AASL Chapters Forum

I am writing to you today on behalf of our Nebraska chapter, which has experienced a decline in membership since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, we are now at a critical point where we are unable to continue providing the range of services that we offer to our members unless we can quickly boost our membership numbers.

As in many of your chapters, our officers are unpaid volunteers who work tirelessly to advocate for school librarians in our state, provide high-quality learning opportunities through in-person and virtual events with top-notch guest speakers, and maintain regular communication with our members. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, we have continued to innovate and offer even more services than before, yet we find ourselves struggling to maintain our membership levels.

We would like to ask if any of your chapters are experiencing a similar decline in membership and, if so, what strategies have you employed to rebuild? We are open to any and all ideas, and we would be grateful for any advice or guidance you could provide.

Mandy,

Ohio's chapter (OELMA)  finished going through a restructure that took us about 18 months.  We just got everyone in their new positions January 1st.  When we knew something had to be done we started by honestly sharing our situation with our members: decreasing membership numbers, finances, issues we have been facing for some time etc.  We held several town halls to ensure all interested members could either attend or see the recording. Then we sent out a survey asking them to rank the most important things OELMA provides them. We focused on the top two.  I think we listed 5 options based on our strategic plan and the organizational structure at the time. With that the board took a hard look at restructuring with those top two items a priority. We restructured our board to focus on those. We removed some positions on the board; we felt the size of the board was not realistic to the size of our membership. We restructured the officers and directors by shifting job, eliminating jobs and positions.  When we felt we had something that would work we took it to our membership to vote on.  

We had two huge issues propelling us to this point: first our membership numbers had decreased significantly over the years prior to the reorganization and second our management company who performed our day to day duties as well as all of our finances notified us they were not renewing our contract. We decided it was time to let the members decide if we should continue - which would require significant changes, or dissolve the organization. I think it was the possibility of dissolution that woke many people up to the issues OELMA was facing. 

Our new structure is now fully in place. It took a year of transitioning over. During that time we also rewrote our bylaws and policies so they now reflect the organizational chart our members approved. I have to say, it was not easy, but if you have a good team working with you,  your organization will come out better in the end. Please feel free to email me directly if you have any questions or concerns. I was the lucky president during all of this.

Good luck. Restructuring can be successfully done.

I am writing to you today on behalf of our Nebraska chapter, which has experienced a decline in membership since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, we are now at a critical point where we are unable to continue providing the range of services that we offer to our members unless we can quickly boost our membership numbers.

As in many of your chapters, our officers are unpaid volunteers who work tirelessly to advocate for school librarians in our state, provide high-quality learning opportunities through in-person and virtual events with top-notch guest speakers, and maintain regular communication with our members. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, we have continued to innovate and offer even more services than before, yet we find ourselves struggling to maintain our membership levels.

We would like to ask if any of your chapters are experiencing a similar decline in membership and, if so, what strategies have you employed to rebuild? We are open to any and all ideas, and we would be grateful for any advice or guidance you could provide.

Mandy,

Ohio's chapter (OELMA)  finished going through a restructure that took us about 18 months.  We just got everyone in their new positions January 1st.  When we knew something had to be done we started by honestly sharing our situation with our members: decreasing membership numbers, finances, issues we have been facing for some time etc.  We held several town halls to ensure all interested members could either attend or see the recording. Then we sent out a survey asking them to rank the most important things OELMA provides them. We focused on the top two.  I think we listed 5 options based on our strategic plan and the organizational structure at the time. With that the board took a hard look at restructuring with those top two items a priority. We restructured our board to focus on those. We removed some positions on the board; we felt the size of the board was not realistic to the size of our membership. We restructured the officers and directors by shifting job, eliminating jobs and positions.  When we felt we had something that would work we took it to our membership to vote on.  

We had two huge issues propelling us to this point: first our membership numbers had decreased significantly over the years prior to the reorganization and second our management company who performed our day to day duties as well as all of our finances notified us they were not renewing our contract. We decided it was time to let the members decide if we should continue - which would require significant changes, or dissolve the organization. I think it was the possibility of dissolution that woke many people up to the issues OELMA was facing. 

Our new structure is now fully in place. It took a year of transitioning over. During that time we also rewrote our bylaws and policies so they now reflect the organizational chart our members approved. I have to say, it was not easy, but if you have a good team working with you,  your organization will come out better in the end. Please feel free to email me directly if you have any questions or concerns. I was the lucky president during all of this.

Good luck. Restructuring can be successfully done.

I am writing to you today on behalf of our Nebraska chapter, which has experienced a decline in membership since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, we are now at a critical point where we are unable to continue providing the range of services that we offer to our members unless we can quickly boost our membership numbers.

As in many of your chapters, our officers are unpaid volunteers who work tirelessly to advocate for school librarians in our state, provide high-quality learning opportunities through in-person and virtual events with top-notch guest speakers, and maintain regular communication with our members. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, we have continued to innovate and offer even more services than before, yet we find ourselves struggling to maintain our membership levels.

We would like to ask if any of your chapters are experiencing a similar decline in membership and, if so, what strategies have you employed to rebuild? We are open to any and all ideas, and we would be grateful for any advice or guidance you could provide.

I am writing to you today on behalf of our Nebraska chapter, which has experienced a decline in membership since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, we are now at a critical point where we are unable to continue providing the range of services that we offer to our members unless we can quickly boost our membership numbers.

As in many of your chapters, our officers are unpaid volunteers who work tirelessly to advocate for school librarians in our state, provide high-quality learning opportunities through in-person and virtual events with top-notch guest speakers, and maintain regular communication with our members. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, we have continued to innovate and offer even more services than before, yet we find ourselves struggling to maintain our membership levels.

We would like to ask if any of your chapters are experiencing a similar decline in membership and, if so, what strategies have you employed to rebuild? We are open to any and all ideas, and we would be grateful for any advice or guidance you could provide.