by Cindy Romaine, SLA President 2011

Just 365 days ago, the first post went up on FutureReady365. From its inception, the FutureReady365 blog had one big, wild, hairy, audacious goal. We sought answers to a single, provocative question: How are YOU Future Ready? A dedicated team of volunteers committed to publishing a new post every day of 2011 and—WE DID IT!

Over the course of 2011, information professionals from around the world posted solutions, strategies, tactics, and tips. They showcased how they are preparing for a future that is indeed bright. It was a great conversation on an important topic, and your contribution made us smarter and better informed.

So before I look back, I’d like to thank my team of stalwart volunteers. And I have to express my admiration for everyone who posted for us. And I have to thank the readers who participated, posted comments, and kept coming back for more. Thank you all!

For me, personally, it was a great experience to serve as a catalyst to this conversation. As I bow out as SLA President and we prepare to re-invent FutureReady365, I want to share a few lessons I learned from the posts and from the experience of running a daily blog.

Great members, great posts

1. What’s Hot. We’re faced with a lot of seemingly orthogonal issues, related only tangentially, but they do connect to the issues of the day. The blog followers are amazingly adept at connecting the dots and reacting quickly. There were three issues that we kept hearing about, in one form or another:

• How information pros are adding value.
• The importance of collaborating constantly.
• The necessity of embracing technology.

2. Already There. Many SLA members and information professional are already engaged in some very interesting, completely future-ready activities. Whether you are working with data fusion, e-readers, or mobile apps, you get it and you’re there.

3. Business Savvy Required. The most savvy members have survived and thrived in an amazing technological revolution. But the best geeks don’t make the best information professionals. There are some core attributes on the business side that can make or break your career. Technology AND business acumen are required in order to be Future Ready.

4. It’s Quotable. There was some great writing on the site, and it is impossible to narrow it down, but here a few examples of one-liners that I liked:

• “Pick yourself.” ~ Dale Stanley, April 6
• “Stick your nose into other people’s conversations.” ~ Gloria Miller, March 3
• “They call it ‘data fusion.’ I call it sexxxay!” ~ Juliane Schneider, April 15
• “… define your library as a place for innovation and experimentation….” ~ Helen Josephine, March 10

Embracing the Daily Grind
I had never managed a publishing effort on this scale, and none of the FutureReady team had either. But at the end of the day, it all came down to something many SLA members are exceedingly good at: project management. We created a schedule, assigned roles, and became a well-oiled machine. Here are some random musings about how we did it.

5. SLA is made up of tribes. The divisions and chapters have their own interests and personalities, and they’re never shy about expressing their feelings. And that’s good! It took us about half the year to figure that out, and to tap into it efficiently. When we did, it was like rocket fuel.

6. Go Team! It’s hard to overstate the enormous contribution and dedication it took to implement this project. Here’s a shout out to the team: Meryl B. Cole, Michelle Mayes, Arik Johnson, Christian Gray, Jill Strand, Chris Vestal, Tiffany Renshaw, Jamal Cromity, Lorene Kennard, Dennie Heye, Sharon Rivers, Cindy Shamel, Kendra Levine, and many others.

7. The power of social media is in the connections. Sure, I know what you are thinking: “Thank you, Captain Obvious.” But seriously, human beings are social creatures. Something deep in our DNA makes us love to share and learn from each other. Camaraderie was essential to the FutureReady365 success, and just like with the holiday spirit, it’s as much fun to give as it is to receive.

8. Social media is free, but it is not cheap. It takes many man-hours to staff a robust social media program. It takes planning, hard work, and energized people who make and keep their commitments. There was nothing accidental about our success. We improvised, overcame, and adapted, all with amazing agility, and we walked the talk about what it takes to be Future Ready while doing it.

