Technical communicators face many of the same challenges that confront information professionals when it comes to staying Future Ready in a profession that changes constantly. We reached out to a group of prominent movers and shakers in the profession and asked how they manage their careers, and these are their stories.

Copyright © 2001 by John V. Hedtke

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

1. Go to things!

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

2. Meet people.

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

3. Listen.

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

4. Remember peoples’ names.

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

5. Speak at events.

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

6. Publish articles.

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

7. Have some opinions.

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

8. Be ready to disagree with people appropriately.

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

9. Make connections between people.

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

10. Have fun.

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

Summary

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

===/===

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

Technical communicators face many of the same challenges that confront information professionals when it comes to staying Future Ready in a profession that changes constantly. We reached out to a group of prominent movers and shakers in the profession and asked how they manage their careers, and these are their stories.

by Ben Moore, Senior Technical Writer/Project Lead (and part time comic book writer)

I’m lucky to have a stable job and a stable career. But stability can also equal stagnant.

Usually my eye toward the future is focused on keeping that stability. My life at home is exciting enough with kids activities, neighborhood picnics and the occasional evening out with my wife. But this was the year I needed a shakeup.

Juggling work, dad, husband, volunteer and coaching duties is not a problem. I’ve worked to become better at each of those activities. The problem is, I don’t spend much time stepping out of the box and improving me.

This year I wanted to check off an adventure in my bucket list so I’d at least not regret that I didn’t try – writing and publishing my own comic book.

Writing is what I do for a living, although it usually involves a bunch of 1’s and 0’s or a whole lot of strange phrases like “flip chip ball grid array.” In order to rejuvenate work life and my sense of fulfillment, I needed to write something creative.

They say when you want to lose weight, you should tell a friend because they’ll keep you honest. Without thinking, I casually told a friend that I wanted to write a comic book. He said “Great! Now go write it. You have until the end of the month.” I instantly had a fan and an editor all rolled into one.

Writing my first comic also turned out to be a valuable experience for my day job. All I wanted to do was tell a story, but I ended up making new business contacts, improving my writing ability, and thrilling my boss with some new technical documentation that was more exciting than the usual plain white bread we publish.

Coincidentally, during the time I started writing, my favorite comic book writer was teaching a new class at PSU, AND our division GM said we need to start taking one day a quarter to “follow our passion” to improve creativity in our work.  It was an open door to do anything I wanted, and out came a comic strip about how to log in to our project tracking system.

The GM loved it and wanted more. My company paid for me to take the PSU class. I ended up meeting two other aspiring Technical Writers. One of them ended up being a wonderful intern for me. And for the first time in my life, school was fun.

I used my newfound skills (and free time provided by said handy intern) to self-publish three comics within six months. Financially, only one of those comics broke even, but I’m still making adjustments. And I still have three issues to go, so who knows, maybe next year you’ll see my characters showing up on your child’s lunchbox.

Ben Moore has been a Technical Writer and a Technical Communication Project Leader at Intel for the past 8 years. After graduating from Pacific Lutheran University with a degree in Communications, Ben began his career as a sports reporter but later shifted toward careers with normal working hours. Now Ben spends his free time playing with his kids, coaching kids sports, bicycling, and reading comic books.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

by Jane Dysart, Dysart & Jones Associates, SLA Fellow, President 1995-6 & John Cotton Dana Recipient

It’s great when organizations, and people, think about their future. Many do not.  In their book, Competing for the Future in the mid-90s, Gary Hamel & C. K. Prahalad said,

“In our experience, about 40% of senior executives’ time is spent looking outward, and of this time, 30% is spent peering 3, 4, 5 plus years into the future.  And of the time spent looking forward, no more than 20% is spent attempting to build a collective view of the future (the other 80% is spent looking at the future of the manager’s particular business).Thus, on average, senior management is devoting less than 3% (40% x 30% x 20% =2.4%) of its energy to building a corporate perspective on the future. In some companies the figure is less than 1%.”

This statement resonated with me at the time and is the reason that Dysart & Jones Associates has had a successful strategic planning consulting practice for almost 20 years. We created an accelerated planning technique that we use to facilitate expedited planning with clients, we wrote an article on Standing in the Future in Special Libraries (precursor to Information Outlook) in 2000, we teach and talk about planning in many venues — most recently at the SLA conference last month in Philadelphia with Thinking Strategically: How to See the Big Picture/Possibilities.

But how do we, and how should you, get insights and ideas to create strategic and innovative directions and priorities to be ready for the future?

1. Be deeply aware of your context and environment, not just your own operation but your organization’s, your industry’s, your community’s as well as the technological, social, political, and economic realities and possibilities.  Have you studied your organization’s strategic plan or your community’s master plan?  Have you read what industry analysts are saying about your industry or emerging technologies?

2. Be open to seeing things differently & adjusting your “frames” with openness, flexibility and adaptability, by clarifying assumptions and questioning the status quo, by getting the facts, and by focusing on the future.

