by Laura Woods, Europe Chapter, Legal and Leadership & Management Divisions

I’m still a fairly new librarian, but thinking about how much I’ve learned just over the past four years makes my head spin! I would never have guessed, when I applied for my first library job, just what a fast-moving career I was entering. To me, being Future Ready means continually learning and adapting to new challenges.

If you’re at the start of your career, and the above sounds like a daunting prospect, here’s a few things I’ve learned that I wish I’d known when I was starting out:

1. Develop a network

Librarians are helpful people, so get to know as many as you can! Have a look for SLA chapters in your area, and just turn up and start talking to people. If there’s not much local to you, or if you’re more comfortable chatting online, try joining an online network like LISNPN (the LIS New Professionals Network) to get to know other people in the same position as you. Whether you do it online or off, building a network of fellow information professionals gives you an invaluable source of support, advice, and friendship. I’m a natural introvert with a dislike of asking people for help, so when I started off as a librarian my instinct was to keep my head down and get on with things by myself. It wasn’t until I started getting to know people within SLA and other professional bodies, and getting involved with committee work that meant I had to ask other people for help and advice, that I realised that a) no one was going to think less of me for needing help; and b) sometimes other people needed my help too! Developing a network is about building reciprocal relationships, and offering help as well as asking for it. It’s easy to assume that as a new professional you have nothing useful to offer those with more experience, but you will have skills and insights that other people lack – even if you don’t know it yet!

2. Say yes to everything you can

There are tons of awards and sponsorships available for LIS students and new professionals. I first became involved with SLA when I received an Early Career Conference Award from SLA Europe, co-sponsored by the Leadership and Management Division. However, I very nearly didn’t apply for that award – mainly because I thought that there would be so much competition, I wouldn’t stand a chance! I applied anyway, on the basis that it was worth a try, and was thrilled when I won. The lesson I learned from that was never to rule myself out of anything. Sure, there was a lot of competition, but if I hadn’t applied, I definitely wouldn’t have won. I’ve tried to carry that over into every other area of my professional life: I never say no to something, and thus count myself out of the running, unless I have a very good reason for not saying yes.

3. Everything is worth learning about

When I was at library school, there was a module on libraries in different sectors. Each week, a guest speaker from a different sector would come in to talk about their job and opportunities in their sector. I was pretty certain at that point that I wanted to work in law libraries, so while I was keen to attend the week a law firm librarian was the guest speaker, I didn’t have much enthusiasm for the rest of the module. However, after attending the first couple of lectures and realising that there were so many career paths in librarianship that I’d never even heard of, let alone considered, I was so glad to have the opportunity to hear from and talk to people in those many and varied jobs. As it turns out, I have stayed in law libraries since graduating; however, I still take every opportunity I can to learn about aspects of librarianship that have nothing to do with my current role. I take the view that even if I do stay in law libraries for the rest of my career, having a broader view of the profession as a whole, the issues librarians in other sectors face and how they deal with them, can only improve my own knowledge and strategic thinking, and thus improve my future readiness.

Those are just a few ways I’ve learned to be future ready; what would you add?

Laura Woods graduated from City University London with an MSc in Library and Information Studies in January 2010, and is currently working as an Information Services Adviser at Addleshaw Goddard LLP. She has been involved with SLA Europe since winning one of the Early Career Conference Awards in 2009, and attending the 2009 Annual Conference in Washington DC. Laura blogs about her professional development activities at Organising Chaos, and you can find her on Twitter as @WoodsieGirl. She is interested in networking with her peers, particularly fellow new professionals, and in innovative ways to promote library services and the information profession.

by Molly Hagen, Minnesota Chapter
by Liz Scheibel, Minnesota Chapter, B&F and Legal Divisions

We have found that Information professionals and Librarians are extremely welcoming to and excited for new people entering the profession – everyone wants to help! We are so grateful for the help and advice we received during our school years, and that support continues now as we are both in our first professional jobs.

Everyone wants to help new info pros, but are you ready to help? Do you know what fresh MLIS grads in your SLA chapter and in introductory level professionals in your department need from you? We’re a profession of planners and organizers. Have you planned how you will help new people and gotten your resources and ideas for doing so organized?

As new information professionals who are just becoming “old” enough to look back, here are four ways we believe you can give to the future of our profession:

1. Network with newcomers, over and over again. New people are important! Take some meaningful time to get to know them before recruiting them for something beyond basic membership or simple attendance. Learning about their skills, interests, and goals means that when the time is right, you’ll be able to ask your new colleagues to do something that is appropriate for them – and they’ll be more likely to say yes and do a good job.

