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ALA Membership Retention
Emerging Leaders 2013 Team K
Amanda Binder, Margaret Howard, Caitlin Moen, Kirsten Weaver
Description ALA Membership Retention: Once we get them, how do we keep
them?
What does ALA need to do that we are not doing, to retain new members?
What is the meaningful experience which will encourage new members to get involved, participate and communicate?
Working with ALA President Maureen Sullivan, the team will plan the approach, develop the tools, gather the data and share their findings.
Goals:
1) Find out what new members want to stay involved;
2) Recommend steps that ALA can take to meet those needs and interests.
Pre-Survey Research
Working with ALA Membership Director Ron Jankowski,
the team gathered data from other organizations
regarding membership
ALA Members in their first year were concluded to be
the best fit for gathering data needed
Survey was created based on the need to collect
demographic information as well as what areas of
membership were most valuable to members
Abstract
Team K’s Membership Retention project sought to discover what ALA
members find of value to their memberships, and why they decide to renew
or cancel. The process began by working with the ALA Membership
Committee to develop the target audience of first-year ALA members
coming up on their renewal date for their second year of
membership. Historically, a large number of first-year members choose not
to renew, so this would be a valuable audience. A contact list was provided
by the ALA Membership Committee and Team K worked to develop and
disburse a short survey to start discerning the value that members find in
ALA membership. The final product is a great deal of raw data, which Team
K distilled into a set of recommendations for the ALA Membership
Committee.
Survey sent to ALA Members in their first
year of membership
15 Questions
3,257 Surveys sent out
629 Responses received (19% Response Rate)
Survey Opening: March 20
Survey Close: April 29
Demographics
In what type of library do you work?
How many years ago did you receive your MLIS?
47% of respondents received their MLIS within the last 3 years
0-1 years 127 20%
2-3 167 27%
4-5 years 85 14%
6-10 87 14%
11 or more 91 14%
NA 72 11%
Academic 221 35%
Public 227 36%
School 110 17%
Special 22 3%
Other 50 8%
Demographics
Are you a member of other professional library
associations?
What are
they?
State Library Association 251 University Library Association 4
Special Library Association 54 British Library Association 4
ACRL 44 Progressive Librarians Guild 3
State ASL 44 Canadian Library Association 3
AASL 32 State Medical Library Association 2
Regional Library Association 29 Australian Library Association 2
PLA 24 Serials 2
State ACRL 21 Arizona Dynix Users 1
School Library Media Association 19 Association for Rural & Small Libraries 1
YALSA 18 BCALA 1
Medical Library Association 14 LLAMA 1
Unclear 12 Long Island Library Resources Council 1
State LITA 11 Regional Children's Library Association 1
Religious Library Association 9 State Public Association 1
Music Library Association, 6 Chinese American Librarians 1
RUSA 6 Italian Library Association 1
ALSC 5 Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) 1
LITA 5 LOEX 1
REFORMA 5 IFLA 1
ASIS&T 4 ELUNA 1
Yes 431 68%
No 199 32%
Value of Divisions
“I really just joined because of ACRL. ACRL publications and news are most useful to me - otherwise ALA does not provide me with much that helps out in my work/career.”
“It is the only way I can be a member of AASL. AASL helps me in my daily work… I would not be a member of ALA if I didn't need to be to be a member of AASL since most of ALA news, etc. doesn't apply to my niche of work. “
“I am heavily involved in the divisions but not so much the main ALA as I am an academic librarian. I find the professional development opportunities useful.”
“Not much truthfully, I feel that I get far more value for my dollar in PaLA. I also receive a lot of value through the divisions (which I have to first belong to ALA for, if I could skip ALA and just join divisions I would).”
“I like being a part of YALSA a lot, and I have to be in big ALA to do so. “
Demographics
Are you a member of non-library professional
associations?
Education 95 Library-focused 4 Professional 41 Music 4
History 15 Rotary 4 Unclear 11 Vetrans 3
Archives 7 Writing 2 Hobbies/Sports 7 Alumni Group 1
Religious 5 Ethnicity 1
Technology 5 Indexing 1 Womens 5 Intellectual 1
Area 4 Sciences 1
Yes 158 25%
No 472 75%
Value
What aspects of ALA do you find the most valuable?
(Please select your top three).
Access to latest news on trends, information, services, etc. 397 19%
Gain ideas and insights 273 13%
Learn and grow professionally 340 16%
Ability to connect with others in person and virtually 183 9%
Opportunities to serve and contribute to the profession 125 6%
Support all types of libraries and the profession 115 5%
Helps me better serve my customers/community 121 6%
Support of major issues or projects such as intellectual freedom, banned books week, National Library week, and ALA accreditation of library schools.
