MLA Staff : Members, please include your comments or questions on the proposed dues increase.
Maureen Knapp : I support the dues increase. As an entry level HS librarian making 30K a year, I find the current dues restricting and unfortunately had to charge them this year. Raising the reduced dues salary level to 30K would encourage me to maintain my MLA membership by making it more affordable. Currently it is hard to rationalize renewing with MLA when it means a month of only ramen noodles to eat. Perhaps some of this dues increase could go towards encouraging Health Sciences institutions and libraries to subsidize their librarians' MLA memberships or Academy applications.
Academic/Medical Librarian : I do not go along with the increase. Just like our institution one must tighten fiscally. This year we did not receive merit increases, yet we had a substantial increase in medical costs. Soon we will be faced with deciding whether or not it is worth it. The question is what is the added value, when the MLA Conference has to be one of the library conferences in the country!
An Academic HS Librarian : I don't support the increase either. I still have sticker shock from the cost of the annual meeting--over $400 for registration? Another $200-350+ for a CE? As the cost of membership in MLA continues to rise, I will be asking myself whether I should keep renewing or not. To be blunt, I don't feel that I get my money's worth out of the organization now. My institution currently has a salary freeze, yet our health care costs have skyrocketed. Even in years where we get a merit increase, it is typically less than 2%. My city and state are facing fiscal crunches as well, so that my property tax is going up, etc. Things are tough all over, but the answer can't always be "let's make the members pay more!" I enjoy being involved in MLA, but if the dues go up, I will likely not renew, and focus my efforts at the chapter and local levels instead. At these prices, MLA may well become a luxury that many members feel they can't afford.
MLA Board :
MLA Board : To: Maureen Knapp Thank you for your comment. Support of the proposed dues increase is even more meaningful coming from an entry level health sciences librarian. We understand that increasing dues presents many of our members with a struggle, particularly for those making ends meet on entry level salaries. Note that the proposal includes raising the salary level that qualifies one for reduced dues from $24,000 (current) to $30,000. Note also that the proposed reduced dues, after the 2 year phase in, will be 60% of the full rate. We hope you agree that this provision eases the burden for those at lower salary levels, is equitable, and enables all of us to help maintain a strong professional presence. MLA Board
MLA Board : To: Academic/Medical Librarian Thank you for your comment. Regarding annual meeting registration fees: although the inclusive fee this year is $405 ($10 more than last year), the noninclusive fee is only $295. The reason for the difference in costs between the two is that the food costs in D.C. are very high. The registration fee ranges for MLA CE courses have been about the same since 1996 in spite of the increasing costs for audiovisual and other meeting support. MLA's CE program is not dues-supported. Registration fees are calculated so as to cover actual costs. MLA dues are about $30 less per year than the American Association of Law Librarians, a comparable association. If you do not feel that you get your money's worth out of MLA now, can you describe what program or service you would like to see MLA provide that you would find of value? MLA Board
MLA Board : To: An Academic HS Librarian -- Thank you for your comment. The MLA Board takes its fiscal responsibilities very seriously. As many of our members are, MLA is also providing more programs and services than we did at any time in the past, to a broader audience with fewer staff. MLA already generates 78% of its revenues from non-dues sources with member dues providing 22% of the revenues. The association average for national professional associations for revenue generated from dues is about 25%. As you point out, costs continue to rise in all aspects of our society. For MLA to meet the current member demands for program and services, both existing and new ones, it is necessary to ask for a dues increase. If the members decide that they don't want a dues increase at this time, MLA will "tighten its belt" and will have to eliminate or alter some of these programs and services. -- MLA Board
