At this year's Annual Meeting in New York City in June, a very important decision will be made: Will we change our name? If so, what will the new name be? To be a part of this decision, you must actually attend the annual meeting and vote.

Since its inception in 2000, the Branding Task Force has polled, consulted, and gathered opinions regarding our “brand” – how we’re recognized by others through our name and logo. At the Winter Meeting in New Orleans, the current members of the Task Force presented their findings to date. Cindy Romaine stressed that branding is not just about renaming our organization; it is refocusing to reflect our profession in the 21st century, to demonstrate what gives us our strength, our essence. She stated that fundamental changes have taken place in the tools and services of our profession, and our organization is in danger of not being aligned with the information professional of the future.

Neil Infield addressed the question, why change now? With the coming retirements of the baby boomers, more than 50% of librarians will leave the profession in the next 10 years. Students currently entering the field will not fill this gap. We need to recruit more widely among information professionals to find new members.

Stephen Abram, Chair of the Task Force, presented the results of their research and the reasons for their conclusion that our name must be changed. Although the word librarian reflects “an excellent and valued name and profession, as a single word it is limiting” in describing the profession’s breadth and potential. He stressed that a new name is needed to tell the “whole story about opportunities for special librarians.” In addition, he said, in recent times, the word special has been “co-opted by the disabilities community” – e.g., Special Olympics, special education, special needs.

The Task Force recommended that two new names be considered by the Association members: SLA or Information Professionals International. Both names, it was felt, go well with our tag line "Putting Knowledge to Work" or might be adapted to other new tag lines.

Researching the Association, the Task Force found that there were basically two schools of thought regarding a new name. The first felt that the idea of “librarianship” should not be abandoned. This group has one foot placed firmly in the tradition of librarianship and one foot firmly in the future. For these people, the Task Force suggests dropping the “Special Libraries Association” and keeping the SLA, thus keeping the “L” that is so important to some. The downside of this name is possible confusion of our organization with others of the same name.

The second group felt the need for a more aggressive change that reflects the wider role of our current and potential members. They did not want the “L” word in the name. The name Information Professionals International reflects their input, as well as indicating that we are truly an international organization. Although "librarian" or "libraries" is not actually in the title, "information professionals" better represents who we are now and where we're headed.

The Task Force has placed information on the branding initiative on the SLA Web site:
http://www.sla.org/content/SLA/assocbrand/index.cfm
See especially the PowerPoint presentation at that site. It provides a quick, thorough overview of the entire issue.

David Stern presented the process that will be used to determine what, if any, name change will be adopted. In March, all members will receive a mailing notifying them of an upcoming vote on the name change at the Annual Business Meeting on June 11, 2003, in New York City. Only those members who are actually present at the meeting will vote.

There will be two votes. The first will determine which of the two names is preferred by those voting. This vote requires a simple majority of those present and voting.

The second vote will be on the question, “Do we want to change the name of the organization to the winner of the first vote?” This will require a 2/3 vote of those present and voting. The Board will then ratify the decision.

If the new name is selected in the second vote, then other changes will have to be made, such as a new logo, new stationery, etc. If the new name is not accepted, the organization’s name will remain Special Libraries Association. If you want to participate in this very important decision, it’s imperative that you attend the conference in New York and vote! Also, visit the Web site and join the Discussion List to let your views be known.