty McDonald
Executive Director
Greater Cincinnati Library Consortium
2181 Victory Parkway, Suite #214
Cincinnati, OH 45206-2855
**********************************************
Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2000 06:59:00 -0800 (PST)
From: Christy Confetti
Hi Barbara -
Thanks for creating the website outlining the goals of the task force.
I certainly believe this will be a good way to keep everyone on the same
page as we move forward. :)
I look forward to getting into discussions around these topics via
conference calls and email. I am not certain that I will be at the
annual meeting in June as of yet but will keep you posted.
Thanks again -
P.S. My contact information on the website is mostly correct. The phone
number should be 408-276-3316 and my email is christy.confetti@sun.com
(no "corp"). Thanks!!
******************************************
Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2000 12:07:31 -0500 (EST)
From: Barbara Semonche
Subject: Membership Task Force: Next Steps
Greetings:
Thank you, Bill, Christy, and Marty for your speedy responses.
They are most helpful. Christy, I appreciate your diplomatic response to
my typos. I've corrected the errors on the web site. Folks, you'll have to
watch me with these edits; I can get into a fast forward mode and forget
to do proper editing.
BTW, I've created a link to these messages (and what I hope will
be an archive of future messages from us on this task force) on our web
site. I think that this method should encourage the development of a
digital version of a "paper trail" for our communications. You can click
on the link at:
http://metalab.unc.edu/journalism/slataskforce.html
I hope that I'll be able to keep current as the messages start to flow
faster. However, if, for any reason, any of you would prefer *not* to have
your messages "archived" please let me know.
As soon as we are up to our full complement of Task Force members,
I'll start an electronic mailing list. I can do that on our UNC-CH campus
server (MetaLab) very easily.
More to come. Best regards,
Barbara P. Semonche, Library Dir. email: semonch@metalab.unc.edu
UNC-CH School of Journ. and Mass Comm Phone: (919) 843-8300
Carroll Hall, CB# 3365 FAX: (919) 962-0620
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3365 USA Semonche's web site:
http://metalab.unc.edu/journalism/welcome.html
******************************************
Date: Fri, 31 Mar 2000 17:11:30 -0500
From: Donna Scheeder
Subject: Fwd: Membership idea
Hi Barbara!
What great timing getting this message as I received a very
interestingsuggestion from Barbara Perry that I am forwrding to you and
your committee.
I second what Susan has said about not feeling you have to
finish all of your work by June. Instead, you might want to break this up
in chunks with an informal workplan with some projected dates for each
item.
I am really happy that you are on the team and I feel confident
that you will do a great job as always. Talk to you soon.
Donna Scheeder
**************
Date: Fri, 31 Mar 2000 09:44:05 -0500
From: "Perry, Barbara"
To: "'dscheeder@crs.loc.gov'" ,
"'david-b@sla.org'"
Subject: Membership idea
Donna and David,
Hope this message finds you well and enjoying this gorgeous spring
weather.
I wanted to pass along an idea to you as information and perhaps,
if you think appropriate, for further consideration at SLA.
I am a member of the Internet Society. I received their latest
membership flier yesterday. In addition to the membership categories the
Society has traditionally maintained, there are two new categories:
E-Member and E-Plus Member. These memberships entitle individuals to
access to electronic publications and full voting rights (which can be
done electronically as well) only. E-Membership is "available exclusively
to individuals residing in the nations identified at
http://www.isoc.org./membership.countries.html
The cost of E-Membership is $5 annually whereas regular membership is $35.
This seems like a very interesting way to include international
members in SLA without very much cost to either the individuals or SLA.
Similar to the Internet Society, it's likely that many information
professionals throughout the world (prime SLA candidates) have Internet
access. What a great way to involve our worldwide community of practice
in SLA activities.
I also remember from earlier attempts to increase global
membership that SLA members in Europe complained to me that receipt of
publications was much delayed due to "snailmail". Access to content on
the web would eliminate this problem.
Also, you might note that it is possible to be an "E-member
Sponsor" by donating $10 a year to sponsor 2 e-members who otherwise might
not be able to afford the $5.
