Executive Connections

"An Historic Vote for a Second Century" Guest Blog from 2009 President Gloria Zamora

Today is the beginning of an historic vote for SLA. Today we vote on a proposed new name, the Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals.  I thank all of you who have reviewed the alignment information, and I urge those who have not yet had an opportunity to do so to take a look at the alignment portal on the SLA Web site and review the information about the alignment project and the name research.

I have had an opportunity to speak with many of our members during the past two years about SLA’s alignment project.  In the past two months I have visited eight chapters to speak specifically about the name.  I have also received thousands of e-mails and have tried to be responsive to many of these.  I have listened to both those opposed and those in favor.  I am not surprised that the passions run high on both sides. 

After a recent talk on the alignment, the first question went not to me but to the corporate sponsor of the event.  The question was, how did they react to the alignment findings and the name? The first said he, “could not do his job without the help of the information professionals" who, in their company, are intentionally titled researchers and not librarians.  The other said that when he presents his strategic plan on which tradeshows his organization should allocate funds for exhibiting, he never uses Special Libraries Association, but rather “a business information show.” He does this because his employers do not understand the word ‘special’ and they are seeking a broader audience of information providers, not specifically librarians. 

One long-time member recently summed up her reason for voting yes for the Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals.  She said that when she first heard the name she was not sure about it, and maybe a little on the negative side, but after she considered the research she realized that this was not about her, and it was not about any one of us individually. It was about all of us in this profession and most importantly about the future.
 
That was a powerful observation for me.  This is not about what any of us individually call ourselves.  This association is big enough to advocate for all members and prospective members, all who use a range of diverse titles.  In fact, that is what we have been doing for 100 years; advocating for information professionals. 

We have talked about the skills that we have and how valuable we are to our institutions.  But we continually struggle with the same two words, “special” and “libraries.”  Some seem to think if we would just work harder at this, rather than spending money on research and time on trying to change our name, that somehow those people out there, those making decisions on our future, will suddenly understand and see the light. 

Some members tell me that their management “gets it” and are very supportive of libraries and librarians. They see the value and that is great.  Unfortunately, as we have seen from the number of institution closings and layoffs, that is not the reality for many of our members.  My own institution, Sandia National Laboratories, decided to close its library two years ago because “everything is available on the internet and on the desktop.”  Sadly, too many times this has been the reality.  The person bridging the gap between information and knowledge and delivery of knowledge services in person, and to the desktop, is left out. 

We have been told that this association is giving up on librarians.  That is very far from the truth.  In fact, we want to be successful in our advocacy of our members and describe the value that they provide to the institutions they serve, whether they are physically located in a library or are embedded within an organization, whether they are called librarians or knowledge managers.  We want to place the emphasis on the people and their vast skills, and not on the location.  We are an association of professionals, not an association of institutions.  

Some have said they do not like the word strategic and that they are not strategic.  My answer there is that we must be strategic and understand the strategic goals of our institutions and we must align our work with those goals to make the institution successful.  This includes the people providing research services, as well as catalogers and IT professionals.  If we fully understand the strategic direction of our organizations, we are able to contribute to their success.

Others have said they don’t like the word knowledge because we supply information that others turn into knowledge.  I say why not have an aspirational goal?  Why don’t WE strive to provide the added value that turns information into knowledge?  Decision makers value the analysis that we provide.  I believe it is essential that we use the skills we have to add value to the information we collect.   Let me return to John Cotton Dana and his own words,

It seems evident enough from all that has been said, that the old type of library must modify itself in accordance with the new needs which the evolution of knowledge and the growth of print has created.

John Cotton Dana, 100 years ago, referred to knowledge and not information.  For years, SLA used the tagline “putting knowledge to work,” not putting information to work.  With our proposed name we are continuing on this path, striving to provide knowledge.  We are taking a risk here.  We are putting ourselves on the line and proclaiming that we are the key to the future and that any successful organization must have knowledge professionals on their staff.
 
There have been questions about the research and the process for choosing a name.  I can assure you that the Board and staff have tried at every opportunity to be open in our communications.  Our members and other information professionals were part of the research from the very beginning and have taken part in every phase.  There have been numerous opportunities for input since the first results were communicated in June 2008 at the SLA Annual Conference, all the way through the past weeks. 

You elect a Board to represent you, to make decisions that they believe are in the best interest of the association.  This Board has taken that responsibility very seriously.  The needs of our members and of the knowledge profession overall have been uppermost in our minds.
 
I was told that I should be neutral in this name discussion.  I believe that would be abdicating my responsibility as a Board member.  You, as members, need to know where your elected officials stand on this issue.  And where we stand is united in our support of this name and the direction it sets for the future.  I am encouraging you to vote yes on the proposed name, the Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals.  Although the name is a small part of the overall alignment project, it is a very visible part.  It will allow us to move forward and become a larger, diverse organization of knowledge professionals; an organization that does not leave librarians behind in any way but opens us to new ideas and experiences and gives us a better opportunity to convey the added value that we provide in our work.  Let’s take this risk. I believe it is worth it, and I believe we can live up to this name. 