3. Practice good strategic & critical thinking which raises the right questions – clearly & precisely; focuses on the real problem or decision to be taken; gathers & assesses relevant information; uses abstract ideas to interpret info effectively; develops well-reasoned conclusions & solutions, testing them against relevant criteria and standards; relies on recognizing & assessing  assumptions, implications, & consequences; communicates effectively with others in figuring out solutions to complex problems.

4. Create a positive vision of the future, a preferred future that is a stretch from the current situation — stand in 2015 and imagine your organization at the top of its game, with highly skilled colleagues illustrating future ready competencies, with clients that rave about your services and call you “indispensable,” with perfectly working technology & processes that allow efficient & effective collaborative work spaces, with supportive stakeholders who fund your operation and are willing to try your new ideas. Isn’t that where you want to be in 2015?  Explain what you just envisioned to a colleague or friend using the present tense and you will definitely want to be there. Try it. Now. And remember what Eugenie Prime, formerly with Hewlett Parkard, exhorted a few years ago — “No puny visions!”

5. Be curious, listen & read.  See opportunities. Go to conferences where you can mix it up with all types of information professionals SLA Annual and Regional Conferences, Internet Librarian, Library Directors Digital Library Summit, Computers in Libraries to name a few, (and yes I have a vested interest in those as Information Today has been a wonderful client of mine for almost 20 years and allows me to grow and learn from great speakers and participants), or go to leading industry conferences that influence those in your organization whether it’s pharmaceuticals, food, medicine, etc.  Ask questions, talk to people, learn as much as you can about your environment so that you can see opportunities or gaps that you can fill. As Winston Churchill said, “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” Watch for difficulties and pain points; jump on those opportunities and create new services to alleviate those challenges.

Jonathan Leff, San Francisco Bay Region Chapter, Academic and Museums, Arts & Humanities Divisions

I recently read a FutureReady 365 blog post by Chelle Batchelor titled “The Future Ready Job Search,” in which she highlighted four elements of a successful job search: Community, Collaboration, Flexibility and Adaptability. I feel that these four elements are key to anyone working in the information field of the future.

Earlier this year, the SLA San Francisco Bay Region Chapter began a project to archive all the copies of its Bayline newsletter, which began in 1929. As a newly minted information professional, I jumped at the chance to contribute my skills to the organization, learn new skills, and to network with other info pros in my area. In our first meeting to assess the situation, we decided to look at the actual physical archives (located in the basement of a building in UC Berkeley), and then begin the process of indexing all of the Bayline issues up to the present day, with the goal of eventually being able to digitize all the issues that currently exist only in print form, so as to make them available for future generations.

What do bound volumes of newsletters from the Hoover administration have to do with being future ready? To me, being future ready is all about using the latest technological tools for dissemination of information to retrieve the past from remote cellars and bring it into the light of day where it can be accessed by all who wish to view it. While our eventual goal of digitization may be a ways off, we are still able to use online collaboration tools to give everyone a virtual common space in which we can share information and ideas about the project.

Two key traits that current and future information professionals must possess are flexibility and adaptability. In order to be able to deliver information to a client – or even to share it with collaborators – an information professional needs to know which are the appropriate tools for the job at hand out of the many tools he or she has at his or her disposal.

At our first project meeting, someone mentioned PBworks as a good platform for shared collaboration, and I volunteered to create a PBworks space for our project. I took the time to set up pages that I thought would be relevant to the project, including an instruction page to guide members to the site, after which I notified everyone that they now had access to the site. Soon, members of my group informed me that PBworks didn’t do what we wanted it to do, namely allow people to view each other’s work and collaborate simultaneously on documents. I realized that Google Docs would allow us to do this, and readily switched to it from PBworks and agreed to be the point person for any people who may have been unfamiliar with it.

In a sense, the other members of my group were also users, and as the person who set up the shared workspaces, it was my job to respond to their needs and provide them with the right tools so that everyone could easily access information about our project, and therefore be able to collaborate. It would not have done for me to say “my way or the highway” and insist that everyone use a platform that was not appropriate for the job. If I had done so, I would most likely have found myself off the project.

Information professionals do this every day. We assess the needs of our users in a wide array of situations where people need to have easy and efficient access to information to make informed decisions or to collaborate on group efforts. Through our possession of diverse tools and skills that can be brought into any situation requiring organization of information for easy accessibility, we are uniquely poised to contribute to the collective intelligence of the communities we serve.

Jonathan Leff is a recent graduate of San Jose State University’s School of Library and Information Science. He is particularly interested in the way people use information and the interplay between information and technology. He can be reached at jleff@comcast.net.

