Only Connect!

I have time for one last post before I get kicked out of here. I apologize for the long delay since my last post, but this last month was very crazy in getting ready for the MLA annual meeting. There was the presidential address to write, illustrate, and rehearse; the board meeting to run; the business meetings to run; the awards luncheon to host; and the Wednesday plenary session to emcee. With all of that plus my regular job, blogging was one of my last concerns.

I have been getting lots of compliments about the meeting. But really, about the only thing the president can take responsibility for is his or her speeches. If my speeches resonated with people, I think it was because what I said was what many people wanted to hear. As Scott points out, many people work very hard to put a meeting together. It just happened that this time, topics, technology, and our energy all came together for one helluva meeting. In case you couldn’t attend, MLA had 10 official bloggers reporting the meeting, so you can check out all of their postings in one convenient place. The meeting was well photographed. Here are my pictures, and you can also check out the MLA 2008 photo pool.

The big difference for me with this meeting was the prominence of our younger members. Intellectually, I know they’ve been at previous meetings, but at this meeting they were more visible — presenting papers, posters, and participating in panel discussions. I held a special reception in my suite for new MLA members who have already been on committees, task forces or juries — our future leaders. They seem eager for the challenge. The question is — how eager are our “seasoned” members ready to hand over the reins? Demographically, MLA has the potential for many members retiring in the next few years. We won’t have the luxury of letting our younger members learn the MLA ropes by watching on the sidelines for years, until they’ve “paid their dues.” They need, and want, to participate now. Both Mary Ryan and I worked hard to appoint new members to the available positions on committees, task forces, and juries. But as I pointed out in my presidential address, there aren’t that many positions available. We need to adapt our current governing tradition by opening up participation to more members. And a 30 member committee isn’t the way to do it.

MLA’s units — our sections, chapters, committees, task forces, and yes, even the board, need to start using Web 2.0 tools such as blogs to open up our governance. Allow more members to participate in our governance. Open the windows and doors, and allow our members to see both how and why decisions are made. Allow them to question and comment during the process. Allow them to gain in a few years the kind of MLA experience that took people of my generation 20 or more years to gain.

This isn’t heresy, this really isn’t that radical. It’s just different, and this new technology allows us to do it rather easily. Remember that “We have always done it that way” isn’t an answer, it’s an excuse. Boomers didn’t like that response in the 1960s, and we shouldn’t like it now. And as long as I’m talkin’ ’bout my generation, I can assure them that the kids are alright.

…until we meet again.

I’ve been thinking for several days about what momentous statement I should make in this first posting. I’ve decided that I really can’t make one. Actually, the fact that this is the first blog by a president of MLA is probably its own statement.

That’s not to say that past presidents haven’t communicated with our members. Since 2001, MLA presidents have had web pages on MLANET: Carol Jenkins, Linda Watson, Pat Thibodeau, Joanne Marshall, M.J. Tooey, and Jean Shipman all had pages. These pages usually included their inaugural address, their priorities, and updates from their travels.

Before web pages, MLA presidents had a “President’s Page” in the Bulletin of the Medical Library Association. This was usually a one or two page editorial or commentary on the Association or the profession. This practice stopped in 1993. However, we continue to have the “President’s Page” in the July issue of the Journal of the Medical Library Association, where the new president is introduced to the membership by a colleague. I was lucky enough to have my friend and mentor Bob Braude write my bio.

So I have this new toy. What do I do with it? Like my predecessors, I will probably write about my travels and adventures. I’ll also be playing around with WordPress plugins for photos and other cool things. But I hope that this form of communication can be more than reportage. Can we actually develop some kind of dialog? This is as new to me as it is to you. I want to hear from the MLA membership. What do you want in a blog by the MLA president?

Remember: play nice, and no hitting.