201 9%
Membership reinforces my professional credentials 293 14%
Added value and discount programs 92 4%
Total 2140
Value
How do you learn about ALA programs/services that are
of interest to you?
ALA Website 296 19%
ALA Direct e-newsletter 385 25%
American Libraries Magazine 291 19%
Other publications 39 3%
Divisions/Roundtables to which I belong 117 8%
From colleagues/co-workers/friends/supervisors/other librarians
232 15%
Social media 152 10%
Other 30 2%
Total 1542
“I don't always read all of my electronic communication from ALA or its divisions, but I'm glad I receive it. At this point in my training, having exposure to new ideas/concepts is the most helpful aspect of ALA membership.”
Value
What programs/services or benefits do you find useful? publications/communications 226 technology 6 awards 2
webinars 113 AASL 6 graphics 2
conferences 97 roundtables 6 award lists 2
discounts 40 news 6 RUSA 2
listservs 32 ALSC 5 freedom 1
trends 29 social media 5 AASL 1
unsure 26 book reviews 5 immersion 1
jobs 25 PLA 5 techtalk 1
programming 24 techsource 5 ERM 1
professional development 20 NMRT 5 town halls 1
courses 20 everything 4 lesson plans 1
networking 20 reviews 4 intellectual 1
website 19 intellectual freedom 4 copyright 1
none 18 standards 4 LinkedIn 1
ACRL 15 The Hub 3 conf scheduler 1
committees 14 knowledge quest 3 development 1
YALSA 14 status 3 events 1
continuing education 13 blogs 3 school libraries 1
advocacy 10 LITA 3 openaccess 1
workshops 10 book awards 3 guidelines 1
booklists 9 ALA Connect 3 alerts 1
ala store 7 info 2 AL Live 1
ALCTS 7 groups 2 ThinkTank 1
grants 7 STS 2 online learning 1
What do you value most about ALA? “I like being a part of a nationwide group of librarians and people who love and support libraries.”
“I know it's not members only, but I really find the Twitter feeds useful. It's where I get all my information. I really only ever visit the website through Twitter links.”
“The conferences are the most beneficial to me. They provide the best opportunity for networking, learning about new ideas, and feeding my passion.”
“Conferences, especially PLA, help me keep my enthusiasm about the field. ALA's advocacy on a national level is probably the most important service. We don't see it everyday, but it affects us a lot, not just budget wise but in public perception of what libraries are and what they do.”
“Since I have a limited budget I enjoy everything that is free like the free webinars.”
“ALA follows library trends for me and reports back in bullet points.”
“I like the continuing education programs that the ALA offers. In such an ever-changing field, I think that it's of the utmost importance for us to continue to learn and grow professionally.”
“Connections with other librarians, especially since I work in a special library where I am the only librarian. It's really easy to feel isolated from the librarian community in my current position but ALA events and online communities help me feel so much more connected.”
“I cannot say that I have benefitted from a program or service. What I do benefit from is simply being a member, and opening up the opportunity for myself to serve on committee's which will benefit me professionally.”
Evaluating value of ALA “I just need to get grounded in ALA before I can tell you what is most useful.”
“I don't find a lot useful. It seems to me that being a member does not bring me closer to professional colleagues or easily include me in professional discourse, which is what I would really value… My impression as a first/going on second year member in ALA is that the majority of notices I receive from the organization ask me to purchase superfluous items I cannot afford, waste my time following the tweets of a conference I cannot attend, and elect officials I do not know. I'm not sure.”
“I'm evaluating my membership actually because I'm not sure what value I get out of it.”
“I guess I haven't been a member long enough to find any one specific thing useful. It's nice to get some news tidbits in the email newsletter.”
“TOO many things happening for me to know what to join...so I look at JobLIST and American Libraries main articles.”
Praise for ALA Communication “I really love American Libraries. I'm usually so busy at work (doing the jobs of three people) that sitting down to read it when I get home is relaxing. It helps me stay up to date, when I don't have time to be up to the minute!”
“AL Direct is a quick, up-to-date, news service (mixed with some things that are in there just for fun). It gives me a good idea of what is going on with libraries throughout the country and the world, including trends and technologies I haven't seen yet in my isolated area.”
“I found the weekly newsletter to be extremely useful - it's an amazing sampling of news about libraries worldwide.”
