By Mary Nell Bryant, M.A., M.L.S., U.S. Foreign Service Information Officer, retired (Washington D.C. Chapter, Social Science Division)

Best Practices for Government Libraries is a collaborative document that is put out annually on a specific topic of interest to government libraries and includes content submitted by government librarians and community leaders with an interest in government libraries. The 2011 edition includes over 70 articles and other submissions provided by more than 60 contributors including librarians in government agencies, courts, and the military, as well as from professional association leaders, and more. Best Practices is edited by Marie Kaddell, Senior Information Professional Consultant; SLA DGI Chair. If you did not write for this year’s Best Practices, Marie invites you to submit a guest post for the Government Info Pro marie.kaddell@lexisnexis.com.

In 2003, a tenuous peace took hold in Liberia, following 14 years of civil war. Since holding elections in 2005, the country has been knitting back together, the threads of its society, government, economy and institutions. With most of its never extensive infrastructure destroyed, many of its educated workforce gone, and little foreign investment, rebuilding Liberia will take years if not decades. 

Key to the redevelopment of Liberia is the establishment of a stable, transparent and effective government. Closely monitored elections in 2005 were deemed by the international community to be the most free and fair in Liberia‘s history, and gave Africa its first elected female president, Mrs. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. The United States has been in the frontline of countries providing development aid and technical assistance to Liberia. A key pillar of that aid has been legislative strengthening, through the work of the National Democratic Institute. 

The initial strategic planning document for modernization of the Legislature, written in consultation with the Legislature and NDI, USAID and the House Democracy Partnership, included the necessity for a legislative library and research capability. And that is where I came in. As a former librarian in the Congressional Research Service, and as staff to the House Special Committee on East European Parliamentary Assistance in the 1990‘s, I had spent many years consulting on the development of legislative libraries and research organizations. Over the past year, I have made three trips to Liberia to work on the creation of such an entity for the Liberian Legislature. 

What did I find? Certainly, not a country on the brink of an e-revolution. As per 2008 statistics, less than one person out of 100 had any Internet access, and only 19 out of a hundred had telephones. Electricity was and is scarce, particularly outside of Monrovia. With 84% of the population below the international poverty level (UNICEF 2008), a GDP per capita of $128 U.S. and employment in the formal sector at 15% (U.S. Department of State), e-government and e-initiatives remain small, but are critical to development. Currently, Internet access is limited primarily to some government agencies, NGO‘s and businesses in urban areas. Liberia currently has no access to a submarine cable or fiber optics. Any access is relatively slow, unreliable and extremely expensive. 

The current legislature is bicameral, with 64 representatives and 30 senators. Relative to the executive branch, the Legislature is relatively weak. Weak party structures and personality driven politics are only part of the problem. When I first arrived in May 2010, there was no computerization, no Internet, an untrained, bloated staff, no bill tracking system, no legal code, no archives of previous legislation, no systematic record keeping of legislative activity and no library. 

A legislative library did once exist, created in 1976 with 6,000 volumes. Then the wars began. Over the years of conflict, the library was destroyed and almost all documents were lost. What remained were some document cases, stored in an uncontrolled environment. Even the bookshelves were gone. During my first visit in 2009, the then director reported that they had had no materials since 1984. “We fought among ourselves and destroyed our own institutions,” he said. A large staff was kept on the payroll, and they tried to keep the piles organized and dusted as best as they could. There was no one on staff who had any training in librarianship. 

Through the aid of the U.S. government and the technical assistance of the National Democratic Institute, the library exists again, formally opened on April 27, 2011. The story of the herculean effort to provide planning, design, reconstruction, furnishings, collections, staff selection and training is beyond the scope of this article, so a few photos will suffice.

The final touch, prior to opening was the introduction of the Internet. Its installation was completed in early April, just prior to my arrival on April 12, 2011. It was time to get down to work, but where to begin? It is hard to remember back to a time when we did not know computer basics, and yet that was our starting point. The basic concepts one uses in searching the Web seem innate to those of us working in the field. We have internalized the basics of Boolean logic, critical thinking, web site evaluation, search concept development. Coming up with alternate search strategies is second nature. Error 404 messages are just an invitation to try an alternative. Not so if you have no familiarity even with the concept of searching for information, electronic or otherwise. 

The staff I worked with were a select group chosen from among the larger staff that had stayed on in the empty library over the years. Hence, there was still no one with any library training at all. I had done some basic reference and technical services training on previous visits, so knew that I had to begin Internet training with the absolute basics. We learned the meanings of AND and OR through participatory exercises such as having everyone wearing blue stand up AND everyone wearing yellow stand up. Try that followed by blues OR yellows standing up. 

Core to successful web searching is defining alternative strategies. To help develop that way of thinking, we broke into small groups and learned to brainstorm subjects, scribbling on flip charts, broader, narrower or similar topics. At first, staff were concerned about getting the words right or wrong, and it took a good bit of cheerleading to urge them to just write whatever came into their heads. The staff was more comfortable with linear thinking, and the concept of right and wrong answers, and of one right way to do things. Operating in a web environment with multiple options, and multiple possible avenues to find what you are looking for took some getting used to.

Finally, we were ready for the computers. Repetition in different forms was the key to success. Naturally, we began with browser and search engine basics, using videos, power point presentations (lots of screen shots lest the Internet crash) and very simple initial exercises. I found that evaluation of web sites had to come early on both to evaluate the quality of what they found, but also to get them to focus on content and detail. Once we went through several tightly controlled exercises of evaluation, the group really began picking up on it and you could feel their (and my) excitement.

Perhaps the most exciting of all is how in only a few sessions, we had several of the staff cataloging their own books on a LibraryWorld system. Again you forget that you are not born knowing what a call number is or what it looks like, or that books can be arranged by subject. Yet starting from the difference between Dewey and LC classification, the meaning of ISBN and LCCN, from identifying authors, titles, and publication dates, the group moved quickly as we went title by title, step by step to where they were cataloging on their own. By opening day, they had their online web-based catalog to show off. To my knowledge, it is the only web-based catalog in Liberia. When the Legislature has a web site, the next step in their e-development, one will be able to search the catalog from the web site. 

It is a relatively quiet time in the Legislature, and the Members are busy stumping for elections, planned for this fall. In the interim, the Library staff will be sharpening their skills, “e” and otherwise, designing products and services, developing procedures and of course marketing their new jewel. It has been an honor for me to be part of the process. 

To see the original article (and more photos) visitBest Practices for Government Libraries and go to page 222.