medical librarian : I am not sure if I support the dues increase. I have some questions and thoughts. I think the salary level for reduced dues is still too low. A librarian living in New York or Chicago or California making $35K can't afford the dues either. You do a good job of justifying the cost of our dues in relation to other professional association dues. However, what is the average salary of those professions and how is that proportional to their dues? Healthcare Executives obviously make more than librarians, therefore they can afford higher dues. Are our salaries growing in porportion to the increase in our dues? Many librarians salaries only increased by 2% last year (myself included), add in the higher cost of the our healthcare benefits and some of us make less than we did last year. Is this a trend nation wide or is this something just within certain areas? If this is a trend nation wide, then maybe some other types of funding need to be investigated. If average salaries are increasing at a certain percentage I think dues should not be increased above that percentage. Next has MLA looked into allowing monthly or quaretly payments towards dues? As people's belts are tightening, comming up with $135 (or more if the increase is passed) in one lump some can be tough and less palatable than paying approximately $11/month for the dues. While I benefit from the CE's, I don't see MLA doing as much for the medical librarian profession as a whole. Salaries are still subpar compared to other professionals. Hospital libraries are closing. More and more articles are being written about getting medical information for "free" on the internet with no mention of librarians. MOre and more patients are paying an information brokrage firm for same information that librarians provide. The latest teleconference on the expert searcher felt like they were preaching to the choir. Librarians know all about needing an expert searcher, the fact is most docs DO NOT! They think they are the expert searcher and at best they use UpToDate! Has MLA attended Medical Conference to promote medical librarians as whole and what we can do for them as a whole?!
MLA Board : To "medical librarian" - Thank you for your comment. You raise many good questions and points, so please bear with this lengthy response. We will try to address your points in turn. 1) - MLA Staff and Board routinely monitor the dues structures of other associations toward ensuring that we are staying within the range for membership dues of comparable associations. Much larger organizations such as SLA have a larger membership base to generate dues and can take advantage of an economy of scale. Compared to other organizations of comparable size, such as AALL, our proposed dues will continue to be in alignment with other associations. Below are some examples of library and related health organizations which provide a comparison: SLA - $125 MLA - $135 (current) AHIMA - $145 APHA - $160 AALL - $163 MLA - $165 (proposed 2006) AMIA - $250 2) - The needs and expectations of members are not necessarily related to salary increases or the lack of them. In fact, expectations continue to rise even if salaries do not. Many of us have received no increases or no more than 2% increases for several years. And yet costs continue to rise. It is difficult, especially for those who have a hard time making ends meet and are faced with making choices. Proposing to raise dues during tough economic times was not an easy, or quick, decision by the MLA Board. But the Board decided that the proposed increase is necessary in order for MLA to meet the needs expressed by members and to maintain an aggressive presence on behalf of members and the profession. As paradoxical as it may sound, we would argue that when times are tough, that's the worst time to pull back and lay low. It's then more than any other time when we need the association to represent us and promote our professional value. We don't feel that MLA can do that to the extent it should without this increase. 3) - Over the years, MLA has continued to explore other avenues for revenues. In fact, 78% of MLA revenues are from non-dues sources, including cost recovery and entrepreneuirial activities -- and 22% from dues. Most comparable associations are at 25% dues support. One of the dangers of placing more and more emphasis on non-dues revenue is that the association has to become more focused on those services to continue, and become less focused on services to members and to their priorities. MLA wants its members to come first, but that requires adequate revenues from dues to ensure core membership services continue. 4) - This is an interesting idea that would have to be studied to determine the added costs for the association. There are operational costs to sending out reminder notices and processing payments. If MLA moved to quarterly billing, we would have to consider these added costs of processing dues 3 more times a year. 5) - MLA has been trying to reach the medical and health care community with the message about the value of medical librarians and their libraries. You may want to visit MLANet to see what promotional and other activities that MLA is pursuing in terms of underscoring the special skills and roles of the medical librarian. As for expert searching, for those of us in the field for many years it is preaching to the choir. However, not all of our new members, or those just entering health sciences librarianship, are familiar with the skills and knowledge base needed. In fact, the Task Force on Expert Searching has discovered that many of us have lost those skills as we have focused on end-user searching. MLA tries to identify areas where we need to refocus our attention and build momentum for advocating our value in providing expert services. MLA tries to target initiatives of interest and importance to its members, and we would like to hear from you about other areas where we need to focus our energies and resources.
