Head Tale

For anyone in the library community, you're probably aware that CLA is going through some tough times financially and is looking at remedies – which means this year's conference and AGM should be particularly interesting.

I don't know the full background and history of how they've arrived at this point but having seen numerous other member-based organizations face similar financial crises, often on a recurring basis, I won't let that stop me from wading in with some ideas on how to fix the problems!

1. Change the Membership Fee Structure
Right now, I think any working librarian basically has two choices – they can pay $100/year for membership if they earn under $40 000 or $200/year if they earn over that amount (I may have those numbers wrong but that's the gist of it.)  I think a better way to do it (and I admit to stealing this idea wholesale from an Ontario colleague) would be to figure out the absolute lowest recovery cost of a membership then restructure your fees with that as the entry level amount. 

But then, make the kicker that the brackets aren't based on actual income but on suggested income levels so members can pay what they perceive as the value of the organization.  So the fee chart might look like this and someone who makes $50 000/year is asked to pay $125 but they can choose whatever level they believe the value of CLA is to them – from $50 to $250.  Even if everyone paid the lowest amount, hopefully you'd see a corresponding uptick in membership that would offset the cost of membership.  Plus you'd have a stronger association because of the increased numbers to sit on committees, volunteer, purchase other CLA-related products and services and so on.

2. Get 'Em While They're Fresh
Take a page from the Marlboro playbook and hook 'em while they're young!  Instead of charging anything, give free memberships to students and waive registration fees for their first conference as well.  Hopefully by showing them what a useful, effective, strong organization you have with these free “samplers”, you will get a lifetime of membership fees rather than students telling you to fuck off.

3. Get 'Em When They're Not Fresh
A bit crude but on the other end of the scale, encourage bequests from members and others who support the CLA and its goals (though this may put the CLA in conflict with local giving programs.)  We did this at the WGA and didn't have any huge bequests (at least while I was there) but did get some small bequests and there's always the possibility that one millionaire librarian (it could happen) with a mattress stuffed full of hundred dollar bills will decide that the CLA is where their money will be put to best use after they're gone.

4. Get 'Em When They're Not Individuals
I've heard more than one person involved with library management say that they don't hold a personal membership in CLA but still buy a membership for their institution because of some of the advocacy and other valuable national-scope activities CLA encompasses.  Perhaps CLA could do more to market itself to libraries that don't belong already?  Another benefit of this approach is that (I believe – I'm too lazy to check) institutional memberships are more expensive so could bring in more money than individual memberships do. 

5. Become a Registrar for the Profession
Not sure what would be required to make this happen but often, people ask why nurses, doctors, engineers and other professionals need to join a professional association but librarians don't.  A colleague theorized that our ALA-accredited Master's *was* our de facto professional designation but I still wonder if this goes far enough?  At any rate, requiring any working librarian to register and pay a fee would provide a revenue stream for CLA – even though I suspect many librarians might (rightfully?) see it as a cash grab unless there could be some true value shown for such an arrangement – especially considering right now, we have no tradition of professional registration in librarianship.

6.  Create a Speaker's Bureau
I've obviously got Alberta on my mind but the Book Publishers Association of Alberta has a speakers bureau where presumably, they charge a fee to authors and publishers to be listed and then organizations and others looking for someone with expertise in an area can contact the speakers directly.  Something similar would be very useful for the Canadian li
brary community.  There are numerous times we've hired outsiders to do training/consulting/speaking at RPL but these arrangements usually come about because a staff member knows (or knows of) the presenter.  A speakers bureau would help eliminate that need for “a friend of a friend” type recommendations as well as letting new librarians get their feet in the door for this type of work.  Plus, if CLA wanted to get really crazy, they could go all Web 2.0 and let people rate and comment on speakers in the database so others looking to get a sense of who to book could see the various speakers strengths and not-so-strengths.  Although it wouldn't have the cachet of all its speakers being book authors like the BPAA example, there are examples where non-librarians would like to learn from our expertise.  For one simple example, I've given a presentation on Web 2.0 to a local rotary club.  It was a “friend of a friend” recommendation but a speakers bureau might help other organizations who don't have that “six steps of separation” connection find speakers. 

7.  Foreign Credentials Assessment Service
ALA refuses to touch this (perhaps with good reason?) but perhaps CLA could step-up and provide some sort of service to libraries in both Canada and the US to help them assess the credentials of foreign-trained or non-ALA accredited MLIS holders?

8. Distance MLIS Coordination
One of the things discussed at the 2008 Libraries HR Summit was the idea of a Canadian-based distance MLIS program.  I'm a huge fan of this idea and perhaps there could be a role for CLA as a central coordinator between the various library schools (if they could work together to share offerings rather than having one single school bear the load.) 

9.  Seek out the next Andrew Carnegie
Seriously.  Find some wealthy industrialist in Canada who wants to see their money put to good use as they're getting older and thinking about their legacy.  Help create a foundation to direct this money to whatever – greening library buildings, buying technology, a national childhood literacy strategy.  Take a healthy administration fee.

10.  Hold the Next CLA Conference in Vegas. 
Bet the budget on Red since that's where it is anyhow.  (Ouch! )

Those are just a few ideas off the top of my head.  If you'd like to hear more, I'll be at the Westin!