By David Shumaker, Washington, DC Chapter, Academic, Education, Knowledge Management, Leadership & Management Divisions

Once upon a time, there was a young information services manager named Dave* who heard about embedded librarianship and decided to put it into practice. To begin, he embarked on a campaign to raise information and knowledge services’ visibility at the executive level of the corporation where he was working. He made appointments to go around and brief the executive councils at each of the major operating units of the company. He planned to show them how valuable library services were already, and how the librarians were planning to do even better with embedded librarianship. Starting with a unit led by a senior vice president /general manager he had already worked with, he prepared a briefing all about the value of the librarians’ work, what they were doing and what their plans were. After listening to his presentation, the senior vp turned to him and said, “Dave, what do you need from us?” It was a question he actually wasn’t prepared for. He had thought only in terms of what he and his team had to offer – not about what they needed from senior management.

Fortunately, he recovered, and he and his team went on to implement embedded librarianship and expand their value to the corporation, and everyone lived happily ever after.

Moral: SLA-funded research indicates that senior management engagement is one of the key attributes of successful embedded librarianship initiatives. When you’re preparing your elevator speech or your presentation about your value, also think about what senior management can do to help you be successful. Whether it’s funding, space, support for continuing education, visible communication, assigning mentors to new librarians, constructive feedback – ask for what you need!

*Name not changed to protect the guilty.

For details about embedded librarianship, see the SLA research report at http://www.sla.org/pdfs/EmbeddedLibrarianshipFinalRptRev.pdf , Information Outlook Jan-Feb 2010, or the embedded librarian blog at http://embeddedlibrarian.wordpress.com.

David Shumaker has served as Clinical Associate Professor at the School of Library and Information
Science, Catholic University of America, since August 2006. Dave’s teaching interests include the present and future roles of librarians in society, the management of libraries and information services, marketing, information systems, and library public services. His research and writing explore the changing roles of librarians in organizations of all types. He and his co-investigator, Mary Talley, were awarded the 2007 Special Libraries Association Research Grant for their project, “Models of Embedded Librarianship.” The final report of the project is available on the SLA website, and related articles have been published in Library Journal, Reference & User Services Quarterly, and Information Outlook. Dave is a frequent speaker and panelist on embedded librarianship. Follow his blog at http://embeddedlibrarian.wordpress.com.

Scott Schulman, President, Dow Jones Corporate Markets

A colleague of mine once said of the Internet that “free costs too much.” This was no Neanderthal. On the contrary, he recognized the inherent and significant value of the medium and even much of the content therein. He was referring rather to the time we waste and the opportunities we miss, to the imprecision and outright inaccuracy of a Web that is at once essential and untrustworthy.

The world is waking up to the reality that having all the information in the world just a few keystrokes away isn’t enough. Certainly not for business. To get from data to decision takes more than just information. It requires most of all trusted content along with a reasonable assurance that you’re finding and not just searching.

The free Web is an amazing resource – that is for sure. But not every link is worth following. Not every source on the free Web is reliable. We know that. In a knowledge economy where commerce is driven by ideas, businesses cannot take a haphazard approach to information. They need sources they can trust, that save time, avoid information overload and anticipate their needs. Business needs sources to help improve awareness and efficiency and that curtail risk.

You would have thought that by now we’d have a more nuanced view of the value of Internet content. Today’s prime search engines aren’t designed to minimize the clutter; they’re designed to maximize your clicks because that’s where the money is made.

Then there are the results themselves. They are in large part the reflection of connections. The more links to a given page, the greater weight given the results. The more likely the page is to attract traffic, the more likely it will turn up in your search. Not exactly how you find the needle in the haystack if you’re a businessperson looking for opportunities. Independent research from Outsell indicates that one in three businesses searches fail. That’s zero productivity one third of the time. Why would a competent manager abide such waste? The real costs of inefficient search are probably much higher than just a one-third productivity haircut. Not having the right information at the right time is both cost and risk for business.