It was good for me
The FutureReady365 blog benefited me on a personal level, too. I always had something to talk about with fellow professionals. “Always be recruiting” became my mantra, and I learned to be boringly consistent so that others would know what to expect from me. Here’s what it meant to my personal journey:

9. I can rise to the occasion. I learned that I can reach deep inside of myself and pull out something that I did not know was there. I can be outside of my comfort zone pretty much all the time and still breathe. It was taxing, and sacrifices were made, but, at the end of a terrific year, I can say—it was worth it.

10. Go big or go home. I also learned that when people put their trust in you and give you their vote, you can’t be shy. You can’t plan a modest agenda. If you try hard and fail, at least you tried. If you try hard and succeed, you can feel really, really good about it.

11. SLA Rocks. Finally, recently, I led a delegation to Cuba for a professional exchange. Frankly, it is not a wealthy country; internet connections are slow or non-existent, and the computers are seriously outdated. Can you say 3.5-inch floppy? Yet somehow, the librarians manage to put together useful collections and provide good services, so their spirit gets an A+. All this made me realize—yet again—that this is a pretty darn good profession to be in.

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about what will become of FutureReady365 in the future. Turn it in to an HBO Special? Or should I go with a Discovery Channel reality show? How about a New York Times best-seller? We’ll have to wait and see. Then again, in his December 30 blog post, Brent Mai, SLA’s 2012 President, challenged me to take this blog to the next level. Who knows? Maybe you’ll be hearing from me AGAIN!

Thanks a million – truly.

Cindy Romaine is SLA President 2011. She is the owner of Romainiacs Intelligent Research and long-time active member of SLA and the Oregon Chapter.

Hello from Wisconsin! We are delighted to contribute a week’s worth of postings from the Midwest! You’ll see that Wisconsin isn’t just about the cheese—our chapter boasts 120 members from diverse environments: corporate, law, academic, and other settings, many of us from unique national companies and associations. Our state’s two library schools have renewed focus on special librarianship and growing interest from our student members is evident. We are an active, enthusiastic chapter and happy to contribute our thoughts on future readiness! It’s great in the Dairy State!

To be Future Ready, I think all comes down to making connections with your users/clients. Ask them questions, listen to them, find out what their interests are and then connect them to the information and resources they need in a timely and cost-effective manner. Be a trusted partner and keep things as simple as possible!

Diane Gurtner received her MLIS from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She is currently an Information Scientist in Research, Development & Quality at Kraft Foods/Oscar Mayer. She was previously employed in the Corporate Information Center of an insurance and financial services company. Diane has served the SLA Wisconsin Chapter in several board roles including Secretary, Program Chair and President.

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.

by Jim DelRosso, New York – Upstate Chapter, Academic Division

A digital repository is just an empty box; Amy Buckland said it, and it’s the truth. You can dress it up, debate issues of metadata and organization, but when it comes down to it your digital repository is just a container for digital objects. It’s just an empty box.

So is this:

Copyright © Bill Watterson and Universal Press Syndicate.

What matters is what you do with it, what sparks the imagination of you and your peers and your patrons and what drives action. If the repository stays an empty box, communicated about only in terms obscure to your patrons and pitched to them as one more obligation in a life filled with obligations, they’ll treat it like just so much cardboard.

But when you show it to them as a means to preserve their legacy, share their work with audiences who will value it, and create the kinds of collections they wished existed, then you will inspire them. Together, you will do things that once you could not have imagined.

As we strive to be future ready, we must remember that unless we connect a new application or technology to our patrons’ lives, it will remain at best a shiny bauble, briefly smiled at and then discarded. We’ll jump from trademarked buzzword to trademarked buzzword, effecting no change beyond the apps list of our smartphone.

But if we know our patrons, and make sure they know us, and partner with them to use every resource at our disposal to make their library experiences better, we won’t just be ready for the future: we will create it.

