Marcy Phelps, Advertising and Marketing Division (Chair), Rocky Mountain Chapter 

This blog’s included some great discussions about networking and how it’s essential to being future-ready. Mention the word ‘networking,’ though, and it often conjures up images of talking with strangers, wearing a nametag, and making small talk. You leave exhausted, with a stack of business cards to show for your efforts. For weeks, the cards sit on your desk, nagging you to follow up with everyone you met – until you toss them in the trash.  

It’s enough to make you retreat, not charge ahead into the future! If we really must network our way into the future, then why not replace those awful images with something better?  

This time, picture yourself meeting with like-minded people who work in your company or industry, share hobbies, or have similar views and beliefs. Over lunch or coffee, you make new acquaintances and catch up with long-term connections. The next day, you follow up with one contact that needs a good speaker for an upcoming workshop and send a useful article to another.  

Every few months, you stay in touch with these connections – over coffee, via email, or at other events. They introduce you to new connections, and you do the same for them. Someday, someone in this group will need a favor. It could be big or small, work-related or personal. Because you have a history of mutual respect and sharing, you do what you can to help or connect them with those who can.  

These two scenarios spotlight the differences between ‘networking’ and ‘building a network.’ Building a network is much more gratifying and worthwhile. Rather than talking about ourselves and seeing who can collect the most business cards, the focus is on listening, creating and fostering relationships, and sharing.  

But building a network doesn’t happen overnight or after one event. It’s an ongoing process, and a good network takes years to develop. While email and social media facilitate connections, it takes face-to-face time to develop true, lasting relationships. There are no shortcuts, and the time to make your connections is long before you need a new job, new employee, or someone to restore your hard drive after a late-night crash.  

Still would rather hide in your office or at home watching a marathon of NCIS reruns? Here are a few quick tips for getting motivated:  

• Learn from the experts. Building a networking takes work, and it helps to know what you’re doing. For example, I always learn lots of great tips from Harvey Mackay’s podcasts, and just listening to his enthusiasm makes me actually want to get out and meet new people.

  

• Start small. Rather than a 300-person networking extravaganza, attend company lunch-and-learns, volunteer for committee work, or opt for events where you know some of the attendees. You can slowly build your networking muscles.

     

• Set goals. Before you head out the door, decide what you want to accomplish, and give yourself permission to go home once you’ve reached your goals. I usually attend events with two goals in mind: 1) make plans to follow up and have coffee with one good contact and 2) help one contact with a referral.  

Replace the old images with some new ones, and start building your network now – for the future.  

Marcy Phelps is the owner a Phelps Research, a company she started in 2000 and has built by networking, networking, and more networking. She blogs at Power Networking for Introverts and MarcyPhelps.com.

By Lyndsay Rees-Jones, Europe Chapter, Knowledge Management and Leadership & Management Divisions

Since 2008 I have talked to a significant number of future librarians. I ran the Membership Support unit for CILIP with my colleague Kathy Ennis until restructuring closed the unit in October 2010. We visited LIS students at UK Universities and ran 2-3 hour professionalism sessions. Our aim was to help them short-cut our collective 50yr+ career journeys, passing on advice and experience that had proved its worth. Key points to take away were:

• Don’t undervalue what you know.
• Banish the words just and easy from your professional vocabulary.
• Reflect. Reflect. Reflect. Remember when you have learned something new, and acknowledge the difference it has made to you.
• Use our professional language with pride. Don’t dumb down.
• Consider the sort of professional that you want to be, and remember that our skills have value in every sector and every country.

So in the spirit of being Future Ready, here is a bit of personal reflection based on my career so far….

Cash’s (UK) Ltd – weaving company – particularly famous for their name tapes (think school uniforms). Unable to find a library post straight after graduating I became a management trainee. Brilliant fun, being responsible for weaving clothing labels and patches. I learned that the workplace can be a bitchy environment, as well as a political one. that I was good at representing the business at trade fares. That I was able to manage a big workload.

