de Stricker

What's in a Name? Identity, that's What

Having recently had the privilege of giving a workshop at the 11th Internet Librarian International conference in London (http://www.internet-librarian.com/2009/), I was enjoying the company of my professional peers, discussing with them a wide variety of topics according to the wide variety of specializations represented among us when suddenly "it" began traveling the halls.  "It" was the announcement of a proposed new name for 100-year-old Special Libraries Association.

 

In the days since then, the discussions have billowed through the virtual halls of the social media, reflecting a level of engagement I haven't seen since … perhaps ever.  The posts have shone a sharp light on the fact that our work eludes description in a single association name with an elegant, easily pronounced acronym.  The domains in which holders of library and information science degrees are active have broadened in step with the introduction of technologies and tools - so much so that a unifying designation is beyond us.

 

John Cotton Dana got around the naming challenge when he founded SLA by choosing the word "Libraries" as opposed to "Librarians" (although it's interesting to note that the name was a compromise even then).  By now, it's clear our association name ought to focus on the individual's contribution rather than on any entity in which he or she is active … but that's where the consensus ends.

 

So who are we?  The name debate reveals that we may each have a strong sense of our own professional identity but that such personal definitions are just that.  Much of the sentiment bubbling to the surface touches on "that's not who I am", "the new name would be just as incomprehensible to decision makers as the old one was so I still can't use it", and similar versions of an opinion that the new name won't solve a problem that has dogged us for as long as we can remember: The opaqueness of our profession.  As an example of a profession without that challenge, physicians may occupy myriad specialty positions yet are comfortable with the collective name - and they rarely find themselves having to explain to anyone the nature of what they do for a living!  But here's the key for me:  Physicians enjoy a pervasive societal understanding of their role and the outcome of their work. We don't.

 

We will likely never solve the vocabulary puzzle, for the simple reason that the impacts we have are too difficult to characterize succinctly in any way to do them justice.  Judging from the many conversations I have had with fellow professionals for decades about our choice of vocation, many of us share the hindsight realization that whatever mental image we may have had when we signed up for graduate school was blown out of the water if not in our first job then certainly soon thereafter.  Never mind, we may have thought:  The work is too fascinating and our results too rewarding to worry about what labels we wear. 

 

The result of the upcoming membership vote is likely to set off another round in the discussion.  With our professional identities on the line, I fondly hope we will look back one day and conclude the debate in the end produced an outcome that was more than worth what we invested in it.

We can Count Them ... But do They Count?

Einstein, Drucker, and others have pointed to the conundrum that "not everything we measure is important, and what is important may be impossible to measure".  The topic of "Information Services Return on Investment" figures regularly in my professional activities - to wit, I will be a panel member at a session offered October 27 by the Ottawa Chapter of the Canadian Association for Special Libraries and Information Services (CASLIS is a section of the Canadian Library Association).  Here are some key aspects of the conundrum associated with demonstrating the value of information centers, libraries, intranets, collaboration tools, and the like:

 

►The professional literature on ROI from libraries and information centers features quite a few titles sounding promising …some with publication dates in the 1970s.  We have been working on the challenge for a long time.

 

►As examples, perceptions of value derived from research into renewable energy tend to be positive, and few would question the value of diagnostic imaging technology.  Such 'carte blanche' acceptance of associated investments is more elusive when it comes to information centers and libraries.

 

►The fact that many of the costs of information centers are "sunk" - that is, we must pay for library systems and content licenses before the first customer arrives and regardless whether 100 or 1000 employees avail of our content and research service offerings - bedevils us.  Cost cannot be scaled with consumption (but to make matters even more complicated, consumption may not be seen as translating into value).

 

►Metrics of activity - searches, article downloads, page views, turnstile counts, circulation, reference questions, and so on - are a staple of operational reporting, yet the valid question is raised:  What do the numbers mean?  Does "5000 views" suggest users are confused or indicate users are getting appropriate information in apporiate volume? It is no surprise that executives express difficulty in translating counts into an understanding of impact.