Finally, the Internet Society is located in Reston. This might
facilitate discussion between SLA and the Society on the technology
involved in this arrangement.
I think there's LOTS of potential here. How do we go about
getting this on the SLA agenda?
Barbara Perry
World Bank, International Monetary Fund
Joint Bank-Fund Library
Washington, DC 20431
Phone: (202) 339-0128
Fax: (202) 623-9109
Email: bperry@imf.org
************************************************
"Dimattia, Susan (Cahners-NYC)"
To: "'Semonche, Barbara'"
Cc: "'Abram, Stephen'" ,
"'Newcomb, Doug'" ,
"'Scheeder, Donna'" ,
"'Berard, Lynn'" lberard@andrew.cmu.edu
Barbara, I'm delighted to see that your group is underway and
getting acquainted. I have a final list of members for you, along with a
few basic guidelines.
Your Board liaison is Lynn Berard (Tinsley) at Carnegie Mellon U.
Her contact information is 412-268-2428; e-mail lberard@andrew.cmu.edu.
Your staff liaison is Jeff DeCagna, SLA's new director of strategic
learning. He is jeff@sla.org and 202-939-3667.
The final member of your team is Tom Rink, at the Tulsa Police
Department (he is very nontraditional, as our members go.) He can be
reached at 918-591-4528, e-mail trink@ci.tulsa.ok.us.
Finally, would you please add Donna Scheeder and Stephen Abram to
your distribution list, in addition to including me as you already have. I
know that seems like alot of "lurkers," but we do guarantee to listen
only. Stephen's role will be to listen to all of the task force
deliberations and make suggestions to the chairs, off line, when there
seem to be common areas of interest and conversation among the task
forces. In addition to talking among yourselves, we want all five task
forces to talk to each other as appropriate, in order to make the final
results a "package deal."
I know you already have the attachment, with the charge and
background, but I thought I would send you the package, now that it is
complete. Because I am late in completing the task force rosters, I know
it puts pressure on all of you to come up with a report by the June Board
meetings. Please understand that the Board will be happy with an interim
report if necessary.
What is important here is for all of us to begin the process and begin
discovering the directions we should take. It can't, and shouldn't be done
overnight.
If there is anything I can do to help, at any time, don't hesitate
to call on me.
Susan DiMattia
******************************************
Date: Tue, 04 Apr 2000 11:40:34 -0500
From: Tom Rink
To: lberard@andrew.cmu.edu, cwilliams@bcsc.bc.ca, sdiamattia@cahners.com,
dscheeder@crs.loc.gov, tgc@lanl.gov, semonch@metalab.unc.edu,
sabram@micromedia.on.ca, mcdon@one.net, fisher@sjsu.edu,
doug@sla.org,
christy.confetti@sun.com
Cc: john@sla.org
Subject: Re: SLA Membership Task Force Update
Could you please update my fax number listing:
(918) 699-3716
Thanks.
Officer Tom Rink
Tulsa Police Department
Training and Development Division
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2000 12:37:46 -0400 (EDT)
From: Barbara Semonche
To: SLA Membership Task Force -- Barbara Semonche
,
Bill Fisher , Carol Williams ,
Christy Confetti Higgs ,
Donna Scheeder , Doug Newcomb ,
Lynn Berard , Marty McDonald ,
Stephen Abram ,
Susan DiMattia ,
Theresa Connaughton , Thomas Rink
Cc: John Latham
Subject: SLA Membership Task Force Update
Greetings:
Some information will be coming your way shortly.
1. From our Task Force Proctor, Lynn Berard:
Lynn will be faxing each of you the report format our Task Force
will be using when we make our formal report to the SLA Board in June. I
thought you all should know what format our report should follow. BTW,
this report format is not on the SLA web site, hence the need to fax. Our
fax # are at this URL
http://metalab.unc.edu/journalism/slataskforce.html
2. From our Task Force Staff Liaison, Doug Newcomb:
Soon Doug will be faxing you all current and retrospective
membership reports (in spreadsheet format with percent change data) for
our various groups: Chapters, Divisions, caucuses, and students. This is
just for your background information. Doug, note the URL above for fax
numbers.