Jim DelRosso is the Digital Projects Coordinator at the Catherwood Library at Cornell University. He has been a member of SLA for several years, and is the Communications & Social Media Chair for the SLA Academic Division. He blogs at The Nascent Librarian.

by Robert Hulshof-Schmidt, Oregon Chapter, Government Information Division

The old adage says “it’s not what you know but who you know.”  For 21stCentury professionals, I would amend that to acknowledge that what you know and who you know are inextricably linked. This is especially true for information professionals.

In an age of rapidly increasing sources of information and reduced resources for most libraries, noone can afford to go it alone. Fortunately, librarians are, by and large, a collaborative bunch. We use interlibrary loan to supplement our local collections; we rely on cooperative licensing to drive down the costs of information tools. A future ready information professional needs to remember to apply these same principles more broadly to succeed.

This is especially true for solo librarians or people who work in small libraries where they are the only person performing a specific task. Even the best, most well-trained person can benefit from other insights. So where do you turn?

This is where your professional associations are a great resource. The members of SLA and your state association are your peer support network.

Take advantage of discussion lists, blogs, and forums to post your tricky questions. Someone else has almost certainly faced the same issue; even if they can’t give you *the* answer, they can give you great advice on where to turn. (Or, perhaps even more helpful, where *not* to turn!)

In the crush of staying on top of every day’s deadlines, it is easy to hunker down and just try to get things done. It’s also easy to say “I know my mission and business, I can handle this.” When facing a new challenge, an unexpected assignment, or a tough question, stop for a minute. Take a deep breath. Think about who else might be able to help you.

I recently took on the task of redesigning my team’s performance measures. I know a fair amount about statistics, but I wanted to get a sense of what other people measured and why. Numbers should tell a story, and I wanted to be sure that my story was compelling. I reached out to my Oregon Library Association colleagues and to other state managers from a training cohort. I received dozens of great examples, not just of what data to present, but how to frame it for my audience (in this case, the Oregon Legislature). I also got some great ideas for getting an MBA intern to help with the project, including a sample workplan. By asking one question twice, I had a much clearer path and built a much stronger set of measures than I could have done alone.

Oregon’s library workers have access to a good, old-fashioned email distribution list called Libs-Or. The topics that flow through that list every week are fascinating and the answers that people take the time to provide are insightful, often ingenious, and frequently entertaining. A recent question had to do with libraries maintaining traditional reference desks (and what to call them), a topic that has also been featured on this blog. A constant refrain is “thanks for asking, this helps me, too!”

Networking for your own benefit will almost always benefit your colleagues.

It’s great if you can attend a conference or training, spend some networking time, and learn all kinds of things to take home with you. But there’s nothing like just-in-time collaboration to feel the love of your profession.

The future is all about connections, and being future ready means being ready – and willing – to collaborate.

Robert Hulshof-Schmidt is the Program Manager for Government Research Services at the Oregon State Library, a position he has held since 2005.
Robert is currently the President of the Oregon Library Association and Past President of the Public Management Association of Oregon. A long-time SLA member, he has held leadership roles in the Georgia Chapter and the Gay and Lesbian Issues Caucus. He received his undergraduate degree in English from Willamette University and his Master of Library Science degree from the University of Washington. Robert has worked for a variety of government and research libraries and non-profit organizations ranging from solo library shops to managing member relations for SOLINET (now Lyrasis), all experiences that proved the value of collaboration.

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.

Copyright © 2001 by John V. Hedtke

One of the great advantages of the STC—indeed, of any professional organization—is that you can network with other people. Fame—being well-known and nothing more—can make networking easier and extend your own networking reach. Fortunately, it’s not hard to become famous and it’s a lot of fun. Here’s how:

1. Go to things!

Don’t sit home alone watching TV. Go to conferences. Go to meetings. Go to lunches and picnics. Participate in group activities. You don’t need to volunteer for hard jobs—indeed, that’s the harder way to be famous; besides, you’ll be asked plenty about volunteering as time goes by and your fame increases—but do pitch in for things.

