Introduction (Toni Wilson – Chair, SLA CI Division)

We’ve discussed a number of important competitive intelligence concepts and applications during CI Week on the FR365 blog – including the importance and value of analysis and industry-focused practices – all leading to the future readiness of the information professionals responsible for CI tasks and the organizations we serve. Our final post is a fitting wrap-up for the week – focusing on the highest goals of the CI process and its execution.

By Derek L. Johnson

How are you planning to elevate your competitive intelligence game in 2012?

One of the reasons I love fall so much is because it’s a reminder that we need to get our plans in place for the year ahead and get ourselves ready to meet an uncertain future as well-prepared as we can be.

Another reason I love autumn is because it’s football season; and football has important lessons to teach us about competitive intelligence being Future Ready. No football team takes the field without first giving their players the very best preparation before game day. Pre-season training camp focuses players’ attention on the field where they relentlessly drill each position even while strength training in the gym. But effective training also means working together to master the plays necessary to win. Then, throughout the season, preparing together to face each opponent, players unite to study film, keep healthy and stay fit so that, on game day, they can perform at their best.

CI teams are similar to football teams in many ways, particularly the competitive part, but with one critical difference: intelligence managers rarely have their players train together as a team. I hope you’ll help change that by investing in your people as one of the many things you can do today to elevate your game in the year ahead. But you should also be working on mastering your budget cycle, globalizing your perspective, building your internal human network and going beyond competitors.

To help understand how to achieve these goals, we’ve put together a couple of videos we hope you enjoy – part one here and part two here – that we hope encourages you to let your reach exceed your grasp and elevate your intelligence game in 2012. Enjoy!

Derek L. Johnson, CFA is Chief Executive Officer of the competitive intelligence firm Aurora WDC.

Introduction (Toni Wilson – Chair, SLA CI Division)

In this post from another of our Competitive Intelligence Division experts, we focus on a specific industry application for CI. It describes how industries – in this case, the pharmaceutical industry – are continually changing and the important of adapting our CI processes to those changes in order to become and remain future ready.

by Claudia Clayton, Virginia Chapter, Business & Finance, Competitive Intelligence, Legal, and Pharmaceutical & Health Technology Divisions

Last week, I attended the Pharma CI Conference in Parsippany, NJ, expecting to hear a lot about tools of the pharmaceutical CI trade. Instead, all of the keynote sessions focused on the changes in the healthcare industry and how these would impact the way that pharmaceutical companies develop products going forward. In the end, I learned far more about the focus on outcomes in the healthcare industry and why pharma companies should be more aware of these both in and outside of the US.

One of the most interesting presentations was made by a senior executive with Ernst and Young, on Pharma 3.0. Pharma 1.0 was basically the era where pharma companies focused on blockbuster drugs, e.g. those drugs that dominate a category. Pharma 2.0 was the era of diversification, where companies that specialized in cancer drugs expanded into cholesterol medications or expanded geographically. Now we are in the Pharma 3.0 era, where drugs must begin to mirror – at least in part – the outcomes-based focus of the healthcare industry. (To find the report, go to this link or Google Pharma 3.0 + Ernst and Young .)

Here are just a few of the key thoughts in the report, which I believe apply to SLA members and those information pros that engage in or support competitive intelligence:

• Connecting information and developing insights: Companies now need to connect information across disparate sources, to involve IT management in strategy development, and to remove information silos.
• Build and operate multiple, simultaneous business models: Diverse customers and markets call for diverse business models, done in a systematic and scalable way.
• Collaborate in new ways and with new partners: The report calls for “radical collaboration” with very different partners, using customers and other stakeholders as “co-creators” and attracting non-traditional partners.
• It’s not about you: Ernst and Young tells companies they must stop pitching and start engaging – based on emerging communities and enhanced desire for personal value.
• Disrupting the value network: Incentives, metrics and standards in pharma need to be tailored to health outcomes. Although this relates specifically to the pharma industry, the principal applies to any industry that is impacted by others in our increasingly connected world.

So, if you are looking for insights, trying to provide relevant value to your clients, and interested in taking advantage of industry or product disruption rather than being negatively impacted by it, read this report. Then spend some time thinking about how to bring your programs into a 3.0 world.

Claudia Clayton is Managing Director of ViewPoint, a strategy, consulting and research firm established in 1993. She leads the competitive intelligence activities of ViewPoint on behalf of major US corporations in multiple industries. Claudia is a committed and hard-working volunteer, primarily serving the members of SLA’s CI Division and the Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP). She won SCIP’s Catalyst Award in 2007 in recognition of her commitment to the CI profession. Claudia was the CI Division’s 2011 Conference Chair and currently serves as the CID’s Membership Chair as well.

Introduction (Toni Wilson – Chair, SLA CI Division)

There is a great deal of discussion this week regarding the value of analysis – the exercise that turns information into intelligence. In today’s blog post, Emily Rushing emphasizes the importance and value of analysis and offers some practical ideas for accomplishing this important step in the competitive intelligence process, ultimately helping ourselves and our organizations become future ready.

by Emily Rushing, Texas Chapter, Competitive Intelligence and Legal Divisions

“Sign, sign, everywhere a sign…”

-         Signs, Five Man Electrical Band, 1971.

In keeping with this week’s Competitive Intelligence (CI) theme, I’d like to offer a comment on some favorite topics of mine: using CI to predict the future by reading the signs, and the value of intelligence analysis. I do so with apologies to readers of the 3 Geeks and a Law Blog who may have recently seen our post on “Applaud the Jellyfish.”