By Stephen Abram, Toronto Chapter, Business & Finance, Information Technology, Leadership & Management Divisions

Part 1

And the future is still in front of me and always will be! Cindy Romaine asked me to write a guest post for this blog and I am honoured to do so. I believe that her future ready theme is right on. The only thing we need to prepare for is the future. The past is gone and the present disappears in the blink of an eye. By coincidence I’ve just passed my 30th anniversary of graduating from library school and it’s caused me to reflect. I tell myself that I probably have another 30 years left. So I’ve decided that I am still mid-career. What have I learned in the first half of my library life about preparing for the future that may be in any useful?
Listed below are some personal insights that I’ve learned and have found them personally meaningful over the years, so I pass them on to you here in the hope that it helps us all become more future ready. Honestly, I’ve made a lot of mistakes and it’s probably better to learn that way, but here goes:

1. Watch the Banana: When it comes to observing user behaviour and changing behaviours it is wise to remember the banana. I was once forced to watch primates for days as part of a bachelor level primatology course. We often watched them eat. Upon returning to class, the professor gave us all bananas and asked us to peel them like an ape. North Americans grab the banana by the stem and pull it open. This method crushes the top. The whole class proceeded to do it this way. He then showed a film of an ape peeling a banana. If we carefully observe chimpanzees and bananas we can see that they carefully pull the skin of a banana from the softer non-stem end and the white fruit is pristinely unwrapped as a thing of unbruised beauty. The lesson for us budding primatologists and ethnographers that I never forgot: Observe carefully. Don’t look for what you expect. When you’re looking for insights into human behaviour or the direction of the world, you’ll find it in what you don’t see at first.
2. Play with Vigor and Intent: Everyone who knows me knows that I am a huge proponent of play in the workplace. This isn’t just playing with all of the new technology toys and websites that are presenting us with opportunities on a daily basis. I love that as much as the next person. What I am also advocating is that we also include ensuring that fun and humour enter our work lives on a daily basis (or more) too. Secondly, focus is good but focusing too intently is not as great. You can see opportunity in new things when you play. When you research or investigate something for work alone with your workplace goggles on, sometimes you miss the biggest opportunities in the innovation. Occasional undirected play at work loosens the unconscious and frees the mind to explore new ideas. Successful people and work teams leave time for play – alone and together. Play is not frivolous but remains one of the most potent learning strategies there is. And, frankly, it makes it fun to go to work every day. Happy teams, having fun together, is, I believe, a predictor of workplace success, employee retention, and lifelong health. Do you make time to play? Relax. You will see more opportunities for a better future in a relaxed state than all of the moments of intense concentration combined. Are you laughing and giggling enough all day? Live intentionally.
3. Hang out with different people and people who are different than you: Lately, I’ve been thinking about the echo chamber that is librarianship. I worry that we are listening too much to each other and not enough to others. I am not advocating that we listen less to eachother but that we adjust the balance to include more voices. How do our real customers talk about their encounters with the new information technologies? If we talk about ‘e-books’ and they talk about ‘reading’ (see the difference?), are we framing the issues correctly? And, how diverse is the community of people you deal with? Are there enough non-librarians, non family members, in your circle? How about the wonderful demographic mosaic of gender, age, nationality, ethnicity, race, language and geography in your conversation zone? Is it diverse? Do you have personal experience with young librarians and young people or vice versa? Do you travel enough to challenging experiences and places? Don’t sit with friends all the time at events or conferences – you already know them! People from diverse backgrounds can approach issues, decisions and problems in different and still valid ways. If your peers are non-diverse, I believe that it affects the quality of your insights and decisions. Mix it up.
4. Avoid the Eeyores! Some people add no value to your life and you run the risk of damaging yourself by being around them too much. People who are negative or critical in the extreme, but devoid of critical thinking are negative influences in your life. I love being around people who bang away at ideas aggressively to make them better. They’re awesome. I am talking about avoiding people who are joyless. As the economy gets worse, there seem to be more of these negative folks. Critical thinking allows for seeing weaknesses in an idea or argument and working toward correcting or improving or disproving the thinking. People for whom criticism, devoid of a context to improve ideas, where snark and name calling rule the day, are best avoided when the time can be spent with others who focus on making the world of ideas a better place. If you’ve ever met a person who is a black hole and sucks all of the life and happiness out of the room and conversation, you know what I mean. Run towards the light! The future needs to be somewhere where you want to be, and some people just can’t make that voyage. They’re locked in the ambiguity of the present tense.
5. Fail and Fail Often, but Fail Safe: You’ll discover the future by trying to invent it yourself. There are two kinds of people – those who create the future and those who live in their own personal, endless Hell of the present. Make the choice to be an animator in life. The avoidance of risk is death to growth and adaptability. Take small and manageable risks in order to learn. You’re not learning to ski or skate unless you’re falling down. How many small risks of failure did you take today? It can be as simple as meeting someone you don’t know, trying a new website, changing your
   personal style of interaction or something even bigger like loading new software or temporarily changing a work process. Try to recall when you learned to ride a bicycle. Remember the failures and then the heart floating feeling of balance and movement? I remember when I first tried public speaking with some embarrassment but I got better over time with my supportive SLA network. The opportunities to try new things are endless and, yet, we seem to partake of them too rarely. Can you schedule a daily potential-risk-of-failure-event until it becomes a habit and part of your work life? Grow pearls when you discover an irritant. Start small, pilot and experiment. Nurture and incubate. You’ll be a better professional for it.
6. Listen to your Gut: Bio-feedback works. I have learned to listen to my gut and persevere when I don’t feel right about something. Not every technology is future ready. Many have severe shortcomings or run the risk of damaging the world of information, knowledge, learning and more. Some just aren’t ready for primetime or anyone other than the early adopters. My subconscious tells me things if only I’d listen to it. I am not saying that it is telling me in black and white to do or not do something. It is often telling me things that affect the direction and experience. My gut senses distrust faster than my mind. It tells me when something might be conflicting with my personal or professional values or morals. My gut tells me when I’m not quite ready. My gut tells me when I have lingered too long in a lovely past paradigm that is now failing me. Trust your gut.
7. Do and Try: It’s not enough to be just an observer. Participate in the world as it changes. Comment and learn. Share – write, blog, tweet, and have deep conversations. Experience comes from participation. The person watching the gold fish in the bowl does not understand the goldfish.
8. Encourage the Heart: One of the most delightful aspects of librarianship is our supportive networks. Also our workplaces tend to be clean and safe. We have a personal responsibility to take this gift and improve upon it. We have potentially thousands of interactions a month. With each interaction, with each moment of truth, we represent the best of what we have to offer to the world. We can make a huge difference in people’s lives. And, with our attitude we can encourage the heart. Wake up every day choosing to make a difference in your end users lives, and, for that matter, all of your co-workers, neighbours, and colleagues.

