By Laura Ikens, Senior Research Specialist, American Bar Association

Only death and taxes are certain. The success of our SLA chapter is not. The direction of the chapter is the result of careful planning based on the needs of our members, the information environment, and state of the industries where we work. Charting that direction is the work of the Strategic Planning Committee.

The committee has been reviewing and updating the SLA Illinois Chapter Strategic Plan, which has not been updated since 2001. Committee members are Debbie Rusin, Karen Tschantz and Laura Ikens. The old plan was used as jumping off point, with the committee evaluating which objectives had been achieved and which needed to be carried over. The committee also extensively reviewed the current SLA headquarters strategic planning documents to gain an understanding of the objectives of the organization, so that we could bring the SLA Illinois Strategic Plan into alignment with headquarters.

A review of all chapter plans available through the SLA website was conducted, and a first draft of the new plan has been completed at the time of this writing. The committee will be meeting at the beginning of May, and a draft is expected to be submitted to the Board for the May 22 meeting.

Since the Plan will not be finalized in the current year, the committee will continue its work with the Plan into next year and input from the new Board will be considered. We should have a new Plan to help kick off the year in September! If you have any interest in helping chart a course for the chapter through the strategic planning process, please contact Laura Ikens at IkensL@staff.abanet.org.