Many of us regularly engage in CI work and one of the most common, and most valuable, services we provide is the analysis of data. This analysis typically occurs when you’ve done the research, assembled an intimidating pile of data, and now need to sort through, sift out the meaningful stuff, and turn that into answers.

The process of providing that analysis helps us derive meaning from the signs. Or, to phrase that another way, to turn data into intelligence. A smart organization, with savvy library and information professionals, becomes future ready by watching for the signs, understanding what they mean and then using that intelligence to make good decisions.

So, we librarians and information professionals can demonstrate our future readiness by continuing to find and create innovative ways to add the analytical value to our work.

This analysis may be supported by exciting new predictive search tools, or temporal analytics, or just good, old-fashioned environmental monitoring. The processes may be improved with efficiency measures or with new and better technologies.

Whatever the latest techniques, as long as we are effectively turning signs into meaning, and data into intelligence, we will be future ready.

Emily is the Competitive Intelligence Manager for Haynes & Boone, LLP. Her interests include competitive intelligence, business and financial intelligence, legal and business research, business development, strategic planning, knowledge management, and information technologies. Emily has written and presented on competitive intelligence, research and technology. A Dallas native, her hobbies include reading, cooking, and reading about cooking.

Introduction (Toni Wilson – Chair, SLA CI Division)

Analysis turns information into intelligence.  So, it is a treat to hear from an expert on competitive analysis – Dr. Craig Fleisher – in today’s blog entry.  Dr. Fleisher provides a summary of some of the analytical tools that information professionals responsible for CI tasks can use to create actionable intelligence, adding value to the decision-making process and making our organizations future-ready.

by Dr. Craig S. Fleisher

Competitive intelligence (CI) has always been a key tool in the organizational future readiness tool-kit. By its very nature, intelligence is forward looking and helps organizations take actions today in often complex, fast-moving and  uncertain environments that will better position them for the future.  To illustrate this point, I’ll identify a few analytical tools I have written about in my books [i] that are part of the essential CI tool kit.

Driving forces analysis (DFA) is a way of understanding and accounting for possible change at the industry level. “Drivers” are clusters of trends that create influences on changes to an industry’s structure and a rival’s competitive conduct. CI practitioners use this tool to better understand how attractive or profitable their industries may be at a designated future point.

Growth vector analysis (GVA) helps the practitioner review the different product alternatives available to an organization in relation to its market options. By undertaking a systematic evaluation of the market, competitive conditions and market growth opportunities can be identified and understood. GVA is one of the first steps in the process of targeting profitable growth opportunities. This tool organizes the myriad of growth opportunities into a manageable framework.

Various forms of life cycle analysis, focused for example on targets like issues, organizations, patents, products or technology (for example), help the practitioner to understand how the focal element will ordinarily evolve. By understanding the ordinary evolution of the item, the practitioner can better gauge tactics and strategies to leverage actions to extend an item in its growth stages, or to identify the best time to develop new products or services when the present ones require replacement.

Scenario planning and analysis is a structured way of developing multiple scenarios that compensate for two common decision-making errors, namely under- and over- prediction of change. Through a disciplined yet creative approach, scenario analysis is a combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis that imagines many possible futures of environmental change, reduces these many scenarios to a manageable number of possibilities, incorporates sensitivity analysis to determine dependent variable relationships, and isolates trends and patterns to counteract blind-spots in strategic decision making. It provides a framework to couch future decisions around the strategic posture of an organization in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

Information professionals that understand the application of these analytical tools can enhance organizational future readiness efforts. The use of each of these tools requires specific types of data and informational inputs. I can think of no other professionals in today’s organizations that can acquire these informational inputs as proficiently special librarians. You are needed by planners, marketers, strategists and decision makers, among others,  to help your organizations succeed in the future. Knowing how these future-focused CI tools are employed is just another way that your contribution can make a significant difference!

Dr. Fleisher is the Chief Learning Officer of Aurora WDC, Madison, Wisconsin. A former business school dean, MBA director and university research chair, he has authored 10+ books, been President of SCIP (Strategic & Competitive Intelligence Professionals), editor of the Journal of Competitive intelligence and Management, and was awarded SCIP’s Meritorious and Fellow recognitions for his contributions to the field of Competitive Intelligence.

Introduction (Toni Wilson – Chair, SLA CI Division)

By popular demand, members of SLA’s CI Division are again blogging for the FR365 effort during the week of September 26, focused specifically on competitive intelligence processes and applications. We are delighted to provide content and an understanding that will help the FR365 audience understand what CI is and how it can be applied to add value across organizations. Helping ourselves and our organizations become future ready is the ultimate value delivered by a productive and successful competitive intelligence program. We hope you will enjoy and apply some of the concepts and practices we share with you during CI Week.

by Toni Wilson, Cincinnati Chapter, Competitive Intelligence Division

A common message mentioned during nearly every CI Division session at this year’s SLA conference was that competitive intelligence is not about our organization’s competitors, but about keeping our organizations competitive. This is an important clarification, but what does it really mean in practice? A couple of topics, to which we can and should apply our CI process, can have the effect of changing a marketplace as a whole – ultimately impacting our organizations and our existing competitors in the future.