Seth Godin, author of the book Tribes and the 2008 SLA Annual Conference keynote speaker says, to be successful:

"We cannot support the status quo, we need to move forward"

and

"Growth and success are linked to breaking the old rules"

I say we need to break some of the old rules and move forward to our second century with the Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals. 

The Alignment Tribe  President Gloria Zamora talks about building the "Align in '09" tribe.

For more videos about the alignment project visit SLA-TV!

How SLA members were involved in Alignment research

I think it is very important to emphasize that SLA members and other information professionals have been included in every single phase of the Alignment Project. In the first, benchmark survey, more than one-third (34 percent) of respondents were information professionals.   In the language exploration phase of the research, we held five separate focus groups for information pros in cooperation with SLA chapters in Vancouver, Seattle (two sessions, one just for students), Los Angeles and D.C., each with 25 to 30 participants.  SLA members took part in both of the dial testing sessions, which took place in Toronto and D.C.  Finally, members were involved in selecting the names that were tested, and information professionals were included in the separate online survey done to determine the name that is ultimately being submitted to membership for a vote. Additionally, at both the 2008 and 2009 Leadership Summits, we conducted roundtable discussions, each involving about 250 members, and input from them was incorporated into the project. In all, well over a thousand SLA members and information professionals were involved directly in the research, and many more than that have been indirectly involved.

We did this because our goal right from the start was to find ways to communicate that made sense to both our members and to the people who hire them, fire them, and ultimately decide whether there is a place in their organizations for them.  Our members have told us for many years that they need help in demonstrating their value so that they will be paid what they are worth and permitted to advance.

We do think that SLA has much to offer people in allied professions—in fact, we already have a considerable number of members who are trained in market research, Web development, content management, competitive intelligence, and other closely related areas. They join because they recognize the value of librarians, and they have knowledge that benefits us, too.  If changing our name makes SLA more attractive to this audience, it will only enhance the learning opportunities for members.  But that is not our primary goal.

SLA has always been, and will always be, primarily an organization of librarians.  Nobody is trying to change that or to diminish the title or training of librarians.  We are simply trying to use research—in which SLA members were directly involved--to find ways to communicate your value.  Period.

Members were highly instrumental in developing the new name we are proposing, and they are completely in control of whether or not it is adopted.  A majority vote is required by law to change our articles of incorporation, and every member gets to vote.  You will be asked to vote on the full name and not on an abbreviation or acronym.  We set up numerous forums for discussion, and both sides have been extremely vocal.  I encourage you to join the discussion if you have not already and most of all, to vote.

Why This Is the Right Name

I have written and spoken extensively about why SLA should change its name.  Now I want to tell you why I think the Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals is the right name.

As SLA's chief executive officer for more than six years, I have traveled all over the world to speak to groups of librarians, business people, government officials, nonprofit executives and many more about SLA's work and the critical role our members play in their organizations.  I have watched focus groups, chatted with seatmates on endless plane rides and during countless conferences, and exchanged thoughts with the people I worked with when I served as the Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

In nearly all of these encounters, I surprise people.  Why?  Because I tell them things that they do not know.  For example:

• Our members work for some of the world's most successful organizations-universities, major corporations, government agencies, healthcare groups and many more.
• Our members' skills include the ability to verify, consolidate and analyze information, turning it into actionable knowledge that organizations use to make better decisions.
• In addition to their expertise in organizing, categorizing, cataloging, classifying, and disseminating information, many of our members are proficient in new and emerging communications technologies, knowledge management, competitive intelligence and other practical uses of information.
• Our members play a critical role in our universities, helping students and professors find the best ways to conduct research, deal with intellectual property issues, incorporate digital content into instruction and more.
• Most of our members hold advanced degrees in library or information science; many hold advanced degrees in law, education, business and science.

Information professionals are a bit like full-featured "smart phones" that people are using only to make phone calls!

Recently, I have begun to tell people I meet that I work for a group of professionals involved in strategic knowledge--people who use their training in library and information science and similar areas to get organizations the information they need to be successful. It works; they understand.  Why?  Because it is true--and it is not new. 

The very first sentence of SLA's Competencies for Information Professionals in the 21st Century--last revised in 2003--reads:

An Information Professional ("IP") strategically uses information in his/her job to advance the mission of the organization.

In other words--you are strategic knowledge professionals, just as physicians, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, and therapists are all health care professionals.

The special librarians and information professionals I know are among the brightest, hardest working people I have ever known--people who make the organizations smart enough to hire them equipped to be more effective in today's world.  You have been hiding behind stacks of books for far too long; you are worth more than you make, and your contributions are not as widely recognized as they should be.

If there was another name for SLA that would appeal to every member, I believe it would have been identified some time over the past one hundred years.  And even if it had, we might still be searching--not for a name we all like, but a name that conveys the value of special librarians and information professionals to the people who hire them.  Because the buck stops there.

When you cast your vote on the proposed name change, I ask you to consider not whether you like the name Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals, but whether it does a better job than SLA in conveying your value to organizations that hire people like you.