Enhancing the involvement and engagement of members in ALIA

Discussion paper for the 2004 National Policy Congress

Susan Magnay - manager, planning policy

Issue

The Board of Directors is seeking the ideas and views of members and groups through the regional and National Policy Congress meetings in 2004 to assist in planning future programs to enhance the involvement and engagement of members in ALIA.

The discussion paper is based on the findings and conclusions of the recent Review of member engagement and participation in ALIA. The review was an internal audit of member engagement through self-nominating groups. It addressed the roles and functions of groups in the Association to assess the effectiveness of the new group structure introduced in July 2001. In its consideration of the review's report, the Board of Directors decided to prepare a discussion paper for the 2004 National Policy Congress focusing on the benefits and value and of groups to the Association and its members and on how to maximise value in providing for members' involvement in the future.

Background

The review of member engagement and participation in ALIA was established by the Board of Directors in July 2003 and endorsed by the NPC in September 2003. The final report was presented to the ALIA Board of Directors in May 2004. The aims of the review were:

• To identify the current level of activity of groups and their value and benefit to members and contribution to ALIAs objects and vision
• To evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of the current group structure, including consideration of:
  • how well groups are providing mechanisms for engagement, communication and consultation
  • the role of groups in attracting and retaining members
  • the strengths and weaknesses, if any, of the current model
  • development, as necessary, of a new model for member engagement or other purpose

A summary report is available at here.

In its consideration of the report and recommendations of the review, in addition to preparing this discussion paper, the Board of Directors also endorsed a number of recommendations to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of communications and group processes. These recommendations are covered in the summary report of the review and their implementation will be taken up in the ALIA 2005-2006 plan. The Board also decided that alternative roles and representation for the NPC and other measures for consultation with members on policy and strategic directions for the Association should be considered. This is reflected in the changes in representation at this year's regional meetings and the NPC designed to facilitate wider participation by members.

Engagement and participation of members - looking to the future

The review demonstrated clearly that people join and belong to the Association for the opportunities it provides to be part of a professional community, to network and build links with the profession and for information, learning and communication.

The elements that encourage people to be involved and participate include:

• Networking opportunities and personal contact
• Effective communication and good information - both electronic and face-to-face
• Opportunities and direct encouragement to be involved
• Energy, ideas and inspiration
• Professional development and learning opportunities, both formal and informal
• Structured programs of activities and accessible events
• Opportunities for professional discussion and exchange of ideas and information
• Customer service focus and simple systems
• Professional recognition and job opportunities

However, the Association faces challenges in supporting members' involvement. These include:

• The increasingly limited capacities of members to contribute on volunteer basis
• A widespread perception that the level of active involvement by members is low and may be declining
• Consistently delivering high-quality CPD opportunities
• Increasing the level of members' involvement in policy-making and governance issues
• Meeting the diverse interests and needs of members
• Involving and engaging institutional members
• Members being unaware of and unclear about structures and opportunities for involvement
• Competition for members from other LIS organisations

Benefits of and contributions by groups

Member research over a number of years has found consistently that group meetings and activities are highly-valued by members compared with other ALIA services and activities. The group structure serves a fundamental purpose in the Association. Maintaining currency of knowledge, networking and professional development are the most common reasons that members give for participating in groups.

Additional benefits identified by groups themselves are that self-nominated groups provide for grass-roots, local involvement by members and as the main point of involvement by some members in the Association. Groups also provide representation, consultation and communication between members and the Board and ALIA National Office.

Members who are involved in and are highly-committed to a group or groups believe that for the majority of members local group activities are the most-valuable service provided by ALIA and the one in which they are most-interested. Many of those who have strong commitments to a group or groups consider that groups are the lifeblood and core of the Association.

However, not all members find groups relevant to their interests and needs. Groups face challenges in encouraging members to be involved and in reaching out to new and potential members.

The review identified three main areas where groups are placed to make a significant contribution to the Association's goals.

• Sustainability
  Groups contribute to the sustainability of the Association through providing activities and services that are highly-valued and sought-after by members and potential members. However, many members are not actively involved in groups and their activities.
• Influence
  Groups contribute to ALIA's influence in the sector and the community through the opportunities for professionals to participate and to contribute to the profession and through the significance and relevance of group activities and outcomes in the sector. However, other non-ALIA organisations are seen by some to be delivering more-relevant activities and outcomes in some sectors and geographic areas.
• Professional standards
  Groups contribute to improving the quality and standards of the sector and the skills of those working in it through the professional networking, professional development and access to current knowledge that they provide. However, the capacity of groups to deliver high-quality CPD programs solely through the volunteer efforts of their members is increasingly limited.

Group activities and the resources devoted to groups

There are about 60 endorsed self-nominating groups with a combined total of just under 11 000 members. Groups have a regional sectoral or special interest focus and vary greatly in their activities, from running complex national programs to delivering mainly local professional networking opportunities.

Extensive resources are devoted to group activities:

• Volunteer
• Groups income and expenditure (excluding conferences) of about $100 000 in 2004.
• ALIA National Office resources and local liaison officers represent the equivalent of 3.5 staff conservatively estimated at $190 000 per year, excluding overheads. Non-salary costs include, for example, information technology and network support and insurance.
• In-kind support from institutional members and institutions.

The self-nominating group structure and the extensive activities of groups are among several programs that support and nurture member's engagement and participation in the Association. Other activities include:

• Continuing professional development
• Centrally co-ordinated professional events and activities (symposiums, workshops, forums)
• Policy and advisory groups

Maximising value in providing for engagement and participation - issues for discussion

The Board of Directors has concluded that ALIA should focus on building on existing programs for achieving networking and professional growth for members. In looking to enhance and to provide effective support for members' engagement with the Association in the future, the Board believes that there would be great benefit in wider discussion in the Association of a number of key issues.

In particular, the Board invites discussion and comment from the 2004 regional meetings and NPC on the three issues below:

• Strengths of groups
  Looking to the future, what are the particular strengths of self-nominating groups in achieving networking and professional growth for members?
  
  
• Effectiveness of groups compared to other Association structures and activities
  Given the concern that it is becoming increasingly-difficult to sustain and rely on the largely volunteer efforts of members through groups, what can be done most-effectively by groups and what by other structures and activities? For example, the need for a strategy for sustainability for the extensive CPD delivered through volunteer efforts of members was identified as high-priority at 2003 National Policy Congress.
  
  What is best delivered by local support through local liaison officers?
  
  What is best done Association-wide?
  
  What is best done at group level?
  
  How can we best link what a groups can do most effectively (in CPD, for example), with what is more generally required?
  
  
• Succession-planning and encouraging involvement
  What mechanisms can be or are being used by groups to encourage involvement by their members?
  
  Are there examples of group programs or activities that have worked well to encourage and increase involvement?
  
  How can we best ensure that there are new, active and committed participants to sustain and refresh groups and our professional community into the future?