One important topic on which we should focus as part of a CI effort is the role of changing technologies. Consider the role of streaming technology and its effect on cable and satellite TV services providers, as a current example. Huge numbers of individuals and families are cancelling their traditional cable or satellite services to depend on online streaming services for entertainment and/or invest in tools that make the process more convenient (I’m personally a fan of Roku). I’m not aware of the statistics, but this trend must be having an enormous effect on the providers of the traditional services. If these emerging technologies are not an immediate threat to these businesses, they likely will be in the future. Did they see this coming? Maybe…if they were future-looking and their CI functions were focused on the emergence of the streaming technologies, in addition to the activities of their established competitors. If not, they must be struggling to respond to these marketplace changes, which certainly impacts their respective abilities to compete successfully. I’d rather be the intelligence practitioner who brought this trend to the attention of my decision makers years ago than the individual forced to explain why revenues are being eroded today.

Competitive intelligence can also help identify opportunities for organizations, in addition to future threats. An obvious example includes the government legislation and regulations that have been created around the demand for environmental protection and the popularity of sustainability. Related laws were developed over a period of time – a focused CI process could easily identify opportunities for new products and services by using published bill- and regulation-tracking information, among other sources. The laws have impacted a number of industries, the most successful of which identified the related opportunities early and created and executed plans to take advantage of them.

While I’m certainly not recommending this, it’s possible that if the only thing we accomplish is to help our organizations understand the technologies and legal or political trends impacting their ability to compete successfully in the future – even if we don’t focus on individual competitors – we will be successful in adding value and making a real and lasting difference into the future.

Toni Wilson is the principal consultant at MarketSmart Research Services. She is an experienced competitive intelligence practitioner, having performed hundreds of projects over the past 20+ years, in a variety of industries and throughout the world. Prior to establishing MarketSmart Research in 2000, Toni was a corporate intelligence professional at LexisNexis for more than a dozen years. She is an expert in sources, tools and techniques for intelligence collection, and frequently speaks to groups and coaches individuals regarding the CI process. Toni is a volunteer leader, prolific author, enthusiastic mentor and professional award winner. She is the current chair of SLA’s Competitive Intelligence Division.

By Mary Nell Bryant, M.A., M.L.S., U.S. Foreign Service Information Officer, retired (Washington D.C. Chapter, Social Science Division)

Best Practices for Government Libraries is a collaborative document that is put out annually on a specific topic of interest to government libraries and includes content submitted by government librarians and community leaders with an interest in government libraries. The 2011 edition includes over 70 articles and other submissions provided by more than 60 contributors including librarians in government agencies, courts, and the military, as well as from professional association leaders, and more. Best Practices is edited by Marie Kaddell, Senior Information Professional Consultant; SLA DGI Chair. If you did not write for this year’s Best Practices, Marie invites you to submit a guest post for the Government Info Pro marie.kaddell@lexisnexis.com.

In 2003, a tenuous peace took hold in Liberia, following 14 years of civil war. Since holding elections in 2005, the country has been knitting back together, the threads of its society, government, economy and institutions. With most of its never extensive infrastructure destroyed, many of its educated workforce gone, and little foreign investment, rebuilding Liberia will take years if not decades. 

Key to the redevelopment of Liberia is the establishment of a stable, transparent and effective government. Closely monitored elections in 2005 were deemed by the international community to be the most free and fair in Liberia‘s history, and gave Africa its first elected female president, Mrs. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. The United States has been in the frontline of countries providing development aid and technical assistance to Liberia. A key pillar of that aid has been legislative strengthening, through the work of the National Democratic Institute. 

The initial strategic planning document for modernization of the Legislature, written in consultation with the Legislature and NDI, USAID and the House Democracy Partnership, included the necessity for a legislative library and research capability. And that is where I came in. As a former librarian in the Congressional Research Service, and as staff to the House Special Committee on East European Parliamentary Assistance in the 1990‘s, I had spent many years consulting on the development of legislative libraries and research organizations. Over the past year, I have made three trips to Liberia to work on the creation of such an entity for the Liberian Legislature. 

What did I find? Certainly, not a country on the brink of an e-revolution. As per 2008 statistics, less than one person out of 100 had any Internet access, and only 19 out of a hundred had telephones. Electricity was and is scarce, particularly outside of Monrovia. With 84% of the population below the international poverty level (UNICEF 2008), a GDP per capita of $128 U.S. and employment in the formal sector at 15% (U.S. Department of State), e-government and e-initiatives remain small, but are critical to development. Currently, Internet access is limited primarily to some government agencies, NGO‘s and businesses in urban areas. Liberia currently has no access to a submarine cable or fiber optics. Any access is relatively slow, unreliable and extremely expensive. 

The current legislature is bicameral, with 64 representatives and 30 senators. Relative to the executive branch, the Legislature is relatively weak. Weak party structures and personality driven politics are only part of the problem. When I first arrived in May 2010, there was no computerization, no Internet, an untrained, bloated staff, no bill tracking system, no legal code, no archives of previous legislation, no systematic record keeping of legislative activity and no library. 

A legislative library did once exist, created in 1976 with 6,000 volumes. Then the wars began. Over the years of conflict, the library was destroyed and almost all documents were lost. What remained were some document cases, stored in an uncontrolled environment. Even the bookshelves were gone. During my first visit in 2009, the then director reported that they had had no materials since 1984. “We fought among ourselves and destroyed our own institutions,” he said. A large staff was kept on the payroll, and they tried to keep the piles organized and dusted as best as they could. There was no one on staff who had any training in librarianship. 

