by Eileen Schnur, Librarian at Naval Postgraduate School and SPAWAR Pacific

A first rate line up of engaging speakers brought out applause, laughter, enlightenment and generated plenty of enthusiasm for a full house of eager Military Library Workshop (MLW) attendees in Norfolk in mid December.

There was no doubt that this meticulously planned event went off without a hitch. It looked much like a typical conference to the indiscriminate observer. In short, there were shoulder bags filled with cool vendor swag, light chatter around refreshment areas and tightly scheduled events that allowed for thoughtful question & answer periods after just about every workshop. Very well done.

However, it wasn’t until SLA President, Cindy Romaine, met with our group when I took a second look at the real reason we all took time from work and family to come together in Norfolk. “What is future ready?” She asked. I thought, ‘what are we, as informational professionals, doing to prepare ourselves for the impending joys, struggles and challenges that the information influx will be sure to bring us in the coming years?’ I wondered what great responses to this question where being quietly generated by colleagues around me.

As I looked around at what were now familiar faces seated around the many tables within the banquet room, it dawned on me that there is a deeper purpose to this workshop. I’d compare it to a time-tested recipe. In my (albeit rookie) opinion, I’m convinced the recipe is a dash of professional development, a pinch of service obligation and, well, a pound of… camaraderie.

Truthfully, the greatest take-away from MLW 2011 is buried in the background, that intangible place where the casual observer wouldn’t find it. It’s in the meet and greets, where we find camaraderie.  It’s in the lounge, or bar, or awkward standing tabletops where conversations often lead to camaraderie. By listening to both new ideas and old experiences during face to face discussions around round tables, we create that camaraderie. And, quite frankly, camaraderie will make us future ready. Without being too ethereal, I’ll say this: If military library division provides this opportunity year after year, we’ll be armed with the confidence, tools and friendships to implement those pilot projects and wildly innovative ideas. We will be slicing through tough future ready tasks with a butter knife.

Eileen Schnur received her Master of Library Science from East Carolina University in Greenville, NC.  She currently works in a dual command capacity as a librarian for the Dept of Navy. Eileen splits her hours between the Naval Postgraduate School’s Dudley Knox Library, where she serves as a virtual Reference and Instruction Librarian and SPAWAR San Diego’s Technical Library, where she is the Outreach Librarian.

This week’s posts come from truly gifted professionals of the SLA North Carolina chapter. While each representative has made an effort to keep their topics inline with the central theme of SLA Future Ready 365 blog, you will notice that each post provides a unique perspective and is intended to help a variety of readers that visit the blog. For more information about our members and the North Carolina chapter, be sure to visit ncarolina.sla.org.

The future ready librarian must possess soft skills of marketing and salesmanship as well as the technical knowledge to perform day-to-day duties. In the new normal economy, those who do not provide value that the employers understand will find their employment in peril. Become the best marketer of your skills and value you can be! Here are a few suggestions to survive and be future ready!

• Know your product–You! Know your skills and how an organization can benefit from having you as an asset. Know the size, type, organization, and culture in which you wish to work and market to those employers.
• Demonstrate value–In order to stay employed, you have to understand what the employer values and how to present that information in an understandable way. This is trickier than it sounds. I happen to know of one organization where the information professionals were not allowed to talk to management!
• Hone your skills–Continue your education and tailor the learning to your strengths and the needs of your present and future employers. Take advantage of any educational support because it is a benefit to you, but you must choose to take advantage of it. Just remember, your present and future competition may be improving their skills and acquiring new ones.
• In business, “Location, Location, Location” is a common saying. In the new normal economy, ”Network, Network, Network” should be your personal mantra. Go to conferences, have business cards ready, get involved in your local library groups. Most importantly, take the time to consider which of your contacts you should meet. Being helpful to other networkers pays dividends! Good luck!

Mason is a librarian/information professional from Raleigh, NC. He graduated from Florida State University’s online program with an M.S. in Library and Information Science in 2008. He worked at Strayer University and The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences. Currently he is the Career Chair for the North Carolina Chapter of the Special Libraries Association where he is part of the resume review service development team and acts as a mentor and resume reviewer for new information professionals.

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

When I decided to participate in the SLA Future Ready 365 blog, choosing a topic was a challenge. My background is diverse, but I am new to the field of library and information science, recently receiving an MLIS and am a job seeker. I wondered what I could offer SLA’s experienced, educated and varied readership. There are many things that are exciting about the field of special libraries including sharing information and revelations about personal and professional development. “Write what you know” said Mark Twain (and others); so, I reflected on the past few years.