What business wouldn’t pay for the right information at the right time? Yet some still set “free” as the price point for awareness and thus their future. The Internet changed a lot of things, and rightly so. One thing it hasn’t changed is the value of quality. It is as essential in business information as ever.  Quality information, presented in effective ways, still has value; and that value is worth paying for.

Scott D. Schulman is president of the Corporate Markets Group of Dow Jones & Company where he leads the innovative business news and information products serving professionals and corporations worldwide. These services are designed to help business professionals better monitor and uncover opportunities in the markets, industries, companies and regions that matter most to them.

Mr. Schulman oversees core brands including Factiva, one of the largest electronic business aggregators and archives in the world, as well as Dow Jones Companies & Executives, Dow Jones Insight, Dow Jones Watchlist, The Wall Street Journal Professional Edition and more. These brands and other Corporate Markets Group services are designed to meet the needs of professionals in consulting and professional services, enterprise and business management; public relations and corporate communications; research and knowledge management; and risk and compliance. Mr. Schulman is currently leading a significant investment and expansion in Factiva as well as Dow Jones’ offerings in risk and compliance and corporate communications.

by Sandy Malloy, San Francisco Bay Region Chapter, News Division

David Meerman Scott, a marketing strategist whose work I see all the time, wrote a post on his WebInkNow blog, “Apple Is Not Different,” in which he opines that no product or company matters outside the context of the problems they solve for the user.  Says Scott, “What your buyers do care about are themselves and they care a great deal about solving their problems (and are always on the lookout for a company that can help them do so.)”

Substitute “patrons” or “customers” or “clients” or “users” for “buyers” in this statement and “librarian” for “company” and you have a situation that we librarians should take to heart.

Scott cites Apple as an example of a company whose products are considered cool.  But even the coolest products are only as good as the problems they solve.  Sleek design?  That solves the problem of “ho, hum, I have a computer on my desk”; in other words, boredom.  The “it-factor” of being a member of the Apple tribe?  That solves the problem of needing to feel a sense of community or belonging.  Lack of viruses?  Congratulations, you’ve saved the trouble of buying and maintaining a lot of external virus detection software.

Do you believe you should create a brand for yourself?  Remake your image?  Market your library?  SLA’s Alignment Project gives you tools to do all these things, and they are important, but mean nothing outside the context of understanding your clients and how you are going to solve their problems.

So, it’s not “my library.”  It’s YOUR library (you, my client) and I’m going to do my best to understand how you want to use it.  Do you want it on your desktop?  In your pocket?  Would a regular email newsletter help you do your job?  What about tweets of new articles that are available?  A spreadsheet of leads?  What can I do to help you get new business, or satisfy regulators, or help you look good to your boss?

Even the language barrier cited by SLA alignment research speaks to connecting with our clients.  When we use their language, we say that we understand the organization’s business or at least enough of it to be on their wavelength when it comes to solving problems for them.

As a group, we librarians or are a very service-oriented group.  But we can also be proprietary about what we know and the resources to which we have access.  In promoting ourselves and our libraries in terms of resources and our own knowledge, we are, in marketing-speak, touting features.  What we need to be touting are benefits.  To quote Mr. Scott once again, being aware of “what’s in it for me? [the client]“, we are “addressing real problems rather than reverse engineering a benefit based on the feature set. ”

Sandy Malloy is Senior Information Specialist at Business Wire, a Berkshire Hathaway company, the San Francisco-based distributor of press releases where she has worked for almost 22 years.  She received her MLS from the University of Southern California and has been an information broker, public librarian, academic librarian, medical librarian and sales representative (though not all at the same time.)

by Laura Dushkes, Pacific Northwest Chapter, Solo Librarians Division

In your graduate work, you learned how to catalog and conduct a reference interview; you learned about databases and collection development. And, you brought with you all the experience from your previous work life.  Now you have a job. Of course you’ll do a good and conscientious one, but that’s not enough. You must continuously prove your value.

But they hired me! They must know my value! They have a library, so they must know the value! Or, They hired me to start an information center, so they must know the value of that!