: I would really like to comment here but not if I have to leave my name. I find MLA getting outrageously expensive. Many of us could NEVER afford to attend the annual convention, with rooms at $200/night, in Washington. With airfare, courses, & everything else, this approaches $2K, which would buy a lot of medical texts. This is off the subject, but I for one, feel once again like Cinderella who can't attend the ball, ever. Our institutions can't afford this extravagant expense in tough times.
20 year member : I am curious after each dues increase what has happened to the level of membership. Have we maintained the same number of members? Lost members for a time and regained or are we steadily losing members? The rate increase that you are asking for is a $30 increase over 2 years or actually $45 from my purse. With gas prices and other consumer goods increasing there are alot of people competing for that $45.00. If we lose members you will be wanting more. My institiution will support some ce but it does not pay dues for me.
Jonathan Lord : There is no doubt that we are all facing difficult financial times with gas prices, taxes, insurance, housing, prescription drugs etc. all rising at rates that far outpace any salary increases that we may or may not be getting. All of our institutions are facing these financial pressures, and they must react and plan accordingly. Our professional association is subject to these same financial pressures, so the MLA Board is also reacting and planning and I think they have presented a reasonable case for the dues increase. But it is also a fact of life that almost no one likes a dues increase (myself included). I am fortunate enough to be able to attend the upcoming Annual Meeting where I will be able to cast my vote for the dues proposal. A majority of my fellow MLA members will NOT be able to vote on the proposal because they are unable to attend this meeting. I strongly believe that issues that effect the entire membership should be voted on by ALL MLA members, not just a select few who are fortunate enough to attend the annual meeting. Before any future dues increases are considered by the MLA Board, I would like them to re-examine the MLA By-Laws that require dues increases to be ONLY voted on at the Annual Business meetings, which are only attended by a fraction of the total membership. If ALL MLA members are able to vote for MLA leaders by a mailed ballots, then I think dues increases should be handled in the same way so that all members have a voice. Yes, dues increases are inevitable, but at least allow ALL MLA members to be able to voice their opinion by allowing them to vote. I raised this issue at the time of the last dues increase, and I am dismayed that nothing has been done to address this issue.
MLA Board : To anonymous poster: We understand and empathize with your discouragement over low and stagnating salaries in combination with spiralling costs. Attending annual meetings is expensive, especially in high cost markets such as Washington, DC, and many other major cities. One of the reasons to rotate the conference site around the country on a regular basis (east, midwest, west) is to try to even out the distance and, to some extent, the cost of attending. -- MLA's meeting fees are $295 for conference-only or $405 for inclusive which includes receptions. The fees are much lower than most other national professional meetings. For example, the American Association of Law Libraries fees are $505 inclusive and $385 conference-only. -- MLA wants all members to attend the meeting. Thanks in part to your positing we are collecting tips on ways to attend the meeting on a small budget. It will be on MLAnet soon and we will add the link here. We know from evaluation data that 89% of attendees spent well under $2,000 to attend MLA'03. According to the data 21% spent under $999 to attend the San Diego meeting and 64% spent under $1,499. -- Evaluation data shows members prefer interesting and desirable cities with high quality facilities. Popular venues like San Diego or Washington DC are more expensive but these are the locations where most want to go. The board, NPC and staff work hard to put together a compelling program that offers great educational programming, exposure to new services and products and terrific networking opportunities. The meeting is full of hundreds of sessions that re-energize attendees with new opportunities. We hope you can check out the tips on attending on a small budget and attend, if not this year, maybe next year in San Antonio, Texas. -- Making some annual meeting content more available at a distance -- by, for example, web streaming -- is being investigated. This would increase the number of people who could participate but also increases the cost of providing it. Do you have other suggestions for how MLA could lessen the cost to members of attending the annual meeting? -- Thanks for your comment. -- MLA Board of Directors
Whitney Davison-Turley : I have chosen to be a member of ALA and my regional association (MCMLA) rather than MLA, in part because of the cost but mostly because I feel that ALA better meets my professional information needs and the regional association meets my need for networking with other medical librarians. I don't see added value from a MLA membership, at the current price or a higher price.
