By Steven K. Frets, Wisconsin Chapter, Knowledge Management Division

Helen Partridge’s focus group study and scholarly article Becoming “Librarian 2.0”: The Skills, Knowledge, and Attributes Required by Library and Information Science Professionals in a Web 2.0 World (and Beyond) (Library Trends – Volume 59, Numbers 1-2, Summer 2010/Fall 2010, pp. 315-335) identified 8 primary themes to becoming a Librarian 2.0: technology, communication, teamwork, user focus, business savvy, evidence-based practice, learning & education, and certain personality traits. I would argue and expect that any librarian has these in mind and demonstrates them in practice. Nothing new here – books themselves are a technology, albeit an old-fashioned type. Librarians in institutions have been collaborating with other librarians since the early 1800s. John Dewey made an emphasis on user focus in the 1920s. So what’s changed in the 21^st century? How should I as a first-semester LIS graduate student adapt to be “Future Ready”? I posit three words as an answer: pace, direction, and flexibility.

The confluence of new technologies and dynamic leadership in the library community has fostered a challenging pace. So I’m thinking “Future Ready” is a paradox: I need to make change a constant. This is why I’m not narrowing my academic experience to a track. I hardily appreciate library school but have applied to go to an i-school in Austria for a semester in order to embrace the interdisciplinary aspect of this profession. My motto of “Future Readiness” is to stand straight and authoritatively as a second baseman (ie. with the knowledge and ethics of a librarian) but always look to steal for 3^rd. Change gets you farther, after all. So own it.

Steven Frets is a  31 year-old first-year graduate student at the School of Library and Information Studies-University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Before graduate school, he was a translator and educator. His main interest is in corporate librarianship.  He interned at the Greendale Public Library and volunteers at the Milwaukee County Historical Society and Milwaukee Central Library. He speaks three languages and hopes to learn a fourth while in Austria. 

Info-entrepreneurs, represented by the Association of Independent Information Professionals, stand out as innovative, forward thinking, and client focused information professionals.  This series of posts delivers future ready solutions and strategies from current and past presidents of AIIP.  As industry thought leaders they have much to share about staying ahead of the curve and delivering cost effective solutions to clients worldwide.  In this insightful series of postings readers will learn how to create a job for life by listening for opportunity, watching for changes, stretching to acquire new skills, finding a balance, planning for the long term, and drawing on your strengths. — C.S.

by Marcy Phelps

At a recent meeting of the I-25ers, a group of independent information professionals located in and around Colorado, we had an interesting discussion about staying focused. We all agreed it’s really hard these days, with the many hats we wear and the ever-increasing rate of change in our lives and work, to make decisions about whether or not to take a new direction.

In my nearly 12 years of running a business, I’ve found that long-range planning is the key to developing a path and staying on track. And it’s not just for business owners. Whether you work for yourself or for someone else, planning and setting goals for the next 5 to 10 years provides focus in our lives and milestones for success. It will also keep you sane.

We’re constantly juggling our varied job functions. Business owners, in addition to being researchers, knowledge managers, or consultants, also take care of an assortment of administrative, financial, marketing and other tasks on a daily basis. With cutbacks in the workplace, we’ve taken on additional roles and responsibilities – while trying to make sure our careers and our jobs are future ready. Having a long-range plan keeps you on target for each of your many roles.

It’s also easy these days to get distracted by the latest new toy or way of thinking. Technology develops at an ever-increasing rate, and ideas spread in an instant. It’s difficult to know what you should or should not pursue. Your long-range plan becomes a measure for how it all fits in with your life and your goals.

Long-range planning requires some time to think about where you want to go and how you’re going to get there. Block out a morning or afternoon, shut off email and other distractions, and find a place to work where you’ll be most creative.

Here are some tips for getting started with developing your personal and professional long-range plan:

Think big – It’s OK if you don’t reach all your goals. Go ahead and dare to dream. Visualize what you want your life to look like in 5 to 10 years. What kind of work do you want to do? At what level do you see your business or career?

Think about how to get from here to there – Consider what skills, resources, etc. you need to accomplish your goals. Should you take a class, join an association, hire a coach, or sign up for mentoring? What will it cost to carry out your plan, and how will you pay for it? 

Put it in writing – Don’t ask me why, but there’s something about committing something to paper (yes, pen and paper!) that sets things in motion. Trust me on this. When confronted by something new, take out your plan and see if it aligns with where you want to be and what you want to become.

