Howdy from the beautiful Rocky Mountains! The Rocky Mountain chapter of SLA is thrilled to contribute this week’s FutureReady365 posts. We are a small, diverse community of 150+ members spread across a four-state region (Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and South Dakota). We have a medley of posts from public school, government, higher education and independent professionals that we hope will prompt conversations, comments and thoughts on being future ready. Happy reading!

I work in a nursing school. My primary users are faculty and students. One of the main obstacles in nursing is lack of time. As an information specialist I am Future Ready because I can save my users time.  All librarians are future ready because that is one of the main things we do, save our users time. Everybody wants to save time in this busy high technology world.

Many of the faculty and administration are looking for specific information that can only be found in the library databases. Since I am considered an expert searcher and search more than the faculty and administration, I can find articles quicker than they can.

When questions arise if I cannot find the answers quickly and easily I can email my colleagues on the library listservs. There are always experts in the field with various opinions that help answer my questions.

The information that I receive from local and national library associations keeps me aware of trends and issues. Therefore, I am being proactive versus reactive. This saves my college time.

With the time that I save my faculty this is saving the college money overall. The faculty is not taking their time by searching and can use their time on other things that can be addressed at the college.

I am keeping college retention of students by assisting them in the library with APA citations and technical assistance for computer issues. This helps ease their anxiety and creates a less stressful environment.

Overall, I feel that I save my faculty and students’ time and I am a real asset to the College.

Laura Cullerton, Information Specialist, holds a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Denver. She is a member of Medical Library Association (Nursing and Allied Health Resource Section), Colorado Council of Medical Librarians, Special Library Association, Rocky Mountain Special Library Association and Colorado Association of Libraries. Her particular interest in librarianship is in Evidence Based Practice and Business Research.