The knowledge that not everything can be learned in the classroom is apparent – now, even more so than when I received my undergraduate degree (many years ago!); academic study does not fully prepare us for the real world of work, fulfillment and success. It is even clearer to me that the responsibility is on the individual to expand his/her knowledge base in creative ways. Some take part in fieldwork and internships, some do volunteer work, some blog, and some create entrepreneurial businesses. Social media offers many ways to connect with people of like minds, and networking is even more crucial today. One significant opportunity, however, is often forgotten or set aside for a later date: membership in a professional organization.

Organizations, especially SLA-Special Libraries Association, have diverse memberships with rich backgrounds and wide-ranging responsibilities, interests and personalities. Becoming a member is (and should be) more than paying a dues statement. Taking advantage of all an association has to offer takes work, but reaps huge rewards. Students and professionals alike should be reminded of the huge number of programs and the assistance that associations offer. Here are a few of the benefits of an association membership – especially our own SLA.

• Learn: Industry knowledge is enhanced by understanding competencies, ethics, trends, and salary and other surveys. Understand what your association stands for and offers its members.
• Research: Associations offer wide and deep industry materials, LIS developments, resources, and scholarships and internships information via websites, blogs, newsletters and job postings. Access, read and use them.
• Network: Connect with library professionals, peers, students, faculty, industry experts, friends and potential employers. It is critical for success.
• Participate: Be active in SLA. Join divisions in your field of study and others groups that interest you, local chapter leadership teams, national committees and discussion boards. You truly get back a lot when you give of your time and knowledge.
• Share: Get involved in mentoring programs, LinkedIn Groups and Discussions. Meet with those outside your career field to advocate for special librarians. Spread the good news about who we are and what we can do.
• Grow: Develop new skills, expand your knowledge, gain confidence and have fun at local, state and national chapter meetings, seminars, webinars, conferences and committees. Professional and personal development is a life-long learning process.

Through my membership in professional associations, I have been involved in many worthwhile and enjoyable activities. I attended the SLA national conference in Philadelphia – a wonderful experience! I also gave a presentation to a faculty-student group on my international and independent study experiences; organized a educational seminar co-sponsored by an association and my library school; developed programs for a women’s networking group; attended numerous sessions at a state library conference; joined a mentoring program in SLA’s CID (Competitive Intelligence Division); and am a member of a steering committee in a field that interests me. I also continue to participate in many university alumni and other networking groups, contribute to several LinkedIn Groups, consult for a real estate board of directors, and volunteer at my local library and in a childhood development program. Have I done all that I could to become an active association member? No, not yet… that is an ongoing process and a goal to keep in my sights. The benefits of being involved in an association are endless. Get (more) involved in SLA today. Enjoy your membership!

Marilynn Manross received her MLIS from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Information Studies in August 2011. A non-traditional student, her graduate school experience included a study abroad in Paris, an independent study “Corporate Librarianship in France” and three scholarships (one to attend SLA 2011 in Philadelphia). With administrative and financial experience in diverse industries — research, operations, office management and investment portfolio administration — she is currently exploring opportunities in a corporate research department, library or information center. Her next job may be located in her native Milwaukee or as far away as New Mexico, Virginia, Canada or Europe. Marilynn highly values her memberships in SLA, ALA, WLA-Wisconsin Libraries Association, SCIP-Strategic & Competitive Intelligence Professionals, Alpha Kappa Psi Professional Business Fraternity and Alliance Française de Milwaukee.

by Dennie Heye, Europe Chapter, Petroleum & Energy Resources Division

Information professionals usually don’t think of marketing themselves as a big issue. We know we are the key to accessing information; we are service- and customer-oriented; we know our business – so, customers will just come to us, right?

To become future ready, we need to market ourselves – not just to be known, but also to let our customers know who we are and what we can do to help them. Here, I share my experiences with marketing myself successfully as an information professional, both inside and outside my organization.

Promoting my services portfolio

I work in a large, multinational company, so a lot of my clients are not in the same building – or even on the same continent. To be noticed, I have set up a short, informative web page about my services on our intranet.

I spend time every day browsing and reading internal discussion forums, and try to participate in discussions by providing references, pointing to online and offline sources, or suggesting that I set up a literature search for participants. At the bottom of each of my replies is a pointer to my services web site.

Participate in Client Meetings

Besides participating in virtual discussions and collaboration areas, I block time in my calendar every week to attend team meetings and stay up to date with my clients’ work. I try to be proactive in supplying information, or to suggest training for relevant online and offline sources.

When possible, I scan and browse relevant industry journals related to my clients’ business. This way I pick up trends, pointers to relevant publications, plus, I learn their jargon. By being able to speak my clients’ language, or at least show that I am interested in their world, I am taken seriously.