Stay flexible – While your goals keep you on track, be open to new opportunities. You can’t plan for those out-of-the-blue job offers or disruptive technologies (who knew five years ago that we’d be tweeting with clients?). Again, use your plan as a guide.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from this Future Ready 365 blog, it’s that we are the ones who control our futures. It just takes a little planning to get on the right path and to stay focused. The investment you make now will pay off in the future.

Marcy Phelps is the owner of Phelps Research, a provider of research and analysis to support business planning. She served as the AIIP 2009-2010 President and is the current Chair of SLA’s Advertising and Marketing Division.

by Jan Chindlund, Illinois Chapter, Academic, Museums, Arts & Humanities, B&F, LM Divisions

“Yes, I was invited.”

Think back to times in your career (in both your employment and your volunteer work) when you were personally invited to join the team, join the organization, write an article or post, render an opinion, edit a document, brainstorm, manage a project, research a complex issue, or lead.

✓How did the invitation make you feel?
✓What did you think when you were invited?
✓How did you respond to the invitation?

We’ve all heard Victor Hugo’s “There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.” True. And perhaps, there is no connection more persuasive than the personal invitation.

Recognizing a spark, talent or skill in another person and then inviting them to be involved honors the invitee and inspires them to get involved.

To be “Future Ready” has so many facets: strategic, critical and systems thinking; embracing technology; acquiring and applying knowledge; being politically astute; being nimble, flexible and adaptable; recognizing opportunities; and the list goes on. All important and essential.

Add to that mix: practicing the art of personal invitation. Establishing relationships is the key to gaining insight into situations and opening doors to opportunities to learn and to become involved. Personal invitations are a way to initiate and strengthen relationships.

In this era of high tech, the personal invitation can satisfy our need for high touch.

Seek ways to invite others…and to be invited.

In association volunteer work

When asked to lead, I invite a co-chair to work alongside me. At this point, I invite someone newer to our profession. So we can co-mentor each other. I might contribute knowledge about the organization or work at hand, the other person might contribute technical know-how or insights into how today’s audiences or clientele will respond to messages.

I have been in groups of SLA members when the question was asked, “Who has been hired because of their connection with SLA?”  The majority of hands shoot up…every time!  Well, think back, how did you get involved in SLA? Did someone invite you to join or to be on a committee or to speak?

✓  I attended my first SLA meeting because I was personally invited.
✓  I joined my first chapter committee because I was personally invited.
✓  I ran for office in a division because I was personally invited.
✓  I ran for office in our chapter because I was personally invited.
✓  I wrote this post because I was personally invited.

How did you hear about that job?  Did an SLA colleague inform you about the position, invite you to apply, recommend you?

SLA’s “Connecting People and Information” could be expanded to “Connecting People and Information, Expanding Information to Knowledge & Connecting People to People.” The cross-pollination of what is learned in SLA, and the connections made there, with our professional work is the penultimate value of belonging.

Personally invite others to join and to become involved.

In the workplace

Larry Prusak referred to “ground truth” as one source of wisdom in his presentation at SLA 2011. That resonated with me. Inviting those who are “on the ground” to share their insights is not only good business, but it provides valuable knowledge that can be used to make better decisions. In our professional life, this can provide new knowledge and connections, improving the richness and the quality of the work we produce and the wisdom upon which we make decisions.

Personally invite those “on the ground” to share their “ground truth”

As Kevin Kelly so aptly put it, “The only factor becoming scarce in a world of abundance is human attention.” The human attention given through personal invitation is very compelling indeed.

“Yes, I was invited.”

Jan Chindlund has been Library Director, Columbia College Chicago, since September 2007. Previously she was Manager of McDonald’s Corporation Global Consumer and Business Insights Information Center and Assistant Vice President & Head Librarian, Duff & Phelps. Jan holds MLIS from Dominican University and MBA from Benedictine University. She has served in various roles at the chapter, division and association levels of SLA, currently Co-Chair of Local Arrangements for SLA 2012 to be held in Chicago July 15-18, 2012. Recipient of the Dow Jones Leadership Award and the Rose L Vormelker Award, she is SLA Fellow and extremely grateful for the learning, advocacy and networking SLA makes available to members.

by Kama Siegel, Oregon Chapter, Solo Librarians Division

Without being overly derivative of all of the posters who have come before me, I’m going to discuss many of the themes you’ve heard throughout the life of this blog. Except that I’m going to apply it to recent events in my own professional life by making it into a story. Don’t worry, though, the themes will be easy to spot.

