by Debi Beall, Oregon Chapter, Competitive Intelligence Division
Future Ready for a corporate library means being relevant to your company’s changing needs by staying nimble and looking for new ways to support the company’s goals and strategies. The Intel Library has always been focused on the needs of the company, but a couple of years ago, we tried a new, more proactive approach. As a result, we have undergone a transformation that has empowered our staff and increased visibility throughout the company.
The Intel Library has been publishing the Executive News Summary on a daily basis for the past 10 years. This publication was created at the request of Craig Barrett as a way to stay informed without having to scan endless news clippings. Two years ago, we decided to expand our publications with more in-depth industry newsletters, called Monitors. These weekly Monitors are specifically focused on Intel’s Global Strategy and key market segments and include an analysis of the news that week. The Monitors are a deeper dive into the areas of key importance to the success of the company. They have been wildly successful (we now publish 11 Monitors) and have resulted in several changes:
- Fewer requests are coming into the library since the information people need is already being selected and distributed.
- Each staff member has developed a deep understanding of the topic of their Monitor, becoming the experts that others turn to for insight.
- Different business units throughout the company have linked the Intel Library Monitor that most applies to their business to their business unit web site.
- The Intel Library is now more than an information repository. It is a place to gain critical insights into each of the Monitor markets.
Now that the Monitors have been institutionalized, we are looking to the future again. Next on our plate is improving access for mobile devices and a step into visual analytics. We have developed a rich data repository that is ready to be mined for insights. Visual analytics will take us to the next step, offering added value to Intel and contributing to the success of the company.
Debi Beall began her career as a Systems Engineer for IBM, then switched careers becoming a librarian with the Phoenix Public Library. Debi joined Motorola in 1992 as a Research Specialist, where she ultimately transitioned to a position as a Competitive Intelligence Analyst. She most recently joined Intel as a Research Analyst for the Intel Library in October 2008.
Really smart. Thanks for showing us what’s going on under the hood. As I recall you Intelian’s take this so far as to attend conference’s that are relevant to your area of expertise.
I look forward to hearing more about your initiatives.
I would be interested in seeing the 11topics you are monitoring and how you go about maintaining this – e-resources, staff etc. Thanks
I would also be interested in how you go about monitoring relevant info, how you deliver the monitors and how many of your staff are involved in it? Thanks
I totally agree with you! I work at a think-tank type research institute, and the “business intelligence” news/literature monitoring program I maintain is one of the most valued services I offer my users.
Thanks for pointing that out, Cindy. We are attending conferences that fall within our areas of expertise and share those insights gained through our Monitors. Through trial and error we discovered that each research analyst (there are 7 of us) can manage 2 Monitors. Due to our focus on strategic alignment with Intel’s needs, we are already pushing out most of what would normally come in as a research request, which frees up the time needed to select stories and publish the now 12 Monitors. The time we spend on Monitors allows us to serve over 12,000 subscribers at once instead of providing information for one person at a time. We have extensive RSS feeds integrated with a publishing tool built by an internal team that lets us filter the feeds with Boolean search strategies. This same tool self-populates fields with the source name, date, URL to the original article and the name of the selecter. We then create a robust abstract, and select which Monitors and categories are applicable. We are primarily responsible for our own Monitor, but there is some cross-pollination of topics. I can’t divulge all of the topics due to confidentiality concerns, but it is no secret that Intel is interested in consumer electronics, smartphones and mobile PC form factors including tablets. We have a Monitor for each of these.