Clear Message

During all my communications, whether through a PowerPoint presentation, a web site or a face-to-face meeting with a new client, I always try to be clear on the services I provide. I emphasize my key advantages as a literature searcher: I have access to a variety of quality information; a wide network; professional knowledge of interviewing, searching and dissemination; and last, but not least, I can provide better information faster and cheaper. Honesty is also something I emphasize – I do not promise what I cannot deliver, even though there sometimes is pressure to do so. On an annual basis, via an anonymous feedback form, I ask my clients to provide comments on my services. This provides me with new ideas for improvement. To get more feedback on my professional performance, I ask trusted colleagues (from different departments) to tell me honestly what they think of my services or approach.

One book which I consider to be very clear and helpful on this topic is Selling the Invisible by Harry Beckwith (New York: Warner Books, 1997), which will help you think about marketing both your services and yourself.

Dennie Heye is a global knowledge manager at a global energy firm in the Netherlands, working on knowledge management and enterprise social media. That said, he is still able to dress himself and carry out simple tasks.

A longer version of this article was originally published in Info Career Trends.

by Dr. Sandra Hirsh, Silicon Valley Chapter, Leadership & Management Division

Tomorrow’s information professionals, who are in graduate school today, need to be ready for the rapid changes facing our profession. When they complete their degrees, will they be prepared to enter a profession that’s evolving so quickly? I encourage students (and those who mentor them) to start thinking creatively and flexibly about future career opportunities as early as possible in their graduate program.

Today’s MLIS students need to think broadly about their skillset and how they can apply their knowledge to a wide range of career pathways. LIS professionals have valuable and unique skills that are in growing demand, yet many of today’s students don’t recognize the value of an MLIS degree. During their MLIS program, students should take the time to network with faculty members, practitioners, and industry leaders, who can inspire them to think more broadly about the range of career opportunities for tomorrow’s LIS professionals.

Students need to be strategic as they choose their courses, thinking about how the knowledge they gain in graduate school can help them pursue tomorrow’s jobs. They should take advantage of their program’s academic advising and career development tools, and read blogs about emerging trends for LIS jobs. As our field is quite broad, before selecting courses, students need to understand the relevance of specific electives to potential career pathways they may want to pursue. Students should also complete an internship, where they can make connections with practitioners, gain real-world experience, and see how their skills can be applied in a variety of professional settings.

I also think it’s critical for today’s MLIS students to be comfortable exploring and adapting to new technology, as technology will continue to play an important role in our profession. Students should seek out opportunities to use technology in their learning activities. For example, students should be comfortable using web conferencing, blogs, wikis, and social networking sites. They should make it a priority to explore how technology is impacting our profession so they emerge from graduate school ready to share their ideas with their employers.

Today’s MLIS students also need to develop a lifelong learning community, made up of a diverse group of colleagues, who are eager to collaborate and explore solutions to changing priorities. While still in school, students should take time to build their professional network. One way this can be accomplished is through participation in professional associations, including student chapters based at their university.

In the past, attending professional conferences has posed challenges because of difficulties getting time off work and affording travel expenses. However, many professional conferences are now offered virtually, opening up new opportunities to get involved in conference planning, presentations, and networking. For example, the upcoming Library 2.011 worldwide virtual conference in November will bring together a global audience to explore how the digital age is impacting the roles libraries and librarians play in how we learn and consume information. These types of conferences provide excellent venues for students to get involved in the professional community and learn about new trends in our field.

It’s an exciting time to be preparing tomorrow’s information professionals. I look forward to feedback from any of you who would like to engage in further dialogue about how MLIS programs can help today’s students be future ready.

Sandra Hirsh is Professor and Director of the School of Library and Information Science at San José State University. Prior to joining the School as Director, she worked in the Silicon Valley for more than a decade at major technology companies: Hewlett Packard and Microsoft. As an industry user experience researcher, leader, and manager, she contributed to R&D research projects and influenced the user experience of web, mobile, and TV consumer products resulting in 5 U.S. patents. She was previously an assistant professor at the University of Arizona, and has taught courses for San José State University and the University of Washington.