2. Meet people.

Fame is largely a function of who knows you. Get out and meet as many people in your profession as you can. As your network grows, you’ll discover that people know you that you don’t know and you don’t even know the people that they say they heard about you from. You don’t need to be the life of the party, but be interesting.

3. Listen.

Good listeners are hard to find and will make themselves welcome almost anywhere. Men in particular have a cultural tendency to interrupt. If you make a point of listening to whatever the other person in a conversation is saying until they’re all done and then replying, you will differentiate yourself from 99% of the rest of the world. (Hot tip for men: being a good listener will do you worlds of good in your relationships, too.)

4. Remember peoples’ names.

Everyone likes to think they’re special and they’ve made an impression on someone else. Try to remember as many names as you can. When you do the business card swap with people, be sure to make notes on business cards about who the person is, when you met, or what you talked about as a trigger to memory, too.

5. Speak at events.

Fame is largely a function of who knows you. Being a speaker at events is one excellent way of getting people to know who you are and what you think about things. Don’t forget to answer questions and talk to as many people afterwards as you can.

6. Publish articles.

Articles get your name out to a wider range of people than doing public speaking. It’s also a different audience, too: the folks that hear you speak are the ones who, like you, like going to conferences. The people who read articles are going to be the ones who stay at home (and the ones who go to the conferences and enjoy learning everything they can about the profession).

7. Have some opinions.

Having opinions is part of being human. You don’t have to tailor your opinions to what is popular, but you should be willing to discuss your point of view with other people.

8. Be ready to disagree with people appropriately.

Having opinions is part of what makes other people human, too. Your opinions are guaranteed to brush up against someone else’s opinions. It will broaden your horizons to hear that someone disagrees with you keenly on some fundamental issue (even if you’re sure in your heart that they’re a jerk for doing so <G>). Be professional in your disagreements and try to accept the people that disagree with you. As Hedtke’s Law says, a person who doesn’t offend somebody couldn’t possibly interest anybody.

9. Make connections between people.

One of the values of being known by a number of people is that you can make connections between people and increase the networking. For example, as your own circle grows, people will often ask you questions like “How can I get started in this business?” or “Who do you recommend I talk to for a job?” Knowing a lot of people allows you to introduce people in your network to each other, making them happy and increasing your own prestige in the process.

10. Have fun.

Being famous is really all about extending your reach. It’s great for hearing about that next job or finding someone with hard-to-get technical information. Fame even lets you get a free drink or lunch occasionally, but it’s not a substitute for having a life of your own. Relax and have fun with it.

Summary

Fame is not a zero-sum game. Everyone can be well-known if they want to be. Because of this, never make the mistake of assuming that because you’re famous you’re entitled to more than anyone else. And remember that it’s not enough to be famous just for being famous; you need to be famous because you actually have something that you do reasonably well. If you forget to do things for yourself, you will soon discover that you don’t have anything new to offer… and you’ll become a parody of what you once were.

===/===

John Hedtke runs JVH Communications (http://hedtke.com), a technical communications and consulting company, and Double Tall Press (http://doubletallpress.com), a nonfiction publishing company. He also runs “Hey, kids! Become an author at home in your spare time and earn big bucks!” (http://tradebookauthor.com), a blog for nonfiction authors. John has written 26 books.

by Marianne E. Giltrud, Librarian and Adjunct Faculty, The Catholic University of America

I recently posted to the Future Ready, Linked In group the following:
We’ve just gotten back from SLA Annual Conference and the ideas, creativity and connections are still fresh in my mind and the energy was palpable…Where do we go from here? What is our next step to solidify our knowledge and participation in the future? What trends, impacts and disruptions do we need to be keenly aware of so that we can ride the wave of the future??? What does it mean to be an International Organization? What cultural norms and ethnic considerations do we need to be aware of so that we can bridge the gap in a flattened, connected and success based world?