Watch for part two and 10 more!

Stephen Abram, MLS is a Past President of SLA and is Vice President, Strategic Partnerships and Markets, for Gale Cengage Learning. He is an SLA Fellow and the past president of the Ontario Library Association and the Canadian Library Association. In June 2003 he was awarded SLA’s John Cotton Dana Award and the AIIP Roger Summit Award in 2009. In 2011 he is Canada’s CLA Outstanding Librarian of the Year. He is the author of Out Front with Stephen Abram and Stephen’s Lighthouse blog. Stephen would love to hear from you at stephen.abram@gmail.com.

by Karly Szczepkowski, Michigan Chapter, Business & Finance Division

I still remember when I attended orientation for my MLIS. I wasn’t even sure that I wanted an MLIS! I was sitting in an auditorium and the dean of the program said, “Look around you [at the other students attending orientation]. This is your competition. This is who you will be competing for in the job search.” I hadn’t thought about it that way, but he was right. I looked around the room and saw all these intelligent, hard-working people. How was I going to distinguish myself from them? We will all receive a MLIS, so how will I demonstrate to employers that I am the best candidate for the job?

I went home and thought long and hard. I thought about what I did and didn’t do when pursuing my undergraduate degree. Then I created a three-prong approach. In addition to pursuing my MLIS, I decided to:

1. Gain relevant work experience. For me, this was critical: it would provide experience so I could meet those requirements on job applications, it would provide networking opportunities, and it would expose me to the type of work I would be doing BEFORE I graduated, giving me a chance to evaluate the work and decide if it was what I was really interested in. Figuring this out before graduation was important to me; it’s much less stressful to change your mind when you are a student then when you a permanent full-time employee that may have moved across the country to work in a field you later realize you don’t like. Even if you already have work experience, I still don’t see how it hurts to continue to gain experience while you are studying. I knew a few people who quit their jobs to focus on school full-time; one even turned down a prestigious internship because, “internships are for people with no work experience. I already have experience.” Then they graduated and had no job. Worse, their skills were now 1-2 years old and they were competing against other grads with more current skills.
2. Join a professional association. It’s a great way to network. Since I was interested in nontraditional libraries, I chose to join SLA, which has a very active state chapter. At first, I was afraid to attend meetings. But everyone was so nice and welcoming! They were thrilled to have me join them, even though I was a student. And amazingly, despite living in a state with two library/information science programs, I was often times the only student to attend meetings. That got me noticed! Professional librarians – the people who could possibly have job openings in the future – knew my name, knew I was interested in special libraries, and through my work with SLA, knew what I was capable of.
3. Create my own personal brand. I know what you’re thinking: what does that mean? Isn’t that just some meaningless advertising mumbo-jumbo? Instead of answering that question, I’m going to ask one: What color is the UPS truck? It’s brown. How do you know that? Because UPS made a conscious decision to “brand” itself as brown. Just like Coke made a decision to use red in its packaging and McDonald’s made sure all its arches were golden.