Once upon a time, I was content — if a teeny bit bored — at my position as a law librarian at a mid-sized firm. Particularly in this economy, in the extremely competitive city of Portland, Oregon, I counted myself lucky to have a job at all. But I wasn’t at all sure I wanted to be a law librarian for the rest of my career.

Someone close to me has a position in a small company whose mission and structure I admire very much. After a few years, I decided I wanted to also work at this company, so I set about figuring out how. (Theme #1: be proactive!) I had met the president of the company a few times at non-work events, and had actually gone in and spoken to a few staff members about how to maximize their use of social media. (Theme #2: show them your “extra” — thanks, Thomas Friedman!)

Then a setback: they didn’t think they’d have money in the budget to hire me until the beginning of 2012. (Theme #3: be flexible!) I dug into my duties at the law firm with renewed vigor (Theme #4: give your very best service to your patrons!) and waited to hear from the other company. A few weeks later, I got a call from the CFO, asking me if I’d like to come in and talk to him about a different project, one for which I had very little experience. (Theme #3 again.)

Long story short, I was able to convince the CFO that I could without a doubt do this extra project about which I knew next to nothing (Theme #6: be confident! Also, Theme #7: step outside your comfort zone!). Successful completion of the project will subsequently make me indispensable to the company, and we will live happily ever after (Theme #8: be optimistic!).

The purpose of this post is not to toot my own horn about my new position, but rather to illustrate that taking on an opportunity that drops into your lap = future ready. Being willing — note that I do not use the word “unafraid” — to dive into unfamiliar territory = future ready. Knowing you can machete your way through that territory = future ready. And in my case, plunging my career into glorious chaos = future ready (Theme #9: blaze your own trail!)

Kama Siegel is the President of the Oregon chapter. She recently left her stable, cushy, 16-year career in the legal field to plunge headlong into the unknown at Alta Planning & Design in Portland, Oregon.

Amy Affelt, Chair of SLA PR Advisory Council and SLA Alignment Ambassador, Illinois Chapter, Business & Finance and Leadership & Management Divisions

Being Future Ready certainly requires us be nimble and quick…and to maybe even jump over a candlestick.  In a corporate information environment, Future Ready really is, as SLA President Cindy Romaine has described, “an attitude–to be more adaptable and flexible.”  That nimbleness and quickness means that we need to respond to requestors’ needs with value-added information deliverables whenever and wherever they are needed, and although it can seem inconvenient, oftentimes this is outside the hours of the traditional workday.

We bring value when we address and fill stakeholders’ information gaps and pain points, and these gaps and pain points become more pronounced in emergent situations.  It may require additional staffing, staggered scheduling, or a willingness on the part of information professionals to answer urgent requests that are sent via Blackberry at times when we are “off the clock.”  But it is at those times, when we receive that “3 a.m. phone call” (hat tip Hillary Clinton), that the importance of having information professionals at the ready becomes most apparent.

It is a cliché that those who survive are not the smartest or fastest but those most adaptable to change, but in an era where budgets are slashed and every department is being scrutinized, it is imperative that information professionals adapt to changing work environments and changing stakeholder needs.  We need to be up for what will be the biggest challenge of our careers—the Challenge to Change.  We are at our most valuable when we bring stellar research skills to the exact moment of requestor need.  We need to meet that challenge by mapping out team staffing pathways to make that happen.

Amy Affelt is Director of Database Research at Compass Lexecon, where she creates information and knowledge deliverables for PhD economists who testify in litigation.  She is also a writer and speaker on issues of interest to the information industry such as evaluating information integrity and quality, adding value to information, and marketing of information services.  She was awarded a 2011 SLA Presidential Citation for her leadership and work on the Future Ready Toolkit.

by Deb Hunt, Candidate for SLA President-Elect, San Francisco Bay Region and Silicon Valley Chapters, IT, KM and Leadership & Management Divisions

Trends related to LIS employment show that in 2007, 15% of employers were not libraries and  in 2008, that number jumped to 27%.  In this same study, an analysis of emerging jobs outside of libraries shows a wide variety of titles: emerging technologies librarian, usability analyst, information architect, and more. With these types of titles in mind, the skills required and requested by employers continue to expand and change, including taxonomy creation, knowledge of metadata standards, etc.

