CAPL's informal membership survey supports this view with most respondents indicating that Divisions are very or moderately important to them. Action that may unintentionally weaken the Divisions or otherwise change the relationship of Divisions to CLA may have a negative impact on member satisfaction with CLA which, may in turn, reduce membership at a time when CLA must increase membership. CAPL supports this recommendation. As noted above, the Divisions are important to CLA's organizational well-being. One recent focus group called for Divisions to be replaced by interest groups.
Most interest groups are small and most important, by their very nature, are single-issue groups.
As a result, they lack the ability to mediate effectively the broad range of member interests inherent in an organization that includes librarians, publishers, institutions, technicians, and trustees spread across half a continent. In short, if Divisions did not exist, CLA would have to invent them. Discussion at CLA Council, CAPL's informal survey, and conversation with some members suggest that, like other aspects of CLA, the Divisions could function more effectively to support the Association's agenda. The need for CLA staff and Divisions to reach a shared understanding of areas where support from staff is appropriate and where it is beyond CLA's resources. CAPL welcomes the opportunity for continuous improvement and recommends that all Division Executives be requested to review their Divisions with a view to increasing their effectiveness on behalf of CLA as a whole and their members.