Palmetto Information Notes

Special Libraries Association / South Carolina Chapter
Volume 17, Number 1, Summer 2002

 

Contents

President's Message
by Dr. Stephen Bajjaly, College of Library and Information Science, USC

Welcome to the first electronic edition of PIN, Palmetto Information Notes. We hope that communicating with chapter members in this way will make for more timely and higher quality information dissemination in addition to saving the chapter a considerable sum in postage fees.

As I write this column for the first time, I've just returned from a rejuvenating trip to Los Angeles where I attended the annual SLA conference. The highlight of the conference for me was getting the chance to hear management guru, Peter Drucker, deliver the opening keynote address. As a management student and scholar, I have followed Dr. Drucker's writings for many, many years so the opportunity to hear him speak wasn't one I wanted to pass up - even if it meant traveling 3000 miles to do so. The theme of Dr. Drucker's keynote, in a play on the SLA tag line, was that knowledge workers need to get knowledge before they can put it to work - and that's where special librarians are so crucial. Although Dr. Drucker is physically frail and spoke seated in a club chair instead of standing at a podium (a small accommodation to a man of 92!), he gave example after example to reinforce his basic tenet that librarians are an invaluable cog in the information management wheel. Only days after he spoke to SLA it was announced that Dr. Drucker would receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom on July 9th from President Bush.

The administrative agenda of the conference was dominated by two issues: branding and bylaws. As you maybe aware, the Association's Branding Task Force is embarking on a comprehensive effort to reconsider the name (Special Libraries Association) and tagline ("Putting Knowledge to Work"). In particular, there is widespread belief that the name does not adequately reflect the mission, vision, or membership of the Association. The task force wants to be realistic about the direction the profession is heading and to be as inclusive as possible to appeal to the broadest range of members. Similarly, an effort is underway to restructure the Association's by-laws. As currently written, these by-laws conform to an extremely strict definition of membership and are expensive and difficult to change. A link to more detailed information about each of these initiatives is contained under the "News and Information" section of our chapter web site (www.libsci.sc.edu/scsla). I encourage you to become familiar with these issues as you will have the opportunity to vote on any potential changes that could have a profound effect on the Association in the years ahead.

No matter what happens with the branding or the by-laws of the Association, the number one benefit of membership will remain networking: the opportunity to physically (and increasingly virtually) connect with others who share your professional bond. Our next opportunity to do this physically will be at SARC II, coming up in Asheville, September 22-24th and at the combined SCLA/SELA conference in Charleston on October 24-26th. I hope we'll get the chance to chat at one or both of these events. If not, please feel free to contact me with any comments, suggestions, ideas that you have. The other board members and I are anxious to do whatever we can to connect our members together and to make the chapter as responsive as possible to your professional needs and interests. I hope you'll agree that "E-PIN" is a worthwhile initiative in this regard.

Stephen T. Bajjaly
SC-SLA President

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