True, but you’re working for a business. Whether for-profit or not-for-profit, your company has a mission other than getting books and information in the hands of citizens.  Your library’s mission is the mission of the organization.  If you don’t show that your work adds to this mission, you might be seen as expendable. You can go a long way to preventing that. It’s a three-step process:

1. Track itTake a “snap shot” of your library. Pick data that make sense for your setting. Such data might include:How many books/journals does your library hold?
   How many people use your services (pick a period of time)?
   How many questions did you respond to? (pick a period of time)?
   How many hours is the library staffed?
   How many square feet does the library use?
2. Better itLook at this information and see where you can improveCan you move from check out cards to electronic check out?
   Can you create a presence on the intranet to show your new holdings?
   Can you start a blog with items of interest to a work group?
   Can you attend staff meetings and introduce yourself and your services?
   Can you weed to create needed space?
   Can you work with another department that needs help with research or organizing their work?
   Can you digitize copyright-held materials to make widely available?
3. Communicate itNow you have a “before” and an “after.”  Everything you did to improve your library – processes, materials, relationships – can be demonstrated in numbers or statements. Don’t just say what you did. State the benefit.I created an intranet pageso that our satellite offices can get the same new information as our main office.
   The catalog was paper; I created a digital catalog, making it accessible to everyone.
   Last year 40 books were checked out. This year the library circulated 350, increasing the use of already-purchased materials.
   I helped marketing do the research for a proposal that won a $1 million account.

Bring this to the attention of your boss or board in the way they like to get information (even if it means a PowerPoint!). They will quickly see you as more than “overhead.” They will see you as a vitally important part of the organization.

Laura Dushkes is the solo librarian for NBBJ, the 3rd largest architectural firm in the U.S. and 10^th largest in the world, with six offices in the US, as well as offices in the UK and China. She also teaches Special Librarianship at the University of Washington’s iSchool. She has an MA in History as well as her MLIS from the University of Washington.

by Rebecca Jones

A few weeks ago Jane Dysart, Kim Silk and I were fortunate to hear Daniel Pink talk at the Rotman School of Management Life-Long Learning Conference for Leaders, ‘How to Get Your Business Back to Reality.” His latest book, Drive, bases “the surprising things that motivate us” on 40 years of human motivation research.  It wasn’t his discussion about what does or doesn’t motivate us that caught my attention, although that is fascinating and worth a blog post(!); it was his discussion about the need for organizations to challenge and re-think base assumptions on which they are building their strategies.

I’m increasingly concerned that that the library sector and information profession must do just that: challenge, re-frame and quite possibly re-think our base assumptions and the practices and approaches built on those assumptions. Pink re labels assumptions “orthodoxies”.  Labelling and viewing what we, as a sector and profession view to be truths as “orthodoxies” rather than assumptions forces us to see the deep-rooted concreteness of these “truths”.  It is these deep roots that make it somewhat painful to question the validity of these orthodoxies today and, more importantly, tomorrow and into the future.

I laugh, both because laughter is healthy and because for a profession that has an orthodoxy (yes,  a truth – an assumption!)  of finding and delivering answers to any question, we aren’t really too comfortable asking and considering questions about our practices, approaches, strategies or organizations. I don’t think we’re really any different than any other sector; wrestling with those types of questions is akin to wrestling itself – invigorating for some, uncomfortable for others and the outcome is unknown.  And, yet, to be future ready we must challenge those orthodoxies and ensure our practices, perceptions and approaches are ready for the future – whatever that future may hold. I may not like wrestling, but I absolutely hate the thought of seeing the library sector or the information profession perceived as irrelevant in the future, so I’m willing to be uncomfortable and to engage in the challenging discussions and re-framing required.