GEC Electrical Projects (which became subsumed into the Alstom giant as Cegelec Projects and what remains is now called Converteam ). My first professional post was as the solo Librarian and Information Office for four companies on a site with roughly 6000 employees. I learned that there was such a thing as a solo professional, and that it was a tremendously challenging yet exhilarating role. That I loved being totally in control: if I got it right it was all down to me; whereas if I got it wrong that was usually only because I felt less than professionally perfect, whereas the client was perfectly happy. That I was a good organiser, efficient and effective researcher, and that my information skills earned me respect from the engineers, accountants, surveyors, developers etc that were my clients. Gaining my Chartership added to my status.

Trioka Contracts Ltd – developed, set up and ran (part-time) a service for a contract interior design company. What fun I had playing with carpet samples, lighting catalogues and tiles. I learned that I needn’t be too precious about cataloguing and classifications. Up until this point I had been something of a perfectionist, adept at using UDC/Dewey, and suddenly it was obvious that this was overkill and I could create my own scheme! That my skills were valued and produced real business benefit.

National Grid Co Plc – I took over running the library and information service for the electrical transmitting utility, immediately following its relocation to Coventry from London. I inherited one member of staff (non-professional) giving us the grand total of 2 people to meet information needs previously managed by 5 full timers. What fun! I learned that thinking differently is a vital skill and having no baggage is a real bonus. That there is such a thing as internal consultancy. That you can be upwardly bullied, and there are people who can help and advise. That it was crucial that I was “out and about,” as a visual manifestation of the LIS service. That KM was growing in importance.

Library Association – which became CILIP in 2002 (after unifying with the Institute of Information Scientists). During my 13+ years at the UK professional body, I was variously a Professional Advisor, Special Libraries and Information Services; Workplace and Solo Advisor; Workforce Development Advisor; and Senior Advisor. Membership Support Unit. I learned that membership organisations are complex entities. That activists are important people who need adequate support. That there is real hope for the profession in the hands of the next generation. That I was a good advisor, who was at my best when sharing my own experiences.

Overall lessons learned so far…Some of the lessons were uncomfortable or painful to learn – it’s not nice being bullied by a subordinate for instance! Other lessons were real eureka moments that provided me with insight into things such as office politics and organisational insecurity. These in turn helped me adapt my delivery and communication styles, so that I could be more effective and face less antagonism or blocks. If I had indeed learnt these during my initial library studies, would I have been as effective? Or was experiencing the lessons first hand, crucial to my personal and professional development?

I suspect that the real answer is a half-way house. I hadn’t know there was such a thing as a solo professional when I graduated, and yet spent my practitioner career being one. Thankfully I accidentally found this route, as it enabled me to discover my professional persona. It also ensured that I developed skills right across the board (from shelf-dusting and inter-library loans, to strategic planning and budget management), so made me much more effective as a professional advisor. I had actually “been there and done that” more often than not. My next steps are to develop my business (Real Time Release ©) as a creative transitioner – supporting people as they move towards a more rewarding life. By reflecting on my experience to date, I think I’ve got lots to offer.

Happy futures.

Lyndsay Rees-Jones is the Owner of Real-Time-Release. She is has been an active member of SLA Europe for many years, and is currently serving as the Awards Chair.

by Neil Infield, Europe Chapter, Business & Finance Division

I recently gave a talk to a room full of new information professionals on the topic of Continuing Professional Development (CPD).

I had been asked to fill in at the last minute, so didn’t have time to prepare. As anyone will appreciate, who shares my phobia of public speaking, this was actually a good thing.

However, what really surprised me, once I stood up and started speaking, was how passionate I became about the importance of CPD. And this wasn’t from some theoretical perspective about how we must continue to be aware of changes in our work environment and be on top of them. It was how my CPD activities resulted in bagging a great new job within six weeks of being made redundant from one I been in for sixteen years.

