Why is it that librarians get an education, library paraprofessionals undergo training, and association members are offered professional development? I’ve often wondered about the differences in terminology, which are not always reflected in the content of the education/training/professional development. Looking back at the SLA Leadership Summit, I realize that the first day was dominated by the concept of networking and the second with professional development.

The SLA Online University is the education segment. With $60,000 in funding from Elsevier, partnerships with several universities including Drexel, Syracuse, and the University of Toronto, and individual partners (”adjunct faculty”), the Online University aims to be the ultimate in continuing education.

More in the line of training are the existing virtual seminars, which will increase to a twice-monthly schedule and articles in Information Outlook will parallel the theme of the seminars. Additionally, courses from Learn.com will complete the package.

Put the two together and, I suppose, you have professional development. Interesting math, 1 + 1 = 3.

Some members of the Professional Development Committee are displeased, not with the projects planned by SLA, but with a perceived lack of input to those plans from the committee. Much of the education/training/professional development plan was conceived and executed without involvement from the committee, I’ve been told. And although at least one member believes committees can dissolve themselves, they actually can’t do that. Only the Board can kill off a committee. I once chaired the International Relations Committee, but that, thanks to Board action, no longer exists and I confess to missing it.

OK, back to my initial question about terminology. I’d characterize the Leadership Summit as management training, something for which you receive no formal credit but learn a lot. For me, it reminds me of programs sponsored by my local SLA chapter when I first joined. Those were the sessions that made SLA important to me. At the end of the day, it really doesn’t matter what you call these events, what matters is whether attendees learn something new and can go back to their workplaces and implement what they’ve learned.