Ms. Mary Nell Bryant joined the Frost Task Force, following 13 years of experience as a research librarian at the Congressional Research Service at the Library of Congress.  As part of the Frost Task Force Staff, she worked on the development of legislative libraries in nine countries of Eastern Europe and the Baltics.  Following this work, she became Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State and served for fifteen years working with and planning for government libraries in Vietnam, Brazil, Serbia, and Afghanistan.

After leaving the State Department in 2009, Ms. Bryant has worked as a consultant with Development Alternatives, Inc. of Bethesda, MD, the National Democratic Institute, and has worked on digital library projects for the Department of State and the Peace Corps.

Ms. Bryant holds a B.A. in History and an M.A. in Social Science Education from the University of Florida, and an M.A. in Library and Information Science, from the University of Chicago.

By Deborah Balsamo, EPA National Library Network Program Manager; Teri DeVoe, Library Network Coordinator (Contractor, ASRC Management Services); and Tiffany Lopez, Assistant Library Network Coordinator (Contractor, ASRC Management Services)

Best Practices for Government Libraries is a collaborative document that is put out annually on a specific topic of interest to government libraries and includes content submitted by government librarians and community leaders with an interest in government libraries. The 2011 edition includes over 70 articles and other submissions provided by more than 60 contributors including librarians in government agencies, courts, and the military, as well as from professional association leaders, and more. Best Practices is edited by Marie Kaddell, Senior Information Professional Consultant; SLA DGI Chair. If you did not write for this year’s Best Practices, Marie invites you to submit a guest post for the Government Info Pro marie.kaddell@lexisnexis.com.

In 2009 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducted an agency-wide assessment to determine the future needs of an increasingly mobile work force and to learn how to leverage technology to serve EPA library users. The Needs Assessment included an online survey as well as user focus groups and qualitative interviews with executive-level management. Key findings and recommendations from the final report spurred the development of several new Library Network projects, all of which utilized existing agency technologies.

Needs Assessment Recommendation: Offer expanded and consistent operating hours

Solution: Live-chat reference available to internal patrons during coast-to-coast business hours

Ask a Librarian—Live Chat Reference

The EPA National Library Network had already begun exploring virtual reference options such as live chat before the 2009 Library Needs Assessment. However, with the recommendation to offer expanded service hours to staff, the Needs Assessment provided the impetus to pursue a pilot chat reference service for internal patrons in December 2009. By pooling EPA libraries’ coast-to-coast hours of operation, library access has been extended to EPA staff from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM Eastern Time, Monday through Thursday, and from 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM on Fridays.

Ten EPA libraries participated in the pilot service, which leveraged the RightNow application used for the Agency’s Enterprise Customer Service Solution (ECSS)/Frequent Questions database. In May 2010, the Network developed an Ask a Librarian icon to further promote the service, and subsequent marketing efforts resulted in increased live chat use. At the end of Fiscal Year 2010, the application behind the service changed to Parature, resulting in a managed transition and additional staff training. The service has been well received by end-users and exemplifies the collaborative nature of the Library Network.

Needs Assessment Recommendation: Offer more training on how to use library resources and services

Solution: Librarian-taught webinars promoted to all Agency staff

National Training Program

The Needs Assessment gave voice to user requests for library training, which had traditionally been the domain of local EPA libraries. Building from the Library Network’s use of GoToMeeting technology and established marketing channels, the National Training Program was created to bring locally-developed library classes to a wider Agency audience. The Network first developed guidelines, a formal class proposal process and an online evaluation form.

After soliciting library presenters, the Network takes the lead on scheduling and marketing classes, managing the technical side of the webinars, and preparing follow-up attendance and evaluation reports. The first National Training Program class debuted in April 2010, reaching internal patrons from twenty different EPA locations over the course of two repeat sessions. One year later, four additional classes had reached hundreds of EPA staff and the Network was exploring the possibility of expanding the program via playback options.

• April 2010: Locating EPA Documents (presented by Research Triangle Park Library)
• June 2010: EPA Desktop Library (presented by Headquarters and Chemical Libraries)
• October 2010: Cited Reference Searching (presented by Research Triangle Park Library)
• November 2010: Using EndNote with Library Resources (presented by Region 6 Sunder Ram Library)
• April 2011: Chemistry and Toxicology Research (presented by Andrew W. Breidenbach Environmental Research Center Library)

Goal: Build from the 2009 Library Needs Assessment by collecting ongoing feedback from users

Implementation: Ongoing customer service evaluation form, as a follow-up to staff transactions

Customer Service Evaluation Form

To build from the 2009 Needs Assessment data, the Library Network formalized a process for collecting ongoing patron feedback. In January 2010 the Network launched a centralized online customer service evaluation form, which utilized its existing SurveyMonkey account. The Network asks EPA librarians to send the evaluation link to internal EPA patrons following library service interactions. On a monthly basis, the Network generates and sends out individual library reports to local managers. Steady feedback reflects high customer satisfaction with 99% of respondents reporting that they are “very satisfied” with services received. The centralized form provides a pool of data that the Network can access at its point of need.

Deborah Balsamo is the National Program Manager for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) National Library Network where she has the responsibility for coordinating the operations of the agency’s libraries, overseeing the implementation of policies and procedures and leading the strategic direction of EPA’s information services. Deborah is former president of the North Carolina Chapter of SLA.

Teri DeVoe is the ASRC contractor EPA Library Network Coordinator.  She provides communication and outreach support for the EPA National Library Network, supports the National Program Manager, and serves as a “librarians’ librarian” to her colleagues at EPA.  Teri is a member of the Washington, DC, Chapter of SLA.

Tiffany Lopez is the ASRC contractor Assistant EPA Library Network Coordinator. She provides support for the library services and outreach initiatives of the EPA National Library Network, and serves as Second-Year Director of the North Carolina Chapter of SLA.

By Christine Sellers, Legal Reference Specialist, and Andrew Weber, Legislative Information Systems Manager, Law Library of Congress

Best Practices for Government Libraries is a collaborative document that is put out annually on a specific topic of interest to government libraries and includes content submitted by government librarians and community leaders with an interest in government libraries. The 2011 edition includes over 70 articles and other submissions provided by more than 60 contributors including librarians in government agencies, courts, and the military, as well as from professional association leaders, and more. Best Practices is edited by Marie Kaddell, Senior Information Professional Consultant; SLA DGI Chair.  If you did not write for this year’s Best Practices, Marie invites you to submit a guest post for the Government Info Pro marie.kaddell@lexisnexis.com.