In life, we have many choices on how to ship packages, what to drink and where to eat. And employers have many choices on who to hire. I’ve heard of library directors receiving 100+ resumes for just one open position. How do they choose? That could be a book all in itself, but rather than sit and think about it, I wanted to do something about it. I decided to create my own brand. I was lucky to have a rather unique name, so I decided to use it to my advantage. When people heard my name, I wanted them to associate that name with an up-and-coming information professional.

I did that by taking on a leadership position in my school’s student chapter of SLA, first as Secretary and then as President. I organized frequent tours of special libraries – sometimes one every three weeks (which is another way to network!). I spoke about SLA at student orientation, I served on a panel offering “success tips” to new students, I presented at conferences, and I posted regularly on the student listserv.

You can brand yourself, too. Think about what makes you different from the hundreds of others who are in your LIS program. What do you have to offer that they don’t? Share that with the LIS community!

Can’t think of anything? Well how about this: you have initiative. You’re reading this blog. You’re thinking about what makes you different. Some people never do that. Or some people do, but never do anything about it. Just by doing something about it, you’re demonstrating how you’re different than everyone else with an MLIS. So even if you think what you’re sharing isn’t unique, even if you think you’re not unique, the mere act of taking initiative will make you stand out and get you noticed.

Karly Szczepkowski, is a Development Research Analyst at Wayne State University. She gathers, interprets, analyzes, and disseminates information to secure support for the University. Karly is currently President of the Michigan Chapter of SLA.

by Dave Cappoli, Lisa Chow, Jill Hurst-Wahl, Sonja Sajonas, John Walsh

Future Ready Toolkit

This post is from SLA’s new Future Ready Toolkit. The Toolkit was constructed by SLA members who have drawn upon substantial professional experience and alignment research to help you hone your skills in a way that is relevant and global. The toolkit is collaboration, alignment, adaptation, and community put into action.

Table of Contents

• Overview
• SLA Tools for LIS Students
• Examples of Job Titles for MLIS Graduates
• Networking Advice
• Your Reputation, CV, and Portfolio Matter
• Tools, Tips, and Tricks for the New Information Professional

Overview

As the premier association for library and information professionals, SLA’s mission is aimed at promoting and empowering its members through learning, advocacy, and networking initiatives.

The first section of this tool will provide in-depth overview of SLA’s resources specifically for library and information students seeking to begin their careers as information professionals.

The following sections will examine relevant topics that an LIS student is faced with as they near graduation and are faced with career-decisions.

SLA Tools for LIS Students

By David Cappoli

• Student Membership – A bargain at $40, a student membership provides you with access to the full range of membership benefits, from Information Outlook, to job listings, to chapter and division scholarship opportunities.  And as part of your membership you can join a topical division and regional chapter.
• What is a Special Library?  Presented on behalf of the SLA First Five Years Advisory Council, this recorded presentation presents a case study of a special library.
• Career Center – A valuable collection of resources that can assist with furthering one’s career in the information profession.  Includes job listings.  Particularly useful are:
  • Career Articles - How to become indispensable in your organization.
  • Career Coaching-Virtual assistance on career guidance.
  • Career Podcasts – Recordings on a variety of topics from writing cover letters, to job application mistakes, to decoding the job interview.
• First Five Years Advisory Council – The council focuses on the needs of individuals new to the profession.  The council has developed the following presentations to assist new professionals in their careers:
  • Locating Open Positions – How to find the right position for you.
  • Networking – Learn how to develop networking opportunities.
  • Salary Negotiation – Understand how to talk about the challenging subject of your salary
• First Five Years on Facebook – Connect with the Council on Facebook.
• Scholarships – Chapters and divisions may offer scholarships to library and information studies students.  Divisions often sponsor contests for travel stipends so that students can attend an SLA conference.
• SLA Early Conference Award – Presented by SLA Europe, this award was established “provide the opportunity for those at the start of their career to attend the SLA Annual Conference.”
• SLA Innovation Laboratory – Not enough time to explore an emerging technology on your own, then it is time to play and discover in the Innovation Lab.
• SLA Students Facebook Group – Join fellow SLA students on Facebook.

Examples of Job Titles for MLIS Graduates

If you’re in school as a library and information science student, you are probably aware of the large degree of variation in job title that an information professional is faced with. This variation is only getting bigger. Below is a quick-list of examples, taken straight from the source: the SLA career center.
*disclaimer: the importance of job title varies on a case-by-case basis. When it comes down to it, every manager is looking for a good team member.

• Manager of research services
• Business intelligence analyst
• Systems librarian
• Senior information specialist
• Prospect researcher
• Sales manager
• Business research librarian
• Librarian
• Head of cataloging and technology services
• KCM information services manager
• University librarian
• Curator of rare books and manuscripts

So, the word librarian is used in a little less than half the listings. And yes, you’re reading that right, a sales manager position was listed on the SLA career center. Why? Because the organization wanted someone with a knowledge of document and record keeping, publishing, and cataloging, an MLIS graduate, who happens to be good at sales. Some SLA members even have job titles such as VP of marketing and VP of strategic markets and partnerships. Lots of members have founded their own research, competitive intelligence, and social media consulting firms. What else do you happen to be good at?