Through the aid of the U.S. government and the technical assistance of the National Democratic Institute, the library exists again, formally opened on April 27, 2011. The story of the herculean effort to provide planning, design, reconstruction, furnishings, collections, staff selection and training is beyond the scope of this article, so a few photos will suffice.

The final touch, prior to opening was the introduction of the Internet. Its installation was completed in early April, just prior to my arrival on April 12, 2011. It was time to get down to work, but where to begin? It is hard to remember back to a time when we did not know computer basics, and yet that was our starting point. The basic concepts one uses in searching the Web seem innate to those of us working in the field. We have internalized the basics of Boolean logic, critical thinking, web site evaluation, search concept development. Coming up with alternate search strategies is second nature. Error 404 messages are just an invitation to try an alternative. Not so if you have no familiarity even with the concept of searching for information, electronic or otherwise. 

The staff I worked with were a select group chosen from among the larger staff that had stayed on in the empty library over the years. Hence, there was still no one with any library training at all. I had done some basic reference and technical services training on previous visits, so knew that I had to begin Internet training with the absolute basics. We learned the meanings of AND and OR through participatory exercises such as having everyone wearing blue stand up AND everyone wearing yellow stand up. Try that followed by blues OR yellows standing up. 

Core to successful web searching is defining alternative strategies. To help develop that way of thinking, we broke into small groups and learned to brainstorm subjects, scribbling on flip charts, broader, narrower or similar topics. At first, staff were concerned about getting the words right or wrong, and it took a good bit of cheerleading to urge them to just write whatever came into their heads. The staff was more comfortable with linear thinking, and the concept of right and wrong answers, and of one right way to do things. Operating in a web environment with multiple options, and multiple possible avenues to find what you are looking for took some getting used to.

Finally, we were ready for the computers. Repetition in different forms was the key to success. Naturally, we began with browser and search engine basics, using videos, power point presentations (lots of screen shots lest the Internet crash) and very simple initial exercises. I found that evaluation of web sites had to come early on both to evaluate the quality of what they found, but also to get them to focus on content and detail. Once we went through several tightly controlled exercises of evaluation, the group really began picking up on it and you could feel their (and my) excitement.

Perhaps the most exciting of all is how in only a few sessions, we had several of the staff cataloging their own books on a LibraryWorld system. Again you forget that you are not born knowing what a call number is or what it looks like, or that books can be arranged by subject. Yet starting from the difference between Dewey and LC classification, the meaning of ISBN and LCCN, from identifying authors, titles, and publication dates, the group moved quickly as we went title by title, step by step to where they were cataloging on their own. By opening day, they had their online web-based catalog to show off. To my knowledge, it is the only web-based catalog in Liberia. When the Legislature has a web site, the next step in their e-development, one will be able to search the catalog from the web site. 

It is a relatively quiet time in the Legislature, and the Members are busy stumping for elections, planned for this fall. In the interim, the Library staff will be sharpening their skills, “e” and otherwise, designing products and services, developing procedures and of course marketing their new jewel. It has been an honor for me to be part of the process. 

To see the original article (and more photos) visitBest Practices for Government Libraries and go to page 222.

Ms. Mary Nell Bryant joined the Frost Task Force, following 13 years of experience as a research librarian at the Congressional Research Service at the Library of Congress.  As part of the Frost Task Force Staff, she worked on the development of legislative libraries in nine countries of Eastern Europe and the Baltics.  Following this work, she became Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State and served for fifteen years working with and planning for government libraries in Vietnam, Brazil, Serbia, and Afghanistan.

After leaving the State Department in 2009, Ms. Bryant has worked as a consultant with Development Alternatives, Inc. of Bethesda, MD, the National Democratic Institute, and has worked on digital library projects for the Department of State and the Peace Corps.

Ms. Bryant holds a B.A. in History and an M.A. in Social Science Education from the University of Florida, and an M.A. in Library and Information Science, from the University of Chicago.

By Deborah Balsamo, EPA National Library Network Program Manager; Teri DeVoe, Library Network Coordinator (Contractor, ASRC Management Services); and Tiffany Lopez, Assistant Library Network Coordinator (Contractor, ASRC Management Services)

Best Practices for Government Libraries is a collaborative document that is put out annually on a specific topic of interest to government libraries and includes content submitted by government librarians and community leaders with an interest in government libraries. The 2011 edition includes over 70 articles and other submissions provided by more than 60 contributors including librarians in government agencies, courts, and the military, as well as from professional association leaders, and more. Best Practices is edited by Marie Kaddell, Senior Information Professional Consultant; SLA DGI Chair. If you did not write for this year’s Best Practices, Marie invites you to submit a guest post for the Government Info Pro marie.kaddell@lexisnexis.com.

In 2009 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducted an agency-wide assessment to determine the future needs of an increasingly mobile work force and to learn how to leverage technology to serve EPA library users. The Needs Assessment included an online survey as well as user focus groups and qualitative interviews with executive-level management. Key findings and recommendations from the final report spurred the development of several new Library Network projects, all of which utilized existing agency technologies.