The Law Library of Congress continues to embrace new mediums to spread and promote our collections, research and services. Over the last two years we have started using social media in a variety of ways. The Law Library has been on Twitter since October 2009 and Facebook since December 2009. The Global Legal Information Network (GLIN), a multi-national consortium we oversee, is also on Facebook. We started our newest Twitter feed in April 2011: @THOMASdotgov, which is designed to give timely updates regarding legislation from THOMAS.

Our goal in social media is to develop and expand knowledge about the Law Library of Congress. In furtherance of that, we determined that a blog would fill a role that the other social media efforts did not. It would provide a platform for more discussion or analysis than a tweet or post to Facebook could provide, but not be as in depth as the detailed reports that we make available on our website.

Communications Plan
One of our aims was to expose the various facets of the Law Library that might not necessarily be well-known, but could be very useful to our diverse clientele. To that end, we started with a group of bloggers that included staff from across our organization including a librarian from collection services, our New Zealand foreign law specialist, our United Kingdom foreign law specialist, and the two of us. Andrew would focus on posts related to THOMAS and Christine would provide more of a legal reference librarian viewpoint. We hoped this cross-section of staff would provide those outside of the Law Library with a glimpse into the different kinds of work that we do here, as well as the people doing that work.

We wanted to post daily to the blog, with a stated goal of 5-8 posts per week. Each author‘s goal was to contribute one or two posts a week so there would be regular content on a variety of subjects. Coming up with a name for the blog took time as we wanted something catchy and unique to the Law Library, but also with gravity befitting the institution for which we would be writing. We also needed something everyone agreed upon and could understand! We finally decided upon In Custodia Legis, which is Latin for in the custody of the law. We tried to put our spin on the legal phrase because one role of the Law Library of Congress is to be a custodian of law and legislation.

In Custodia Legis was officially launched on August 2, 2010, with our post What is In Custodia Legis?. We have been keeping up a strong and steady clip since then! By the end of April we had published our 200th post in just our ninth month.

Process

Each of our posts goes through a thorough review process before being published. Only the five primary authors have access to the WordPress software. After the review process, the author has final approval and publishes the post. The process is flexible and posts can be drafted, reviewed, and posted on the same day. Each week we email out a status update with the proposed posts for the week and their step in the review process. This helps ensure content is posted every day of the week and provides reminders for specific event themed posts.

Content

August 2010 was a great first month for us! We had ideas built up since we first decided to start a blog back in November 2009. But after the first month with twenty wonderful posts, we realized coming up with posts on a daily basis took some time (sadly only 14 in September). One thing we did was reach out to other Law Library employees for potential guest posts. We were so successful with submissions that we created a new category for them. As the blog became more established, some staff members came to us with post ideas.

We also developed regular weekly content, which included interviews with Law Library staff and a Pic of the Week feature every Friday. The picture provided a fun way to end the week, while still occasionally linking to previous posts. The pictures also provide a creative outlet for looking at things you pass by every day (sometimes for years) with a fresh perspective. One of our favorites was the introductory picture of a card catalog sign in the Law Library Reading Room. One of our most viewed is Looking Up the Old Law Library, which is a view of where the Law Library used to be thirty years ago in the Jefferson Building.

Through the six questions in the interviews, we‘ve learned a wealth of knowledge about our co-workers and the institution. Two questions in particular bring out interesting answers: ―What is the most interesting fact you‘ve learned about the Law Library? and ―What is something most of your co-workers do not know about you? Interviewees tell us those are the hardest questions to answer. For the former question, answers ranged from learning that more than half of the Law Library‘s print collection is in languages other than English to applauding the outstanding intellectual quality of the staff at the Law Library. For the later question highlights include a co-worker who was offered a job driving a Zamboni and one who interviewed President George W. Bush.

Both series were designed to provide an insider‘s perspective of the Law Library. A goal is to provide our audience with faces behind the institution.

Lessons Learned
We have learned a number of things since starting the blog, which we thought we should share with you. One of the more difficult lessons was finding the right tone and was a varied learning process for each blogger. As we are writing for the Law Library, the tone of posts cannot be too personal. Yet that personality is what makes blogs different and enjoyable. We have sought and continue to seek to strike the right balance in our writing.

We have also learned that having steady and continuous content takes a lot of planning. We have posts planned for up to two weeks in advance. Andrew sends out status updates containing the post schedule so that all of those involved in the blogging process can be aware of what needs to be done and where posts are in the review process. It takes time to be this organized, but we think the consistency in the blog proves that it is worth it. It also takes time to solicit content from guest bloggers and interviewees, which we try to work into the schedule as much as possible.

We have been surprised by which posts do well and which do not. We have also been surprised by the fact that we can never accurately predict which category a post will fall into ahead of time. Our interviews and pictures typically do well. We started a monthly retrospective post to provide an overview of what people view the most, liked on our Facebook page, commented on, and tweeted about.

Themed day posts have been popular with one on St. Patrick‘s Day and Cinco de Mayo in our all time top five. Blogging about updates to THOMAS.gov also received a lot of page views. Our most viewed post since we started is a straightforward post sharing our statistics, Top Law Library of Congress Web Pages. Our worst post was one of the first of the retrospective posts, December Retrospective. We have since rebranded how we announce the posts, which has improved their statistics.

Above all, we have really enjoyed how much fun writing for the blog can be and hearing how much people enjoy reading it. Some of Christine‘s favorite posts are those that detail reference questions received either on the reference desk or through the Library‘s Ask A Librarian service. These posts include Tales of Al Capone‘s Jury and What Does This Symbol Mean?. Andrew enjoys writing on topics that relate to THOMAS like Where to Watch Congress Online and THOMAS off of THOMAS.

We hope you will stop by to read our blog sometime and leave a comment!

Christine Sellers joined the Law Library of Congress as a Legal Reference Librarian in September 2009. In addition to her reference duties in the Law Library Reading Room, she is part of a team that develops new features for THOMAS and has compiled a report on the social media practices of Congress. Previously, she created the Law Librarians of Leisure blog and before that was a Senior Research Librarian at Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, P.A. in South Carolina. Sellers holds a Bachelor’s degree in art history and English from Wellesley College, as well as a Juris Doctor and a Masters of Library and Information Science from the University of South Carolina.

Andrew Weber, Legislative Information Systems Manager, has been at the Law Library of Congress since June 2004. He has contributed to reports for Congress, updated parts of The Bluebook, trademarked the GLIN logo, and drafted visa applications for co-workers. He runs the Law Library’s Twitter account and Facebook page and works to develop and implement new features for THOMAS. He has been fortunate to blend his love of technology, law, gadgets, and working for Congress into his ideal position. Weber holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Ball State University and a Juris Doctor and a Master’s in Public and International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh.

