The following is the MLA Visioning Summit Summary. Please feel free to post responses. We'd like to see an open discussion about this topic.
MLA Visioning Summit
November 15, 2007
Participants: Edward Swanson, Cecelia Boone, Jesse Leraas, Ben Trapskin, Suzanne Miller, Katherine Stecher, Kim Edson, Brian Lind, Sandy Walsh, Deb Bergeran, Emily Mamum, Michele McGraw, Ginny Heinrich, Susan Nemitz, Gretchen Wronka, Robin Chaney, Jody Wurl, Tim Hayes, Jeanne Whetstone, Marlene Moulton-Janssen, Mary Johnson, Carla Urban, Pat Conley, Ken Beringer, Roseanne Byrnes, Chris Olson, Nick (ECRL), Linda Valen, Gretchen Wronka, Wendy Wendt, and several others who did not sign in
Facilitator: Sue Hall
MLA Snapshot…
Current MLA membership - 832; roughly 2/3 public 1/3 academic
Membership numbers tend to be fairly stable;
How many potential members? Estimate over 5,000
Professionals, paraprofessionals, friends/trustees
May see decline in membership due to stressed budgets
Depends on who pays dues; who supports travel costs
Dues cost is $25-200; senior staff tend to join
Where advocacy is primary focus, no perceived value except to top management
No relevance to many members; no perceived value
Participation is influenced by conference offerings--join to go one year but do not continue to be members after conference (year to year)
Highest attendance at an MLA conference was estimated at between 700-800
Members want to see more programs—educational and networking opportunities
Lack of leadership at MLA
Executive director should be a librarian who speaks for librarians/including lobbying;
In the past the executive director has been a secretary who does conference planning
MLA needs to stop lobbying and become a professional organization
Others disagree – contend that continuing ed and lobbying have been conscious decisions
Currently, the legislative platform runs the organization--very narrow in focus;
If MLA doesn’t take the advocacy role, who will?
Leadership Institute should ask for something back from participants – leadership roles/projects
Statewide Leadership –
Being in Dept of Ed works against us – the “elephant in the living room”
Libraries need a strong, independent state library
Value of subunits (round tables) as perceived by subunit members
Subunits are an important way to get involved in the association
Varied support from the organization - not good communication with Board
Need to better invigorate
No representation on the board - would improve communication
[this is a structural issue that needs to be addressed]
Current: [3 div 6 sections 13 round tables]
Are other organizations taking over what used to be MLA’s role? Are different groups competing to do the same thing?
Can’t be all things to all people
MOTSE, MORE were MLA initiatives
Library technology support not available through MLA
Values of membership:
Continuing Education--need more
Certification program
Conference
Networking opportunities
[EQUS at U of M]
Leadership opportunities (limited by library administrations)
Lobbying - (represents about $12,000 out of $100,000 total MLA budget)
At Minitex, they see burnout on meetings - too many opportunities?
How do you decide what is direction in which to head?
Need for social interacting - even if online; having meetings at bars/restaurants has been successful for some groups
Ability to participate is affected by Institutional cultures that may or may not support involvement
Decimation of the state agency undermined all the programs that everyone is trying to pick up and keep vital—filling the vacuum
Other State Associations:
Other State’s associations…
Sponsor many events;
Get into rural areas more (esp. Illiniois)
Need to expand efforts
Sometimes have to belong to state organization to be certified
Successful conference programs are offered to all Hennepin staff, maybe they can push out to rural areas
Possibly do a “sampler” of the conference’s best programs and bring to libraries in greater Minnesota?
Take it on the road – Ex.: MLA president goes out and provides a program on what s/he intends to do
In Minnesota, we are fragmented; no shared vision; no cohesion; unclear mission
What is our collective interest? What are 5 things we’re all trying to achieve?
Could we have a theme or focus every year or two so we feel like we’re all working toward a shared goal?