Whitney Davison-Turley : I just wanted to add that I am aware that MCMLA is a chapter of MLA. Thanks and best wishes.
MLA Board : To "20 year member" -- You are right: there is a lot of competition for any additional funds that an association asks its members for in the form of dues. The association is a stronger competitor for those funds if it is doing what the members think it should be doing on their behalf. Generally, an association loses about 3% of its membership after a dues increase and makes that loss up within 3 years. MLA has fit this pattern. Membership has been fairly stable over several years now; increasing retirements and fewer medical libraries being balanced by new members. Thank you for the comment. -- MLA Board of Directors
MLA Board : To Jonathan Lord -- As you point out, the MLA Bylaws stipulate that dues increases require a vote at the business meeting. Those bylaws were approved by MLA members in a mail vote. Most professional associations handle dues increases as a vote at their annual business meetings. Thanks for the comment. -- MLA Board of Directors
California Librarian : I would support a ONE time (to the level indicated in the first increase) dues increase if I felt MLA was really trying to cut its costs and maintain services. I, as with many others, have a frozen salary, increased living costs, zero travel support from work, and are required to join more than one professional organization. I find however, that everything MLA does is expensive. The CE's are incredibly expensive if you are trying to encourage people to learn and participate more fully. The content of the satellite conferences could be made free online (after that date) but copies of this are very expensive - even for the regional medical libraries I understand. The Tape/CD coverage is extremely expensive and they do not include visual information, such a powerpoints. I understand large conference facilities are expensive but a greater effort to provide free or inexpensive streaming media coverage of MANY sessions could be offered. Perhaps we do not need to receive print versions of the Journal and Newsletter as they are online. Why can't we email ballots to save costs? Perhaps the national conference should occur in alternating years as ACRL (I believe) does. I feel you are threatening to cut services rather than your own costs (and even salaries if necessary to be fair) if this measure is not passed. Don't be a bully and get creative.
J. Lord : Thanks for your reponse. In what year did the balloting for annual meeting dues vote bylaw take place? With all of the technological advances in the past few years, I think it might be time to reconsider requiring members to travel to annual meetings to vote on important issues. It seems that E-mailed ballots, or secure web-voting could be considered as more cost-effective ways to allow members to vote. As other posts here have pointed out, most MLA members (or their institutions) are paying nearly $1000 each to attend this year's meeting. The arguments that "we've always done it this way" or "this is what everyone else is doing" don't seem to represent the forward-looking, techo-savvy professional organization that we are trying to be. Another idea for the MLA Board to consider would be to allow for members to vote at annual business meetings by proxy balloting, as is done in many organizations. This way the vote could still take place at the annual business meetings, and the proxy votes could be included in the totals. I know this would require another propose bylaws change, and I don't know how difficult these are for MLA to process, and probably off the topic of this forum. But I do appreciate the MLA Board soliciting comments from members and giving reponses to them.
academic HS librarian : does anyone out there get any sort of financial support from their institution for professional memberships? at my institution, membership is REQUIRED but they don't help us pay for it AT ALL and it's been three years since we have had a raise. just wondering if other librarians got their memberships subsidized by their workplace?
academic HS librarian : does anyone out there get any sort of financial support from their institution for professional memberships? at my institution, membership is REQUIRED but they don't help us pay for it AT ALL and it's been three years since we have had a raise. just wondering if other librarians got their memberships subsidized by their workplace?
