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Letter to Philadelphia Chapter Members, January 2010
Be the change you want to see Welcome to the new year of the SLA Philadelphia Chapter! I feel honored, privileged and excited to serve you, the chapter members, in the coming year, as your President. I worked hard to bring you a great year of programs in 2009 (10 total events in all!). Be assured that I am just as determined and eager to do the very best job that I possibly can during my current term as President, as well. A new year makes all of us reflect on new beginnings. We make resolutions, formulate ideas for change or improvement, and have renewed energy around goals and aspirations for ourselves, our families, our careers and yes, even our chapter! At least I have been thinking about ideas to improve our chapter—and I hope I am not the only one! My past years of service for the chapter in various capacities have allowed me to see the “wonderful,” the “ok” and the “not so good” parts of our chapter. And that’s GOOD because it has given me some ideas for changes, improvements and even new implementations! I know there are probably many of YOU who have thoughts around changes and improvements for our chapter, as well. Maybe you haven’t voiced them. Maybe you complain about it to colleagues. Maybe you’re afraid to get involved or volunteer. Or maybe you have simply ignored the observations and irritations for long enough to move into apathy. My dear fellow members, PLEASE don’t let that continue. The Chapter cannot grow, evolve, improve or even just plain continue status quo without you. This Association is both FOR and BY you!! To borrow a phrase from Mahatma Gandhi: Be the change you want to see. So I am calling you to action! There are several ways: 1) There are at least 3 positions currently open on our Advisory Board: Hospitality, Professional Development and Public Relations. And if some of my new ideas/goals for the year are implemented, there will be some NEW board positions available that are not even listed there yet! Now is your chance to step up and give back to your chapter and volunteer! I’ll append the descriptions for these 5 positions at the end of my letter. If you are interested, contact me! 2) In a few weeks, the Board and various committees will be formulating goals and planning for programs for the coming year. We already have many goals and ideas in mind and most of them require the help of many volunteers! To that end, in the next week or so, you will be getting a Programs Survey. It should only take about 10 minutes of your time and you will have 3 weeks to do it! (Participants can enter a drawing to win a $25 Borders Gift Card!) It will help us tremendously to generate ideas for programs, find new locations and venues and get new volunteers! So look for that survey coming soon! 3) SLA Annual is coming to Philadelphia in 2011! We need lots of people to start planning now and volunteers to implement it in order to help make Philadelphia and our chapter a welcoming place for our fellow colleagues from around the world. I think there will be several committees for this one. Are you excited yet? No? Well, let me tell you about some of my additional ideas and goals for 2010. 1) Website Redesign. Our Chapter website has served us well for many years. So many years, in fact, that it has that dated 90’s look…You know what I mean. Not to mention, we have merged with members of Central PA. In short, we need updating and consolidating! AND We need Web 2.0! To that end, I have appointed Nicole Engard as our new Webmaster. She and a redesign committee will be working on how to improve and redesign our website. Anyone else interested in this committee, contact me! 2) Resurrect the chapter bulletin–-but electronically and as part of the new website--perhaps as a blog? We’ll likely need a new Bulletin Editor for this when the time comes. 3) Mentoring program. We don’t have one and to put it simply, we should. I’d like a committee to look at how other chapters or associations that have one are doing it and what we can do to implement one. And do it! 4) Membership Welcome Procedures. Did you receive a welcome packet when you joined the chapter? I didn’t either. That needs to change. We need to welcome people when they join, and find out why when people leave—and hopefully minimize that. This will largely be the responsibility of that open “Membership” Board position. Any volunteers? 5) Update our Chapter Practices. It was last done in 2003. It needs some changes and updates. Not exciting, I know. But it needs to be done. Well, I think there’s probably more, but that’s all for now. I hope this inspires you to volunteer! Remember those rah, rah “team building” sessions many of us went to at one time or another for our employers? Well, one of those “TEAM” sayings comes to mind: Together Everyone Achieves More. In a volunteer professional association, this is especially true! So, I’ll leave you with that. Volunteer! Be passionate! And work together, because together, we really DO achieve more. GO TEAM PHILADELPHIA! Karen Krasznavolgyi President 2010 Philadelphia Chapter karen.krasznavolgyi@jefferson.edu Open Board Positions From: Phila. Chapter Procedures Manual: EVENTS COORDINATOR & HOSPITALITY FUNCTION The function of the Events Coordinator & Hospitality Chair is to coordinate the registration process for Chapter programs. SELECTION The Chair is appointed by the Chapter President. QUALIFICATIONS The Chair must be a member of the Chapter. TERM One administrative year. DUTIES The duties of the Events Coordinator & Hospitality Chair are: 1. To attend Board meetings as a non-voting committee Chair. 2. To receive all registrations and payments for Chapter programs. 3. To maintain a list of registered members and non-members for Chapter programs. 4. To serve on the reception desk for Chapter programs for registrant sign-in, receipt of payment, and new registrations. 5. To turn over registration payments to Chapter Treasurer. 6. To follow up with registrants who registered for programs but did not attend and pay and/or registrants who attended but did not pay. 7. To coordinate programs and events with the program chair and/or meeting planner(s) REPORTS The Chair shall present reports on activities at Executive Board meetings when appropriate. An annual report of activities is prepared each year. One copy is submitted to the President, one copy is sent to Archives, and one copy is retained for the Committee file. EXPENSES The Chair shall request that the Chapter’s budget include the funds necessary to cover the Committee’s planned activities. Any additional funds needed shall be approved by the Executive Board. PUBLIC RELATIONS FUNCTION The function of the Public Relations chair is to promote the Chapter and the Association locally. SELECTION The Chair is appointed by the Chapter President. QUALIFICATIONS The Chair must be a member of the Chapter. APPOINTMENTS The Chair may appoint a committee of members if needed. TERM One administrative year. DUTIES The duties of the Public Relations Chair are: 1. To attend Board meetings as a non-voting committee Chair. 2. To draft a statement of purpose and plan for the public relations activities. REPORTS The Chair shall present reports on activities at Executive Board meetings when appropriate. An annual report of activities is prepared each year. One copy is submitted to the President, one copy is sent to Archives, and one copy is retained for the Committee file. EXPENSES The Chair shall request that the Chapter’s budget include the funds necessary to cover the Committee’s planned activities. Any additional funds needed shall be approved by the Executive Board. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FUNCTION The function of the Professional Development Chair is to plan and implement all Professional Development activities for the Chapter. SELECTION The Chair is appointed by the Chapter President. QUALIFICATIONS The Chair must be a member of the Chapter. APPOINTMENTS The Chair may appoint a committee of members if needed. TERM One administrative year. DUTIES The duties of the Professional Development Chair are: 1. To attend Board meetings as a non-voting committee Chair. 2. To arrange for at least one professional development and/or continuing education program per administrative year. 3. To maintain the Professional Development content on the Chapter web site. REPORTS The Chair shall present reports on activities at Executive Board meetings when appropriate. An annual report of activities is prepared each year. One copy is submitted to the President, one copy is sent to Archives, and one copy is retained for the Committee file. EXPENSES The Chair shall request that the Chapter’s budget include the funds necessary to cover the Committee’s planned activities. Any additional funds needed shall be approved by the Executive Board. 
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© 2008 Philadelphia Chapter of SLA. Updated January 19, 2010. |