Tech competencies
Rural access to technology
E-commerce
Serving the poor, etc.
What is the value of Minnesota libraries to our communities? How do we articulate this?
Concern about personality driven institutions; inability to come together in consensus
There is divisiveness throughout the library community and this organization is reflecting that – Fractionalization is costing the whole
Need some flattening of the organization
Participation is part of your professional responsibilities – it’s not what’s in it for you, it’s what you put into it!
Need to ask what people want and how they want to get it
Need someone to drive the association and inspired the library community
What are “best practices” in other state library associations? Needs additional research
Is MLA inclusive or exclusive? Don’t put up walls – take them down!
Who is part of the profession? Perception of “professional” is frequently debated
IT staff- left out consistently
Need non-degreed staff to feel welcome at MLA – programming for all library workers
Need to meet people where they are at--outside the box is not necessarily in the library
What do you want MLA to look like 2 years from now?
Clear mission and vision
Clear communication
Sub-units have voice on the board
Strong, dynamic Executive Director who represents the profession
Sufficient staff to support strong communication network
Varied programming to include TS and circ--so they need to be on committees to do planning
Larger membership required to have financial ability to accomplish this--so membership of 1600+
Diversified revenue sources
Financial stability not dependent on success or failure of conference
Statewide connections - more outreach beyond metro
Keeping in mind that rural areas have challenges including dial-up connectivity
Alternative opportunities to provide expanded ability to participate
MLA facilitates bridging divisiveness and other issues
Works with strong, independent state library
At the table discussing issues which divide the state and shaping where libraries will be in the future
Leadership Institutes—need to remain high priority
Has been successful and can be grown
Bringing in next generation of library staff
Require participation - specific tasking
[Has fostered resentment in some areas--because of limitation on participation]
Other leadership development options; bibliography; videos; local meetings;
High level of activism on part of all members
More mentoring/apprenticing on multiple jobs to avoid burnout
More transparent, better understood legislative process
So if not returning value we can adapt
Develop “Leadership Toolkit” – maybe customizable – for member libraries to use as needed
“Professional” is an attitude - a level of commitment that you bring to your job everyday; everyone has a level of expertise they offer; inclusive language used to not exclude particular “groups” (library worker vs. professional)
Fee structure is barrier to participation--can we do something different?
Revision of board structure - for stability and longevity;
*Morale issues - new librarians not seeing opportunities - more paraprofessionals doing the job now; also suffering from lack of strong library program (MLS) in the state; how are we going to move into next century? New environment/ landscape; move beyond traditional
Rural v. metro/urban membership - 25% of the Minnesota population will be served by Hennepin County beginning in 2008 (after merger)
Timeline/next steps:
Research other state library associations’ best practices
Re. office structure
Check with Wisconsin Assn on professional support for change (they’ve gone through this process)
Research characteristics of library communities – build relationships with other groups with similar goals
Does/can academic community help--does it factor in?
Find out who doesn’t join MLA and why
Focus groups (hard to get participation)
Surveys
Blog, wiki, listservs, etc.
Restructure organization (this would require By-Laws change) and rework mission and vision –
Look at value of committees/round tables
Value analysis – what value is currently offered and how does that translate in support for whole
Find three library systems in the state where MLA is working (high membership and participation) and three places where it is not
Build on this
How can we influence this?
Summary:
We need to mentor from the Board down – it is each Board member’s responsibility to reach out
All MLA leaders (Board, roundtables, committees, etc.) meet at least quarterly?
Make the current structure more viable
The Board needs to synthesize the information gathered and select a focus
Membership needs to hear about the progress re re-establishing the previous Library Council
MLA—summary categorization of issues:
- Leadership – For MLA and re issues within library field for all levels (train and invigorate)
- Advocacy/Legislative - Relationships with larger community including state agency; Ready for K; etc.
- Operational issues/Infrastructure - how do we function/communicate/ have structure to accomplish what we want to do
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