Howdy from the beautiful Rocky Mountains! The Rocky Mountain chapter of SLA is thrilled to contribute this week’s FutureReady365 posts. We are a small, diverse community of 150+ members spread across a four-state region (Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and South Dakota). We have a medley of posts from public school, government, higher education and independent professionals that we hope will prompt conversations, comments and thoughts on being future ready. Happy reading!

As the Colorado State Library public library consultant, I hear from library staff across the state – how can we reinvent ourselves as Anythink did in just a few years? Rangeview Library District and its Anythink libraries serve Adams County, Colo. Once the worst-funded library district in the state, Anythink has drastically reinvented itself with a new service philosophy, new spaces and a new challenger brand that has changed the perception of libraries in Adams County and beyond.

Over a cup of coffee with Anythink Director Pam Sandlian Smith, a concept was born. We sought to address the needs of libraries from Colorado and beyond that are interested in innovation, creativity and risk-taking, which led to R-Squared – The Risk & Reward Conference.

Is this a rehashing of what Anythink has done in order to achieve national recognition? Pam’s answer would be a definitive, “no!”  However, with a group of folks from Telluride on the Western Slope to Clearview on the Eastern Plains, a plan began to form that would highlight some of the philosophies and core values that have inspired Anythink’s reinvention.

With the help of the creative team from Ricochet Ideas and a committee of devoted individuals from across Colorado, we started work last February to define the conference. R-Squared is designed for professionals at all levels who are curious about creative thinking in libraries. The goal is for attendees to recognize their own creativity, analyze risk and reap its rewards, and become confident in creative problem solving to help establish libraries as leaders inspiring creative thinking in their communities. As Pam states, “It comes down to looking at our profession with a fresh perspective and having the courage to implement things differently. We have to be willing to take some risks to ensure our long-term survival.”

This conference is uniquely designed to encourage fun, creativity and risk in an unexpected format. What better place to do that than in Telluride, CO, one of the most beautiful and inspirational locations in Colorado. Time is built into the conference schedule for risk exercises and experience zones, and sessions allow for collaboration. The three-day conference deals with four main areas – culture, customer curiosity, abundant community and creative spaces. Creative experts and risk-takers from industries like hospitality, retail, marketing and technology will provide a fresh perspective and inspire innovation. As John Bellina, creative director for Ricochet Ideas says, “R-Squared is about embracing risk as a way to get ahead.”

To find out more about R-Squared – The Risk & Reward Conference, visit rsquaredconference.org, facebook/rsquaredconference, or follow us on Twitter @rsquaredconf.

Shelley Walchak is the Library Community Programs Senior Consultant at the Colorado State Library in the Department of Education. She assists public library administration with questions on planning, laws that affect libraries, advocacy, standards, board training, and special projects. Shelley has an MSLS from Wayne State University in Detroit, MI.

Howdy from the beautiful Rocky Mountains! The Rocky Mountain chapter of SLA is thrilled to contribute this week’s FutureReady365 posts. We are a small, diverse community of 150+ members spread across a four-state region (Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and South Dakota). We have a medley of posts from public school, government, higher education and independent professionals that we hope will prompt conversations, comments and thoughts on being future ready. Happy reading!

Collaboration has been a big buzzword in the library literature lately. Well, maybe I see that buzzword just because I have been training myself to see that concept in library articles, blog posts and reports. I am one of three editors for the blog, Collaborative Librarianship News at http://collaborativelibrarianship.wordpress.com/. This blog provides news and links to information concerning collaboration and cooperation in libraries of all types. Valerie Horton, Robin Hastings and I have been doing this since the journal Collaborative Librarianship opened its doors in January of 2009.

When it comes to collaboration, I agree with Stephen Abram when he noted that “cooperation is simple; collaboration is hard since it hits so many of those human hot buttons that generate emotional intensity—territorialism, ego, identity, sharing, power, etc.” (http://collaborativelibrarianship.org/index.php/jocl/article/view/50). True collaboration means that the staff of a library may need to give up some control of an aspect of their work. Collaboration with other types of organizations and people in other fields will require the staff to trust that the other organization or group will support a service that is no longer offered by library employees. Or, the collaboration may provide enhanced services that the library couldn’t have done without collaboration. In the end, some aspect of the work could have formal contracts between the library and the other organization so that the services and tasks are spelled out.