3. From SLA Information Center Director, John Latham:
Mailing you all as much background information as possible on
previous membership surveys and reports to the SLA Board. John, please
see the URL listed above for addresses for the Task Force.
BTW, John also alerted me to the following web sites for
additional background information:
http://www.sla.org/membership/
http://www.sla.org/research/super.html
Please take time to get familiar with the data included in these
URLs.
MISCELLANEOUS INFO
1. Bill Fisher has agreed to attend the SLA Board sessions in Philadelphia
in order to present our Task Force Report. Ordinarily that assignment
would be my responsibility, but since I won't be in Philly until Sunday,
June 11 (after the Board meetings), Bill has graciously offered to take
over.
2. I will be contacting you individually by phone within the next week or
two to get your ideas about our Task Force goals. I will also be making
some specific assignments for each one of you. Remember that our job is
not to produce some historical document about SLA membership; our primary
charge is to:
-- prepare a membership definition,
-- create a virtual member category for a trial audience,
-- redesign the student category to attempt to offer SLA virtual
membership to all qualified students at no charge,
-- design a flexible plan to allow all members to choose member
services.
And to fulfill this charge, our Task Force needs to:
-- think creatively about SLA's future,
-- consider the effects of change (professional, societal,
cultural, and technical) on our Association's membership,
-- discover ways we can focus our talents and energies on
attracting new members and retaining the ones we have.
[Note: the complete charge, with specific goals, is at this URL:
http://metalab.unc.edu/journalism/slataskforce.html ]
3. Observations from other SLA members on our Association's membership:
DOTTIE MOON (in a Jan. 1999 speech as a candidate for SLA)
".... I'm one of the members that SLA must work to keep. I'm still
highly information-based in my job, but I have moved outside the "library"
so prominent in our Association's name and marketing. I have been actively
involved in association efforts for years, but there must be a broadening
of SLA's methodologies if I'm to continue justifying this involvement to
my corporate management...."
JUANITA RICHARDSON (in a Jan. 1999 speech as a candidate for Chap. Cab.)
"....We are competing for attention and dollars with newer
associations and other special interest groups. Two examples: SCIP and
Webgrrls. Webgrrls was founded in New York in 1995. They already have 1500
members in Canada - most of whom are located in Toronto. The Toronto
Chapter of SLA - one of the larger chapters in our association - has fewer
than 700 members. And we've been around for a lot longer than Webgrrls.
SCIP has enjoyed the same phenomenon with new chapters popping up all over
the place. We know that some of our members have joined these groups. I'm
a member of SCIP and am also considering joining Webgrrls. We need to ask
ourselves: What are these associations offering our members? What needs
are they responding to? And should we be trying to serve these needs?...."
OTHER MEMBERS' REACTIONS?
[Note: this is an invitation, no, encouragement for you all to
consult with SLA members close to you, in your Chapter or Division or
Caucus, about the goals of this Task Force. We do *not* have to do all the
thinking ourselves. Seek advice. Bring it to us. Let's compare notes.]
REMINDERS
-- Please contact me about your plans to attend the SLA conference
in Philly. Perhaps we can find a mutually convenient time to meet
face-to-face over the libation of choice . BTW, I'll be arriving on
Sunday, June 11 and will be staying at the Park Hyatt.
-- If any of you have personal web pages, would you be willing to
share the URLs with me? I'd like to put them on our web site so we can get
at least virtual glimpses of who we are and what we do.
-- The thread of our email messages are being archived at this
URL:
http://metalab.unc.edu/journalism/taskforcethread.html
Please review it as necessary.
Please keep in touch. Best regards,
Barbara P. Semonche, Library Dir. email: semonch@metalab.unc.edu
UNC-CH School of Journ. and Mass Comm Phone: (919) 843-8300
Carroll Hall, CB# 3365 FAX: (919) 962-0620
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3365 USA Semonche's web site:
http://metalab.unc.edu/journalism/welcome.html
******************************************