I was certain that no one would want to employ a librarian who had been stuck in the same job and become institutionalised. However, what I discovered was, the ability to deliver solutions and solve problems for my potential employers, gave me leverage in the job market.

These enhanced competencies came from a mixture of professional reading, signing up for workshops, regular networking with colleagues, and attending SLA events, particularly the SLA annual conference.

My favourite example, which led directly to a promotion at work, was discovering the concept of an intranet at one of my very first SLA conferences. I rushed home, and within six months had developed a rudimentary intranet for my company. And even though I was unable to explain to my boss why this would be beneficial for the organisation, six months later it became obvious to everyone how useful it was. And six months later, I was praised by our Chief Executive for introducing this wonderful innovation, swiftly followed by a promotion.

So, if you want to ensure you bag that next job, get a promotion, or just get to keep your existing one, CPD is not an optional activity, it is an essential one.

If you haven’t already had a go, I suggest an easy starting point is SLA’s 23 Things programme.

Since January 2006 I have worked at the British Library, where I am Manager of the Business & IP Centre. However, the postings here are my own and don’t necessarily represent the British Library’s position, strategy or opinions.

neil dot infield at bl.uk

This week, SLA Europe take over the Future Ready blog. SLAE has around 250 members in half a dozen different countries. We are a thriving network of information professionals: individuals and organisations within the UK and across Europe come together to benefit from each others’ knowledge and experience. All areas of the information profession are represented by our members -  specialist librarians, researchers, knowledge managers, business insight consultants, information scientists, editors, content specialists, graduates and academics and we’ve got representation in many different divisions.

Geraldine Clement-Stoneham, Europe Chapter, Academic, Biomedical & Life Sciences, Information Technology, Knowledge Management, Leadership & Management, and Taxonomy Divisions

Noone can really predict the future of our profession accurately, but we know too well that it is changing and changing fast. Good business planning in uncertain time involves the development of scenarios with associated plans of action, and an assessment of their likelihood. The assumption is that the best way to cope with uncertain outcomes is to have an array of possible responses available at all times, in the hope that one of them will provide a way to adapt to the new circumstances.

I believe that the same can be applied to career planning, and that the best way to prepare for the future is to seek new experiences in order to develop the ability to apply our core information management skills in different situations.  When we apply for a job, we tend to do so because our skills match the job description. Once we are in the job, at the beginning the new environment brings enough learning opportunities, but over time this gets harder as one settles in daily routines.

I have discovered throughout my career that unexpected activities I volunteered for enabled me to develop skills and experience which put me in a better place when time came to move on to the next job. I am lucky because I am a naturally inquisitive person, so I tend to look for new adventures all the time, having even been described as a “compulsive volunteer”! Whilst some might readily argue that an unusual activity is “outside the scope of their role,” and turn it down, I tend to accept if I think I can contribute valuably, and also get something out of it which I would find enjoyable (such as acquiring new skills).

My willingness to invest my time and skills in projects outside of my comfort zone has not only given me the opportunity to work alongside great people who shared their expertise, but also enabled me to influence outcomes and demonstrate the value of my professional knowledge. When I didn’t get the opportunity to grow my skills in my work place, I volunteered in my local SLA chapter. There I have been fortunate to work alongside people willing to share their experience and trust me to take initiatives forward. Today I know that I often rely on knowledge and skills that I have developed working on projects not mentioned in my job description. Many have demonstrated that to be “future ready” one must be flexible, and I would encourage everyone to seize new opportunities and develop new responses to a world that is constantly changing.

Geraldine Clement-Stoneham is an Information and Knowledge Manager at the Medical Research Council UK, where is she is responsible for knowledge and information management policies and systems, including records management, as well as the day to day management of a team of six. Her previous experience includes working as a researcher in a investment bank and managing an information unit for a large international law firm, providing support to lawyers and business development teams. She obtained an MA in Musicology and English from the University of Geneva in Switzerland, and an MA in Library and Information Management from University College London. She was the SLA Europe Chapter President in 2009 and currently serve as as the Membership Chair and an Alignment Ambassador. She is a member of the SLA Information Ethics Advisory Council.