 

►Calculations such as literature research time saved by knowledge workers as a result of our assistance point to ROI but are at best indicative.  Moreover, time savings and other soft benefits such as reduced risk and better-informed decision making may be nice-to-haves in the context of budgetary scrutiny.

 

►To provide context for impact assessment, we need to show the difference our work makes:  To what kind of decision/policy/project/deliverable was our assistance applied?  Was the outcome different from what it might have been without the information or guidance we provided?  Although answers to such questions cannot constitute proof of ROI, they may be essential in demonstrating our contribution to the success of the organization we serve. 

 

Should you have succeeded in developing new ways to assess and indicate the value and impact of your work, anecdotally or otherwise … thousands of your colleagues would be grateful to hear about them!  In the spirit of Thanksgiving - October 12 in Canada - I give thanks in advance to those who share.

Guest Post by Adrienne Carlson: Where the Jobs Are

Guest post by Adrienne Carlson, writer on the topic of online engineering degrees. Adrienne welcomes your comments and questions:  adrienne.carlson1@gmail.com

 

Students close to graduating and recent graduates, take heart:  Some industries are hiring new employees.  Look here:

·        Healthcare and pharmaceuticals: The healthcare sector and the pharmaceutical industry will present employment opportunities in step with the aging of our population and with increasing environmental challenges.  If the practical work of a nurse or pharmacist is not for you, look for administrative, management, or project roles in hospitals and other healthcare settings.  Healthcare related records management and research are obvious niches for information professionals.

 

·        Education: In a society believing that education is the foundation on which our children’s futures are built, schools and academic institutions are always going to be in need of qualified teachers and educational support professionals. In addition, with the loss of many jobs in recent times, people are heading back to school in droves to upgrade their skills or move to a different line of work. Today's emphasis on new instructional methods - using various forms of e-learning such as podcasts, webinars, and the like - could prove to be an opportunity.

 

·        "Mobile" industries:  The companies supporting every kind of mobile gadget need information savvy personnel.  Think Geographic Information System based technologies for starters and look closely at the job opportunities at the "data supply" end:  How did those maps get into the GPS in the car?

 

·        Renewable energy, disaster preparedness, and other climate related domains:  With climate change and the need to wean the world off fossil fuels, the need for scientists and engineers will persist - along with the need for information professionals to work with them.

 

If you think you’re in the wrong industry or one that does not seem to be looking up, be willing to make a shift. It may necessitate crossing career lines and taking an entirely new path, but if that’s what it takes to put food on the table now and build a foundation for the future, that’s just what you must do. You may need to go back to school and earn another degree or take a certificate course, but the time spent will be justified when you are able to find a job and banish "unemployment" from your dictionary.  

Guest Post by David Hook: Where are the Jobs? Part 2 of 2

Leaving the Library Part 2: From the Inside

By David Hook   david.hook@mdacorporation.com

 

So, you tried the first approach (see Part 1) and you didn’t end up finding exactly what you were looking for.  Do you then bite the bullet, grab your copy of AACR2 and doom yourself to a life of traditional library work?  Or is there something else you can do?

 

There is, of course.  And it is (as the title suggests) to start off in a traditional corporate library job and then move to a different job from within the organization. It can be difficult to do, and there is no guarantee of this happening when you take on a traditional library job, but it is still another potential career path.

 

It helps if you are able to find a job working in a fairly large company where there are plenty of opportunities to move around.  On the other hand, smaller organizations can offer opportunities to move as well, as often job roles and departments aren’t so clearly defined.

 

Moving within an organization is much easier to do in fields where there is no professional designation required in order to practice it (such as business or IT) rather than one where there is (such as law, engineering or medicine) unless you either have that professional designation or are willing to get it.

 

One tip for when you are interviewing for a job: feel free to ask about potential career paths and opportunities to move out of the library, but be sure to do it in a way that doesn’t make it sound as if you only see the job as a stepping stone to get you somewhere else. You definitely want to show that you have ambition and you want to find out about opportunities to move around, but you don’t want to give the interviewer the impression that you might not be interested in doing the job under discussion.

