SLA Leadership Connections

SLA Wikis - Learn to Use This Tool for Your Units

SLA hosts wikis for chapters, divisions, and caucuses and for special association projects. The SLA wikis are available to SLA members and leaders for organizing information, collaborating on projects, and presenting information.

SLA and Click U are offering a series of four fast-paced online sessions to help you learn about and use SLA's wikis. The sessions, which will build upon each other, will include homework assignments, demonstrations, and opportunities to practice developing and extending wiki content. Presentation materials will be made available after each Webinar. The series and dates are:

12 November - Introduction to Wikis (Wikis 101); 19 November - Participating in Virtual Communities (Wikis 102); 8 December - Participating in Virtual Communities (Wikis 201); and 15 December - Playing in the Sandbox (Wikis 202).  Learn more and register.  All programs are offered as a benefit of your membership.

Presenter:

Karen Huffman, Senior Applications and Database Administrator, National Geographic Society

Unit Annual Report Deadline 7 December 2009

All units (chapters, divisions and caucuses) are required to complete an Annual Report to ensure compliance with the Internal Revenue Service and other regulatory bodies, and to enhance the operational efficiency of each unit's operations. Monday, 7 December 2009 is the deadline to submit this request to SLA Headquarters, Leadership Central. This report, in addition to the Annual Financial Statement (due each 31 January) for chapters and divisions, is required to be completed and submitted within three months of the report's due date. Any unit that does not submit this report will forfeit the annual allotment and be subject to dissolution. The reporting forms are located on SurveyMonkey.  If access to SurveyMonkey is not available, the form can be downloaded and completed.  For your convenience, the forms are listed below.  In mid-December, we will post a link to the results of each of the surveys to the leadership discussion list.  From there, you can print a copy of your report if you did not keep one;  you should also review the composite results as a benchmark of where your unit is in relation to others. Reviewing the results may give your new Board ideas for programming, recruitment, communication, fundraising and other aspects of unit management.  For all other inquiries, contact Linda Broussard or telephone +1.703.647.4938.

• Chapter Annual Report Form - preferred submission via SurveyMonkey (in Microsoft Word)
• Division Annual Report Form - preferred submission via SurveyMonkey (in Microsoft Word)
• Caucus Annual Report Form - preferred submission via SurveyMonkey (in Microsoft Word)

Following are the links to the 2008 annual survey in case you need to reference:  Chapter, Division, or Caucus.

COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE BEING ELIMINATED

Effective 31 January 2010, SLA’s Communities of Practice (COP) will be retired.  Wiki’s will replace COP’s.  If your unit has a COP and does not already have a Wiki, please e-mail Chief Technology Officer Quan Logan with a request for a Wiki and the preferred name of your Wiki.  It is suggested that you use “SLA _____ Division/Chapter/Committee”.  In other words, SLA Unit Name.

 

In order to prepare you for this transition SLA is offering a series of Click U courses on Wiki’s as outlined in the SLA Leadership Connections article SLA Wikis - Learn to Use This Tool for Your Units.  Karen Huffman is presenting these courses. 

 

Then retrieve any documents you currently wish to save and post to your Wiki.

 

Suggested timeline:

1. Immediately – request a Wiki, if needed
2. November and December – take the Wiki training offered in Click U
3. November – January – transition all COP’s to Wiki’s
4. 31 January – COP closed and no longer accessible

Request a Visit in 2010 from SLA's President or President-Elect

2010 President Anne Caputo

Each year SLA's president and president-elect visit members at chapter events.  If you would like to request a visit by either 2010 President Anne Caputo or President-Elect Cindy Romaine, complete a chapter visit request form prior to 15 January 2010.  All requests will be reviewed by the Chapter Cabinet Officers in light of the SLA budget and the presidents' schedules.  Please do not contact the presidents directly unless your chapter is seeking to fund the visit totally.

2010 President-Elect Cindy Romaine

Documents Deadline for January Cabinet Meetngs

Do you have a recommendation or report you would like to bring before the Chapter Cabinet or Division Cabinet?  The deadline for submitting documents is the same as the committee and Board document deadline - 11 December 2009.  Please submit all chapter-related documents to Chapter Cabinet Chair-Elect Ruth Wolfish with a copy to the Leadership Center.  Submit all division-related documents to Dvision Cabinet Chair-Elect Ann Sweeney with a copy to the Leadership Center.  For committees, submit all reports to Nancy Sansalone.  If you have questions, pleae contact Linda Broussard at +1.703.647.4938.