Technical communicators face many of the same challenges that confront information professionals when it comes to staying Future Ready in a profession that changes constantly. We reached out to a group of prominent movers and shakers in the profession and asked how they manage their careers, and these are their stories.

by Kurt Stewart, Kuala Kangsar, Malaysia

In December 2010, I knew beyond any lingering doubts that I was ready for a change. My wife and I had just sold our business of 20 plus years, an English nursery school and language institute we had set up in the Atlantic seaboard town of Porto, Portugal. And now the future was staring me right in the eyes. At the tender age of 55, I was in that scary but exciting place where I could dare to ask: now what?

I grew up in Oakland, California, and went to high school outside Portland, Oregon. I’d spent most of my adult life working as a trainer and teacher, first in Paris (my glory years), then later, in Porto with my Portuguese wife (the “mature years”). Along the way, I’d put together a skill set that gave me a few options in the education field.

In other words, all along the way, I’d kept myself Future Ready. Looking back, it seems like I had a plan all along. At the time, some of those moves smacked of fear and desperation. I worked as a consultant in Paris helping companies create language training packages for their employees. I earned further qualifications in “Teaching English as a Foreign Language” (TEFL) by obtaining the Royal Society of Arts diploma, and later, I got a job teaching writing at a private university in Porto.

I also kept up some freelance writing for newspapers in the U.S. and a magazine in Paris. In 2005, I thought I’d add another odd-colored feather in my cap by becoming a certified professional coach. All of these skills had made me Future Ready, but back to a central question: now what? Was I really ready for the future?

At 55, I knew windows were closing fast in areas where some of my skills might still be required. I considered my experience in TEFL and began searching for teaching positions abroad. But not just anywhere–I wanted to realize a lifelong goal of mine–to live in Southeast Asia.

I patiently searched the web for positions in Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and southern China, until one day, up popped The Perfect Job. WANTED: mentor/teacher/trainer in rural Malaysia; three-year project, sponsored by the Malaysian Ministry of Education, working with grammar school teachers of English to help them develop new teaching methods. Bingo!

So now, here we sit, while the blades of an overhead fan stir the hot, humid air of my little Malaysian terraced house located in a small town on the Sungai Perak. Every day, I drive through thick strips of verdant jungle, past coconut groves and rambutan trees, on my way to the five schools I oversee here. Everything is different, and everything is new.

You need to start by embracing change, but keep going. Go out and grab it. Plan for it, work for it, and stalk it like prey. Just think about what it is you really want from the rest of your time on this planet. Think long and hard if need be, because the sooner you can see it in your dreams, the sooner you can make it happen.

Kurt Stewart grew up in northern California and took his degree in Classical Languages at San Francisco State University. When he realized that there were few people he could speak dead languages with, he moved to Paris where he studied French. While there, he worked as a freelance writer for USA Today and wrote for Paris Passion Magazine. To help pad his income, he started teaching English in companies in France. He liked teaching so much that he obtained a diploma in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) and eventually started his own language training institute in Porto, Portugal. He became interested in coaching and mentoring, and in 2005 became a certified professional coach and member of the International Coach Federation. He started his own coaching business, and became a trainer for the International Coach Academy. He currently lives and works in Malaysia where he has the good fortune to apply his passion for teaching and coaching, training and mentoring English primary teachers in rural parts of the country.

Technical communicators face many of the same challenges that confront information professionals when it comes to staying Future Ready in a profession that changes constantly. We reached out to a group of prominent movers and shakers in the profession and asked how they manage their careers, and these are their stories.

by Rachel Houghton

Rachel Houghton is a senior information designer for Sage Business Solutions, a leading software supplier for the construction and real estate industry. She has parlayed her active volunteer activities with her professional organization to keep her career future ready.

