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25th Anniversary 1978-2003

Vol. 25, No.4/Summer 2003

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Results of the Vote to Change the Association's Name

by Jessica Baumgart, Harvard University News Office

As you may know by now, the official name of the association is still the Special Libraries Association, Inc. The big business at the Annual Business Meeting at the Special Libraries Association 2003 Annual Conference was the vote on whether to change the organization's name.

Association members in good standing first voted for which association name they would prefer. Then, they voted on whether to change the bylaws to adopt the new name, thus voting whether to actually change the name of the association. Eighty-seven people voted in favor of the initials SLA and 867 voted against that choice. Favoring Information Professionals International were 656, while 343 opposed it. Even though the vote to change the name of the association received the majority of votes, it failed to get the two-thirds majority needed to change the bylaws by 73 votes, so the association's name is still Special Libraries Association, Inc.

There was much confusion at the beginning of the meeting about how the votes were going to happen and what was being voted on. As people kept asking questions about the procedure and outgoing president Bill Fisher acknowledged that people could vote multiple times during the process, Justin Scroggs of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution joked, "I was going to vote 'yea' and 'nay' for both [names]."

Before the vote on the names took place, Fisher opened the floor for comments from association members who wanted to speak about the merits of either name.

News Division member Donna Scheeder of the Congressional Research Service spoke in favor of Information Professionals International: "The name of SLA should reflect that it is an organization of individuals and not institutions. I feel strongly that the name should represent the people of the organization. The name Information Professionals International recognizes professionals of the organization and looks to the future."

Comments from other people ranged from the current name best representing what the organization is to people emphasizing that the name may not be as important as how we market the organization in the future.

After Information Professionals International won the vote for the preferred name, Fisher again opened the floor for comment from the audience-this time, addressing whether the association name should become Information Professionals International or remain Special Libraries Association.

Another News Division member appeared at the microphone: Eli Edwards, a student at San Jose State University's School of Library and Information Science. "Referencing librarianship in the name references our values and beliefs in librarianship. Removing the reference alienates and marginalizes support staff and others who work in libraries," she opined in favor of the name Special Libraries Association.

Others who spoke talked about how the current name of our association hurts corporate librarians and that Information Professionals International seems like we're selling out to the information technology world.

Members then voted to keep the name Special Libraries Association.

The vote to change the name came about from a proposal by the Branding Taskforce, which has been analyzing the association's brand since 2000. The taskforce decided that the name of the organization harms its members more than it helps them, so they thought a change was necessary. After testing many proposed names on association members, corporate leaders, and others outside of libraries and the association, they chose what they thought were the best two: the initials SLA and Information Professionals International. The taskforce has been disbanded because it has completed its charge, but taskforce members are now working on other committees throughout the association and will continue to share what they learned during their investigation of the association's brand.

In an Information Today article about the vote, Branding Taskforce chair Stephen Abram emphasized that the results, though disappointing to taskforce members, do not mean the work they have done was wasted: "We do have a new branding strategy and we will go forward to reposition special librarians." He also outlined some goals the organization will work toward, like forming a stronger international presence and better promoting specialized librarianship instead of focusing on libraries.

The taskforce supports the statement, Cindy Hill, the new association president, made. "Keeping our name allows us to build on our heritage over the past century, while keeping our focus on the expanding information economy of the 21st," she said.

It is up to the association's Board of Directors whether to try to change the name of the association again, but Abram does not think that will happen soon.


Last Updated: 08/18/03
Ron Larson
rlarson@madison.com