By Mary Talley, Owner, TalleyPartners, 2011 DC/SLA President (DC & Maryland Chapters, B&F, IT, KM, Leadership & Management and Legal Divisions)

Best Practices for Government Libraries is a collaborative document that is put out annually on a specific topic of interest to government libraries and includes content submitted by government librarians and community leaders with an interest in government libraries. The 2011 edition includes over 70 articles and other submissions provided by more than 60 contributors including librarians in government agencies, courts, and the military, as well as from professional association leaders, and more. Best Practices is edited by Marie Kaddell, Senior Information Professional Consultant; SLA DGI Chair.  If you did not write for this year’s Best Practices, Marie invites you to submit a guest post for the Government Info Pro marie.kaddell@lexisnexis.com.

Relationships, relationships, relationships! Like the old adage about the importance of location in real estate, embedded information professionals’ success rests partially on the depth of their relationship with their user groups. The research that I performed in 2009 and 2010 on models of embedded librarianship with my colleague, Dave Shumaker, showed that strong working relationships are often built on frequent interactions, such as face-to-face meetings, hallway chats, and shared meals and social events. Being present in information users’ day-to-day work life helps them to see the information professional as a member of the group and promotes credibility. Social interactions break down barriers and promote trust.  As information users become more comfortable with the information professional, they think of them more often as someone who can solve less traditional information problems.

Being There — Virtually
In a virtual environment, duplicating this level of interaction can be difficult. How can you create and sustain equally strong connections with information users that you may never see? Although you may have to work harder to develop virtual relationships, there is encouraging data from the research, case studies and the literature that shows the way.

In a case study from our research, a knowledge analyst on the East Coast is integrated into a practice group located everywhere around the globe – except the East Coast. The analyst’s strongest supporter is the practice group’s executive manager, who is located on the West Coast. The analyst and the manager rarely meet, and the analyst has never met most of the practice group. Yet, the analyst is one of only two who have full access to all practice group-related emails, which she monitors for both work product (which she captures) and emerging issues (for which she provides preemptive support).

Start at the Top
How did the knowledge analyst do it? Her initial connections with the practice group were made through collaborative work with the senior manager on high-value, departmental work products. In many ways, the analyst worked as an apprentice knowledge manager with the senior manager, learning and building trust. The senior manager encouraged the analyst to expand her subject expertise and take on more challenges. She credits the manager’s support as the single most important factor in her success.

Over time, the senior manager has integrated the knowledge analyst as an active participant in all of the practice group’s online communications, meetings and learning opportunities. As a result, the practice group has come to know and trust her capabilities; demand for her work is skyrocketing and other groups are requesting her help as word spreads about her capabilities.

In the successful embedded groups identified in our research, management support is the key to successful integration of the embedded professionals into their information user groups. Relationships between the embedded professional and management are exceptionally strong. In one self-rated highly successful embedded group we identified, ties to user group management include giving both written and verbal reports to group managers.

In a dispersed virtual environment where information professionals may rarely, if ever, come into contact with senior management, reciprocal relationships between management in both the information center management and the information user groups are also instrumental in connecting individual information professionals with organizational groups. In the case of the knowledge analyst (who is an employee of her parent organization’s library), the information center director has cultivated connections with all levels of organizational management, facilitated the collaboration between the analyst and the practice group manager and encouraged the analyst’s alignment with the information user group.

As important as management support is, the information professional can’t just wait for her boss or a senior manager to intervene. To become embedded, a professional in a virtual or physical environment needs to be highly skilled in outreach and relationship-building. Members of the self-rated highly successful embedded group we identified proactively sought management support, including meeting regularly with customer group management to understand their information needs. Likewise, the knowledge analyst seeks continuous feedback from the two senior managers in the practice group she works with.

Subject expertise is imperative to gaining credibility and trust, but it’s not enough if the information users don’t know – and trust – the information professional well enough to call her for extraordinary issues. When senior management advises contacting this person for all information-related issues, chances are the user group will listen. The knowledge analyst in our case study noted that the senior manager endorsed and promoted her work to the group, increasing her credibility.

In a virtual environment, where casual interaction is unlikely, this endorsement from the top is critical. With management support and information savvy, the embedded professional can be as successful in the virtual world as in the physical one.

References

Shumaker, D., & Talley, M. (2010). Models of embedded librarianship: A research summary. Information Outlook, 14(1), 27-27-28, 33-35.

Talley, M. (2011). Success and the Embedded Librarian. Information Outlook, 15(3) http://www.sla.org/io/2011/04/995.cfm

Mary Talley is an information professional and an entrepreneur. She heads TalleyPartners, an information management consulting firm specializing in strategic planning, repositioning and embedded information structures for information centers. She was a co-recipient of the 2008 SLA Research Grant to study successful models of embedded librarianship. Mary currently serves as President of DC/SLA.

By Bruce Rosenstein, Author, Living in More Than One World: How Peter Drucker‘s Wisdom Can Inspire and Transform Your Life (Washington, DC Chapter, News Division)

Best Practices for Government Libraries is a collaborative document that is put out annually on a specific topic of interest to government libraries and includes content submitted by government librarians and community leaders with an interest in government libraries. The 2011 edition includes over 70 articles and other submissions provided by more than 60 contributors including librarians in government agencies, courts, and the military, as well as from professional association leaders, and more. Best Practices is edited by Marie Kaddell, Senior Information Professional Consultant; SLA DGI Chair.  If you did not write for this year’s Best Practices, Marie invites you to submit a guest post for the Government Info Pro marie.kaddell@lexisnexis.com.

Wherever you work, information professionals are under unprecedented pressure. Very few people are exempt from the need to perform faster and better, and to constantly prove their worth.

A great way to thrive in this brave new world is to accept the need for change and to create an inner, self-culture of belief that embraces new ways of being and doing. A helpful framework can be applied from the teachings, work and life example of Peter Drucker, the father of modern management, who died at age 95 in 2005. Drucker was the keynote speaker for the SLA Annual Conference in Los Angeles in 2002, and his ideas continue to resonate within the world of libraries and information.

Here are some suggestions for embracing and expanding, based on the research — including several in-person interviews with Drucker — for my book Living in More Than One World: How Peter Drucker‘s Wisdom Can Inspire and Transform Your Life (Berrett-Koehler, 2009).