As Stephen Abram noted (and I’m paraphrasing here): “LIS skills are good currency, but only for those with the flexibility and insight to exploit the opportunities. “

We must add flexibility, insight, and recognition of opportunity to our essential core skills! We need to move outside our comfort zone and reflect on our accomplishments so we can communicate them to current, future and prospective employers or clients. Else, how will they know what we can do and what we bring to the table?

Career sustainability (my candidacy theme) is about growing in our jobs now and in future jobs as we continue to deepen our expertise and experience. (Please join the Career Sustainability LinkedIn group.)

Many LIS jobs are not coming back or are coming back in a whole different way. We need to be resilient taking our skills with us no matter where we go. I believe that we have much potential and energy to move forward to career sustainability.

I’m passionate about what I do and what we can do as a profession. Together we can create a more healthy and sustainable future as we grow our skillset and shout from the rooftops the value that we bring to our employers, potential employers and clients.

Deb Hunt is Principal of Information Edge which empowers clients to find the information they need to do their work. Information Edge specializes in enterprise content management, knowledge services, professional research, and library design and automation.

Deb has been a member of SLA since 1986 and is a candidate for SLA President-Elect. She served on the SLA Board as a Director from 2008-2010 and is the creator and team leader of SLA’s 23 Things. She is a past President of the San Francisco Bay Region Chapter and a member of the Silicon Valley chapter and the Library Management, KM, and IT divisions. She is an active member in the Association of Independent Information Professionals (AIIP) and served on its Board of Directors from 2001-2003.

by Chelle Batchelor, past SLA-UW Student Chapter Member

In late April I had the honor and pleasure of teaming up with SLA President Cindy Romaine to present this talk on the Future Ready Job Search at an SLA-UW Student Night event. As soon as she explained to me the Future Ready concept, I started thinking about how the key components of collaboration, flexibility, adaptability, and community could be applied to the difficult job search we all experience after we graduate with our MLIS degrees. Here are just a few ideas for a Future Ready inspired job search, but please feel free to add more!

Community: it is crucially important to actively reach out to your community of practice while you are in graduate school, and afterward as well. If you are reading this, you’ve already started! The key word here, however, is active, and I think people sometimes miss that when they receive (or give) advice like this. So, you are reading Future Ready 365. Great! But, can you do more? Post something, perhaps? Here’s another example: many people attend large professional conferences as part of their job search, which can be mind-boggling and sometimes even end up feeling like a waste of time and money. The key is, it is very important to get actively involved in the conference in any way you can! Find a way to volunteer, present a poster, or join a committee or peer group as well as attending a career fair or resume review. You can then note your achievements on your resume, and you will be interfacing directly with professionals who might have helpful career advice or leads! The important thing is to find meaningful ways to connect with your community.

Collaboration: I think community and collaboration go hand in hand. By connecting with the community of practice that has evolved around the kind of work you want to do, you will discover peers and mentors who can help you with your job search. Ask your peers to review your application materials, or form a job search support group to trade resumes and share ideas about how to represent your skills. Brainstorm with your peers to help each other think of skills you have gained through your coursework. Ask your mentors for advice on where to search for jobs, what to include in your application, or how you might broaden your job search strategy if you have run out of ideas. Finally, keep your peers in mind when you are searching for jobs. For example, when you see a position that you don’t think is the right fit for you, take the extra step to share it with a friend who might be more interested!

Flexibility: this one is probably the most important, and the most difficult. In my presentation I represented the problem as a Venn diagram. As with a Boolean search, each time you add another “AND” to your search strategy, you narrow your results. So, let’s say keyword phrase #1 is YOUR JOB SKILLS, #2 is GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION and #3 is TYPE OF JOB YOU WANT. Once you put those three together, you could end up with a very tiny job market to target! In order to get your first job, you may need to broaden your search. Gain some new adaptable skills, extend your search to places you haven’t considered before, or consider jobs in the tech and information industry that are not traditional “library” jobs. Those jobs might turn out to be a perfect match for your energy and enthusiasm! Don’t just search the library job lists like SLA, ALA, PNLA, LibGig, and LISjobs, try to find out what companies and other organizations are hiring information professionals. Some examples I gave my Seattle-based audience included Serials Solutions, Zaaz, Ascentium, Amazon, and Microsoft.