Some examples of collaboration could include:

• Public library collaboration with a middle school
• Academic library collaboration with the Anthropology Department to develop museum displays
• Corporate library collaboration with the R&D Department
• Library/vendor collaboration
• Government information center collaboration with the IT Office on a specific project

What does this have to do with being future ready? As libraries and information centers continue their transformations, collaboration of all types and flavors will be even more important for the sustainability of the organization. The skill we all should have learned in kindergarten, “plays well with others,” continues to be a crucial skill.

Joseph Kraus is currently the Science & Engineering Librarian at the University of Denver (DU) Penrose Library. DU is a medium sized private university in Denver, Colorado. He is active in the Physics-Astronomy-Mathematics and the Sci-Tech Divisions of the Special Libraries Association (SLA). He has written numerous articles and has presented on topics from Library2.0 resources, unconferences and collection development.

Howdy from the beautiful Rocky Mountains! The Rocky Mountain chapter of SLA is thrilled to contribute this week’s FutureReady365 posts. We are a small, diverse community of 150+ members spread across a four-state region (Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and South Dakota). We have a medley of posts from public school, government, higher education and independent professionals that we hope will prompt conversations, comments and thoughts on being future ready. Happy reading!

My first encounter with the term “economic gardening” was on an SLA job posting in the spring of 2008. My heart opened up and my brain engaged just reading the explanation of the economic gardening concept in the job description. The idea of nurturing local businesses already existing in the community sounded like one of those genius ideas that are so obvious once you hear it you wonder why it isn’t practiced everywhere. Several sophisticated theoretical concepts underlie the practice of economic gardening but the basic idea is that rather than focusing on bringing new businesses into a community (the traditional approach to economic development) an economic gardening program supports and helps to grow those businesses already operating in the community.

Economic gardening recognizes that economies are built by entrepreneurs and therefore focuses on three principles designed to make communities attractive to entrepreneurs – infrastructure, information and connections. Infrastructure pertains to amenities in the community that entrepreneurial folks look for, like open space, museums, libraries and a good school system. Because access to high value information is critical for business success, a highly skilled business librarian has always been a part of Littleton’s economic gardening team. Known as the “Economic Intelligence Specialist,” this team member is encouraged to seek out and use the latest tools and techniques available for business research and analysis and then to apply the information retrieved to help businesses solve problems. Connections have to do with both individual and organizational resources. Littleton’s economic gardening program provides local business owners with connections to experts and other influential people and also nurtures relationships with resource-rich organizations like universities and research labs that may be critical for a business’s growth.

A serendipitous glance at the SLA job board on a spring day resulted in an unexpected career shift into an innovative, exciting program I had no idea existed. Now, three years into the job, I’ve found that my professional skills and abilities are growing along right along with the businesses we help in our economic gardening program. And that’s my short story about being future ready.

Recca Larson has worked for the City of Littleton’s Business/Industry Affairs Department since 2008. Her fascination with business research and research databases was awakened as a student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Graduate School of Library Science. Out in the real world she spent a satisfying decade setting up and running research services for several Fortune 500 companies. Recca also worked many years for Dialog, heading a team of business librarians advising Dialog customers on search strategies designed to answer complex business questions. She’s been an RMSLA member since 2008 and was previously a member of the San Andreas and San Francisco chapters of SLA.

Howdy from the beautiful Rocky Mountains! The Rocky Mountain chapter of SLA is thrilled to contribute this week’s FutureReady365 posts. We are a small, diverse community of 150+ members spread across a four-state region (Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and South Dakota). We have a medley of posts from public school, government, higher education and independent professionals that we hope will prompt conversations, comments and thoughts on being future ready. Happy reading!

These days there is lots of talk about collaboration. I’m a believer as all my best ideas come from engaging in life’s experiences by listening, learning and discussing with others; and reading constantly.

This is how I developed cooperative intelligence www.thecisource.com/coopintel in 2004. I learned that many in competitive intelligence, my professional angle, are frustrated since their ideas and insight either don’t get shared with decision-makers or are ignored. We often blame management for this behavior, when it’s up to us to be heard and listened to. You need to figure out how to earn the respect of managers individually—and over time they will listen and engage.