“I find information to be the most important benefit of ALA membership. I feel like it would be almost impossible to keep up with what's going on in the profession with different libraries, and both ALA Direct and American Libraries Magazine keep me informed. Those are my professional lifeblood, and without them I think I'd be a second-rate librarian.”
“I really like the American Libraries Direct emails that I get. It's a lot of information presented in a nice, concise format so even if I don't have the time to read through all of it in depth right away, I come away feeling like I have a better idea of current issues for libraries (and communities in general).”
Renewal
Do you plan to renew your ALA membership at the
second-year member rate of $98?
Yes 433 69%
No 40 6%
Unsure 157 25%
“As an early-career librarian, I feel it is important to be a member of our nation's
largest professional library association. I also need to be involved in Divisions and
Roundtables that are vital for my current position.”
“I like to be a part of the larger community of librarians and library professionals across the country and appreciate the opportunities to be involved in issues affecting libraries beyond my community.”
“I'm a librarian and it's the ALA, why wouldn't I?”
Renewal
What is the main reason you are planning to renew your
ALA membership?
Renewal
What is the main reason you are not planning to renew
your ALA membership?
Renewal
What is the main reason you are unsure if you will renew
your ALA membership?
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Renewal
If you are not planning to renew your ALA membership
will you be renewing membership in another library
professional organization?
What are
they?
Yes 14 35%
No 26 65%
State Library Association 251 University Library Association 4
Special Library Association 54 British Library Association 4
ACRL 44 Progressive Librarians Guild 3
State ASL 44 Canadian Library Association 3
AASL 32 State Medical Library Association 2
Regional Library Association 29 Australian Library Association 2
PLA 24 Serials 2
State ACRL 21 Arizona Dynix Users 1
School Library Media Association 19 Association for Rural & Small Libraries 1
YALSA 18 BCALA 1
Medical Library Association 14 LLAMA 1
Unclear 12 Long Island Library Resources Council 1
State LITA 11 Regional Children's Library Association 1
Religious Library Association 9 State Public Association 1
Music Library Association, 6 Chinese American Librarians 1
RUSA 6 Italian Library Association 1
ALSC 5 Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) 1
LITA 5 LOEX 1
REFORMA 5 IFLA 1
ASIS&T 4 ELUNA 1
Renewal
If you are not planning to renew your ALA membership
will you be renewing membership in another NON-
library professional organization?
What are they?
Yes 4 10%
No 36 90%
Education 95 Library-focused 4
Professional 41 Music 4
History 15 Rotary 4
Unclear 11 Vetrans 3
Archives 7 Writing 2
Hobbies/Sports 7 Alumni Group 1
Religious 5 Ethnicity 1
Technology 5 Indexing 1
Womens-Association 5 Intellectual 1
Location-based 4 Sciences 1
Why renew ALA membership? Connecting
“Membership in ALA keeps me connected to broader world of librarianship”
“Being new to the field and with changing technologies, this is a guarantee that I can maintain a professional pathway to ensure my success in the future.”
“I wish to remain connected on the national level with the Library professional organization. My state organization is very good (Texas) but I feel the larger national connection is necessary to maintain a broader perspective on my profession.”
“It is the best way to remain connected to the library profession on a national level (and potentially international) for professional development, tracking trends, and networking.”
“In my state, school librarians are becoming district librarians while getting stretched further and further apart. Therefore it is really important that I push myself to connect and network on the national level in addition to the state level.”
“I am the only employee at a small school library and feel like I'm disconnected from other library professionals. ALA gives me a means to connect to others so I don't feel so isolated.”
“I feel a greater sense of connection with the community of YA professionals while being active in YALSA.”
Why renew ALA membership?
“It's the right thing to do! We're in this together!”
“First and foremost, I don't think membership in THE flagship professional organization should be an option for professionals. I'm a librarian, therefore, I am a member of ALA. That being said, I rely upon ALA to give me the information I need to keep up with trends and innovations in the field.”
“Because I believe that ALA and the dues I pay help to fight the fight of intellectual freedom. ALA also offers best practices information and what others around the world are doing to be creative and keep our patrons coming back.”
“ALA is a valuable organization (even if I don't interact with it much yet). I feel a responsibility to belong and pay dues to the organization of my profession.”
“ALA membership is essential for a professional librarian.”
“I feel that membership in a national professional organization is a necessary part of my continuing education after receiving my MLIS.”
“I think it's important to remain involved in ALA. I want to have access to all the news and trends of the library world. I also think it's important to be apart of the largest library lobbying organization available with shrinking budgets and changing views of the library to the outside world.”
“Because ALA is great and it gives me a sense of pride to be part of such a wonderful professional organization. Libraries FTW!”