2. Be the best mentor you can be. Signed up to be a mentor? Good for you! Your work has just begun. Study up and research it – read about it, meditate on it, talk to others who have done it and find out what made the relationship successful. Prepare like you would for a job interview. (Calling Minnesota Chapter members: as the chairs of our Chapter’s Mentoring Program, we’re here to help.)

3. Help connect classroom education to real world work. A good conversation starter with a student (or someone doing an internship) is asking them what classes they are taking or what they are studying. Keep the conversation going by describing how you use that kind of training or information in your real work. Making the connection between the classroom and what someone in the field actually does is one of the hardest things about making the jump between being a future information professional and a current information professional. Help them connect the dots.

4. Don’t just get them jobs, make them jobs. A key to being future ready is to avoid assumptions that hold us back, and one of the most devastating assumptions we make is that we can’t control job creation. Too often our assistance for job seekers stops at referring them to open positions, helping them network, and, at best, creating temporary positions or internships. It’s a tough economy for new people; many good ones are looking for their first break. Have you ever brainstormed about what you would do with an additional employee in your department? Have you sat down and made the plan – the job description, the qualifications, the proposal to management? Have you ever thought that another area of your institution, or even another institution altogether, could use an information professional, and then tried to make it happen? If you want to help new people in your field, create someone a job. It’s the thing they need the most. Then enjoy reaping the rewards of having a brand new information expert in your midst – his or her energy and fresh ideas will inspire you to even greater heights.

We know experienced professionals in our field are generous with their time and knowledge. Hopefully, these thoughts will spur some future ready thinking and planning on how to put that generosity into action! After all, being future ready means being ready for the future members of our professional communities.

Molly Hagen is the new Learning Center Associate at Thomson Reuters in Eagan, Minnesota. She graduated with her MLIS from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2010. She can be reached at molly.hagen@thomsonreuters.com, or on Twitter @mollyhagen.

Liz Scheibel started her position as Librarian at Lindquist & Vennum PLLP in Minneapolis, Minnesota in April of 2010. She graduated with her MLIS from St. Catherine University in 2011. She can be reached at escheibel@lindquist.com, or on Twitter @emcscheibel.

The authors are members of the Minnesota Chapter of SLA and are the new co-chairs of the chapter’s Diversity and Mentoring Committee. They are available to provide mentoring connections to local information professionals, as well as sparkling conversation for information professionals new and old.

by Sam Wiggins, Europe Chapter, Legal Division

When I finished my library traineeship in a law firm at the end of August 2010, I thought that I had a good understanding of the skill set required to forge a career in the sector. I started my Masters qualification a month later, and continued to consciously think about the tasks required of a professional law librarian, and how best to learn about them during the year (MA qualifications in the UK are an intensive 12 months).

A little over 3 months in, I started to think more abstractly about the profession and its future; more specifically where new professionals fit into the picture. The world of the information professional is fast moving, and the tangible skills we possess need to be constantly updated, but it will be ideas that provide the means to stay ahead of users’ expectations. I fully appreciate that a solid skill set is a must; but it is the less tangible ideas that will shape how these are implemented in the future.

As a new professional I have less practical experience than most, and my perceptions of what the profession can offer to its users are still being formulated, but I do not look on this as a disadvantage. In fact, be prepared to challenge yourself whenever your perceptions of the profession become static, as it instantly stunts the opportunity for creativity, passion and the possibility of moving forward. Occasionally ideas can result in suggestions that may seem implausible at first, but often they can be implemented with a little time and thought. As a new professional, the challenge is to check this sense of aspiration against practicality, without diminishing these ideas. Aims will occasionally need to be scaled down to match solutions that can be realised, but those ideas can still be the start of something. It can be as small as questioning an established practice, or providing a sense of enthusiasm that filters throughout a team inspiring others.

When I enter my first professional post in September, I will lack the experience of other members of the team, but hope to bring a fresh pair of eyes to the table. Being Future Ready is therefore not only about the organisation itself but the people within it. And my suggestion as to what you can do to be future ready? Ask a young member of the team how they perceive issues. Encourage them to come out of their shell. The current crop of new professionals will become future leaders and managers; why not start to nurture them now, passing on that experience, blending it with the enthusiasm we have? Who knows, something magical might come out of that two way dialogue.

Samuel Wiggins is currently studying for his MA Librarianship at the University of Sheffield and upon graduation will take up the position of Information Officer for a London law firm. He can be found on Twitter (@LibWig)and writes a blog at libwig.wordpress.com.