A rose by any other name…

The Special Libraries Association (SLA) is considering changing its name to the Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals (ASKPro). This process began in January 2006 when the Board of Directors voted to approve funding for alignment research and the association embarked on an attempt to understand the changing environment of the profession. In June 2009, “the board concluded that the alignment research conducted over the past three years revealed a clear challenge posed by SLA's name: executives who make hiring decisions and allocate budget dollars do not understand what it means. Furthermore, they do not recognize or appreciate the contributions that special librarians and information professionals are making now or the potential they hold for building more successful organizations in the future. This disconnect endangers the jobs of our members, and we are determined to act.” http://www.sla.org/content/SLA/governance/namechange/notice.cfm

You can read some of the early comments at http://slablogger.typepad.com/sla_blog/2009/10/align-in-09-step-1-action-you-can-take-now-to-increase-your-value-in-the-workplace-.html or by following #slaname on Twitter. The SLA membership will vote on this proposal in a special electronic referendum that will begin on 16 November and end 9 December. The result will be announced in early December.