 

Once you are working at your traditional library job and are looking for avenues to branch into something slightly different, the most important thing to remember is this: be good.  Be very good.  In other words, you need to master your job in the library first in order to be considered for another role.  If you are only doing an average job in the library, you are not likely going to be considered as someone who can handle additional responsibilities.

 

You may be fortunate enough to find an opening in your organization that suits your career aspirations, but it is more likely there may not be a clearly defined role for you to assume.  This is where you will need to invent a potential role for yourself that doesn’t currently exist.  This route will obviously be a lot harder and will require some creativity on your part.

 

Have a good look at your own strengths and think about where you might be able to add value to the organization.  Suggest to management where you might be able to fill in those gaps with your skill set.  Get involved with various areas of the organization.  There is a growing trend towards embedded librarianship these days; ask to be included on teams and in department meetings.  You may start out providing the research needs for the group, but as you get more and more involved with the team you can start taking on bigger roles. 

 

Going this route will require a great deal of patience, but as long as you can demonstrate that you can offer more value to the organization when given larger responsibilities someone should recognize that you are more valuable managing information-based projects, say, than doing traditional library work.  And if they don’t, be sure to point it out to them.

 

Best wishes for all those new grads looking for non-traditional library work.

Guest Post by David Hook: Where are the Jobs? Part 1 of 2

David Hook, Manager, Operations Information and Configuration Management at MDA Space Missions provides this guest post in response to "New Graduates Ask Where the Jobs Are".  David started out in a somewhat traditional role at his company and later branched out ... quite a bit!

Leaving the Library Part 1: From the Outside

So, you're a new information professional and looking for a non-traditional job?  Well, here is the good news: there are plenty of companies out there that could use your skills. The bad news?  Most of them don't realize that they need your skills, and if they do, they probably don't know where to find you. Your mission is to find them and let them know that you have the skills that they need.

 

One place where you are likely NOT to find non-traditional jobs posted is on library job boards.  You are going to have to venture out further than that.  If you are at college or university, visit some of the other faculties on campus and have a look at their job boards. If your school offers an MBA degree or has a business school, try starting with them.  Another possibility is the computer science department. Or perhaps any other department where there might be some need for your skills.  You never know what you'll find until you try.

 

A couple words of warning.  First of all, be careful of faculties such as law, medicine or engineering where a professional accreditation is required to work in the industry.  Not all jobs will be exclusively for those with the accreditation, but you are less likely to find something open to you than at, say, a business faculty where no accreditation is required. 

 

Secondly, when applying, you need to be aware that you will be competing for these jobs against graduates from a different program.  Does that mean that they are more qualified for the job than you are?  Not necessarily.  All it means is that they have a different skill set from you.  If you are competing against MBA grads, for example, they may be stronger on business knowledge, but you will have stronger research skills.  Be sure to play up your strengths and advantages. 

 

Your Campus career centre can be a big help.  Most of them keep profiles on companies that frequently hire from your university.  Why not go through some of the profiles and look for knowledge-based companies that may not be posting for jobs at this time, but look like they could use someone with your skills.  Put together your strategy to sell yourself and contact them. 

 

Outside of the university, you can try setting up automatic searches at places like Workopolis or even Monster.com.  Set up searches for terms like ‘research’ ‘competitive intelligence’ and so on – depending on the area in you are looking to move in to.  Terms like ‘knowledge’ and ‘information’ may turn out to be too broad but ‘information management’ might produce some beneficial results.

 

Finally, consider sending your resume to recruiters (also known as headhunters) who place people in your desired area.  This approach may work to your advantage, because then you will have the recruiter working on your side to sell your skills to a potential employer who may not have otherwise considered someone with your background.

 

It can certainly be a lot more work to find non-traditional library jobs than to just stick with what gets posted on the library job boards.  But the reward for your extra work is that you open up your job search to much greater possibilities than before.