Section Council of the Medical Library Association

Dear Section Chairs and Section Membership Chairs,

In order to encourage new members to participate in your sections, it’s important to contact them and welcome them into the section after they have joined. It’s also your first chance to explain the benefits of section membership and opportunities to participate in the work of the section. A welcome email will make new members feel valued and help get them off to a good start in your section!

One of the frequent comments we hear at Membership Committee and Section Council meetings is that it’s hard to figure out who section members are. In order to help, we are sending this email. Here’s a brief description of the process:

[UPDATE 4/15/13: Section Officers can now get membership lists on demand through MLANET. See the directions here!]

1. Section officers can request section membership lists using this online form: http://www.mlanet.org/sections/list_request.html

2. If you’d like to identify new members, ask MLA to sort the list by JOINDATE. MLA will send an Excel file with all section members listed, but the newest and lapsed renewing members will be at the top of the list. You can now contact your new members! It’s also not a bad idea to contact lapsed members and invite them back…

3. If you’d like to identify all section members, you can also ask MLA to sort the list alphabetically or by academy expiration.
Additional information about identifying new section members is available at: http://www.mlanet.org/sections/faq_hq.html. If you have specific questions, please contact Kate Corcoran at: corcoran@mlahq.org OR 312.419.9094 x12.

Thanks,

Heidi Schroeder, Chair, Membership Committee

David Nolfi, Section Council Liaison to the Membership Committee