SLA Illinois Chapter Connecting People and Information

SLA's 2010 Annual Conference has drawn to a close, bringing those who attended back to Illinois with lots of good food, both for the brain and the belly. For the first time, those of us attending sessions live could see our own members Tweeting about them from virtual classroom access as they attended from home base. This was a powerful demonstration of the connective powers of today's enabling technologies, and perhaps a foreshadowing of things to come. I'll begin by sharing my notes from last Sunday, and update you on other events throughout this week.

At the SLA Leadership Institute on Sunday, June 13th, Lorene and I heard SLA President Anne Caputo reiterate that the Alignment Project was more about sustaining the profession and the association through an information revolution than it was about a name change proposal, which was a relatively small piece of the entire package. Ms. Caputo urged us as members to go back and read the Alignment research thoroughly, and to use the findings and the language that it identifies in seeking positions, writing resumes, and championing our offerings across and within our organizations.

"We are living in a world of long tails," said Ms. Caputo, referring to the concept presented in the book The Long Tail by Chris Anderson. She cited the increase in the variety of information resources, the visibility of new creators with the ubiquitousness of new publishing opportunities by nonprofessionals, increased velocity and relevance of information channels, and the interactive, immersive qualities of new media environments with ventilating and voting about information proliferating as harbingers of change for information professionals and the associations that serve them. Moving forward in light of these changes, SLA will be seeking ways to conserve revenue and to monetize the assets that we in the profession and the association have.

President-elect Cindy Romaine introduced the panel of candidates for 2011 President-Elect and Director on the SLA Board, and we listened to their thoughts and ideas for leading the profession forward. It's almost a shame that we will have to select from among these candidates, who represent a diverse and rich set of skills and ideas. We will need all of them to move us forward, and it will take a broad and diverse set of perspectives to deal with the rapidly evolving world of information in which we find ourselves. Be sure to familiarize yourselves with these candidates, and to watch for and act on the vote at the end of September.

The PR Advisory Council consisting of our own Jan Chindlund, Libby Trudell and Jill Strand reported on a "Need to Know Forum" that they are planning for the 2011 Annual Conference in Philadelphia. This forum is a first-ever opportunity to invite business leaders to attend a live event and learn more about the role of information professionals. Our chapter will need to appoint PR Chair who will serve as partner on this initiative, so if you are interested in helping in this capacity, please let us know!

Maryellen Bates reported on the development of an Alignment Toolkit for use by SLA membership, the goal of which is to provide Info Pros with clear and compelling language and tools for moving forward with the results of the research. Describing the toolkit as "the lovechild of the Alignment Project and 23 Things," Ms. Bates said that the toolkit will consist of 23 new tools for use in the new world of information and will focus on "providing value to users via services that they say they want." If you'd like a preview of these tools as they are being developed, visit the Alignment wiki and feel free to share your thoughts and ideas.

We also heard vendor sponsorship and marketing tips from the Maryland Chapter president as well as from Dee Magnoni, each of whom said it was necessary to be familiar with vendors' budgeting cycles and the three buckets of resources to which vendors must allocate their resources: The new product pipeline, keeping current customers up-to-date and happy, and communications endeavors such as advertising, sponsorships and tradeshows. We certainly need to keep our vendor relationships healthy in light of shared and challenging times, and it will be quite helpful to draw upon the knowledge and experiences of others as we forge these partnerships.

On Sunday evening, we heard a double keynote by the husband-wife team of James Carville and Mary Matalin, residents of New Orleans who have been very prominent on the news scene regarding the Gulf Oil Spill. Matalin intimated several times that they had been provided with discussion points around the evolution of information, and each of them touched upon their understanding of this issue.

Jan Chindlund was honored with the "Rosie V" (Rose Vormelker) award, a validation of her many mentoring efforts in bringing current and future Info Pros into the fold and up to speed, exposing them to as many skill enhancing opportunities as possible in the process. I was also honored with the Dialog Member Achievement Award, along with Richard Hulser, for our efforts as Alignment Ambassadors - an unexpected and humbling recognition for which I am truly grateful. I'd like to also thank the Illinois Chapter members for all of the kind and generous support afforded me during this process and upon receiving the award. The SLA Salutes and Awards Leadership Reception at Mardi Gras World was a beautiful event, held at an inside venue designed to simulate the outdoor terrace of a plantation house. The air conditioning was appreciated!

That's my download from Day 1. Stay tuned for more.

My best to all of you,

Dianna