Hello from the nation’s capital!  DC/SLA is excited to be contributing all of this week’s FutureReady365 posts (thanks to our future-thinking Communications Secretary, Chris Vestal).  We are a diverse community of 800+ information professionals, with members from D.C., Maryland, Virginia, as well as 30 other U.S. states and 12 countries.  You’ll see this diversity reflected in the range of future ready ideas presented in posts throughout the week.  We hope our posts will spark some thought and conversation and, of course, your comments. Most of all, we want to help keep the spark of the FutureReady blog alive  – a spark that’s become a fire, gathering us around it to brainstorm our way into the future. — Mary Talley, DC/SLA President (2011)

by Chris Vestal, Washington, DC Chapter, Government Information and Leadership & Management Divisions

I grew up with the Indiana Jones franchise. It was my favorite trilogy as a kid (Temple of Doom was the best), so naturally when the fourth installment came out a few years ago I had to see it. I went expecting whip cracking, snake fearing, action adventure. As an unexpected bonus I got career advice that’s really impacted how I approach being Future Ready. There’s a scene where Indy and his son are peeling through a library on a motorcycle and Indy sees a group of students and tells them if they want to be successful they’ve “got to get out of the library.”

We all know how important it is to network among librarians but what a lot of people forget is that it’s just as important to reach outside library land and network with nonlibrarians. Sure it is part of a library director’s job to network with other departments in the organization, but it’s also the job of everyone who works in the library to represent it to every other person in the organization. Those of us in the front lines are in the perfect environment to reach out and build relationships with people outside the library and be its public face. It doesn’t take much—any time you encounter someone in the hall, the lunch room, even walking in the building is another opportunity to build relationships.

Networking like this can be critical to the success of the library and even the overall organization. If people get to know you and what you’re capable of they’re a lot more likely to seek out your services. They’re also more likely to provide positive feedback or anecdotal stories that can be used to illustrate the value of your services. Sometimes they’re the best people to communicate the library’s ROI to key decision makers since they’re more likely to speak the decision makers’ language and aren’t seen as inherently biased towards the library.

A former coworker of mine had an experience like this. When he was new in the library he made a point to network outside of the library. He developed a strong professional relationship with an internal client when she was new to the organization. Over time they moved past being acquaintances and became friends. Eventually they were both promoted in the organization. His friend became a supervisor to 20 other people and because of her experiences with the library and my coworker she now requires her staff to use the library’s research services before turning in their final work for her to review.

Even in the short time I’ve been active in the profession I’ve had a similar experience. I’m a contractor in an organization with a large library composed of several satellite libraries. When I was first promoted to a supervisor I was transferred to a new satellite library where I didn’t know my new staff or any of our internal clients. When we receive a research request from a client we typically contact them either via email, IM, or phone to do a reference interview. But I actually like to leave the library and meet clients face to face in their office, that way I could put faces with names and get to know them. I try to engage them in small talk too; that way I’m more than just a faceless person to them. I did this one day with a client who’d used the library before but only about 3-4 times a year. He sent in very favorable feedback about the research I’d done for him and right away tripled the number of research requests he sent in. Each time I worked on something for him I made a point to meet him in person and do some small talk. Now he’s one of our regular customers. Whenever any of us do research requests for him he always provides helpful feedback about our value, frequently as a narrative that we can turn around and use to justify and market our existence to key stakeholders. Taking the time to get to know him and to let him get to know me is at least partially responsible for the change.

But I benefited in another way too. One day after we were done talking about his research request we somehow got on the subject of working out and he mentioned that he’d been doing several different martial arts systems for years in addition to traditional gym work outs. He mentioned it so casually I didn’t think anything about it at the time. Then a few months later I noticed signs up in the area advertising self-defense classes teaching a system I’d never heard of. I remembered our conversation about martial arts and called my client and asked him if he knew anything about the system of self-defense the flier talked about. My client laughed and told me he did because it was his flier; he’d just started a self-defense training company.

Taking a class like that had always appealed to me but I’d always been too nervous about embarrassing myself to try it. But since I knew and trusted the instructor I went ahead and made the leap and now his class is one of my favorite ways of staying active. I’ve noticed I’m not quite as clumsy and much more confident than before. I was sharing my experience with another DC/SLA member one day and she mentioned a group class like that sounded fun. So I talked to DC/SLA’s programming planner and she thought that would make a good program too—now DC/SLA is sponsoring an introduction to self-defense class with my instructor.

If I’d just interviewed my client over the phone I probably wouldn’t have taken the time to get to know him and I would never have known he knew about martial arts. I wouldn’t have thought to ask him about the fliers and I’d really be missing out. So while I’m sure the writers meant Indy’s line to just be a funny one liner making a habit of getting “out of the library” can lead you to all kinds of adventures.

Chris Vestal is a Supervisory Patent Researcher with ASRC Management Services on its contract at the US Patent and Trademark Office. Chris is also DC/SLA’s 2011 Communication Secretary.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  

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

     

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

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

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

by Neil Infield, Europe Chapter, Business & Finance Division

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

neil dot infield at bl.uk

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

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

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

1. Develop a network

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

2. Say yes to everything you can

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

3. Everything is worth learning about

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

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

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