“Simple: as a librarian in the U.S., I feel it's important to be part of ALA. Luckily, I work for a library that also feels that way, and will pay my membership fee.”
Why renew ALA membership?
Proven value
“Because I've used my ALA membership in the past year and I think it's valuable enough to cover the fee. I like receiving the newsletter and being informed about developments in other library fields different from mine.”
“I cannot fathom having all the benefits and access to important tools being taken away!”
“It would be a professional loss to not subscribe to ALA again.”
“Because the information that is provided by ALA and the ability to take online courses is worth the membership price”
“I have felt nothing but positive support from ALA. The organization provides me with more resources, information, and opportunities than I could ever hope to use, and I find it to be endlessly valuable. I plan to be a long-time member of the ALA.”
Why renew ALA membership?
Institutional expectation/requirement
“There seems to be an institutional expectation at my place of work that we
should be members. I also just like getting the publications and emails to stay in the
loop.”
“Professional association memberships are looked favorably upon at my
institution. ALA also assists in keeping me up to date with current issues in the
library world.”
“It is essentially required for tenure and promotion at my university.”
Why renew ALA membership? Institutional value
“Being an ALA member is part of my professional role where I work. I attend ALA functions to network for our program, our students, recruit, and to stay up to date on the latest trends. In addition, I find membership useful for my own professional development.”
“Being a member of ALA is of professional value to me and my institution.”
“The publications are helpful for review and new ideas. I really like the ALA store for supporting my library program and making our space more interesting.”
“Being a member of ALA, and the AASL, keeps me current on best practices in school libraries, which helps me be a better school library teacher.”
Support & Involvement
In which of the following areas (if any) do you receive
financial support from your library?
Membership Dues 196 15%
Conference Attendance 348 27%
Workshop Opportunities/Continuing Education/Similar 295 23%
Access to Publications for Professional Development 188 15%
My support is contingent upon direct involvement such as being a presenter, serving on a committee, etc.
49 4%
I do not receive any financial support from my library 169 13%
Other 24 2%
Support & Involvement
Please indicate your involvement with ALA:
Committee Member 48 4%
Committee Officer 2 0%
Am a division member and/or officer 128 12%
Am a round table member and/or officer 82 8%
Attend education sessions such as courses, webinars, etc.
236 22%
Attend the ALA Midwinter meeting 85 8%
Attend the ALA Annual Conference 171 16%
Attend at least one division conference 87 8%
Plan to join a committee or ALA group 137 13%
Other 116 11%
Recommendations Establish ALA Membership as Valuable Professional Credential
Do employers look for ALA membership when they review job applications? This might be a project for a future emerging leaders team to explore. If ALA membership is a proven stamp of approval in job applications it may provide substantial value that ALA could promote to potential new members.
Target Library Administrators Just as the ALA conference websites have a section for “Make Your Case to Attend” we should develop
marketing for librarians and library staff to bring to their directors/supervisors to make the case for supporting employee membership dues (“Make Your Case to Join”). Perhaps find libraries that do cover membership dues for their librarians and interview them to provide quotes/video clips for the marketing materials that explain why they support it, and what value it brings to their librarians, their library and the library patrons. Revisit ALA organizational membership; can it somehow be expanded or further promoted to library administrators?
Create Advocates Provide ALA members with talking points for encouraging other employees at their institutions to join
ALA, and for encouraging library administrators to support membership fees with institutional funding.
Develop Partnerships with State Library Associations Work with state library associations to increase opportunities for discounts or other benefits for joint
membership. If joint discounts are not a possibility, possibly work together to cross-promote the benefits of membership at both the state and national level.
Recommendations
Promote Value of “Big ALA”
ALA members clearly value the publications, support, outreach, continuing education opportunities, and
more that are provided by their divisions/roundtables. We want members to also highly value the larger
mission, publications, workshops, etc. offered through “Big ALA.” Perhaps divisions can use their more
accessible organizations to help strengthen the brand and participation within ALA as a whole.
Encourage Local - National Partnerships
Each division can set their own pricing which allows for joint membership opportunities with state
library chapters at the division level that are impossible at the ALA membership level. If a member’s
involvement with a division or round table leads to an involvement with ALA at the national level, this
will increase accessibility and give a sense of immediate value.
Reevaluate Program Pricing Structure
By increasing the difference in pricing for members vs. non-members for conference attendance or
adding a small fee for nonmembers for some of the ALA webinars, membership immediately gains extra
value. Administrators will “buy in” to funding memberships if they can see cost savings in continuing
education costs.