SLA is designing its future. Next week the Board will begin considering the assumptions and “orthodoxies” held true by an association that’s more than 100 years old. SLA’s future for the next 100 years will be designed by standing in that future as Jane Dysart challenged the association to do in Information Outlook in 1993 when she was SLA President.  Jane has always questioned orthodoxies, often without even realizing she’s doing it, because she is naturally curious. She has taught me so much about the value – and fun! – of curiousity.  Curiousity leads to discoveries. We need to be curious about what type of association will be indispensable to an indispensable sector and an indispensable profession. We need to ask questions about what that association will “look like”, how it will enable its members and how members will enable it. How will the association differ from other information and library sector associations?  Will members come together at an annual conference in the future? Why? How? What services will so delight members that they’ll prize the association above all others?  Curiousity rarely, if ever, “killed the cat” and it will help us discover the questions, re-frame our assumptions, and design the future we want, need and will delight in.

Get involved in SLA’s Strategic Vision Project. Stand in the future & see the SLA that will be indispensable for you – and contribute your voice here.( http://futureready365.sla.org/05/27/sla-strategic-vision-project/)

Jane Dysart, Juanita Richardson & Kimberly Silk at SLA 2010

Rebecca is a partner with Dysart & Jones Associates. She is the former director continuing education at University of Toronto’s iSchool, and still an instructor & member of the Advisory Board.   Early in her career she was incredibly lucky to work for 14 years in large corporations in managerial roles in libraries, records management, human resources and IT. She’s an SLA Fellow and, with her wonderful Competencies Committee colleagues, a recipient of SLA Leadership Award.

Introduction (Toni Wilson)

This blog post, from an expert member of the CI Division, speaks to the importance of communicating the results of CI research effectively.  While we’ve been focusing to a large extent on the CI collection process this week, as it helps information professionals and their organizations become and remain ready for the future, communicating the findings from our CI collection efforts appropriately – so it’s absorbed and becomes part of the decision-making process – is absolutely critical.

Competitive intelligence (CI), at its most basic level can be defined as being future ready – or armed with the right information to the make the right decisions.  In this post-post modern, Web 3.0, social media, everything and intensely technology mediated world, information is ubiquitous.  Being “Future Ready” to me means being able to take information and elevate it by taking that information in whatever forms it comes and turning it into actionable intelligence.  Librarians or any information professional’s ability to turn reams of paper (or electronic documents) into a three-second sound byte or a neatly parsed phrase that holds meaning and contains value is the essence of being future ready.  In some respects, being future ready for special librarians engaged in CI is a matter of perspective and semantics.  For example, what the competitive intelligence world calls Early Warning Systems, librarians might call Current Awareness.  To be future ready, it’s time to stop thinking about research questions and to start thinking about business problems and how information-turned-into-CI, with the help of analysis, can help organizations solve their business problems with an eye to the future.

Zena Applebaum is a competitive intelligence professional at Bennett Jones LLP, a Canadian law firm.  She writes articles for industry publications and blogs regularly regarding topics important to the successful practice of CI.  Zena is currently the CI Division’s Vendor Relations Chair.

Introduction (Toni Wilson)

There are several themes running through this week’s blog articles from the CI Division experts.  One is that competitive intelligence is inherently forward-looking.  Another is that marketplace insights can be developed by observing and understanding patterns in the information we collect.  Related to the latter is a very important theme – that informational professionals are uniquely qualified to do this, ultimately creating value for the end users, clients and organizations we serve.  In today’s blog, Anna Shallenberger offers practical perspective regarding filtering the facts we gather to provide insights and need-to-know results.

Intelligence – be it regarding competitors, markets or any other area – is inherently forward-looking. And yes – research and content is necessary to feed the intel engine that empowers future-readiness.  Many Info Pros possess untapped skills key to delivering great intel (CI, MI, etc.) services, abilities they may not realize organizations need. The challenges are to apply them effectively and visibly.  YOU have to believe, because in a world where “Perception is reality” – people won’t buy what you’re “selling” without that confidence.

So what are these secret super-hero powers? Is it all about statistical number crunching and PowerPoint presentations? Certainly not, although a certain base proficiency in these areas is preferable. And, of course, our data collection and synthesis skills have value, not to mention our expertise in validating sources. It is the talent to both battle the swollen inflow of inputs AND partner in delivering those targeted Aha’s and So What’s.

It takes an effective balancing act – levering the wealth of information content and methodology our “researcheritis” yields with the right filter – while smartly triangulating the significance of that which has made it through.