Adaptability: once you have identified an organization you want to work in, learn as much as you can about them and their culture. For best results, adapt each and every resume or CV and cover-letter to match the job and the work environment of that organization. Look at their web pages and familiarize yourself with the culture you see represented there. Use the language of their website, and especially the language of the job description to describe your skills and experiences in your application materials. If you don’t understand the lingo or are unfamiliar with their corporate culture, try to set up an informational interview with someone in the organization who would be willing to tell you more about the work they do and what they look for in a new employee. Finally, if you are invited to interview for a position, be prepared to answer questions about why you are interested in working for that organization, and why you care about the work you will be doing in the position you hope to fill. Be the person they want!

I hope this information is helpful for those of you graduating this year. It is a tough marketplace right now, and I think you will need to be more flexible in your job searches than ever before. The information profession is changing every day, and while it becomes more interesting, it also becomes more competitive and complex at the same time. Please take advantage of this SLA community to post more ideas for a future ready job search in the comments below!

Chelle Batchelor is the Access Services Librarian at the University of Washington Bothell and Cascadia Community College Campus Library. She graduated from the University of Washington MLIS program in June 2005 and was hired as the Head of Interlibrary Loan at the University of Las Vegas in July 2005. Two years later (almost to the day!) she began her job at UWB. She was an SLA student member from 2003-2005 and is now actively involved in ALA, co-chairing the Access Services Discussion Group and the Cooperative Remote Circulation Committee. Chelle brings the perspective of a UW iSchool Grad whose cohort has gone far and wide in the Information profession in the past six years.

Ann Koopman, Philadelphia Chapter, Multiple Divisions

It’s over thirty years since I entered library school, armed with a fresh BA in the liberal arts, and hoping to go into rare books and archives.  We students thought we were hot stuff, running to the computer center with our shoeboxes full of punch cards that contained PL1 code, or learning to search online services using a phone-cradle modem – skills every “modern” librarian would need!

But we weren’t so much learning specific skills as how to think about professional issues, and how to open our minds to receive and act on new ideas.   For me, that’s the core of being future ready, in any decade and any place.

What are some of the characteristics that allow a person to be flexible, to flow with change and even thrive on it?   What should we all be cultivating in order to shape our own futures?

• Curiosity & willingness to experiment with new ideas and technologies.
  SLA is an especially good source for exposure to new trends and for opportunities to learn new skills.
• Sharing, teamwork, and collaboration.
  Social animals thrive on community and inclusion; we all need the support of our colleagues, both as mentors and mentees.   We also need to integrate ourselves powerfully with our clients, demonstrating our value to the team.   It’s through engagement that we earn validation.
• Solid foundations and respect for the past.
  Knowing who we are and what we believe in provides the confidence needed to build new models.
• Proactivity.
  I love the “pick yourself” post (Dale Stanley, http://futureready365.sla.org/04/06/pick-yourself/).  When we take responsibility for our own continuous learning and for acquiring the new skills needed to cope with a changing professional environment, we position ourselves to embrace and even make new opportunities.  Step up to volunteer yourself for assignments or association tasks that expand your horizons.
• A sense of humor and pleasure in accomplishment.
  If you’re not having fun, what’s the point?  Joseph Campbell’s “follow your bliss” has proven to be a pretty good mantra over the years.

Of course, participation in SLA is one key to professional growth, from CE courses to networking, to leadership development.  It’s where you can find your voice to shape the conversation about issues that are important to you.

Over the years I’ve owned a paper conservation business, worked as a science & engineering librarian, become a medical librarian, morphed into a web content editor, and who knows what the future holds?  It will surely be fascinating.

Ann Koopman is the JEFFLINE Editor for the Academic & Instructional Support & Resources (AISR)  at Thomas Jefferson University.   She is a candidate for Division Cabinet Chair-Elect for the 2012 SLA Board of Directors.

by Liz Wallach, Washington, DC Chapter, Environment & Resource Management Division

As we work to demonstrate our value to our organizations, we may be asked to participate in projects with other groups or divisions. Being asked to contribute to a project is an opportunity to showcase our skills and knowledge as information professionals. Here is a new project management concept that I recently learned about.