Get Organized for Change: The only constant is change. It‘s better to be organized about how you adapt to the changes in your life inside and outside of the workplace. Try not to think in terms of preserving the status quo. Instead, how can you look for and take advantage of changes in the workplace and society that may have an effect on you?

Pilot Testing: Drucker believed that anything that involved changes, or creation of new products, services or activities, could be pilot tested. Companies do this with proposed new products and services. This can be applied to new services you‘d like to offer within your library, and to new activities to add to your non-work life.

Think of Yourself as a CEO: No matter your job title, even if you have no managerial or supervisory responsibilities, think of yourself as not only CEO of your own life, but making your decisions as if you were the CEO of your organization. This affects how you think and makes you aware that decisions are made not just for your benefit, but also for colleagues and others in your organization, additional stakeholders, plus your family and friends.

Systematic Abandonment: In order to embrace the new, organize for change and expand your horizons, you‘ll need to find time. Most people are so busy that they can‘t add many new activities without dropping current ones, even those that they find satisfying and worthwhile. Regularly take a look at all your activities (inside and outside of work) and determine what can be dropped or scaled back to make way for something new, and potentially even more valuable. This could be the perfect opportunity to create more time for leisure activities such as playing in an amateur sports league; taking music, art or acting lessons; or doing more traveling.

The Power of Self-Reflection/Retreats: Take time, at regular intervals, to assess the direction of your life. Does your current job reflect the kind of person you are now, or is it more reflective of who you were when you were hired? Are you sure you will be working for the same organization in five years, and doing the same kind of work? It‘s difficult for most of us to do this thinking in the midst of a busy daily schedule. Try to carve out some time, even a short period, for sitting or walking alone, without distractions. Many people find value in short retreats, even silent ones.

Networking for the New: Information professionals are world-class networkers, in person and online. This is an efficient and powerful way to learn about activities to add to your life. Studying the profiles of your friends in Facebook and LinkedIn can give you an idea of how people spend their time, and can be a great source of ideas. Talk to people to find out how they find time to engage in these activities, and to learn more about what they do. It could lead to a new outside interest, a volunteering opportunity, a new learning initiative, or even a new job.

Wide-Ranging Reading: Many of us are voracious readers, a description that applied to Drucker, who regularly read great literature (in various languages) and a variety of magazines and newspapers. He stressed in his insightful 2002 interview in Information Outlook to read beyond your discipline. It‘s important to keep up with reading that directly affects your work, but in order to truly broaden your horizons, you should read about a wider set of topics.

Get and Stay Involved: How can you deepen your involvement in SLA, ALA or related organizations? Helping to organize conferences, meetings and events, writing articles, and mentoring are all perfect opportunities for learning more, meeting new people and developing new capabilities. This can also lead to job opportunities.

Learning by Teaching: Drucker believed that no one learns as much as the person who must teach his or her subject. But that is only one reason to get involved in teaching. It may turn into a parallel career that you can do on a part-time basis while you work at your main job. It can provide volunteering opportunities, if you teach, for instance, at a religious institution. There may also be teaching opportunities within your workplace or within library-related organizations. Try to find people who are already teaching in some capacity, and find out how they got started.

Finally, the challenge of organizing your life around change rather than preserving the status quo takes dedication, resilience and creativity. Welcoming new activities and new people into your life means that other areas of your life and work may have to be de-emphasized. People from various aspects of your life will be competing for your time and attention. If you are pondering career changes, or adding a parallel career such as teaching or writing, you must determine if it makes financial sense. But if you give the proper thought and effort, and maintain perseverance, you may find that your broadened horizons fit the new you perfectly.

Bruce Rosenstein is currently Managing Editor for the journal Leader to Leader. He serves as an adjunct faculty member for The Catholic University of America School of Library and Information Science, teaching The Special Library/Information Center. His book Living in More Than One World: How Peter Drucker’s Wisdom Can Inspire and Transform Your Life was published by Berrett-Koehler in 2009. It has since been published in Brazil, China and Japan. For 21 years, Bruce was a librarian for USA TODAY, where he also wrote about business and management books for the Money section of the newspaper.

By James King, Information Architect, NIH Library (Washington DC Chapter, Government Information Division)

Best Practices for Government Libraries is a collaborative document that is put out annually on a specific topic of interest to government libraries and includes content submitted by government librarians and community leaders with an interest in government libraries. The 2011 edition includes over 70 articles and other submissions provided by more than 60 contributors including librarians in government agencies, courts, and the military, as well as from professional association leaders, and more. Best Practices is edited by Marie Kaddell, Senior Information Professional Consultant; SLA DGI Chair.  If you did not write for this year’s Best Practices, Marie invites you to submit a guest post for the Government Info Pro marie.kaddell@lexisnexis.com.

The information in this article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the National Institutes of Health. Any mention of a product or company name is for clarification and does not constitute an endorsement by NIH or the NIH Library.

When Eugene Garfield envisioned the citation index in 1955, he wanted to improve information retrieval by showing relationships between articles based upon their citation and reference history. A potential side benefit of the index was to monitor the growth and structure of scientific knowledge, but neither the corpus of published data nor sufficient computing power was readily available to effectively do so.

This benefit is now within our grasp due primarily to the work of large-scale indexes like Thomson-Reuter’s Web of Science, Elsevier’s Scopus, and the National Library of Medicine’s (NLM) PubMed. In addition, two factors have converged to create a strong need for bibliometrics. First, scientific knowledge has continued to grow and became more specialized, making it harder for a small group of experts to effectively review research proposals without relying on an objective measure, forcing an even greater reliance on computerized methodologies. Second, at the same time that science has become solidly global and collaborative in nature, the pools of research funding around the world have been shrinking. This has increased competition for scarce funds and put additional pressure on funding organizations to show the value of their research expenditures.

A recent large-scale example of how bibliometrics affected science was the 2005 Department of Defense (DOD) Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) review process, which required all DOD research groups to submit aggregated publication and citation counts for written articles that were used in research during a two-year period. These counts were then included in deliberations about which military bases and research labs to close, which to combine, and which to move. U.S. military libraries around the world scrambled to help their military labs respond to these critical data analyses, demonstrating how information professionals could play a role in defining and defending the value of the research organizations in which they serve.

I believe information professionals are in an ideal position to develop a set of valuable services that define and defend the organization’s value. To do this effectively, it requires an understanding of the scientific and business need of their organization, an agreement on the organization’s preferred measures of success, a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the various measures available (including the algorithms that underlie them), and a clear understanding of how the metrics are best applied.