Is it the same idea as actionable intelligence? Not precisely. Think of it like a souped-up version of the kid’s “Lite Brite” toy where content is the pegs and you have a big bucket of them in front of you.  The more pegs, the higher the resolution of the image, and the better the insights, right? Again, not exactly.

You don’t need to use every peg. Some should shine brighter (weigh more heavily) than others.  You can arrange them in a variety of designs that make sense in the moment. But the future ready Info Pro sees patterns based on triangulating, drawing on the wealth of otherwise useless trivia rattling around in our mental hard drive.

Yes, our content gathering skills have great value. But let’s consider our content filtering abilities, and how access to all the data we’ve seen in life empowers us! LIS professionals offer a unique ability to TRIANGULATE between all the information and ASSESS meaning.  Internal and external sources – gathered by ourselves or others. Teaming up on the analysis and impact of the intel. Because it’s that piece that makes organization most future ready.

Anna F. Shallenberger is an experienced researcher, educator, author, strategist & consultant, Anna Shallenberger, aka the ClosetLibrarian, was recently recognized in Best of the Business Web.  At SLA 2011 , she is a panelist  for “Integrating with Sales & Marketing to Capture & Deliver Intelligence.”  At the Intelligence Café, Anna will lead a discussion regarding Unique Information Sources & the Deep Web.   She was also a spotlight panelist @ SLA 2010 and served as conference planner for the CI Division.

by Toni Wilson, Cincinnati Chapter, Competitive Intelligence Division

What is, and what is not, competitive intelligence? Practiced correctly, CI accommodates the ability for organizations to be ready for the future, by anticipating changes in the marketplace and avoiding surprises that might blindside our end users and clients, often as they are focused on making decisions and plans based on what the marketplace looks like today.

When we think about our respective marketplaces, we can’t be focused only on how “the game” is played at present. In the future, new competitors will enter the game. They seek to disrupt the way our organizations play the game, so they will move out of turn or invent new moves. Or, the rules of the game itself may change, affecting all of the players. Because of all of this likely change, CI is not really about the competitors themselves, but about keeping our organizations competitive into the future.

Information professionals are uniquely qualified to provide insights regarding the future of our competitive environments because we are chiefly responsible for gathering the facts that indicate change. Fact-gathering is the first step and foundation of every successful CI process, so our role in the process is invaluable. While gathering facts, we see all of the puzzle pieces before anyone else–-sometimes we’re the only ones who see all of the pieces – and can easily put them together to create a picture of the potential future.

A relatable way to explain what CI is, and its value, is by referring to a quote from The Great One, Wayne Gretsky. He often said: “A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.” We can achieve greatness by helping our end users and clients know where the puck might be going-–what the future competitive environment might look like–-so our organizations can play there, remain competitive, and win the game.
Toni Wilson is the principal consultant at MarketSmart Research Services. She is an experienced competitive intelligence practitioner, having performed hundreds of projects over the past 20+ years, in a variety of industries and throughout the world. Prior to establishing MarketSmart Research in 2000, Toni was a corporate intelligence professional at LexisNexis for more than a dozen years. She is an expert in sources, tools and techniques for intelligence collection, and frequently speaks to groups and coaches individuals regarding the CI process. Toni is a volunteer leader, prolific author, enthusiastic mentor and professional award winner. She is the current chair of SLA’s Competitive Intelligence Division.

by Christine Hamilton-Pennell, Rocky Mountain Chapter, Competitive Intelligence and Taxonomy Divisions

Associating with entrepreneurs is energizing! I have spent much of the last eight years working with entrepreneurs of all stripes. My definition of an entrepreneur is “someone who perceives an opportunity and creates and grows an organization to pursue it”—whether a for-profit business or a social enterprise. Some of these folks have been wildly successful, while others have struggled and some have experienced dramatic failures.