Needs Assessment Recommendation: Offer expanded and consistent operating hours

Solution: Live-chat reference available to internal patrons during coast-to-coast business hours

Ask a Librarian—Live Chat Reference

The EPA National Library Network had already begun exploring virtual reference options such as live chat before the 2009 Library Needs Assessment. However, with the recommendation to offer expanded service hours to staff, the Needs Assessment provided the impetus to pursue a pilot chat reference service for internal patrons in December 2009. By pooling EPA libraries’ coast-to-coast hours of operation, library access has been extended to EPA staff from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM Eastern Time, Monday through Thursday, and from 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM on Fridays.

Ten EPA libraries participated in the pilot service, which leveraged the RightNow application used for the Agency’s Enterprise Customer Service Solution (ECSS)/Frequent Questions database. In May 2010, the Network developed an Ask a Librarian icon to further promote the service, and subsequent marketing efforts resulted in increased live chat use. At the end of Fiscal Year 2010, the application behind the service changed to Parature, resulting in a managed transition and additional staff training. The service has been well received by end-users and exemplifies the collaborative nature of the Library Network.

Needs Assessment Recommendation: Offer more training on how to use library resources and services

Solution: Librarian-taught webinars promoted to all Agency staff

National Training Program

The Needs Assessment gave voice to user requests for library training, which had traditionally been the domain of local EPA libraries. Building from the Library Network’s use of GoToMeeting technology and established marketing channels, the National Training Program was created to bring locally-developed library classes to a wider Agency audience. The Network first developed guidelines, a formal class proposal process and an online evaluation form.

After soliciting library presenters, the Network takes the lead on scheduling and marketing classes, managing the technical side of the webinars, and preparing follow-up attendance and evaluation reports. The first National Training Program class debuted in April 2010, reaching internal patrons from twenty different EPA locations over the course of two repeat sessions. One year later, four additional classes had reached hundreds of EPA staff and the Network was exploring the possibility of expanding the program via playback options.

• April 2010: Locating EPA Documents (presented by Research Triangle Park Library)
• June 2010: EPA Desktop Library (presented by Headquarters and Chemical Libraries)
• October 2010: Cited Reference Searching (presented by Research Triangle Park Library)
• November 2010: Using EndNote with Library Resources (presented by Region 6 Sunder Ram Library)
• April 2011: Chemistry and Toxicology Research (presented by Andrew W. Breidenbach Environmental Research Center Library)

Goal: Build from the 2009 Library Needs Assessment by collecting ongoing feedback from users

Implementation: Ongoing customer service evaluation form, as a follow-up to staff transactions

Customer Service Evaluation Form

To build from the 2009 Needs Assessment data, the Library Network formalized a process for collecting ongoing patron feedback. In January 2010 the Network launched a centralized online customer service evaluation form, which utilized its existing SurveyMonkey account. The Network asks EPA librarians to send the evaluation link to internal EPA patrons following library service interactions. On a monthly basis, the Network generates and sends out individual library reports to local managers. Steady feedback reflects high customer satisfaction with 99% of respondents reporting that they are “very satisfied” with services received. The centralized form provides a pool of data that the Network can access at its point of need.

Deborah Balsamo is the National Program Manager for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) National Library Network where she has the responsibility for coordinating the operations of the agency’s libraries, overseeing the implementation of policies and procedures and leading the strategic direction of EPA’s information services. Deborah is former president of the North Carolina Chapter of SLA.

Teri DeVoe is the ASRC contractor EPA Library Network Coordinator.  She provides communication and outreach support for the EPA National Library Network, supports the National Program Manager, and serves as a “librarians’ librarian” to her colleagues at EPA.  Teri is a member of the Washington, DC, Chapter of SLA.

Tiffany Lopez is the ASRC contractor Assistant EPA Library Network Coordinator. She provides support for the library services and outreach initiatives of the EPA National Library Network, and serves as Second-Year Director of the North Carolina Chapter of SLA.

By Christine Sellers, Legal Reference Specialist, and Andrew Weber, Legislative Information Systems Manager, Law Library of Congress

Best Practices for Government Libraries is a collaborative document that is put out annually on a specific topic of interest to government libraries and includes content submitted by government librarians and community leaders with an interest in government libraries. The 2011 edition includes over 70 articles and other submissions provided by more than 60 contributors including librarians in government agencies, courts, and the military, as well as from professional association leaders, and more. Best Practices is edited by Marie Kaddell, Senior Information Professional Consultant; SLA DGI Chair.  If you did not write for this year’s Best Practices, Marie invites you to submit a guest post for the Government Info Pro marie.kaddell@lexisnexis.com.

The Law Library of Congress continues to embrace new mediums to spread and promote our collections, research and services. Over the last two years we have started using social media in a variety of ways. The Law Library has been on Twitter since October 2009 and Facebook since December 2009. The Global Legal Information Network (GLIN), a multi-national consortium we oversee, is also on Facebook. We started our newest Twitter feed in April 2011: @THOMASdotgov, which is designed to give timely updates regarding legislation from THOMAS.

Our goal in social media is to develop and expand knowledge about the Law Library of Congress. In furtherance of that, we determined that a blog would fill a role that the other social media efforts did not. It would provide a platform for more discussion or analysis than a tweet or post to Facebook could provide, but not be as in depth as the detailed reports that we make available on our website.

Communications Plan
One of our aims was to expose the various facets of the Law Library that might not necessarily be well-known, but could be very useful to our diverse clientele. To that end, we started with a group of bloggers that included staff from across our organization including a librarian from collection services, our New Zealand foreign law specialist, our United Kingdom foreign law specialist, and the two of us. Andrew would focus on posts related to THOMAS and Christine would provide more of a legal reference librarian viewpoint. We hoped this cross-section of staff would provide those outside of the Law Library with a glimpse into the different kinds of work that we do here, as well as the people doing that work.