EXAMPLES

An example of how libraries can utilize existing tools to create useful evaluative reports for stakeholders comes from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) Library. Library staff compiled the number of publications produced and the number of high-impact papers (from the top 50 percent to the top 0.01 percent) published by each WRAIR researcher, plus the number of citations of each researcher’s works. These measures were entered into WRAIR’s balanced scorecard, a strategic planning and management system that provides a framework of financial and performance-based measurements tied to the vision and strategy of the organization. By also comparing the output and average citation count of Army research publications on a discipline or topic, such as malaria vaccine or drug research, to the total output in the discipline, the library is also able to show the impact of its researchers on areas of interest to stakeholders.

Over the past several years, the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has been working on another approach to creating useful metrics. By identifying and capturing the metadata of all journal articles, conference proceedings, book chapters, U.S. patents, and technical reports written by NRL researchers and engineers, they automatically create a number of useful reports. Examples of these reports include a bragging list of the 25 most frequently cited NRL papers of all time, the journals in which NRL papers are most often published, and—with some analysis by a third party—the patents that have cited NRL work. This effort came out of a mandate from the NRL director of research requiring all scientific promotion candidates to submit a publication list with citation counts generated by the research library.

A number of other U.S. government agencies, such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), have also pursued the creation of internal databases of all agency-produced materials. In a similar vein, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) requires that all publications resulting from NIH grant funding be deposited into NLM’s PubMed Central database. Dr. Elias Zerhouni, the former director of NIH, pushed for this mandate specifically so that NIH could have a tool to measure research productivity.

WHICH MEASURES?

In pursuing an effort like this, it is critical to know what to measure and which measures will be of value. The WRAIR example relied upon the institute’s balanced scorecard to tie metrics to the strategic plan, while the NRL tied its effort to a research mandate.

The Bernard Becker Medical Library at Washington University in St. Louis provides a great model for libraries to use to assess the impact of research. Though focused on biomedical research, it can easily be applied to any research setting. The model highlights five key areas to explore when measuring research impact:

• Research output – counting how many publications were made and tracking the various outputs;
• Knowledge transfer – determining if the research was referenced or reused, including counting the number of references to those publications;
• Clinical implementation – identifying whether the research was applied to practice (e.g., used in a patent or a medical protocol);
• Community benefit – assessing whether the research made a difference in efficiency, effectiveness, or quality of life where it was applied; and
• Policy enactment – evaluating the research’s impact on laws, policies, and regulations in the pertinent sphere of influence.

Some organizations, such as NIH, have also been fortunate enough to have the resources to work with index providers to create robust, customized views of their data. One NIH-hosted service that uses customized data is Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools (RePORT), which is designed to support the extramural research community by providing per-year data on grants as well as disease portfolios. This service allows users to search a repository of intramural and extramural NIH-funded research projects from the past 25 years and access publications (since 1985) and patents resulting from NIH funding. Search results can include the research project number, project title, contact information for the principal investigator, name of the performing organization, fiscal year of funding, NIH administering and funding Institutes and Centers (IC), and the total fiscal year funding provided by each IC.

A second NIH-hosted service, the Electronic Scientific Portfolio Assistant (eSPA), helps the intramural community evaluate the outcomes (including outputs and impact) of NIH funding. It is primarily focused on helping review and analyze portfolios of research projects for program planning and evaluation. By combining research funding with publications, custom portfolios of research can be created to help program managers and administrators track and evaluate their research.

The NIH Library has recently engaged the RePORT and eSPA groups, as well as other groups across NIH, to encourage the addition of bibliometric measures and more researcher-focused reporting in their tools.

CHALLENGE/OPPORTUNITY

Dr. Garfield’s vision was to explore the relationships and networks of scientists so he turned to publications as what is still one of the richest sources of relationships through co-authorships, references, and citations. As a natural step in this evolution and personally one of the most intriguing development efforts to date in this area is a NIH-funded effort to develop a national network of scientists built upon the initial work of Cornell University. This effort, dubbed VIVO (vivoweb.org), is an open source semantic Web project being built by libraries and has the potential of changing the way researchers collaborate by enabling the discovery of research and scholarship across disciplines.

Well-placed information services and resources that specifically meet the needs of our community will continue to make the difference between success and failure, even life and death. However, as distribution costs in the digital world approach zero, we must be willing to rethink the traditional view of library as a place and the traditional services that have been offered. Will today’s information professionals be brave enough to critically evaluate the current slate of services to reduce what is no longer of value in order to free time for new services like the ones described? I believe that exploring new roles like the one described in this article has the potential of opening new doors in the organization and applying our expertise in new ways. If we as a profession are to continue to be relevant in this era, we need to be willing to take risks.

Note: The author wishes to thank Gali Halevi, account development manager for Elsevier, who provided tremendous support in the creation of this program and in the writing of this article.

James King is an information architect at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, working for the NIH Library in the Office of Research Services. He is the immediate past president of SLA’s Washington, D.C., Chapter and now serves as the chapter’s Webmaster and as convener of the association’s Information Futurist Caucus. He recently helped Gali Halevi of Elsevier to coordinate a one-day seminar, Impact and Productivity Measurements in a Changing Research Environment, at which speakers shared their perspectives on various research metrics. The presentations from the seminar, which was hosted by Elsevier, are available free online at http://rainingdesk.elsevier.com/bibliometrics2010?utm_source=ECU001&utm_campaign=&utm_content=&utm_medium=email&bid=PJFG62F:VLGVS1F.

By George Franchois, Director, U.S. Dept. of the Interior Library, Washington DC Chapter, Government Information Division

Best Practices for Government Libraries is a collaborative document that is put out annually on a specific topic of interest to government libraries and includes content submitted by government librarians and community leaders with an interest in government libraries. The 2011 edition includes over 70 articles and other submissions provided by more than 60 contributors including librarians in government agencies, courts, and the military, as well as from professional association leaders, and more. Best Practices is edited by Marie Kaddell, Senior Information Professional Consultant; SLA DGI Chair.  If you did not write for this year’s Best Practices, Marie invites you to submit a guest post for the Government Info Pro marie.kaddell@lexisnexis.com.

Planning for a major move of a library collection can be a daunting and intimidating task. This is especially true when much of the collection will have to at least temporarily be stored at an offsite location, away from your patron base. The Department of the Interior Library is facing just such a dilemma next year, when renovations to the Stewart L. Udall Main Interior Building in Washington will force the Library to move out of its current location for 1 ½ years. During that time, most of the Library‘s current print collection will be temporarily relocated to an offsite warehouse in the Washington area, inaccessible to patrons. A small portion will be housed in a temporary library in the Udall Building during the course of the renovation.

