SSP President’s e-Letter – Summer 2017

Dear SSP Members,

Hello from steamy Maryland! Summertime always makes me think about being a kid and riding my bike to the public library. I’d check out as many books as I could each time (limit 3!) and see how quickly I could complete the treasure map for the summer reading program. As a grownup, lazy summer days are harder to come by, but I still enjoy summer reading. On that note, Scholarly Kitchen Chefs, any good book recommendations specifically for the summer? 

Something else I am enjoying this summer is thinking about all of the great happenings at SSP. Ann Michael kept the annual meeting buzz going with her series of Kitchen posts from the Chefs, Fellows, and Librarians: “What Did You Learn at This Year’s Annual SSP Meeting?” which showed not only the breadth of content from the meeting but highlighted what topics and issues are really resonating in our community. Our committee chairs are busy filling out their rosters and planning agendas to address some of these topics throughout the year via regional events, webinars, a fall seminar, and some exciting pilot programs on peer networking and mentorship. I hope you’ll mark your calendar for any one of the following:

• September 19 – Webinar: Reboot, Refit, Re-energize – Creating Opportunity for Mid-Career Growth
• October 4 – Fall Seminar: New Directions in Society and Nonprofit Publishing
• October 17 – Webinar: An Update on Open Access Books
• November 7 – Charleston Pre-Conference Workshop: Practical Measures: Combatting “Fake News” through Scholarly Integrity, Digital Literacy, and Workflow Tools
• November 14 – The Scholarly Kitchen Webinar: The Future of Quality, Accuracy and Science Communication

In Boston, there was a great meeting with 10 membership organizations to discuss initiatives and collaboration around the topics of diversity and inclusivity. The conversation will continue this year as we look to jointly develop actionable items to support diversity and inclusivity in our industry. 

Also on the horizon, SSP will celebrate its 40^th birthday in 2018. We have a task force exploring a number of ideas and activities to commemorate the milestone. The annual meeting in Chicago next May will definitely be a venue for celebration!

In terms of Society operations, there are a lot of great things happening. Crystal Stone is joining our team at Kellen as the General Manager for SSP. Crystal has more than 12 years of expertise in helping organizations and volunteers reach new levels of success, and we are enthusiastic about working with her. We are transitioning our membership database to new association management software this summer that should provide not only a better user experience for members but will also allow us to better manage data and more easily integrate with other systems. In that regard, we are also about to launch Higher Logic, a community engagement platform, to support online communities and provide tools to facilitate collaboration and share resources.

It’s going to be another busy year at SSP! If you are involved with a committee or task force, thank you so much for your time and energy! If you want to get involved, let us know! This is your society and together we make it a great organization.  If you have any feedback, questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at any time throughout the year.

Yours sincerely,

Jennifer Pesanelli
SSP President, 2017-18