Your degree is your gateway.

Networking Advice

From Jill Hurst-Wahl’s post on Digitization 101. Jill is a professor at Syracuse University School of LIS.

• What stops people from networking is that they think they have nothing to say, aren’t interesting, or are too shy.  I bet you talk to the checkout clerk at the supermarket about your groceries, right?  That is a short, focused conversation.  When you’re networking, your conversations can also be short and focused.
• In Syracuse, NY, the natural conversation starter is the weather.  At a conference, the natural conversation starter is asking about the sessions.  For example, “what sessions have you thought were the best so far?”  (Notice that it is an open-ended question and not a yes-no question.  This gives the person an opportunity to say something meaningful.)  Every situation has a natural starter…and once you know it, you can use it over and over and…!
• Remember to introduce yourself.  If you want to make a connection with the other person, that person needs to know who you are.  “Hi, I’m…”, ”By the way, I’m…”, “…nice to meet you. I’m…”  And say your name clearly.  Even though you know who you are, it can be helpful practicing saying your name and your affiliation, so that you are guaranteed to say it smoothly. (“Hi, I’m Jill Hurst-Wahl. I just graduated with my MSLIS with a focus in digital libraries.”)
• If this is someone that has some synergy with you, give the person a business card. This not only gives the person your contact information, but it reminds them of your name.  (Honestly, I have had many great conversations with people that I know, but whose name I can’t remember.  Exchanging business cards is very helpful.)  Feeling awkward handing over your card?  “Here’s my card, in case you want to talk about this later.”  “My contact information has changed a bit, so here’s my new business card.”  “I don’t know if you have my contact info, so here’s my card.”
  • Consider including on your business card the URL for your LinkedIn profile and other relevant (and professional) social media accounts.  For many, this is much more useful than having your mailing address.
• And there is the magic word…listen.  Networking isn’t just about talking; it is about listening.  Learn how to be an active listener, then ask open ended questions, listen carefully to the replies, and ask follow-up questions when appropriate.  You’ll gather lots of useful information and the other person will think that you are a wonderful conversationalist!
• Remember that it is quality not quantity. It isn’t the number of people that you talk with, but the quality of the conversations that you have.  In other words, it is better to talk with a few people and make excellent connections that to talk to lots of people in very quick (likely meaningless) conversations.
• Have fun! While you should be professional in your networking activities, engaging in fun events with potential colleagues is okay. And honestly, even in lighter moments, serious topics and wonderful connections can be made.
• It is possible to network all the time.  That may be a scary thought for some people, so think of it this way…it is always possible to encounter someone with whom you want to make a connection.  When you run into someone like that, take the opportunity to exchange contact information, schedule time to talk, or whatever is appropriate.

Your Reputation, CV, and Portfolio Matter

From Jill Hurst-Wahl’s post on Digitization 101

Many people are creating their portfolios online and including in them samples of their work (e.g., papers and presentations).  Keep in mind that your portfolio doesn’t need to be fancy; it just needs to be a good representation of you.  Placing this information online — either on a web site, in a blog, or in LinkedIn*(*perhaps with a connection to SlideShare) — allows you to present what you want people to know about you and your work.  It also makes you more findable.  Someone searching on a topic of interest may stumble upon something you have and then be interested in you as a professional. And – yes – you want to be findable.

• Take time to clean up that information that is online about you in Facebook and other social networking site.
  • Review the photos that you’re in and make sure that they reflect the you that an employer would like to hire.
  • And check your profiles – even in places like Twitter- to ensure that they say what you truly want to communicate.
  • The bottom line is – Don’t lose out on a job opportunity because you either were not findable or what was found wasn’t deemed professional.
• Use all of the resources that are available to you.
  • Have you stopped into Career Services on your campus?
  • Have you done mock interviews?
  • Have you checked out other resources that have been mentioned on syllabi, in classes or during orientation?
• Ingest content about the profession
  • This will prepare you with in-depth understanding of the important trends and issues that the industry you are about to enter is facing.
  • That includes reading blogs as well as the professional literature, watching videos and presentations, and listening to podcasts.
  • Below are some places to start:
    • Information Today (magazine)
    • Searcher(magazine)
    • EContent(magazine)
    • Library Journal (magazine)
    • LibPunk Radio (podcast)
    • Adventures in Library Instruction (podcast)
    • T is for Training (podcast)
    • Free Range Librarian (blog)
    • Tennant: Digital Libraries (blog)
    • Book of Trogool (blog)
    • David Lee King (blog)
    • Walking Papers (blog)
  • Finally, no matter the day or the time, there are people who are supportive of you and your desire to be a librarian (or knowledge professional or information professional or…).  Grad school is a stressful time for everyone, so do reach out to family and friends and allow them to heap words of encouragement on you and maybe a little help to get you through a rough spell (e.g., dinner, a game of cards or help with laundry).  Don’t worry…at some point, you’ll repay their efforts by being there to give them or someone else needed support.  Who knows…you might find yourself lending support to a stressed LIS student.