The challenge that our library, or any library in a similar situation faces, is that of retaining the high level of quality services that patrons have come to expect, even if many resources relied on in the past are no longer readily available. The DOI Library is looking towards electronically available resources to help bridge a good part of that gap (within the limitations of our budget). The hope is to provide Departmental employees and other patrons to our small, temporary library, electronic access to materials that had heretofore only been available to DOI Library patrons in print.

Planning Ahead

When a move or temporary relocation of a library by an organization or agency is in the planning stages, that library should look at it as a potential opportunity to redefine itself, providing new formats of resources that can still fulfill the general mission of the library. In today‘s fast-paced society, demands are being placed upon both information providers and information seekers to supply and gather reliable, authoritative data as quickly as possible. Having large parts of a collection located in a warehouse miles away with no other recourse does little to foster instantaneous access to those resources.

Library‘s facing relocation should start planning for it as soon as the decision to move or renovate has been made. Usually decisions regarding building renovation are made at least two or three years ahead of time. During this time, the library staff should work closely with its budget office to make sure that enough resources are in place to measure the collection, hire reputable library movers, and rent a warehouse that meets the environmental standards needed to house the collection. Additionally, a library facing this type of relocation should emphasize to their budget office the need to move towards digital library services in lieu of ready access to most of its print collection. If funding can be found a few years ahead of time and online access to new databases can be started in advance of the move, it allows for a much smoother, less-harried transition period.

Many of the decisions on what electronic resources to purchase depend on type of library being uprooted. For example, medical libraries should probably concentrate on purchasing subscriptions to electronic databases which provide access to scientific and medical resources. Other libraries that deal with energy and the environment should seek electronic resources that concentrate on providing reference and journal resources on those issues. Specific databases selected by a library depend on the specificity and nature of the subjects dealt with at the library, the software and hardware resources available to support access to the database, and the skill set that their patron base brings to the table. The purpose of this article is not to identify names of specific online databases that would be best to use to substitute for relocated print resources, but to identify the general process involved in thinking this through. Specific online resources acquired by a library will and should vary on a case by case basis.

In the case of the DOI Library, a large percentage of materials used in our collection come from our legal and legislative resources. Over the past few years, our Library staff has identified several electronic databases that can provide patrons with online access to materials such as the Congressional Record, Federal Register, U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Congressional reports and hearings, and collections of federal legislative histories. In addition to being able to provide these resources electronically to DOI staff in, and visitors to, the Udall Building, the Library has been able to secure IP-address authenticated access to these databases for DOI staff nationwide. Thus, DOI staff located in Anchorage, or Albuquerque, or the Everglades can get access to these databases through the use of their DOI-provided office workstation.

Communication and Patron Participation

Decision-making on potential electronic resources does not have to solely be the mission of the library staff. It is advisable to bring in frequent library users to assist the library staff in the selection process. Keep in mind that it is important to be up-front with your patrons regarding the timelines involved in moving the library. In addition to simple word of mouth, this can be done through newsletters, e-mail announcements, flyers in the library, social media sites like Facebook or Twitter, or through library user groups.

As timelines can often change, based on changed priorities or budgetary issues, updates need to be circulated through the user community. Be sure to keep patrons updated as to any changes that may occur.

During the process of informing patrons about the relocation of a library, the library staff should see if there are patrons who might want to more actively participate in decisions made regarding the move. This can include the formation of a library users committee, if one doesn‘t exist already, that can work with the library staff to guide the library through its transition. Those that join such a committee should be willing to provide input into some of the following questions:

• Which print resources should be retained in a small temporary library on site as opposed to those resources that can be stored remotely?
• What electronic resources might be a good substitute for some of the print resources stored remotely? Would the users committee be willing to participate (along with the library staff) in possible free trials to those resources to determine their usefulness?
• Are there print resources either no longer relevant to the collection or duplicative of something available electronically that should be removed entirely before the relocation? Would there be any reason to keep these print materials?
• What electronic resources are currently provided by the offices that the patrons work for? If they have access to selected online databases through their own office, is there a need for the library to provide the same service?
• What computer resources should be available in the temporary library and what should eventually be made available upon the completion of the renovation project when the collection returns to its original space?

Throughout this process the library staff should try to meet regularly with the users committee, perhaps as often as every other week. This allows the library staff to communicate to the users some of their ideas and plans for not just new online databases, but for access provided to other informational materials in the library (both in the temporary library and warehouse) as well. Likewise, regular user forums allow the users committee to relate some of their desires, hopes, and fears with regards to access to materials during the building renovation. This would not just include plans for access to electronic and print materials in the temporary library, but also a review of plans for the future renovated library.

When a consensus is reached between the library staff and the users committee, it usually results in a smoother transition to new services and resources, as well as the elimination of services and resources that are no longer needed. It also eliminates the element of patron surprise that can accompany a decision made solely by the staff of the library, without the input of its users.

Training Your Staff and Patrons

Upon making a decision to subscribe to a new online database, it is important to train both the library staff and library patrons on how to best use the new resource. One way that library users can get the most out of any new online database is by learning the tricks and features of the database as taught by expert trainers from the database vendor.

Most online database vendors are more than willing to send expert trainers to a library that has a subscription to their online resource. They often have suggestions as to specific training sessions that they offer that might work best at a particular library. This is often an added benefit to a subscription that many libraries don‘t take full advantage of. Trainers can teach courses that introduce the database to library staff and patrons, or they can focus on specific features or types of searches that can be accomplished using the database. For example, vendors that provide legal and legislative databases to the DOI Library offer us courses in legislative or regulatory history research.

Training doesn‘t have to stop soon after a database has been introduced. Training courses on databases offered by a library should continue to be offered on a regular basis. This way, those who may have missed an earlier training program can still register for training at a later time; while others who might want to follow up on something they were taught at an earlier session have the opportunity to do so as well. Regularly scheduled training sessions allows users to refresh their memories regarding materials available from specific electronic resources, as well as keep up to date with new features that may have been added to a database since the last training class.

At the DOI Library, we try to offer a different training program on a subscription database every two to three weeks. Over the course of a six-month period of time, we manage to hold at least one training session on each of the online databases that we provide to DOI staff and visiting library patrons. Rotating these classes gives our patrons the opportunity to learn more about all of our online databases, whether they be general reference, scientifically based, or those that deal with legislative and legal issues.