We wanted to post daily to the blog, with a stated goal of 5-8 posts per week. Each author‘s goal was to contribute one or two posts a week so there would be regular content on a variety of subjects. Coming up with a name for the blog took time as we wanted something catchy and unique to the Law Library, but also with gravity befitting the institution for which we would be writing. We also needed something everyone agreed upon and could understand! We finally decided upon In Custodia Legis, which is Latin for in the custody of the law. We tried to put our spin on the legal phrase because one role of the Law Library of Congress is to be a custodian of law and legislation.

In Custodia Legis was officially launched on August 2, 2010, with our post What is In Custodia Legis?. We have been keeping up a strong and steady clip since then! By the end of April we had published our 200th post in just our ninth month.

Process

Each of our posts goes through a thorough review process before being published. Only the five primary authors have access to the WordPress software. After the review process, the author has final approval and publishes the post. The process is flexible and posts can be drafted, reviewed, and posted on the same day. Each week we email out a status update with the proposed posts for the week and their step in the review process. This helps ensure content is posted every day of the week and provides reminders for specific event themed posts.

Content

August 2010 was a great first month for us! We had ideas built up since we first decided to start a blog back in November 2009. But after the first month with twenty wonderful posts, we realized coming up with posts on a daily basis took some time (sadly only 14 in September). One thing we did was reach out to other Law Library employees for potential guest posts. We were so successful with submissions that we created a new category for them. As the blog became more established, some staff members came to us with post ideas.

We also developed regular weekly content, which included interviews with Law Library staff and a Pic of the Week feature every Friday. The picture provided a fun way to end the week, while still occasionally linking to previous posts. The pictures also provide a creative outlet for looking at things you pass by every day (sometimes for years) with a fresh perspective. One of our favorites was the introductory picture of a card catalog sign in the Law Library Reading Room. One of our most viewed is Looking Up the Old Law Library, which is a view of where the Law Library used to be thirty years ago in the Jefferson Building.

Through the six questions in the interviews, we‘ve learned a wealth of knowledge about our co-workers and the institution. Two questions in particular bring out interesting answers: ―What is the most interesting fact you‘ve learned about the Law Library? and ―What is something most of your co-workers do not know about you? Interviewees tell us those are the hardest questions to answer. For the former question, answers ranged from learning that more than half of the Law Library‘s print collection is in languages other than English to applauding the outstanding intellectual quality of the staff at the Law Library. For the later question highlights include a co-worker who was offered a job driving a Zamboni and one who interviewed President George W. Bush.

Both series were designed to provide an insider‘s perspective of the Law Library. A goal is to provide our audience with faces behind the institution.

Lessons Learned
We have learned a number of things since starting the blog, which we thought we should share with you. One of the more difficult lessons was finding the right tone and was a varied learning process for each blogger. As we are writing for the Law Library, the tone of posts cannot be too personal. Yet that personality is what makes blogs different and enjoyable. We have sought and continue to seek to strike the right balance in our writing.

We have also learned that having steady and continuous content takes a lot of planning. We have posts planned for up to two weeks in advance. Andrew sends out status updates containing the post schedule so that all of those involved in the blogging process can be aware of what needs to be done and where posts are in the review process. It takes time to be this organized, but we think the consistency in the blog proves that it is worth it. It also takes time to solicit content from guest bloggers and interviewees, which we try to work into the schedule as much as possible.

We have been surprised by which posts do well and which do not. We have also been surprised by the fact that we can never accurately predict which category a post will fall into ahead of time. Our interviews and pictures typically do well. We started a monthly retrospective post to provide an overview of what people view the most, liked on our Facebook page, commented on, and tweeted about.

Themed day posts have been popular with one on St. Patrick‘s Day and Cinco de Mayo in our all time top five. Blogging about updates to THOMAS.gov also received a lot of page views. Our most viewed post since we started is a straightforward post sharing our statistics, Top Law Library of Congress Web Pages. Our worst post was one of the first of the retrospective posts, December Retrospective. We have since rebranded how we announce the posts, which has improved their statistics.

Above all, we have really enjoyed how much fun writing for the blog can be and hearing how much people enjoy reading it. Some of Christine‘s favorite posts are those that detail reference questions received either on the reference desk or through the Library‘s Ask A Librarian service. These posts include Tales of Al Capone‘s Jury and What Does This Symbol Mean?. Andrew enjoys writing on topics that relate to THOMAS like Where to Watch Congress Online and THOMAS off of THOMAS.

We hope you will stop by to read our blog sometime and leave a comment!

Christine Sellers joined the Law Library of Congress as a Legal Reference Librarian in September 2009. In addition to her reference duties in the Law Library Reading Room, she is part of a team that develops new features for THOMAS and has compiled a report on the social media practices of Congress. Previously, she created the Law Librarians of Leisure blog and before that was a Senior Research Librarian at Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, P.A. in South Carolina. Sellers holds a Bachelor’s degree in art history and English from Wellesley College, as well as a Juris Doctor and a Masters of Library and Information Science from the University of South Carolina.