I have been asked to expand on my comments and I am awed and amazed at the opportunity to do so. To that end, I would like to tease out each question above with the hopes that this will provoke ideas, discussion and questions that serve to shape our future now.

Where do we go from here?
I ask this because it seems incumbent upon us to advance our knowledge, skills, and abilities derived from the conference experience. To me, a blog post is a venue to articulate, envision and brainstorm about the future while learning from our past.

In library school, Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat was required reading at a time when many business schools read and discussed it like the Bible. Friedman’s opening session focused us on the question of, “How do we compete in a world that is Flat, Crowded and Disrupted?” He asked us to reach down within ourselves to meet the challenge of the future today by thinking critically about thechallenges and opportunities we face in a global economy. Moreover, in today’s world we confront an unprecedented paradigm shift in the realm of labor and economics. For example, during the Great Depression (1929-1939), jobs creation did not face the significant technological disruptions that we find today. In the economic downturn of 2008-2009, the jobs that were eliminated, are today only being replaced by one technical position whereas before there may have been seven jobs performing that function. That’s a 14% permanent reduction in jobs! We can no longer sit idly by and wait it out. We need to become entrepreneurs in our profession. Inherent in this process, is the need to leverage our creativity, engagement and participation from a global perspective.

What is our next step to solidify our knowledge and decide our participation in the future?

I believe continued discussion in this and other frameworks provides an insightful medium to brainstorm, share knowledge and reflect on the myriad skill sets, that library and information professionals bring to the table each and every day. We are conveners of knowledge who collaborate, facilitate and advance wisdom inside and outside the walls of our organizations. Larry Prusak challenged us to articulate the why’s and how’s, in order to enhance judgment and decision making in a world overwhelmed with knowledge alone. We need to be the lens of “Cognitive Diversity.” This is done through our innate ability to read between the lines, synthesize and evaluate our biases hence render decisions framed in the context of understanding the differences in disparate and opposite ideas. As a profession we are highly skilled to consider the issues and provide arguments grounded in reason, intellect and yes, even virtue.

What trends, impacts and disruptions do we need to be keenly aware so that we can ride the wave of the future???
Thomas Friedman speaks about “Cultural Diversity” and how having individuals from very different cultural backgrounds can bring insight into issues, events and considerations in the world today. What this means is that we may not always be aware of our biases and how they filter how we see the world and our relationship to it. Unfortunately, this limits our viewpoints and tends to shape our thinking in avery narrow way. Moreover, technology has disrupted the world and will continue to do so. Looking to the events in the Egypt, where Facebook was integral to the overthrow of the government shows exactly how intelligent, passionate and informed individuals can shift the outcome of a nation in real time. What does that mean to us? These uprisings are reflective of a global world economy that seeks to level the ground and prove that they can make a difference. If we can anticipate the future and be ready to adapt, then we can move forward and ride the wave into the future.

More disrupters…..
Bruce Rosenstein challenged us to “Live in More Than One World” by following Peter Druckerian Management philosophy and create a bucket list in key areas of our life to expand upon our skills, reflect and prepare for the future today. I spoke with Bruce at the conference and he said that in his new position at the Leader to Leader Institute, he works locally, engages internationally and is networked to accomplish his priorities across the nation. He has experienced first-hand the economic and technological disruptions today. That experience has provided him with a unique insight not only into his process but recommendations for us to reflect upon as possible ways to manifest the agility necessary in our world today.

