MLA-Phil

I would like to start off by thanking each and every one of the sixty-five people who participated in the survey.   And of those, fifty-eight answered every question.  On behalf of Gary and Kevin and our committees, it really means a lot to know that you care enough about communications within the chapter to help us help you by answering our questions about how you use our various communications media.  We want to do right by you, and your participation tells us that you want us to do well.

First some demographics:  about three-fourths of the respondents were members of MLA National, while nearly all were members of the Chapter.  Many of you are members of other information-related organizations, including but not limited to the American Libraries Association, SLA or its local chapters, the Central PA Health Sciences Library Association, the American Society for Information Science & Technology, the Pennsylvania Library Association, and several others.  More than ninety percent hold the MLS or MS degree.  Only about one-quarter of the respondents were solo librarians.

the Chronicle -To paraphrase the old Philadelphia Bulletin, “nearly everybody reads the Chronicle,” with over ninety percent answering in the affirmative.  I have a favor to ask of those of you who do read it: please turn to your colleagues at work and, if they don’t read the Chronicle, tell them, “You don’t know what you’re missing.”  I know, I know, we’re all busy (and that was the most prevalent reason for not reading it), but there is information in the Chronicle that you just won’t get anywhere else.  See my article elsewhere in this issue, “Keeping Current with MLA-Phil,” which describes the unique features of each of the Chapter’s communications media.

The various regular features and columns are very popular, with at least sixty percent of you reading them “usually” or “every issue.”  The most popular of these features are “Member & Library News”—with 94.6% of respondents claiming to read it “usually or “every issue”; “Meet Your Fellow Chapter Members”—92.8%; “From the Chair”—87%; and “From the Editor”—83%.  So, ahem, I’ll try not to talk so much about the weather, and maybe my readership will improve.

About two thirds of the respondents said that they do not rely on the Chronicle to get information about MLA national news and events, and that’s fine; there are vehicles for that type of information, such as MLA News, edited by our own Linda Katz; as well as MLA Focus, the MARquee blog, and MLA President Mark Funk’s blog.

Since we have two other sources for chapter information besides the newsletter, I wondered if you minded finding the same news items in more than one source: Over eighty percent of the respondents said that it’s useful to have information duplicated in the Chronicle, so that practice will continue.

When asked what additional types of information you would be interested in reading about in the Chronicle, here are some answers:

• Local success stories of “how I did it good,” including technology application stories
• Information about ILL, document delivery and access issues
• Summaries of sessions from other non-MLA conferences
• Opportunities for collaboration

I thank you for these suggestions, and will try to get more such items into the newsletter.  If anyone would like to write an article about any of the above, please do not hesitate to contact me.  Remember: I’m the editor of the Chronicle, not the author.

Here are a couple suggestions that probably will not make it into the newsletter:

• Announcements of vendor visits that could benefit other libraries
• Job postings.

For the first, I’m not sure if the writer meant summaries of visits that already occurred; if so, then the librarian receiving the visit is surely welcome to write about his or her experience for the Chronicle.  If, however, a notice of an upcoming visit is meant, then that probably will not appear in the newsletter, nor will job announcements.  Remember that the Chronicle is published only three times a year, so news requiring immediate action or an immediate response is better communicated via the email list or the website. 

As I suspected, the Chronicle is read both online and in print.  Over forty percent read it online, about a quarter print it out, and nearly a third do a little of both—I’m guessing skimming it online and then print out individual articles of interest.  This gives the Chronicle staff insight into such production aspects as whether URLs should be linked within each issue or spelled out; how large photos should be, and how you have adjusted to online access since the Chronicle is not being mailed out.  

Nearly forty percent of the respondents had written for the Chronicle at one time or another, and most of those folks would do it again.  For those of you who have not or would not do it again, I do realize that we’re all busy (the most common reason for not writing), but this is your newsletter, and the best way to ensure that your voice is heard is to use it, so don’t wait for a written invitation—you have a standing invitation to share whatever you think might be of interest to your fellow chapter members.  Contact me if you’d like to write something.

 And I thank you for reading the Chronicle.

The email list, MLAPhil-L

I was surprised that only eighty percent of the respondents indicated that they subscribed to the email list; usually an email list is the prominent format for communications within an organization.  I was even more surprised that twenty-five percent of those who are not subscribed indicated that they had “never head of it.”  Well, hear this:  We have an email discussion list: it’s full of the LATEST news about the chapter, plus much more, so please subscribe.  See my article elsewhere in this issue, “Keeping Current with MLA-Phil,” or just go to the URL listed above, for subscription information.  In the interest of efficiency, I will no longer be sending out individual emails to each chapter member to let them know that a new issue of the Chronicle is available; I will only be sending an email to the list, and posting to the website.  So if you’re not subscribed to the list or you’re not checking the website, you’re going to miss out on those announcements. 

Some of you who are not subscribed to the list say that you get your information from the website or from the Chronicle.  The website is a better source than the Chronicle for the latest information and for information that needs to be acted upon immediately.  MEDLIB-L is used by some of you for chapter news, but I don’t recall seeing much chapter news on there lately; similarly, MLA News is a vehicle for MLA national information.  The Chronicle doesn’t have job announcements or items of requiring immediate response, so if you don’t subscribe to the email list, the website is really your next best option. 

For those of you who are not subscribed to the list and do not use the website, here are the reasons why members do subscribe:

• For alerts to upcoming chapter activities and events—84.3%
• For alerts to news on the MLA-Phil website—70.6%
• To ask questions of/get advice from fellow chapter members—51.0%
• For alerts to MLA national items of interest—47.1%
• Other reasons: job openings; and interesting tidbits from fellow chapter members.

More than half of the respondents have posted to the email list either with their own news or in response to something that others have written, and the majority of those people have also posted to other library-related lists. 

For those of you who use the email list—thank you.  For those of you who don’t—you don’t know what you’re missing.  Our chapter list isn’t as busy as MEDLIB-L, for instance, so you won’t get information overload. 

Aggregate responses are available.  Since no identification was requested, all responses were anonymous.