The core attitude is cooperation, in that you show a willingness to give to others without expecting something in return. There are 3 interrelated behaviors in cooperative intelligence: Leadership, Connection and Communication.

Cooperative Leadership: While info pros and librarians usually don’t hold traditional leadership positions, we can be leaders by doing excellent work, which contains a proactive, future looking element. It is easy for us to become mired in the reactive detail of projects.

Likewise, we need to stand up for what we believe. Sometimes we are asked to research topics or use research methodologies which we think are unethical, and we have to say NO! We also need to share information and analysis that our management won’t like. It’s our job, and cooperatively we can gently, but firmly share what we learn.

Cooperative Connection: Cooperative connectors value everyone we meet. We make a point of making people feel important by listening and staying in touch. We make the person we are speaking to feel like s/he is the only person that matters, even when surrounded by hundreds at the SLA Annual Conference, for example!

Cooperative connectors share specific information only with those who might value it. Sharing with those who don’t care is rude. Take the time to identify who will appreciate what you produce. Cooperative connectors also keep their contacts up to date and add new people to their distribution lists in the areas they value.

Cooperative Communication: One way to be a cooperative communicator is to be a good listener, to observe, engage and ask good questions. Notice what people choose not to share or when their body action doesn’t jive with their words. Librarians are trained to be good listeners so have a competitive advantage over most other professions. However, do we project a cooperative attitude? Take the next step and find out how out how your customers want to be communicated with, their areas of need as well as their expertise. In our quest to be helpful, we often forget that people like to be asked about what they know.

Help your company be future ready by sharing your knowledge cooperatively. Your management team needs your insight, and you need to figure out how to reach them cooperatively!

Ellen Naylor is the owner of The Business Intelligence Source (http://www.thecisource.com). Read more of her insights at http://cooperativeintelligenceblog.com. She is a member of the Rocky Mountain SLA team.

Note: This blog builds on Ellen’s January FR blog.

Howdy from the beautiful Rocky Mountains! The Rocky Mountain chapter of SLA is thrilled to contribute this week’s FutureReady365 posts. We are a small, diverse community of 150+ members spread across a four-state region (Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and South Dakota). We have a medley of posts from public school, government, higher education and independent professionals that we hope will prompt conversations, comments and thoughts on being future ready. Happy reading!

I work in a nursing school. My primary users are faculty and students. One of the main obstacles in nursing is lack of time. As an information specialist I am Future Ready because I can save my users time.  All librarians are future ready because that is one of the main things we do, save our users time. Everybody wants to save time in this busy high technology world.

Many of the faculty and administration are looking for specific information that can only be found in the library databases. Since I am considered an expert searcher and search more than the faculty and administration, I can find articles quicker than they can.

When questions arise if I cannot find the answers quickly and easily I can email my colleagues on the library listservs. There are always experts in the field with various opinions that help answer my questions.

The information that I receive from local and national library associations keeps me aware of trends and issues. Therefore, I am being proactive versus reactive. This saves my college time.

With the time that I save my faculty this is saving the college money overall. The faculty is not taking their time by searching and can use their time on other things that can be addressed at the college.

I am keeping college retention of students by assisting them in the library with APA citations and technical assistance for computer issues. This helps ease their anxiety and creates a less stressful environment.

Overall, I feel that I save my faculty and students’ time and I am a real asset to the College.

Laura Cullerton, Information Specialist, holds a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Denver. She is a member of Medical Library Association (Nursing and Allied Health Resource Section), Colorado Council of Medical Librarians, Special Library Association, Rocky Mountain Special Library Association and Colorado Association of Libraries. Her particular interest in librarianship is in Evidence Based Practice and Business Research.

Howdy from the beautiful Rocky Mountains! The Rocky Mountain chapter of SLA is thrilled to contribute this week’s FutureReady365 posts. We are a small, diverse community of 150+ members spread across a four-state region (Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and South Dakota). We have a medley of posts from public school, government, higher education and independent professionals that we hope will prompt conversations, comments and thoughts on being future ready. Happy reading!