Agile Project Management gives a flexible framework for completing a project with an iterative approach. Agile is not new (only new to me) and it is not something that you learn quickly. There is a whole industry devoted to training seminars, consulting, and software tools. I had never heard about the Agile concept before attending a 3 day “boot camp” seminar last summer. I realized very quickly that I had a lot to learn.

The main advantage of using an Agile approach is that it allows you to make changes to your concepts as you move through the process. Agile participants accept that there is no way for you to know exactly what the end product will look like – no matter how many requirements you write. Ideas should evolve as you gather more information. So Agile allows you to refine and revise your concept as you learn more about the possibilities. These few sentences are just scratching the surface of how the Agile method works.

There are 2 reasons that I connect this with our FutureReady blog:

1. It’s healthy to be challenged by learning about something with which you have no experience.
2. I am building new relationships with other groups within my company by working on these projects.

I am an SLA member who has always worked in a “nontraditional” library position, but I have strongly associated myself with the information professionals in SLA. As we move into the future, we should remember to challenge ourselves by learning about new ideas to keep our profession “agile”.

Liz Wallach has worked at BNA for 22 years in various research positions, most recently as a Manager of Special Projects. She has been a member of SLA for almost that long, since completing her M.S.L.S. at Catholic University.

by Catherine Lavallée-Welch, Florida & Caribbean Chapter, Academic, IT and Sci-Tech Divisions

Could you describe the design of an academic library constructed in 2016? It’s easy to imagine following current trends: emphasis on the learning process and the creation of a learning community, more collaborative work, the increasing amount of electronic resources, the use of technology, increased interdisciplinarity, accountability and sustainability.

What about designing the building for 2031? Or 2061? Today’s librarian in charge of designing a new building must cope with a library evolving at a rate faster than any time since Gutenberg.

Faced with such an opportunity, I recently attended a conference on library space planning and revitalization. My main takeaway was to put the emphasis on the infrastructure, and not on fixtures or furniture. Key components are flexible, multi-use space, lots of natural light, extensive electrical wiring and the presence of quiet study zones. The types of services offered and the roles and functions of librarians and staff are evolving.

The new library is a place that is used simultaneously physically and virtually; a place that permits users to participate and collaborate in a learning, scholarly community.

Should we mention the “p” word? Yes, there will be “print” collections. Some new libraries opt for a digital-only collection through extensive storage and digitizing. Other lean toward the digital-heavy approach – see Helen Josephine’s excellent post on this blog on the new Engineering Library at Stanford University. I believe that libraries will utilize select print monographs until publishers use business models for e-books that meet all libraries’ and users’ needs. Don’t hide your print books; use the stacks as architectural elements to create zones. Libraries still have a huge symbolic value and book stacks are the clearest representation of such.

Conference attendees had the opportunity to visit the recently renovated Thompson Library at the Ohio State University. With large glass walls, the book tower is a prime visual focus. However, the building stays user-centered with a variety of seating areas for individual, communal and collaborative work.

I spoke to students about their library habits. A finance junior admitted to not checking out books and rarely using the electronic resources.  Still, he chooses the library to study over myriad options spread over the campus. He found when students go to the library, it’s to hunker down, get to work and study seriously. It’s the building – and the atmosphere within – that attracts him.

User studies offer one of the best ways to develop the library design. Users are usually thrilled to be a part of the process and the studies provide insights into unarticulated needs. Don’t limit recruitment to library staff, student workers or your regular users. Most important are the people who are not currently using your library.

What is keeping them away? What tools, spaces or services are you missing? What will convince them to utilize the facility? Don’t neglect to poll the school’s administration. What are the organizational strategic goals?

Gather input beyond surveys and focus groups. You can use design charrettes; usage observation; user diaries; photo surveys; usage mapping; interviews outside the library; late-night residence hall visits; reply cards left around the facility, etc.

Campus space is at a premium and financial resources are scarce. This situation may continue for a long time. Rest assured though that success in the short and long term will go to the flexible academic library closely aligned with user and organization culture and goals.

Catherine Lavallée-Welch is the Director of the University of South Florida Polytechnic Library. One of her current projects is planning and design of a library and learning commons  for her institution’s new campus. Catherine is a board member of the Florida and Caribbean Chapter and of the Academic Division. She’s a candidate for Division Cabinet Chair-Elect for the 2012 SLA Board of Directors.