Who are Cabinet Delegates?  The top two elected positions are the official delegates to the cabinets.  If either are unable to attend, the chapter president may assign a delegate to attend the chapter cabinet meeting or the division chair may assign a delegate to attend the division cabinet meeting.

What are the specific times of the cabinet meetings?  The cabinets will meet concurrently at Leadership Summit in St. Louis on Friday, 29 January, 2010 at 2:30 p.m.  If there is a need for a joint cabinet meeting, it will immediately follow the chapter and division cabinet meetings.

Remember to pass along the details of the Leadership Summit and information in Leadership Connections to your incoming officers so that they can register by the early-bird deadline and save money.

Updates Requested by 15 November for Annual Conference Awards/Stipends

This is the time of year that many of our units announce annual conference stipends/scholarships/awards.  Our Web site consolidates all of these grants and scholarships; it has not been updated recently.  Please visit and submit any changes to add an award, stipend or scholarship, delete your listing or change the link to your Web page to the Leadership Department.  This is just another way of promoting the benefits of your unit to members and prospective members.

Target date to update the Web site is 15 November 2009.

We are in the midst of our recruit-a-member campaign.  If you know of prospective members who might be interested in assistance in attending the 2010 annual conference, promote this page along with the other benefits of SLA and your unit.

Final Hours to Cast Your Ballot for SLA Board of Directors

The SLA 2010 Board of Directors balloting will close at 5:00 p.m. EDT tomorrow, 1 October.  Eight of your colleagues have stepped forward to offer to serve you for a three-year term.  All are willing and extremely qualified.  Learn their views and take the time to vote;  casting your ballot is your right and responsibility.

Thanks to Agnes Mattis and Cindy Romaine standing for president-elect; to Karen Reczek and Dan Trefethen standing for treasurer; to Liz Blankson-Hemans and Debal Kar standing for chapter cabinet chair-elect;  and to Mary Ellen Bates and Stacey Greenwell standing for division cabinet chair-elect.

St. Louis Metro Area Chapter Launches 2010 Leadership Summit Hospitality Wiki

SLA members of the St. Louis Metro Area Chapter have been working for months to welcome SLA leaders from around the world to the 2010 Leadership Summit in St. Louis in January.  Today they are announcing the launch of the 2010 Leadership Summit Hospitality Wiki to help you familiarize yourself with their city and to answer your questions.  Check it out now and come back often as it is "a work in progress" according to Geri Heberlie.  You'll find information about how to get to St. Louis and recognition of the sponsors of the Welcome Reception.  And, speaking of the Welcome Reception; just what exciting local venue has the chapter selected for our Welcome Reception?  Who will be the first to find and respond back via a comment?

Alignment Ambassador Training - 1 October

Public Relations Advisory Council Chair Jill Strand announced a webinar for alignment ambassador training.  On Thursday, 1 October at 2:00 p.m. EDT Danny Maiello of Fleishman Hillard will demonstrate the Alignment Portal and other tools available.  If your ambassador is not able to attend, the session will be recorded and available for replay.

Attention Committee and Council Chairs - Board Reports Due 11 December

All committees and councils should prepare a year-end report to the Board of Directors for their meeting at Leadership Summit.  You've accomplished a great deal this year and now is the time to recap.  The deadline to e-mail your reports to CFO/COO Nancy Sansalone with a copy to Natalie Gozzard is Friday, 11 December.   This is also the deadline for any action items.  Your staff member can assist you in preparing your report.  Instructions on how to prepare your document are on the Web.

Recruitment Campaign On!

Who knows the value of SLA membership better than you?  There has never been a time when SLA has delivered so much value to its members.  There has never been a time when members have needed their association more to prove their value to their employers, keep their skills on the cutting edge, or possibly have a network to assist in securing their next position.  Encourage all of your members to invite someone they know to the next chapter meeting or a work colleague to experience a Click U course along with them.  It will give them an opportunity to share first-hand what SLA means to them and provide an opportunity to invite them to join SLA.  Or its as simple as sending an e-mail.  The Recruit-a-Member campaign is on until 31 December.  All the information and tools needed are available on the SLA Web site.  Bulletin editors or web masters can download an ad from the Bulletin Editors Electronic Resource Center.

Make membership recruitment a priority in this last quarter of 2009.

Some of the prizes we've used the past are still there for recruiters and units.  New members and recruiters have chances for cash prizes as well this year.