Denver Public Schools’ Educational Technology and Library Services (ETLS) department is responsible for creating collection development policy for the District’s 140+ school libraries. For the past 6 months, deep discussion has taken place about how we want to begin introducing eBooks into our school collections. Like so many other school districts, DPS has only purchased a small number of titles, “drops in the bucket,” as Lisa Guernsey describes it in her School Library Journal article “Are Ebooks any good?” (June 1, 2011). And like the “tidal wave” she predicts is coming, ETLS is preparing for an eventual surge in eBook purchasing. To this end, Janne Cookman, senior library systems analyst for ETLS, drew up the following recommendations for our school librarians for purchasing eBooks. By creating consistency in purchasing decisions, workflow in our cataloging and acquisitions department would experience less disruption.

Following are the recommendations given to our school librarians:

eBook Purchasing Considerations

• Selection: Consider your overall collection development goals. Is this title or package a good fit? Will the electronic format enhance the reader’s experience? Do you expect the eBook version to get better usage (that is, be easier to access and circulate more frequently) than the print version? Does the district already offer something similar through its subscription databases (for example, TumbleBooks, Teen Health and Wellness, etc.)?
• Access: Currently Library Services supports access to eBooks only through MARC records in the LION/Encore catalog. The plus is all setup and configuration work with the vendor is done for you. The minus is LION/Encore always displays the item status as “available online,” even if the copy is being read by someone else at the time.
• Platforms: All eBooks are web-hosted on the vendor’s platform and cannot be moved to a competing vendor’s platform. Consider the management and training issues associated with having multiple platforms. How will you gather your circulation statistics? Do the different platforms have specific system requirements? Are the search, read, etc. features similar, easy to understand and use? Do the vendors provide online FAQs, tutorials and tech support?
• Vendors: Like print books, eBooks may be purchased directly from the publisher or from an aggregator. Aggregators partner with multiple publishers to supply content and provide a uniform platform. The major advantage of an aggregator is having a single interface to host all of your titles, and a single-point-of-management for selection, acquisition, cataloging and circulation.
• Hosting fees: If there are hosting fees, how much are they and are they paid up front, yearly, or built into the titles per copy pricing? For tracking expenditures, keep in mind that hosting fees are invoiced directly to ETLS and deducted from your school’s mill levy funds.
• Purchasing models: The options are lease or own. If the eBook content is leased, you will need to withdraw the records when the lease expires to avoid “dead links” and frustrated readers.
• Online reading: If online reading is through a wireless connection, consider possible bandwidth and network traffic issues. Other possible issues – Flash-based or proprietary online readers.
• Simultaneous Access: This applies only to online reading and the options are single-user, multi-user or unlimited simultaneous access. Single-access means the eBook can be read by one person at a time, just like a print book. Multi-access usually is 5 or less, and unlimited simultaneous access is unlimited.
• Downloading: This applies to offline reading. The majority of eBook fiction titles are single access. For popular fiction, consider buying multiple copies. Some publishers allow downloadable books to be shared, usually among an individual reader’s personal devices. For school libraries, downloading to shared-use lab or library computers is not recommended because it ties up single-access licenses for the minimum checkout period.
• Devices and file formats: These mainly apply to offline reading and can get very complicated. Adobe Digital Editions and .EPUB are the most flexible and compatible.
• Digital Rights Management (DRM) and Copyright protection: These apply to offline reading. Digital and copy rights are set by the publisher, not the vendor, and business models are highly variable. For some publishers, 10% copy rights means each user is allowed to copy 10% of the content. For others, it means 10% may be copied over the life of the eBook. Make sure you understand the publisher’s limitations.

With the state of eBook publishing still so much in flux, ETLS will need to pay close attention, and our collection development policy direction will need to remain flexible.

Charlie Leckenby manages Denver Public Schools’ professional library and assists with collection development across the school district.

Howdy from the beautiful Rocky Mountains! The Rocky Mountain chapter of SLA is thrilled to contribute this week’s FutureReady365 posts. We are a small, diverse community of 150+ members spread across a four-state region (Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and South Dakota). We have a medley of posts from public school, government, higher education and independent professionals that we hope will prompt conversations, comments and thoughts on being future ready. Happy reading!

SLA types tend to be people people as well as info and tech people. And that’s a source of our future power and alliances.