Andrew Weber, Legislative Information Systems Manager, has been at the Law Library of Congress since June 2004. He has contributed to reports for Congress, updated parts of The Bluebook, trademarked the GLIN logo, and drafted visa applications for co-workers. He runs the Law Library’s Twitter account and Facebook page and works to develop and implement new features for THOMAS. He has been fortunate to blend his love of technology, law, gadgets, and working for Congress into his ideal position. Weber holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Ball State University and a Juris Doctor and a Master’s in Public and International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh.

By Mary Talley, Owner, TalleyPartners, 2011 DC/SLA President (DC & Maryland Chapters, B&F, IT, KM, Leadership & Management and Legal Divisions)

Best Practices for Government Libraries is a collaborative document that is put out annually on a specific topic of interest to government libraries and includes content submitted by government librarians and community leaders with an interest in government libraries. The 2011 edition includes over 70 articles and other submissions provided by more than 60 contributors including librarians in government agencies, courts, and the military, as well as from professional association leaders, and more. Best Practices is edited by Marie Kaddell, Senior Information Professional Consultant; SLA DGI Chair.  If you did not write for this year’s Best Practices, Marie invites you to submit a guest post for the Government Info Pro marie.kaddell@lexisnexis.com.

Relationships, relationships, relationships! Like the old adage about the importance of location in real estate, embedded information professionals’ success rests partially on the depth of their relationship with their user groups. The research that I performed in 2009 and 2010 on models of embedded librarianship with my colleague, Dave Shumaker, showed that strong working relationships are often built on frequent interactions, such as face-to-face meetings, hallway chats, and shared meals and social events. Being present in information users’ day-to-day work life helps them to see the information professional as a member of the group and promotes credibility. Social interactions break down barriers and promote trust.  As information users become more comfortable with the information professional, they think of them more often as someone who can solve less traditional information problems.

Being There — Virtually
In a virtual environment, duplicating this level of interaction can be difficult. How can you create and sustain equally strong connections with information users that you may never see? Although you may have to work harder to develop virtual relationships, there is encouraging data from the research, case studies and the literature that shows the way.

In a case study from our research, a knowledge analyst on the East Coast is integrated into a practice group located everywhere around the globe – except the East Coast. The analyst’s strongest supporter is the practice group’s executive manager, who is located on the West Coast. The analyst and the manager rarely meet, and the analyst has never met most of the practice group. Yet, the analyst is one of only two who have full access to all practice group-related emails, which she monitors for both work product (which she captures) and emerging issues (for which she provides preemptive support).

Start at the Top
How did the knowledge analyst do it? Her initial connections with the practice group were made through collaborative work with the senior manager on high-value, departmental work products. In many ways, the analyst worked as an apprentice knowledge manager with the senior manager, learning and building trust. The senior manager encouraged the analyst to expand her subject expertise and take on more challenges. She credits the manager’s support as the single most important factor in her success.

Over time, the senior manager has integrated the knowledge analyst as an active participant in all of the practice group’s online communications, meetings and learning opportunities. As a result, the practice group has come to know and trust her capabilities; demand for her work is skyrocketing and other groups are requesting her help as word spreads about her capabilities.

In the successful embedded groups identified in our research, management support is the key to successful integration of the embedded professionals into their information user groups. Relationships between the embedded professional and management are exceptionally strong. In one self-rated highly successful embedded group we identified, ties to user group management include giving both written and verbal reports to group managers.

In a dispersed virtual environment where information professionals may rarely, if ever, come into contact with senior management, reciprocal relationships between management in both the information center management and the information user groups are also instrumental in connecting individual information professionals with organizational groups. In the case of the knowledge analyst (who is an employee of her parent organization’s library), the information center director has cultivated connections with all levels of organizational management, facilitated the collaboration between the analyst and the practice group manager and encouraged the analyst’s alignment with the information user group.

As important as management support is, the information professional can’t just wait for her boss or a senior manager to intervene. To become embedded, a professional in a virtual or physical environment needs to be highly skilled in outreach and relationship-building. Members of the self-rated highly successful embedded group we identified proactively sought management support, including meeting regularly with customer group management to understand their information needs. Likewise, the knowledge analyst seeks continuous feedback from the two senior managers in the practice group she works with.

Subject expertise is imperative to gaining credibility and trust, but it’s not enough if the information users don’t know – and trust – the information professional well enough to call her for extraordinary issues. When senior management advises contacting this person for all information-related issues, chances are the user group will listen. The knowledge analyst in our case study noted that the senior manager endorsed and promoted her work to the group, increasing her credibility.

In a virtual environment, where casual interaction is unlikely, this endorsement from the top is critical. With management support and information savvy, the embedded professional can be as successful in the virtual world as in the physical one.

References

Shumaker, D., & Talley, M. (2010). Models of embedded librarianship: A research summary. Information Outlook, 14(1), 27-27-28, 33-35.

Talley, M. (2011). Success and the Embedded Librarian. Information Outlook, 15(3) http://www.sla.org/io/2011/04/995.cfm

Mary Talley is an information professional and an entrepreneur. She heads TalleyPartners, an information management consulting firm specializing in strategic planning, repositioning and embedded information structures for information centers. She was a co-recipient of the 2008 SLA Research Grant to study successful models of embedded librarianship. Mary currently serves as President of DC/SLA.

