Naming Research Results Posted

A lot of members have asked about the research done in arriving at the proposed new name Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals. 

We have just posted a PowerPoint summary of that research conducted with corporate, academic, healthcare and government professionals as well as information technology, human resources, marketing, strategic planning and information professionals across all sectors.

Comments

[Michelle Mayes]

That link does not seem to be working...

[woodsiegirl.wordpress.com]

Yeah, that link doesn't work for me either.

[Chris]

The link for "PowerPoint summary of that research" works fine as of 7:44pm. I was able to download the PPT file and review it.

[Laura McLellan]

The PPT tells me that a few hundred people were polled on only 3 lousy names, which were first selected from a long list of mostly lousy names. It seems obvious that SLA wants to distance itself from libraries/librarians.

[Denise Ryan]

I know, of the 16 possible names library or librarian was not included in any of the titles yet "knowledge" was part of 12. Subliminal message?

[Nicole Snyder]

How many members were included in this study?

[Margaret Smith]

Who drafted the "organizational statement" that the people in the study were supposed to use to evaluate the names? Also, I notice that 74% of survey respondents (the original study, not the naming) were corporate. What percentage of SLA members are corporate librarians?

[Ruth Villaverde]

I can understand wanting to lose the lame jokes about riding the 'special' bus, and ASKPro is kinda cute and sends the right message about what we do. HOWEVER, the word 'strategic' is a 20th century meaningless buzzword. I kinda like the arrogance of using knowledge instead of information in the title...'we're not transferring information, we're imparting knowledge'. How about Assoc. of Information Professionals or World Library Assoc. and stop trying to be cute?

[Concerned Member]

I agree that the proposed name sounds dated and that the acronym is forced. I did not know about any name change proposal until last week. I have to say that my first reaction upon seeing the proposed name was that it sounded arrogant, pompous, and overly complicated. Please keep it short and simple. Librarians already suffer from arrogant/pompous stigma, let's not reinforce it.

[Monika Maslowski]

How many librarians were included in this study? I agreee with the "cute" comment - ASKPro sounds very "amateurish." Like Ask Jeeves...

"Strategic" is also carries a very specific meaning in defense and intelligence world that means something quite different than in the library world. It doesn't make sense here. Take out strategic and it sounds fine.

I hope others agree, I personally don't need any re-affirmation to consider myself a professional.

[Ryan]

I would have like to have seen the current name added to this questionnaire. It seems to me it would have given us an idea as to whether people were just choosing the best of the worst, or if they would have stayed with the original.

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1574666703]

Has anyone said the word "ASKPro" out loud, at normal conversational speed? Does it come out sounding rather, er, anatomical?

[steph]

Only 54% of respondents ranked ASKPro first of the three choices.

[steph]

That's out of only 226 respondents.

[steph]

That is out of only 226 respondents.

[steph]

That is out of only 226 respondents.

[steph]

That is out of only 226 respondents.

[steph]

Oops. I wasn't trying to be emphatic - honest! Just had a glitch in sending.

[Jill]

Was the survey distributed to a thoroughly developed "random sample" of our 5,000+ membership? Or did it go to our leadership, who are likely to be fixated on the Knowledge word? Yes, this is a difficult choice, but I don't think we've arrived yet.

[Another concerned member]

My thoughts:

* "SLA" should have been included in the survey as a choice.

* a survey with only 226 respondents to represent an association with thousands of members provides too small a sampling.

* Harmony makes a wonderful point about how "ASKPro" sounds when spoken. It's rather embarrassing to pronounce.

* The name sounds like a name rejected by an online website which sells information to unsuspecting users.

* not only is "strategic" an overused buzzword from the early 2000, I would argue that "knowledge" is one as well.

As an SLA member for almost 10 years now who has been the only librarian at my workplace, I have never heard any comments from anyone about "riding the 'special' bus." Of course, I've always worked with intelligent adults who understood that "libraries" and "librarians" were capable of contributing to the bottom line of the company.

[Ann]

I like how the power point says that they tried to stick to short names with strong acronyms, but Association of Strategic Knowledge Professionals, with ASKPro as the acronym doesn't seem to fit their own criteria... What a mouthful! But neither did one of the other three choices. All in all, I think the whole list of 12 was pretty bad and not representative of my profession.

I just don't understand why they seem to think that "librarian" and "library" are bad words.

[Omar]

"ASKPro" sounds like something specifically designed for a search engine (like "WebMD" or something). And that doesn't seem like a coincidence either. To me, it dumbs down the services that special librarians perform. I'm actually not opposed to "Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals;" I'm just not crazy about the way the new acronym comes across. What, again, is wrong with "SLA"?

[Member]

I agree with the pronunciation comments and that SLA should have been an option to select. I am open to change the name, but am also fine with keeping SLA as a name. I have not felt alienated professionally from the name SLA and have not received negative feedback from others for being known professionally as a librarian vs. a knowledge broker, info specialist etc....

[Chas.K.Castle]

I don't want to sound bitter or anything, but I DO prefer what we have to any of the awkward compilations with which we have been presented. Special Librarian Association covers us exactly.
- Just Charly

[Kamlesh Goel]

I agree with the comments of Omar. Nothing wrong with "SLA". It is meaningful, informative and what not. No need to change it. Although I am not against to "CHANGE".