When I joined SLA a decade or two back, the library director who brought me on board mentioned that SLA conference attendees were known to drink more per capita than people at any other conference. (Note: neither SLA nor information work promotes or leads to excessive alcohol use.) My way of understanding this phenomenon was to frame it against certain traditions in the library field. Who had been the “typical” librarian? A woman. A career woman who went out and made her way in the world of employment and business, even in times when that wasn’t the norm. This woman was independent, gutsy, self-led, and self-taught and she delivered the goods for her clients. She was a pioneer by definition. Naturally she would value getting together with like minds to celebrate achievements (over a glass perhaps) and absorb new ideas for the next challenge.

Her tribe of men and women love the thrill of the hunt for information; the thrill of creating order, meaning, and message; the thrill of delivering the solution. They are in information work because they love it. Their joie de vivre causes those glasses to be raised. We know this is the place to be—where information intersects with the user experience and customer focus and technology to create progress.

And this is where our power and partnerships lie. The people who live in a narrowly tech-defined space need us to humanize and dimensionalize what they do, and to build a bridge from Planet Code and Planet Data to this world, where people scan for information, grab it and run with it, and put information to use.

SLA types speak the language of data technology, the language of info seeking behavior, and the languages of our clients—users of specialized information in specialized work and business environments. We invented metadata to provide access to information in the narrowest and the most cross-disciplinary professional niches imaginable. We have been about access and findability since Day 1. We recognize techies as our allies. They are welcome to join with us and enrich our tribe and our association and both tap into and help expand the future-power of the information professional. May we raise toasts to each other, figuratively or tangibly, in an aligned and mutually beneficial future.

Connie Clem is lead writer, researcher, communication designer, and bottle-washer at Clem Information Strategies (http://cleminfostrategies.com), where she creates change through information for nonprofit and government clients. She is the author of Government Online (http://bit.ly/GovernmentOnline) and active in AIIP as well as a Director in the Rocky Mountain Chapter of SLA (http://rockymountain.sla.org). Follow her on Twitter @ConnieInfo.

Dear Members:

The rapid evolution of the information industry, along with input from SLA members, has spurred the SLA Board of Directors to develop an updated strategic vision for SLA. This vision will serve as a roadmap for our association between now and 2014 to provide the best career-enhancing benefits to our 9,000-plus members worldwide.

The strategic vision reflects the fact that SLA Board members listened to a lot of member input. Given the diversity of SLA’s membership (academic, corporate, self-employed, etc.), we expect every SLA member to find some aspects exciting…and other aspects less so.  The strategic vision is a high level summation of bold goals, and we know boldness carries risk.  But we want to be bold, and we want your participation to follow the input you provided.  The specifics of implementing the vision will depend entirely on member engagement, and details will vary among each chapters and division.

We invite you to read the strategic vision with care, and then consider where you wish to put your efforts.  Members are the drivers for success in reaching the vision’s elements; where do you fit so that your volunteer contribution will generate the greatest benefit for your SLA unit and for yourself?

Your avenues for responding include the Future Ready 365 blog (today and during the first week of December), your chapter, your division, any special interest group (example: First 5 Years), the Board, and your personal professional network within SLA.  To facilitate idea-sharing, members of the Board will be hosting a Future Ready blog post detailing each focus area, and will be responding to members’ comments and ideas beginning November 28^th through December 2^nd.

SLA leaders look forward to hearing from you. Send an email to your chapter president or division chair, comment on the 365 blog right now, or call a board member.  We are here for you!

We’re pleased to unveil this updated strategic vision—a plan that is at once ambitious and realistic:

Vision:

SLA is a vibrant, global association of professionals who are employed in every sector of the information and knowledge economy. Our members thrive where data, information, and knowledge intersect and our strategic partners support SLA because they believe in the association’s mission and the future of its members. The goal of SLA is to support information professionals as they contribute, in their varied and evolving roles, to the opportunities and achievements of organizations, communities, and society.

Key Areas of Focus:

To supplement the strategic vision, priorities have been identified to guide the association’s leaders, volunteers, and staff toward fulfillment.  Focus areas include:

Annual Conference: SLA’s chief member-benefit is its highest priority. We will increase collaboration across SLA’s divisions to provide more focused, refined content. This collaboration will leverage our professional experience and institutional knowledge to ensure increased relevance of programming for SLA’s conference attendees. While increasing specificity of topics is key, focus will also be placed on broadening opportunities for learning (November 28^th blog post by Mary Ellen Bates, Division Cabinet Chair).