My writing career has been a long, constant struggle to make myself future ready. I earned a bachelor’s degree in English with a writing career in mind, and I even dabbled in journalism by writing on the school paper. But I sensed early on that the jobs I was qualified for weren’t going to lead to a satisfying career, and I felt myself drawn to technology. Now, looking back on the last 15 years, I can see how one constant theme has dominated my quest to keep my career relevant — participation in a professional organization.

My first job entailed what we call a “lone writer.” Essentially, I was the entire writing department for a company that created computer chips. I wore a lot of hats there – editor, template designer, trainer, writer, and graphic artist – and I enjoyed those roles immensely. But other tasks – receptionist, scribe, and note-taker – weren’t really up to my professional standards. I tried to move laterally, but my resume wasn’t getting me any interviews. So I began to boost my participation with the local chapter of a professional organization devoted to technical writing. I moved rapidly up the ranks, and soon I won election as the president of the local chapter.

The role of president brought me new skills, including public speaking, managing budgets, directing others, and working with like-minded volunteers. I caught the attention of a few movers and shakers at the annual conference, and they recruited me to help with conference programs, websites, and more. I completed the assigned tasks on time, and suddenly one of my new friends convinced me to run for a position on the board. Along the way, I gained the confidence to start submitting proposals for sessions, and I have now participated as a presenter. I’ve gone from a wall-flower to behind the velvet rope, because I pushed myself to keep up and get ahead of the crowd on topics such as social networking. That professional participation has helped me at work lately, as I was named to a pair of committees the company formed to enhance its own online presence.

Getting involved as an energized volunteer has paid dividends for my career over and over. I like to think I’ve survived layoffs, landed that key interview, been named to coveted committees, and got selected for enviable assignments because I’ve worked so hard to make myself future ready. The specific required skills have come and gone over the years, but one thing never changes — your energy and passion for keeping up with your profession are valuable things. Anything you can do to prove you aren’t afraid of change on a personal or professional level is good, because it shows you think about being Future Ready all the time. Employers like that.

Rachel Houghton is a Senior Information Designer at Sage, a company that specializes in leading-edge construction productivity and real estate solutions. She has more than 14 years of technical communication experience. Rachel is the Secretary for the Society for Technical Communication (STC), past program chair of the STC Technical Communication Summit, and is actively involved in the STC Willamette Valley community and reviews books for the STC journal, Technical Communication. She enjoys photography and Photoshop. Find her on Twitter @rjhoughton.

by Sharon Rivers, Oregon Chapter, Biomedical & Life Sciences Division

Portland is swimming with librarians. If you want to make a joke at a conference of librarians in the Pacific Northwest, just say that you have moved here to find a library job. Thatʼs what I did: I moved here fresh from Pittsburgh last February, was armed with my MLS from the University of Pittsburgh, showed up at the annual Online Northwest Conference and let people know that I was there to network and find a job. The laughs began. And theyʼve continued persistently since. Portland is a hip city and, letʼs face it, being a librarian is pretty darn hip. That is my educated hypothesis on why there is a high ratio of librarians to library jobs here.

This has led me to think outside of the box and turn my Masters degree into a hybrid skill — a skill that I can use to accentuate my basic knowledge of other fields. Here are some of the ways that I have found that I have value as a Library Science grad:

Be a sifter of information: We have all come to realize that the internet is a garbage dump of information. There are some jewels in there, but itʼs important to find a person who can find them. In interviews, I am sure to bring up the fact that in any situation of large amounts of information or data, I can be relied upon to find what is relevant.

Use my customer service skills: Working in a public library for six years has taught me how to be of service to a large array of people. Iʼve learned how to explain difficult procedures to a beginning learner; that many times a person needs to be led with a lot of questions to figure out exactly what they need; and that remembering a personʼs name goes a long way in making a good impression.