By Bruce Rosenstein, Author, Living in More Than One World: How Peter Drucker‘s Wisdom Can Inspire and Transform Your Life (Washington, DC Chapter, News Division)

Best Practices for Government Libraries is a collaborative document that is put out annually on a specific topic of interest to government libraries and includes content submitted by government librarians and community leaders with an interest in government libraries. The 2011 edition includes over 70 articles and other submissions provided by more than 60 contributors including librarians in government agencies, courts, and the military, as well as from professional association leaders, and more. Best Practices is edited by Marie Kaddell, Senior Information Professional Consultant; SLA DGI Chair.  If you did not write for this year’s Best Practices, Marie invites you to submit a guest post for the Government Info Pro marie.kaddell@lexisnexis.com.

Wherever you work, information professionals are under unprecedented pressure. Very few people are exempt from the need to perform faster and better, and to constantly prove their worth.

A great way to thrive in this brave new world is to accept the need for change and to create an inner, self-culture of belief that embraces new ways of being and doing. A helpful framework can be applied from the teachings, work and life example of Peter Drucker, the father of modern management, who died at age 95 in 2005. Drucker was the keynote speaker for the SLA Annual Conference in Los Angeles in 2002, and his ideas continue to resonate within the world of libraries and information.

Here are some suggestions for embracing and expanding, based on the research — including several in-person interviews with Drucker — for my book Living in More Than One World: How Peter Drucker‘s Wisdom Can Inspire and Transform Your Life (Berrett-Koehler, 2009).

Get Organized for Change: The only constant is change. It‘s better to be organized about how you adapt to the changes in your life inside and outside of the workplace. Try not to think in terms of preserving the status quo. Instead, how can you look for and take advantage of changes in the workplace and society that may have an effect on you?

Pilot Testing: Drucker believed that anything that involved changes, or creation of new products, services or activities, could be pilot tested. Companies do this with proposed new products and services. This can be applied to new services you‘d like to offer within your library, and to new activities to add to your non-work life.

Think of Yourself as a CEO: No matter your job title, even if you have no managerial or supervisory responsibilities, think of yourself as not only CEO of your own life, but making your decisions as if you were the CEO of your organization. This affects how you think and makes you aware that decisions are made not just for your benefit, but also for colleagues and others in your organization, additional stakeholders, plus your family and friends.

Systematic Abandonment: In order to embrace the new, organize for change and expand your horizons, you‘ll need to find time. Most people are so busy that they can‘t add many new activities without dropping current ones, even those that they find satisfying and worthwhile. Regularly take a look at all your activities (inside and outside of work) and determine what can be dropped or scaled back to make way for something new, and potentially even more valuable. This could be the perfect opportunity to create more time for leisure activities such as playing in an amateur sports league; taking music, art or acting lessons; or doing more traveling.

The Power of Self-Reflection/Retreats: Take time, at regular intervals, to assess the direction of your life. Does your current job reflect the kind of person you are now, or is it more reflective of who you were when you were hired? Are you sure you will be working for the same organization in five years, and doing the same kind of work? It‘s difficult for most of us to do this thinking in the midst of a busy daily schedule. Try to carve out some time, even a short period, for sitting or walking alone, without distractions. Many people find value in short retreats, even silent ones.

Networking for the New: Information professionals are world-class networkers, in person and online. This is an efficient and powerful way to learn about activities to add to your life. Studying the profiles of your friends in Facebook and LinkedIn can give you an idea of how people spend their time, and can be a great source of ideas. Talk to people to find out how they find time to engage in these activities, and to learn more about what they do. It could lead to a new outside interest, a volunteering opportunity, a new learning initiative, or even a new job.

Wide-Ranging Reading: Many of us are voracious readers, a description that applied to Drucker, who regularly read great literature (in various languages) and a variety of magazines and newspapers. He stressed in his insightful 2002 interview in Information Outlook to read beyond your discipline. It‘s important to keep up with reading that directly affects your work, but in order to truly broaden your horizons, you should read about a wider set of topics.

Get and Stay Involved: How can you deepen your involvement in SLA, ALA or related organizations? Helping to organize conferences, meetings and events, writing articles, and mentoring are all perfect opportunities for learning more, meeting new people and developing new capabilities. This can also lead to job opportunities.

Learning by Teaching: Drucker believed that no one learns as much as the person who must teach his or her subject. But that is only one reason to get involved in teaching. It may turn into a parallel career that you can do on a part-time basis while you work at your main job. It can provide volunteering opportunities, if you teach, for instance, at a religious institution. There may also be teaching opportunities within your workplace or within library-related organizations. Try to find people who are already teaching in some capacity, and find out how they got started.

Finally, the challenge of organizing your life around change rather than preserving the status quo takes dedication, resilience and creativity. Welcoming new activities and new people into your life means that other areas of your life and work may have to be de-emphasized. People from various aspects of your life will be competing for your time and attention. If you are pondering career changes, or adding a parallel career such as teaching or writing, you must determine if it makes financial sense. But if you give the proper thought and effort, and maintain perseverance, you may find that your broadened horizons fit the new you perfectly.

Bruce Rosenstein is currently Managing Editor for the journal Leader to Leader. He serves as an adjunct faculty member for The Catholic University of America School of Library and Information Science, teaching The Special Library/Information Center. His book Living in More Than One World: How Peter Drucker’s Wisdom Can Inspire and Transform Your Life was published by Berrett-Koehler in 2009. It has since been published in Brazil, China and Japan. For 21 years, Bruce was a librarian for USA TODAY, where he also wrote about business and management books for the Money section of the newspaper.