MLA Board : Dear California Librarian -- Please forgive our delayed response. To take the issues you raise in turn: 1) The development, production, and delivery of CE offerings are not subsidized by dues or other revenue. The cost of CE is set to recover the cost to MLA of providing it. If CE was subsidized, dues would have to be higher than they are. -- 2) The cassette tape/CD coverage of annual meeting content is done by a private company and prices are not controlled MLA. MLA converted to CDs from cassette tapes for the 2003 annual meeting and it is expected that CDs will now include audio and text/image files. The cost was $69.95 for all sessions if the CD was purchased at the meeting. This special price was offered to make the CD affordable for as many as possible. After the meeting the post-conference price was raised by the recording company to $287.20. MLA is seeking a sponsor for MLA '04 to enable the price to be free or at least lower. For example, if everyone at the meeting bought a CD, it is possible to drop the price to about $15. MLA has asked all presenters to e-mail copies of their presentations so that the recording company will have them for the CD. -- 3) Attempting to provide more annual meeting content by web cast/streaming media: We have been watching how this technology is be used conjunction with conferences. Many associations that have used it extensively have stopped because of high costs and lack of revenue to offset the costs. Experience has not yet demonstated how this technology can be used effectively in conjunction with an annual meeting and more development is needed. It is proving useful for corporate and other training where face-to-face is not an option. For MLA, teleconferences are proving to be more popular. -- 4) JMLA and MLA News are on MLAnet free and open to everyone, members and non-members. Members can elect to not receive the print versions. MLA hopes non-members will see and benefit from these publications and join MLA to support its mission. -- 5) E-mail ballots: MLA was incorporated in 1933 in the state of Maryland. Maryland state law controls how Maryland corporations may function, including how they may conduct voting. Maryland is in the process of changing its laws to allow electronic voting. MLA will convert to electronic voting as soon as it is legal to do so. -- 6) Every attempt is made to take advantage of opportunities to cut costs. As has been noted, everyone's expenses increase, including MLA's, and members continue to expect more and better services from their professional association. If there are services that you do not think are worth supporting, we would like to hear what those are. -- Thanks for the comments. -- MLA Board
MLA Board : To Jonathan Lord regarding bylaws on dues -- We apologize for the delay but we wanted to research your question to provide an adequate response. -- An unfortunate fact is that dues generally go in one direction - up. Normally, associations can’t reverse that trend. However, associations can control when, how, and how much dues will go up. -- Since the early 1980’s the MLA board of directors has sought to maximize membership benefits while managing the association’s budget in a fiscally sound manner. Faced with severe financial deficits in the 1980s the board and members streamlined operations and cut costs. A source of high costs was governance. The board and members set a goal to streamline governance procedures and redirect more association resources (human and financial) to membership benefits. To accomplish this, the board and members examined various association governance models. -- A legal obligation for all boards is the fiduciary responsibility to maintain financial stability of the organization. To go with this responsibility many organizations vest their board with the authority to set dues. Many others seek member approval at an annual meeting and some used MLA’s old model of full balloting. -- After careful review of the options, the board recommended the present process: vote at the annual meeting. Over two-thirds of the full membership voted to approve the new bylaws, which went into effect in 1985. -- The current approval process is a proven success. It provides a balanced approach that has: • streamlined governance, • cut costs, • provided multiple opportunities for both electronic and face-to-face member input, • retained authority for dues changes with members, • enabled the board to direct more resources to boost benefits and, • kept dues lower than many other similar associations. See http://mlanet.org/about/planning/dues_2005/faq.html#6 -- The MLA board continues to be sensitive to the financial hardships many members face. MLA offers 7 discounted dues categories, which is helping 938 members be part of MLA. This is 26% of all individual memberships. These members are vital to our collective voice and the current dues proposal will increase the annual salary amount to $30,000, up from $24,000, which will allow even more people to qualify for discounted dues of only $90. In 2001, the board proposed and members approved the simplified dues structure for institutions. The new structure helps institutions with smaller budgets afford membership. -- For a description of the current process see http://mlanet.org/about/planning/dues_2005/faq.html#2 . For the bylaws on dues changes in Section 5 see http://mlanet.org/members/pdf/bylaws.pdf . -- -- MLA Board