Tips, Tricks & Tools for the New Information Professional

By Lisa Chow and Sandra Sajonas, presented at SLA@PRATT Career Day



David Cappoli is the digital resources librarian at the UCLA department of Information Studies. He is former president of the SLA Southern California chapter (2008) and was the chapter’s treasurer from 2004 – 2006. David was a member of the 2009 Centennial Commission of SLA, and a member of the 2009 Conference Planning Committee. Prior to coming to UCLA, he was a librarian at the LA Times, and was research database coordinator with Glasgow Polytechnic in Scotland.

Jill Hurst-Wahl is a professor at Syracuse University School of Information Studies. She is a member of the SLA Board of Directors and several SLA units. She co-authored The Information and Knowledge Professional’s Career Handbook: Define and Create Your Success with Ulla de Stricker.

Lisa Chow is a newish information professional with a few “library ribbons” including SLA Rising Star, Library Journal Mover & Shaker, ALA Emerging Leader and ARL Diversity Scholar. She is currently serving as the SLA DBIO Medical Section Chair.

Sandra Sajonas is a newish information professional with countless projects, presentations and accolades under her belt including ALA Emerging Leader and Library Journal Mover & Shaker. When she’s not shaking up the library world she’s checking items off of her “to do before I die” list.

John Walsh is the communications & marketing manager at SLA headquarters. A graduate in economics and English from UVA, he comes to SLA with experience in test prep education, sales, marketing, and market analysis. John is the staff liaison to the Public Relations Advisory Council.

By Karen Huffman, Washington D.C. Chapter, Knowledge Management Division

Future Ready Toolkit

This post is from SLA’s new Future Ready Toolkit. The Toolkit was constructed by SLA members who have drawn upon substantial professional experience and alignment research to help you hone your skills in a way that is relevant and global. The toolkit is collaboration, alignment, adaptation, and community put into action.

Overview

Organizational growth is closely correlated to individuals who are willing to network and collaborate outside their normal sphere of influence. People able to span the organizational hierarchy and build internal and external networks cannot help but grow and adapt. Growing adaptive organizations, transformational leaders realize the importance of blurring organizational lines, supporting collaborative communities and breaking down silos to encourage transparency. (Image on right: Wordle.net word cloud based on a Wikipedia article on “Stakeholder Analysis.”)

Definitions

Engagement

An act where two or more parties agree to a predetermined commitment.
Related terms: User adoption; collaboration; benefits.

Networks

Interrelated connections that can be physical, virtual, or both. Networks are relational-based. See also articles shared on the Future Ready 365 blog tagged “network.”
Related terms: Relationships; connections.

Partnerships

Two or more parties who have agreed to work towards a common vision, mission, purpose, and/or goals.
Related terms: Purpose-driven relationship; actionable, accountable relationship.

Project Management

A purposeful process that includes planning, organizing, securing and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives. The success of a project often relies on an analysis and involvement of stakeholders.
Related terms: Structured goal-oriented approach; task breakdown and analysis.

Stakeholders

Organizations and/or individuals who are positively or negatively impacted by decisions and/or actions. Anyone with a vested interested in a project, event, and/or outcome. Related terms: Users; clients; key, primary, and secondary stakeholders; stakeholder analysis.

Key Elements and Ideas

Crossing Boundaries for Growth and Collaboration

One of my ongoing goals is to foster collaboration and learning opportunities as well as continually grow personal and professional competencies. Last fall at KMWorld 2010, the speakers who spoke about “Optimizing Organizations through Collaboration” discussed the idea of “boundary crossing” which relates to some key elements and ideas around this topic on building a network to engage and partner with stakeholders:

• Analyze social and organizational networks to understand knowledge gaps.
• Ensure communities of practice are aligned to the business goals and encourage sustainability through people to people connections and participation.
• Capitalize on the power of social networks to build effective and adaptive learning organizations.
• Grow expertise and competencies requires knowing your current proficiencies, setting goals, and crossing many boundaries to grow new ideas and expand your knowledge.

The mind map (below) developed by Karen Huffman is based on David Snowden’s ASHEN framework (2000) and Patrick Lambe’s KM competencies for knowledge managers (2008).

