2011 DSOC Secretary/Treasurer Kadri Kalikorm-Rhodes offers her thoughts on the role of SLA, DSOC and special libraries…feel free to leave a response in the comments!

The libraries and information centers we work at are becoming increasingly less like each other, molding themselves more and more to the exact needs and requirements of our host institutions. That also means that the kinds of services we provide varies immensely. In fact, we may end up linked to our fellow professionals by a graduate degree (for most of us) and a little more than the passion for managing information and exemplary customer service, as many of SLA members are becoming high-level subject matter experts in specific research or policy areas, while others end up spending most of our time wrangling KM projects, metatagging or curating electronic publications. Is this inevitable? Pretty much, I think. Look at it one way, it is a question of professional survival. On the other hand, it is also an opportunity to reinvent ourselves and our libraries or information, making both (more) central, more essential, to the core business of the institution we are serving.

So where would that leave SLA, and Social Science Division in particular? Is there a role for them? I believe so. In fact, I think that in this era of increased accountability and demands on our time and resources, SLA (and the annual conference in particular) could be crucial for special librarians (for lack of better common term – you know who you are..) by doing two things: providing an opportunity to network and learn from the experience of others in the same shoes, and by giving members a chance to get quick overviews of new technological developments, catch up with vendors, and learn things not immediately related to any urgent issues burning a hole our inboxes (if you’re anything like me, you spend most of your days on fireman-duty during the rest of the year..).  So I am optimistic. But enough about me – what do YOU think?

As you've probably heard by now, the proposed name for us to vote on is Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals, or ASKPro.  What do you think of it?  Comment here!

Also, a reminder that you can follow the discussion about the name change and hear other people's opinions at http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23slaname, even if you don't have a Twitter account. 

Some reactions:

Thought-provoking:

• mebs The SLA name change is a challenge for us to walk our talk. Can we see ourselves as strategic players w/in our org?
• FactixResearch Does "strategic" really add anything to proposed SLA name change? Assn of Knowledge Pros stands well on its own. 

Disappointed:

• annenb Sounds like they just took a bunch of high-scoring words and tossed them together. Doesn't flow. Really not thrilled with ASKPro
• gregorymelody Membership dues increase + name change = dropped membership

Amusing:

• wanderingjess The ASKPro is starting to sound like something you'd buy from a late night infomercial.
• EmZeeGee Proposal for #slaname: the Association for Librarians Like Me.

This just in from SLA President Gloria Zamora:

The
Board earlier today voted on a new name for the association!  It will be
presented to the entire membership next week along with details about the voting
process.  All members will get a chance to vote on the name before the end of
the year.

Wondering what the whole Alignment-discussion is about? You’re
not alone! See a very nice overview at Positioning Info Pros for the Future.pdf- then leave your comments on this blog and let other Division members
know what you think – is this long overdue? Or so much hot air? Or something in
between?

Blog post submitted by Kadri Kalikorm-Rhodes

As one of the SLA Alignment Ambassadors for DSOC, I thought I'd post about an interesting challenge I just came across.  I'm not sure how many of you are Tweeting these days, but you can follow the conversation about the SLA Name Change there by searching for #slaname. 

Right now there's an interesting conversation happening.  The challenge is to describe what you do at your job in just 3 words.  Can you do it? 

My response (EyreAffair): Collect, Translate, Redistribute

Comment here on the DSOC blog, or comment on Twitter and include #slaname in your Tweet!