What cultural norms and ethnic considerations do we need to be aware of so that we can bridge the gap in a flattened, connected and success based world?
In my undergrad studies, I took organizational psychology from a professor who was writing a book andstudying the perception of Aborigines, the indigenous people of Australia. The purpose of the study was to determine if the subject could identify and replicate the pattern of placing round blocks on the rods inserted on a piece of wood. The tester and the subject faced each other with a wooden plank that had wooden dowels placed upright about an inch apart. The tester placed blocks on the rods, and the subjects not only replicated the pattern but anticipated the next move…What they found out was that, instead of trying to remember the order of placement which we might do, i.e. center first, then right side,left side, etc. that the subjects were reading micro-expressions and nuances in body language to determine where to place the next block. That takes body language and reading a person to a whole new level. My point is that if we are competing with people who have that level of skill as it relates to human relations, negotiations and other interactions do we have that level of insight, awareness, and emotional intelligence to succeed?

To be successful and remain relevant, it is incumbent upon us not only as an organization but also as individuals who are part of the greater whole, to articulate meaningful strategies derived from a “CrowdSourced,” “In the Trenches,” and “Ground Truth” aggregated knowledge framework to improve judgment and decision making on important issues impacting us every day. In order to do this we need to rethink the “aboutness” of our profession and move forward on the path of future ready.

Marianne E. Giltrud, is a Librarian and Adjunct Faculty, at The Catholic University of America where she combines her extensive experience in knowledge services, technology, business, and program planning in support of the University Libraries.  Marianne is a member of the D.C. Chapter of the Special Libraries Association Program Planning Committee and Steering Committee Head, the CUA School of Library and Information Science, “A Century of Knowledge, Service and Discovery” Centennial Celebration.  A graduate of Catholic University School of Library and Information Science, she has written social science reviews for Library Journal, spoken and made poster presentation at research symposia on a variety of topics including mobile technology, information literacy and digital media and emerging technologies.

by Jamal Cromity, North Carolina Chapter, Information Technology and Leadership & Management Divisions

Being future ready will enable you to adapt to using tools that improve communication and help you develop new work flow paths. When using social media, the path to making successful community connection is not always certain. While you may have a desire to use one or two networking tools consistently, you will hear about another tool that sparks your interest which can also cause feelings associated with “information overload.” With so much information available from a number of directions, it becomes difficult to discern and synthesize people and services.

….Step back, take a deep breath, and be more determined to move forward. Follow these steps:

• Continue to you use the one or two services that work for you
• Through status updates or blog posts, schedule time to post either daily or weekly
• Read and reply to others you follow or are connected with

Your community connections will grow over time.

Here is a tip…

For personal or as an enterprise competitive intelligence site, those using tools such as Facebook and Twitter can consider converting these micro blogs into a newspaper format using Paper.li to help improve the way you discern, synthesize, and share information from the community connections you make.

In the image on the right is a paper I created called, “The Co-Lab Tribune” to help review post sent via links by those I follow.

Jamal Cromity has worked in the information industry for over 15 years. He is currently a UX Specialist for ProQuest Dialog and is Associate Editor for the New Review of Information Networking. Jamal holds an MLS from NCCU , an MBA from NYIT and is PM (Project Management) certified. He has received awards and honors from many associations including ALA, SLA, NCSLA, and NCLA.

by Christian Gray, Southern California Chapter, Pharmaceutical & Health Technology Division

Thinking about SLA President Cindy Romaine’s core tenets of Future Ready it is easy to see the convergence between pillars of Future Ready–career agility, alignment and community–and Corporate Social Responsibility/Social Responsibility (CSR/SR).

Your participation in CSR/SR can enhance your skill set and give you an opportunity to take on new roles and responsibilities giving you a more agile career.  CSR/SR is a very high profile matter for many public companies and other institutions. You will find yourself aligned with senior management’s desire to be a socially responsible organization by providing direct support to that department. And as CSR/SR relates to community, well it doesn’t take much effort to explain. That is what CSR/SR should be about, making a real difference in your community or the community that your organization represents.

I have several working hypotheses regarding CSR and SR which I hope to validate over the next few months:

1. Your personal participation in an SR program can increase your quality of life.
2. Your active support of your company CSR goals and objectives can have a positive impact on your career.
3. Being a leader for CSR/SR programs in your organization can lead to greater satisfaction in that role.
4. Professional associations and other business organizations benefit from participation in CSR.
5. Being an advocate and champion for CSR/SR programs can provide direct benefit to your clients, company and partners.