Professional Development: SLA’s value to its membership will be enhanced not only through improved in-person development offerings, but in combination with a year-round, virtual education program. We will define a new approach to providing reliable and useful professional development programming, comprising virtual opportunities throughout the year, and partnerships with schools of library and information science to co-develop content, communications, and delivery of educational programs (November 29^th blog post by Sara Tompson, Director).

Creating Richer Volunteer Experiences to Develop In-Demand Skills: A fulfilled association-vision will depend heavily upon SLA’s volunteer-force—the network that gives the association its strength and relevance. What better incentive to become active in the association than the fact that it will benefit your career down the road? New skills picked up as volunteers in our chapters and divisions may just be the stepping stones to a promotion or achievement at work.  Added focus will be placed on creating richer volunteer experiences in the areas of web development (search engine optimization, plug-in development and research), marketing (developing a marketing plan for local events and programs), program management (overseeing budgets, fund raising with local vendor communities), and more. SLA’s volunteers will be powerfully well-rounded in the years to come (November 30^th blog post by Daniel Lee, Director).

Opening New Markets Through Collaboration: A bright future for SLA depends on collaboration with key partners within the information industry. We will strive toward an increase in opportunities available to SLA’s membership through affiliation with schools of library and information science and the vendors who provide products and services that empower SLA members (December 1^st blog post by Brent Mai, President-Elect).

Growth Through Diversification:  The information profession is evolving faster than ever, thanks to the rapid rate of technological change and innovation. In this evolution lies opportunity to grow SLA’s offerings to new and nontraditional sectors of the information profession, and to enhance SLA as a professional home for these groups—e.g. competitive intelligence specialists, IT development specialists, and software and standards trainers (December 2^nd blog post by Richard Huffine, Division Cabinet Chair-Elect).

Envisioning a Bright Future:

The focus areas described above are highlights of our plan to fulfill a prosperous vision for the future. It goes without saying that each area of focus is inter-woven—each one depends on the other. As always, the value here lies in the opportunity to network, to try on something new, to step out of our comfort zones, and to achieve more than ever before. The Board of Directors encourages members to discuss ways in which they may participate and contribute to making the vision a reality. I am confident that as I pass the torch to incoming President Brent Mai and President-Elect Deb Hunt that the strength of the association’s volunteer force and staff will put us in a position that is both stable and pioneering within the information industry.

Here’s to success in 2012 and beyond!
2011 SLA President,
Cindy Romaine

Cindy Romaine is the current SLA President and is focused on encouraging members to be Future Ready 24/7 in 2011.

Military Libraries come in all shapes and sizes. We’re academic libraries, supporting Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral degrees. We’re public libraries, complete with children’s story hours and retiree’s financial resources. We’re also other types of special libraries: medical; history; science, technology & engineering; intelligence; and headquarters support. The Military Libraries Division brings together members from all U.S. military services, Canadian Combined Armed Forces, international military services, contractors, vendors, academic institutions and anyone with an interest in military librarianship. Check us out at http://military.sla.org/. – Gloria Miller is a Librarian at the Headquarters, U.S. Army Materiel Command, Redstone Arsenal (Huntsville), Alabama. She is currently the Chair-Elect of the Military Libraries Division.

DOD Academic Librarians anticipate a future that looks like this:

• The shift from print resources to electronic resources to increase dramatically. The reference collection will disappear, along with the journal stacks.
• Library space will open up for group collaboration, non-traditional classroom spaces, and labs.
• Libraries will be seen less as “place” and more as “resource” and “service.”
• Our staff will communicate electronically more than we do face to face.
• Blended and distance learning will be a driving force in this shift.
• Our users will demand mobility — 24/7 access to content and services from anywhere, anytime on any device.
• The growing number of mobile devices will also impact the way patrons access our collections. Our jobs as librarians will be to not only bridge the electronic resources to the patrons but also educate them on use and functionality.
• We must be mobile savvy. With the influx of mobile phone technology in smart phones, tablets, and e-readers, librarians will need to be able to assist customers who want to use these devices to facilitate their learning and curriculum goals.
• We will adapt to the “consumerization of IT.” Our staff and our customers will take for granted the integration of products used at home with products used at work. The lines between traditional library services and traditional IT services will become increasingly fuzzy.
• Libraries, and by extension IT departments, are going to have to start integrating new policies and procedures to guide workers’ use of these devices. This is a significant challenge for Department of Defense Libraries, given security and Information Assurance requirements. We must find a way to ensure that new technologies, delivery systems, and information “containers” are compatible with security regulations.
• We will continue to digitize – to make available our unique resources beyond the confines of DOD libraries – historical documents from World War II, the Vietnam War, Desert I and Desert II, for example.
• Our academic libraries will continue to be more closely aligned with the teaching process. We will be more involved in course design and development.