MLA Board : To academic HS librarian: To respond to your question we consulted the Hay Group/MLA 2001 Compensation and Benefits Survey. Table 40 from that survey shows that professional association dues are fully paid for 33% of respondents and partially paid for 19% (total of 52%). Work-related travel expenses are fully paid for 49% and partially paid for 40% (total of 89%). Administrative leave for meetings and conference are completely covered for 76% and partially so for 17% (total 93%). A new survey will be conducted in 2004. For information about the Hay Group/MLA 2001 Compensation and Benefits Survey see http://www.mlanet.org/publications/hay_mla_02ss.html . -- MLA Board
Rose Jackson : I think it's time MLA recognized that they are competiting for a scarce resource--the librarians dollar and create an affiliate membership for librarians that belong to several organizations and want to stay involved in health and medicine. I'd be willing to continue my membership as an affiliate for $80-90.00 annually and not be eligible to hold an elected position or vote but I could serve on committees, etc. As a new librarian, I can't afford to continue to pay ALA, ACRL, MLA, and local chapter fees in excess of $600.00 annually. If the fee for MLA increases to $150.00 I won't be renewing my membership and that would be a loss for all. Why not do conferences every other year or inconjunction with another library group--SLA?
hospital hs librarian : Rose, First time members pay only $90.
MLA Board : Ms. Jackson -- Thanks for your comment. You may know that MLA does have an affiliate membership category. But the bylaws define that category as including paraprofessionals, those working in a company or organization interested in health sciences librarianship, or a person who does not qualify for other membership categories. If your annual salary is $24,000 or less, or you are currently unemployed, you may secure regular membership at the reduced rate of $80. And, as "hospital hs librarian" points out, new (regular) members may join for $90 for the first year. -- Regarding your comments about the cost to members of the annual meeting: annual meeting revenues provide over 30% of the gross revenues upon which MLA depends for its operations. If we only had an annual meeting every other year, MLA would have a harder time financially and dues would have to be even higher to support our programs and services. Also, MLA members qualify for member registration fees for SLA meetings due to a reciprocal agreement we have with SLA. We also have had joint meetings and program sessions with CHLA, AMIA, and ICML. We have also had joint teleconferences with SLA and ARL, along with other library associations. In this way, we try to stretch the benefits of MLA membership to overlap somewhat with other allied associations and we are always willing to consider other ways of doing so. -- MLA Board
Rural Appalachian librarian : I can understand why an increase in membership dues is important and necessary. However, my little part-time paycheck is not stretching as far as I would like it to. With health insurance costs rising, gas prices rising.......something has to go........
MLA Board : To: Rural Appalachian Librarian -- On behalf of the MLA Board of Directors, I greatly appreciate your understanding of why this dues increase is important for the future of the association and its ability to respond to member needs, especially when all other costs are going up and your salary isn't. It is not easy, and the board does not make this recommendation lightly. -- A couple of things to keep mind: under this dues increase proposal, members who make between $24,0001 and $30,000 will pay $45 LESS per year in dues. Also, together with membership in one free section that is currently offered, a hospital librarian joining the Hospital Library Section in this salary bracket will save $65 over 2002 dues costs under the proposal. -- Also, it is also important to keep the amount of the increase in perspective. This is the third dues increase proposed for regular members since 1992. Over this 12 year period dues will have increased by a little over $4.60 per year by 2006 if the current proposal is approved. It will increase less for other individual member categories. That is nothing if not a modest amount of increase, and yet it has enabled a viable and responsive professional association. -- Thanks for your support. -- MLA Board