Recently I had a very late night of introspection and an honest evaluation of the many gifts I have in my life and had been aware of my growing need to be active in a community organization. I started researching non-profit organizations and even wrote a few checks. I joined the board of a local arts organization, Create:Fixate, and began to more actively participate in a group for which I had previously been a donor, LA’s BEST. Through that participation I reconnected with former associate Jim Howard, the founder of the Room to Read Los Angeles chapter.

Jim put the book, Leaving Microsoft to Change the World, in my hands and told me a little more about Room to Read. I was hooked before I even finished reading the book. I initially helped out informally, then facilitated their chapter strategic planning session. After visiting the global offices in San Francisco, I realized that what had begun as a conversation with an old friend had turned into not only an incredible project, but also a great and very personal passion.

My new-found commitment to caring and helping aligned with the broader community of colleagues I work with in the publishing and information industry, including clients, prospects, partners, publishers and even the Special Library Association. I was happy to discover that my commitment was also shared even closer to home, when I was casually speaking to my CEO at Reprints Desk, Peter Derycz, in December 2009 about life outside of work. While sharing my interest in Room to Read he got a funny smile on his face and began telling me about his own experience trekking in Nepal, how he wanted to start a school or library but was concerned about it being sustainable.

So like many good intentions, time passed and Peter’s plans faded until our conversation rekindled his own interest in creating a sustainable, positive change. Over the following weeks, Peter’s personal interest became a corporate initiative and a new partnership was formed between Reprints Desk and Room to Read. The result: basically every time there is a transaction (we deliver scientific articles to some of the largest research and development organizations in the world) Reprints Desk drops a small percentage in the Room to Read bucket. That commitment has, in one quarter, generated enough to fund more than 12 years of girls’ scholarships, including bikes and uniforms as needed, or more than 50 percent of a library, or more than 3,000 new books in local languages.

By integrating corporate social responsibility into Reprints Desk’s DNA, as we grow the company, the financial support and direct impact on children’s lives will grow with us. And that does not even count the impact of the initiative’s growing fan base. Both inside and around Reprints Desk, employees are making a difference around the world. While writing another line of code or providing customer service, our employees know clients are often thrilled to learn that their choice to use our services how has the added value of making the world a better place. As Peter and other senior managers have visited with the world’s largest publishers and they’ve learned about our partnership with Room to Read, many of these publishers are now asking how they can participate.

Over the past several years I’ve presented a series of talks about Career Agility to SLA Chapters and Divisions, sometimes solo, other times partnered with Cindy Hill or Kim Dority. One of the themes in these talks is emulating some of these positive characteristics of corporate leaders.  One key take-away has been that it is not only important to understand our own strengths, but to look at ways to channel our strength into action. I believe we have the means to do just that. To be an effective and valued contributor at your organization, you must consider becoming directly involved in your company’s CSR program. If your organization doesn’t have a CSR program, now is the perfect time to initiate one. Why? You will benefit by increasing your exposure to senior management, you can make a difference outside your enterprise and inside the “cause,” and you’re likely to gain tremendous personal satisfaction from your participation.

I hope this is the beginning of the conversation about CSR/SR and the role of the special librarian/info pro. We had a very engaged group during the SLA CSR Unconference session and we will continue the conversation via the SLA Social Responsibility group just started this week.

With over twenty-years of sales, marketing, business development and public speaking experience, Christian Gray has a unique and diverse perspective of technology, software and information companies. As a Strategic Account Manager for Reprints Desk, Christian has worked directly with many of the world’s largest life science companies including Amgen, Gilead, Genentech, Johnson and Johnson and Allergen, as well as other Fortune 500 Companies including Sony, Disney and Sun Microsystems.
Christian has been an active member of the Special Libraries Association since 2002 and is a past Board member of the Southern California Chapter and recently received an SLA Presidential Citation for his work on Future Ready 365.

