Executive Connections

Cherry Blossom Time

Some of our best ideas are not home grown.  Take the cherry blossom trees that are nearing their glorious full bloom here in the U.S. Capital.  While it is hard to imagine Washington without them, the first 3,000 trees were planted only 98 years ago, a gift from the mayor of Tokyo. It began a tradition of horticultural and cultural exchanges between the U.S. and Japan that is celebrated each year during the Cherry Blossom Festival. The annual spectacle not only lifts Washington’s spirits—it adds an estimated $126 million a year to the area’s economy.

The exchange of ideas among information and knowledge professionals around the world through SLA holds the same kind of promise.  One of my favorite stories comes from one of our members in the upper Midwest who was desperately searching for an outdated engineering standard for her supervisor. After exhausting all her usual free and even paid sources, she posted the request on an SLA listserv – and received the document within two hours from an information professional in Reykjavik, Iceland. She was a hero to her organization, but her secret was having the foresight to join an association that brought her close to her colleagues locally, but gave her access to a world full of colleagues who she could count on.

That is why SLA continues to work hard to expand membership around the world.  We currently have members in about 75 countries, including a rapidly growing group in India.  That is why SLA has been an active member of the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) since 1946, and why so many SLA members play important leadership roles in IFLA. I am a member of the IFLA Governing Board, as are two Past Presidents of SLA, a past Board member, and a member.  Last year, SLA was granted observer status in WIPO, the World Intellectual Property Organization, which allows us to have important input into public policy affecting information professionals on a global level.

The global exchange of ideas among information and knowledge professionals really flowers each year at the SLA Annual Conference.  Last year, SLA members from about 30 countries joined us in Washington.  I sincerely hope that members from an even greater number of countries will join us in June in New Orleans to plant new ideas that will come to fruition in the years ahead.

Spring Forward

Before we went to bed Saturday night, most of us in Canada and the U.S. moved our clocks forward one hour, as daylight saving time begins.  While I hate losing an hour of sleep, I love this annual reminder that spring is on its way almost as much as I enjoy the extra hour of daylight in the evening.

 

Spring is especially welcome this year—it has been an especially hard winter here in Washington, and I know that the same is true in much of North America and Europe.  And with the welcome sight of daffodils pushing their way out of the ground and buds swelling on our trees comes another sign of hope:  some improvement, however modest, in the worldwide economic crisis.

 

It is a great time to take a clue from your clock and spring forward, planting the seeds of your personal and professional growth.

 

As an SLA member, you have a whole crop of free, discounted or reasonably priced options for professional development.  Here are just a few:

 

• SLA 2010 Annual Conference & INFO-EXPO in New Orleans—The best buy in the info business, you will find an unparalleled selection of sessions that will sharpen your skills and introduce you to top experts.  At the same time, you will build your professional network and meet the industry’s top vendors.
• Click University’s Free-for-Members Webinars—Upcoming topics include Seven Skills of Highly Successful Information Professionals, Pain-Free Public Speaking and Maximizing Your SLA Member Benefits.
• Click University’s  Certificate Programs—Get the credentials you need to step into the Competitive Intelligence, Copyright Management, and Knowledge Management fields.
• Free-for-members execuBooks--Executive book summaries that present the core concepts of the best in business literature in only 15 minutes of easy reading every week.

Stake your claim to the economic recovery by enhancing your knowledge through SLA.

SLA’s Illinois Chapter Invests in Members

I cannot tell you how delighted I was to learn that the 2010 SLA Illinois Board of Directors has decided to offer up to 20 Early Bird registrations to the SLA 2010 Annual Conference & INFO-EXPO to its members—on top of two student stipends of $1,000 each!

In a message to members, the chapter’s 2010 president, Dianna Wiggins, wrote that the stipends are intended to “invest in and assist our members during challenging times,” and will be awarded based on three criteria: financial assistance need, professional development need, and level of current and future commitment to the SLA Illinois Chapter and SLA.

This is exactly the kind of inspired investment in people that will guarantee the future of both SLA and its members.  Conference attendance is always valuable—and fun—for members, but it can be especially rewarding at times like this, when keeping up with the latest trends and making face-to-face contact with industry vendors can be critical in navigating budgetary obstacles.

Congratulations, SLA Illinois!  We will see you in New Orleans.

Information Chemistry

This is a busy time of year for library association conferences, and that means that I have been busy, too. Since the first of the year, I have been to SLA’s Leadership Summit, ALA’s Midwinter Meeting, and the IFLA Presidential Meeting.  Together, these gatherings left me with several impressions.

First, librarians and knowledge and information professionals around the world are facing similar challenges and are working for the same basic goal:  to make knowledge available so that it can be used to build a better world.  The developing world, in particular, views knowledge in much the same way as did SLA’s founders:  as a driver of desperately needed growth, creator of wealth, and catalyst for employment.

In a worldwide economic crisis, effectively amassing, analyzing, and disseminating information demands persistence, creativity and cooperation among knowledge and information professionals.  That last concept, cooperation, is at the forefront in face-to-face meetings, where there are plenty of opportunities for formal and informal discussion and problem solving. 

I imagine that professionals of every kind benefit from conferences, but in few professions are conferences quite as essential to growth as they seem to be for librarians and knowledge and information pros.  Put a group of you in a room and there is an undeniable chemistry and the beginnings of productive relationships that often last decades.

If you were not able to join us at SLA’s Leadership Summit, be sure to check out the presentations. I am looking forward more than ever to SLA 2010 in New Orleans and hope you are, too.