Use my passion for continuous education and life-long learning: A prospective employer wants to hear that you are willing to grow in your position. I believe a characteristic of all librarians is a thirst for knowledge. We are curious, ambitious, and intelligent. This all leads to us having the drive to continually be learning more. We have the drive to grow–employers need to hear that.

In my job search, one of the best pieces of advice that Iʼve been given is that I need to think outside of the box. Iʼm certain that I can apply my past experience and skills in ways that I havenʼt thought of yet. If I do this, I am going to be pleasantly surprised.

Sharon Rivers received her Masters Degree in Library Science from the University of Pittsburgh in 2005.  She is a recent transplant to Portland, Oregon and is currently seeking ways to become part of the network of librarians in Portland.

by John Tomlinson, New York Chapter, Knowledge Management Division

To me, being future ready means supplementing my studies toward an MSLIS with reading outside our field. Casting a wide net in what I read provides a different perspective than LIS-related sources, and sometimes provokes different insights and ideas. It’s made me more creative in thinking about library/information-center related issues.

Two specifically information-related fields I try to keep up-to-date on are design and journalism. Journalism is particularly relevant because it’s facing challenges/opportunities similar to those in our field -massive technological changes affecting the collection/delivery of information and the expectations of our clients. The Poynter Institute’s Romenesko blog, Jay Rosen’s PressThink blog, and the NPR show On the Media are among many excellent sources.

I also try to read a bit about management and business. Here, the McKinsey Quarterly, various Harvard Business Review products, and the Stanford Social Innovation Review are examples of great resources.

Depending on your background and interests, fields such as cognitive psychology, computer programming, information security, architecture, law, marketing, or others might be most useful in being future ready. In any case, open eyes/ears are just as important as an open mind in our rapidly changing profession.

John Tomlinson is Senior Communications Manager at Synergos, a nonprofit organization fighting poverty and inequity around the world, and an MLIS candidate at the Pratt Institute, where he manages the website for SLA’s student chapter.

Michael Bellacosa, Fairfield County Chapter [immediate past-president], Museums, Arts and Humanities Division

Since my LIS career is just beginning after a radical professional transition, I am completely focused on moving into the future with all the change which that entails. Fortunately, my 18-year prior career as a trader, risk manager and business manager on Wall Street taught me many things about working in rapidly evolving and innovating environments: most importantly, either you plunge in to lead or you surf the wave or you get left behind [with a life preserver if you’re lucky].

As a newly-minted librarian, I have few preconceived notions about the profession: indeed, while I still like the term “librarian”, I have a very expansive view of the meaning of that word as well as the word “library”. Because my best strategy for breaking into this new field is to leverage my substantial [yet strictly speaking unrelated] resume, I am imagining the analogies between what I did before my MLS degree [completed last December] and what I can do now.

One trail I’ve been following is the relationship between managing the risk to portfolios of financial assets [i.e. hedging] and managing the risk to collections of digital assets [i.e. digital preservation]. I think the analogies can be generalized to physical and hybrid physical/digital collections. Further, many of the same risk management principles can also be applied to the digitization process itself. From this launching point, I’m working to invent a model for LIS professionals to use in making cost-benefit/risk-management business case arguments to non-LIS administrators in charge of the resources for funding such programs.

If I succeed at translating my skills and experience from the finance-world to the info-world and apply these to current and upcoming challenges in the LIS field, then I will have become “future ready”.

Michael Bellacosa completed his MLS in December 2010. Before commencing that program, he was a currency trader and a risk manager on Wall Street for nearly 20 years. His primary interests are in digital preservation, challenges from technological obsolescence, and the effective use of current information and communication technologies for preserving and providing access to special collections.  Michael presented the basic outline of his model at the “Contributed Papers” session on June 14 at 10am. Check SLA’s Web site for his handout.