Christian has given presentations to numerous SLA Chapters and Divisions and published a series of articles for Searcher Magazine, an Information Today publication on Enterprise Social Software. He has also been published in the Los Angeles Times, and Los Angeles Business Journal.

by Cherine Whitney, Rhode Island Chapter, Food, Agriculture & Nutrition Division

Inspired by Cindy Romaine to share an idea on 6/12, I am sharing my story. In April 2007 Emily Wild, a geographical librarian at US Geoogical survey presented a Powerpoint on GIS (Geographical Information Systems). Little did I know then that this knowledge would come in handy about 4 years later in ways I could have never anticipated. I was readying myself for my future.

July 7, 2007, my father died in Hospice Care of RI after complications of surgery. This was a significant event. Just as important, is that I used Hospice’s bereavement services for processing my grief.

Two years after his death, I became a Hospice Volunteer. I returned that love that came my way over those years. November 2010 I took a patient to a doctor’s appointment, and also delivered a food basket to him and his fmily. On that delivery, they shared with me that he had just been given 6 months to live. I hugged the wife saying let you find hope and peace for even one hour. April 2011, delivering another food basket (of course in my various seasonal hats ):) I found they had no volunteer to help. In middle May, weeks later, after helping them little, I was asked to find a map of a hiking area the patient had loved. The Hospice social worker wanted him to have meaning and a purpose in his life to help him not think of his impending death. She was planning to use this map for her own hike at a later date. So, using their tip to call the Town Hall, I asked for maps, picked them up May 20. I delivered them to the patient. Talking to him face to face, I found he loved these regular maps. But he needed something else. Using my information interview skills gently, I found out he needed a topographical and/or aerial view map.

After I left to prepare for Penelope Campbells’ talk/stay at my house, I called Town Hall from my car while still on their property. I asked the town clerks if they had this type of map. They said no, but GIS staff might. I called him. He was in. Explaining the urgent need for a Hospice patient, he asked me questions about the map requested. I said I did not know. Then I thought: have him talk to the patient. So, going back into the house, I told them I found someone to help the patient. They spoke. What an excellent, animated interaction!!! We all smiled and laughed! May 23, I picked up the map, a huge 36” by 36” topographical AND aerial. Delivering the information that day, the patient and family were overjoyed. I called the GIS staff person days later to thank him. He was away May 26-June 3! That was meant to be for me to be at that place at that time!

Wait, there is more! Best of all, the GIS guy waived the fee, and said he wanted to help make detailed maps of trails that existed and for non existing maps of trails. This patient’s knowledge, love of life, and nature would be his legacy for the future. He was doing it NOW! He had his purpose. He was making future ready trails! How awesome! I had helped him do this. What a connection!

Many thank yous came from the family, the social worker (who had sought the map for months from another volunteer), and the Volunteer Coordinator. I am honored to have given my skills, knowledge, love, for something that truly is important. The immediate need was met expeditiously. I used all of my skills. I did that EXTRA big time. Thank you SLA, Emily, and Chapter, filling Tony Stankus’, now a Fellow, shoes.

Cherine Whitney received her MLIS from the University of Rhode Island in 1998.  She has had a myriad of library experiences from children’s specialist at Providence Public Library, to special collections cataloger at Boston College, to her current position in Research Services at Providence College.  For more than five years Cherine has volunteered at Hasbro Children’s Hospital as a Childcare coordinator, reading and playing with patients in the Dental Clinic’s waiting area. With Home and Hospice Care of RI, she does vigils and visits with patients, and has worked with Camp Braveheart, for grieving children ages 4-17 (dressed in her marvelous hats, of course!) Cherine is President of the Rhode Island Chapter of SLA and has been so since 2009.