Many thanks to: Ed Burgess, Army Command and General Staff College; Dave Coleman, Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies; Jason Girard, Joint Forces Staff College; Dr. Jeff Luzius, Air University; and Eleanor Uhlinger, Naval Postgraduate School for their help with this post!

Dr. Gail Nicula (Virginia Chapter, Military Libraries Division) is the library director at the Ike Skelton Library, Joint Forces Staff College, Norfolk, VA. She is also an adjunct faculty member in the College of Business and Public Administration, Old Dominion University.

Ed Burgess (Heart of America Chapter, Government Information and Military Libraries Division) is the director of the Combined Arms Research Library in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He is practicing to become a windy curmudgeon in his old age.

Dave Coleman is the webpage manager and reference librarian for the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies, Honolulu, Hawaii.

Jason Girard is on staff at the Ike Skelton Library, Joint Forces Staff College, Norfolk, VA.

Dr. Jeff Luzius is the director of the Fairchild Research Information Center at Air University. Dr. Luzius also is an adjunct professor at the University of Alabama in the School of Library & Information Science.

Eleanor Uhlinger is the Library Director at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA.

Military Libraries come in all shapes and sizes. We’re academic libraries, supporting Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral degrees. We’re public libraries, complete with children’s story hours and retiree’s financial resources. We’re also other types of special libraries: medical; history; science, technology & engineering; intelligence; and headquarters support. The Military Libraries Division brings together members from all U.S. military services, Canadian Combined Armed Forces, international military services, contractors, vendors, academic institutions and anyone with an interest in military librarianship. Check us out at http://military.sla.org/. – Gloria Miller is a Librarian at the Headquarters, U.S. Army Materiel Command, Redstone Arsenal (Huntsville), Alabama. She is currently the Chair-Elect of the Military Libraries Division.

It’s November 2010. I have just become the solo librarian at a professional/continuing education center for the military. It’s my first job as a professional librarian and also my first job working for the military. I have one part-time staff member, a whole host of daily duties, and (thankfully) a lot of creative freedom. I see a million different projects we might tackle in order to move the library into the future, and, as a zealous young librarian, I want to tackle them all.

I decide instead to take a more sensible route stemming from my background in marketing—figure out who our customers are, identify their information needs, and draft our priority list accordingly. According to experts, analyzing customer needs helps reduce your urge to “do it all” by focusing your efforts and limited resources on high priority areas.¹ This is especially pertinent in a military environment, where shrinking budgets and high turnover in executive leadership dictate the need for data-driven decision making.

Flash-forward to today: Our information needs assessment has been wildly successful. We have learned a great deal about our customers, including their usage habits, information-seeking preferences, on- and offline research behaviors, and perceptions about the library and librarians’ roles. Our small but mighty team acted on this data to develop a clear vision of how our library can support as well as delight our customers—through innovative, creative solutions to their most pressing needs. In addition, we used the data to help us map out and prioritize the routes we will take to meet this vision.

For example, the needs assessment unearthed an unmet need among faculty for access to relevant, credible news articles. Putting our heads together with the programming and graphic design departments, we re-vamped our library’s e-newsletter into a desktop research tool, bringing topical news briefings to our instructors’ fingertips in a more useful format. This creative shift of existing resources produced a more relevant product, increased customer-satisfaction levels, and demonstrated how responsive the library is to customer needs.

Over the course of one year, our library’s scope has narrowed; we are no longer interested in doing it all but in doing all we do extremely well. Since our customers’ needs have provided us with clear guidance, our focus moving forward will remain on them.

Lee Ann R. Benkert is the resource center manager at the U.S. National Security Space Institute and is a member of the Rocky Mountain chapter of SLA. She views librarians as an army of information ninjas, stealthily advancing the world’s perceptions of info pros, one silent footstep at a time. You can follow her on Twitter @lbenkert.