Based upon the encounters I’ve had with successful entrepreneurs, I have identified several characteristics and habits of mind they exhibit that I believe we as information professionals can incorporate into our own thinking:

1. They are optimistic—sometimes to a fault. They are confident that they can change the world and create a successful venture.
2. They are persistent. If one avenue, approach or method doesn’t work, or if they run into roadblocks, they look for alternatives. They don’t take “no” for an answer.
3. They constantly look for ways to innovate in the products and services they offer, their distribution channels, and their avenues for marketing. They look for niches and gaps in the market—customer needs that no one else is filling.
4. They take calculated risks, weighing the insights derived from both their intuition and analytical reasoning before making business decisions. This is what Roger Martin calls “abductive reasoning” in his book, Design of Business (Harvard University Press, 2009).
5. They recognize the importance of building a good leadership team, one that possesses the complementary suite of skills required to successfully run their business or enterprise.
6. They recognize that they cannot succeed alone. They are not threatened by collaboration, and actively seek out strategic partnerships. They see the value of teaming up with “competitors” and others in their industry space—creating a “team of rivals”—in order to construct a stronger value proposition in the marketplace and create a win-win scenario for all involved.
7. They spend time both working in the business (doing the essential work of the enterprise) and working on the business—exploring new opportunities and developing the processes and strategies required for future growth.
8. If their initiatives fail—even miserably—they pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and say, “Well, I learned that next time I will try this instead…”

Thinking like an entrepreneur is about having “internal locus of control,” a psychological construct that refers to the practice of looking at what you have control over, and how to change it, rather than focusing on external factors and playing the victim.

An example in the library world of an entrepreneurial thinker is Sara Jones, director of the Carson City (Nevada) Library. She and her deputy director, Tammy Westergard, have created partnerships with business and economic development entities across the city and have made significant contributions to the city’s economic revitalization. Through their initiatives, the city created a Business Research Innovation Center that houses city business offices, business service providers, the local arts agency, and a business research center run by the library. I have written about her efforts on my blog, http://bit.ly/kWaBtw, and also included the case study in my e-book, Creating an Entrepreneur-Friendly Public Library, http://bit.ly/jIFQxp.

Special librarians and independent information professionals already understand that they need to demonstrate their value to their parent organization and clients. And there is no question that we are experiencing challenging times in our profession. But an additional shot of entrepreneurial thinking can help us develop a level of confidence and creativity that allows us to see these challenges as opportunities. We can identify niches that no one else is filling. We can team up with unlikely partners to expand our reach and impact. We can innovate by offering new products and services. Like a successful entrepreneur, we can learn to say, “What if…?” and “Why not…?” and know that we really have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Christine Hamilton-Pennell, Growing Local Economies, Inc., is a librarian and information professional who currently spends her time consulting and training in communities and libraries across the country to support local economic and entrepreneurship development efforts. She can be reached at christine@growinglocaleconomies.com.

by Cynthia Lesky, Illinois Chapter

As an information professional working in business research, I know that the quality of the decisions that our clients make based on our work – and thus our value – depends on the accuracy of the reports we compile. But accuracy is an increasingly elusive goal.

When the pace is fast and the sources are self-serving press releases or blog posts based on “motivated reasoning” or stories on news sites without pedigrees, truth is hard to pin down. Even well-established trade publications and respected newspapers have more than occasional errors of fact.

The ability to discern facts from puffery and accuracy from simple mistakes or outright falsehood is critical. Simply reporting what we find is not enough. Professional skepticism –informed, always on, finely-attuned, even courageous – must govern our data selection and analysis.

Professional skepticism is the disciplined side of our natural curiosity. It’s the critical thinking that weighs one fact against another and leads us to question suspicious assertions – or simply spot that a number expressed in millions is really billions. In other words, professional skepticism is our BS Meter and our Error Radar.

Being FutureReady means helping our clients or employers make evidence-based decisions in the face of an increasingly fragmented and exploitive news landscape. In that world, you can bet that revved up BS Meters and well-maintained Error Radar will be in increasingly high demand.

Cynthia Lesky is a professional skeptic and President of Threshold Information. Threshold works for corporate information centers and business intelligence units to produce custom market intelligence awareness services, research and analysis, and various types of special projects. Learn more at www.threshinfo.com.