SLA Members Shared Ideas

• Being there – being present: It’s an ongoing process of growing and cultivating relationships, building networks, gaining trust. ~Mary Talley
• Forming a community/building a network is a process that harnesses on-going process development and refinement as well as project management skills. ~Aimee Babcock-Ellis
• The goal and criteria for success when developing a network is to make it equally useful to both individuals and corporate management. ~Peggy Watkins
• Informed opinions about the possibilities and measured objectives that are jointly agreed upon. ~David Stern
• Stakeholder analysis – figuring out what they want – as well as marketing and negotiation skills. ~Vicky Platt
• Crossing Boundaries for Growth and Collaboration. ~Karen Huffman

To read more about their ideas, click here.

Models and Templates

Stakeholders

• MindTools offers some great “getting started” models/templates on Stakeholder Analysis and Stakeholder Management. It includes information on stakeholder analysis, winning support for projects and building communication from stakeholders. Great templates to employ with any project.

Project Management

• GovLoop’s Project Management Guide – the templates that capture the essential aspects of project management.
• Project Management Institute (PMI) website.

Resources

Books

Levin, Ginger (2008). Improve Your Interpersonal Skills to Achieve Greater Management Success! (Url: http://www.facebook.com/notes/management-concepts/are-you-connecting-with-your-stakeholders/422512295431.)

Sampson, Michael (2010). User Adoption Strategies: Shifting Second Wave People to New Collaboration Technology. (URL: http://www.michaelsampson.net/useradoption.html target=”_blank”.)

Blog

Boxes and Arrows: The design behind the design

• Setting Up Business Stakeholder Interviews, Part 1 by Michael Beavers on 2007/03/26. (URL: http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/setting-up-business.)
• Setting Up Business Stakeholder Interviews Part 2 by Michael Beavers on 2007/04/01. (URL: http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/setting-up-business22.)

Karen works for National Geographic Society as part of the Software as a Service (SaaS) team in the Information Systems & Technology division. She supports the enterprise’s business needs with hosted solutions such as Google Apps for Business as well as develops customized solutions for targeted customer groups within the organization. She has been a member of SLA since 1999, serving in various roles including chair of the KM division (2009-2010) and developing resources for SLA-sponsored initiatives like 23 Things.

by Denise Mc Iver

I’m still in I-school, so I’m new to the information profession.  Prior to going back to school to pursue my MLIS, I worked as a publicist in the music and entertainment industry for over a decade. Upon reflection, there are some lessons from that world that might apply to becoming Future Ready.

First of all, it’s true:  Publicists ARE control freaks (in the best sense, I should add) because that’s what we’re paid to be.  We control the public perception of our clients’ “brand” and we’re the “keepers” of our clients’ dreams and goals – whether they want to secure the cover of Rolling Stone, perform on a segment of The Today Show, or get ranked in the Top Ten on any Billboard chart.  So for me, a former flack in the music business, being Future Ready is all about branding.

Some lessons I’ve learned in my former professional life include…

Begin With the End In Mind: Publicists always begin a new campaign with this as our mantra.  For us, Christmas arrives in July.  If our client’s new album is being released in the fourth quarter, we spend a great deal of energy doing something called “set up” beforehand.  For information professionals and librarians, it might mean doing some setup by taking an audit of our skills, experience, and passion (a key ingredient!). We can then use these as springboards to ‘futurize’ ourselves.

Know Who You Are: Publicists understand that their recording artists have a public persona and the music they create (hopefully) extends this.  Lady Gaga gets this; had she made a boring entrance at the Grammy Awards a few weeks ago, it would have been clear that she wasn’t “on message” and her public would have been surprised, and possibly lost. Love her or hate her – she’s clear about her brand:  One-Who-Pushes-The-Envelope-Off-The-Table.  I’m not suggesting we become Gaga-ized, but it is vitally important that WE define ourselves first so that we can communicate who we are and what our value is to our various stakeholders and constituencies.  Capture the vision, promote it, and remember to stay on message.

“Grow Some Feet”: There’s nothing remotely glamorous about doing a bus tour of any kind (trust me on this!) unless your client is Mick Jagger or Beyoncé. If you want to sell albums, you’ve got to tour – it’s how you build awareness. The same goes for information professionals. I’m not one to sit behind a desk all day, so I hit the “road” (actually the hallways) and do short “drop-ins.”  I let my stakeholders know I’m a co-collaborator with them, and these drop-ins give me the opportunity to anticipate and determine what their needs are, possibly before they’ve even had the chance to think about them themselves.  This is how I make myself visible and sell my value.

Summing it all up:  After the press screening of Black Swan, actress Mila Kunis, who was strapped into five-inch high Christian Louboutin stilettos, expressed how exhausting and painful it was to wear them throughout the long evening. She also remarked how grateful and amazed she was that her publicist had the presence of mind to bring along a comfortable pair of slippers for her to change into as the evening wore on.

Now that’s a lesson in being Future Ready.

Denise L. Mc Iver is a recipient of an IMLS scholarship and attending the MLS program at St. John’s University.  She anticipates graduating in May. She’s a student member of the NY Chapter of SLA.