Additionally, if the resources are available, libraries should bring the training to the user. If trainers can travel to different locations where large numbers of employees with access to these databases are, encourage them to do so and offer training classes on site. If travel to these locations is not possible, encourage the use of remote online meeting or webinar software to bring those at locations far away into your training session. Providing training to the user at their location or at their desktop allows them to feel as though the library is coming to them, instead of making them come to the library as was required in the past.

Again, communication is an important factor in insuring the success of training sessions. Regular meetings with the users committee can help establish which training sessions patrons are most interested in seeing offered and how they should be offered. Once a slate of training sessions has been agreed to, tools such as LAN messages, Facebook, Twitter, e-mails, newsletters, flyers, and posters can be used to publicize these programs to the user community.

Libraries should also be encouraged to offer these courses to those outside their delineated user community. Many in the general public interested in subject areas covered by a library would be as interested in attending these training classes as those working for the library‘s home organization or agency. Publicizing training classes through local chapters and divisions of the Special Libraries Association, American Library Association, the federal librarian‘s listserv, and organizations with an interest in topics covered by the mission of a library can help bring about a successful and well-attended program. Promoting these programs to other libraries can also provide great benefits to others in the library community. It allows these libraries the opportunity to review these databases, discuss possible trials and subscription packages with vendors, and eventually make decisions on whether or not to purchase subscriptions themselves.

Returning Home

Subscriptions to online databases replacing print resources that need to be temporarily stored need not be dropped once all print materials are returned to the original library home following renovation. Electronic access to materials formerly only available in print will allow anyone in your organization, no matter where they are located, to retrieve needed information. No longer will they need to physically visit the library or request that a librarian photocopy or scan materials and send them along.

Digital access to these resources will not only allow patrons to bridge the information access gap that exists while a library collection is in storage, online access will continue to allow users the instantaneous access to data they need in our ―I need it yesterday‖ world. Print resources will not ever go entirely away and many print resources may never be available digitally. However, in situations where print resources are unavailable, librarians should encourage their administrations to move towards the acquisition of electronic resources to meet the information needs of their clientele and keep their libraries relevant.

George Franchois is the Director of the U.S. Department of the Interior Library in Washington, DC, a position he has held since 2006. He also serves on the Federal Library and Information Center Committee’s (FLICC) Executive Board and FLICC’s Education Working Group, coordinating its “Great Escapes” program series. He is active in the Special Library Association’s Government Information Division and served as its Programming Director from 2008 to 2010.

During his time as Director of the Department of the Interior Library, Mr. Franchois has worked with Interior Department officials and the library staff to greatly increase the number of electronic resources available to Interior Department personnel around the country through the Library’s website (http://library.doi.gov). He has implemented a series of regular training programs on print and electronic resources available at the Interior Library, as well as special programs highlighting National Park Service sites and resources in the Washington area. All of these programs have been made available not only to Interior Department personnel, but also to the general public.

Prior to his current appointment, he worked for Lockheed-Martin/Aspen Systems Corporation as the Project Manager/Reference Librarian for the Interior Library staffing contract from 2002-2006, and served at the Interior Library as Deputy Project Manager/Reference Librarian from 2000-2002. Prior experience includes Library Technician positions at the Interior Library, Broadcast Pioneers Library, and EPA Headquarters Library.

Mr. Franchois received his Masters degree in Library and Information Science from the Catholic University of America and his undergraduate degree in History from the Pennsylvania State University.

by Marie Kaddell, Washington, DC Chapter, Government Information, Information Technology, Military Libraries Divisions

One of the high points of my year is editing the Best Practices for Government Libraries.  Best Practices is a collaborative document that is put out annually on a specific topic of interest to government libraries and includes content submitted by government librarians and community leaders with an interest in government libraries and government information. The 2011 edition includes over 70 articles and other submissions provided by more than 60 contributors including librarians in government agencies, courts, and the military, as well as from professional association leaders and information professionals working outside of government libraries. 

As I put together Best Practices, I am always inspired by the energy, expertise, and forward-thinking perspectives that are showcased in the article submissions I received for the publication. This year, the topic was e-Initiatives and e-Efforts.  I broke down Best Practices into six areas that reflected some of the key trends that surfaced in the submissions:

• Embracing New Avenues of Communication
• Adapting To New and Evolving Technologies
• Altering Our Places and Spaces
• Tackling Changing Expectations, Resources, and Job Descriptions
• Preserving What We Have and Preparing for The Future
• Expanding Horizons

With authors writing on a suite of hot topics that included:  e-books, e-gov, embedded librarianship, library moves, mentoring, research metrics, social media, virtual reference, telework, and even virtual fundraising in Second Life, being future ready takes on all kinds of different dimensions.

Here’s a sampling of articles authored by SLA members:

• Ten Scary Issues: Future Directions for Military Libraries
  Edwin B. Burgess, Director, Combined Arms Research Library
• Utilizing Electronic Databases During a Library Relocation
  George Franchois, Director, U.S. Dept. of the Interior Library
• Research Metrics: Measuring the Impact of Research
  James King, Information Architect, NIH Library
• Embedded Librarianship and E-Initiatives: The Dynamic Duo
  Rachel Kingcade, Chief Reference & CSC Direct Support Librarian, USMC Research
• Future Ready 365
  Cindy Romaine, SLA President 2011
• Building a Framework to Embrace the New and Expand Your Horizons
  Bruce Rosenstein, Author, Living in More Than One World: How Peter Drucker‘s Wisdom Can Inspire and Transform Your Life
• E-Gov Sites to Go Dark?
  Kim Schultz, Outreach Specialist at the NASA Center for AeroSpace Information, operated by Chugach Federal Solutions, Inc.
• To Build a Virtual Embedded Information Role, Start at the Top
  Mary Talley, Owner, TalleyPartners, 2011 DC/SLA President
• Web E-Accessibility to Reach Full E-Audience: “Expanding Our Horizon” to Better Honor Diversity
  Ken Wheaton, Web Services Librarian, Alaska State Court System Law Library
• Podcasts Get Information Junkies their Fix
  Chris Vestal, Supervisory Patent Researcher with ASRC Management Services, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and DC/SLA‘s 2011 Communication Secretary

If you did not write for this year’s Best Practices, I invite you to submit an article next time around and in the meantime submit a guest post for the Government Info Pro. 

Want more Best Practices? View the 2010 Best Practices:  The New Face of Value in PDF version. 

Marie Kaddell is the Senior Information Professional Consultant for government at LexisNexis.  She is the Chair of the SLA Division of Government Information. She authors and maintains the  Government Info Pro blog. She compiles and edits the annual Best Practices for Government Libraries. You can follow her on Twitter @libraryfocus.