October 30, 2009
Internet Librarian 2009
I just landed in Portland from Internet Librarian 2009 in be-U-ti-ful Monterey, California, and I have to say I’m glad I went! I haven’t been to the Internet Librarian conference in a few years, and I went back and forth in my mind as to whether to go this year. Now I wonder why I was hesitant — it was totally worthwhile. I’ll give it two thumbs up.
The conference planners seemed to be working on turning this year’s event into an experience as well as a conference—witness the Gaming and Gadgets Petting Zoo, the Rockin’ Battle Decks and the launch of Library 101.
As with every conference, it’s the networking and the quality of the presentations that make your actual attendance worthwhile. Here are a couple tips, tricks, and quote-ables that I picked up:
Vint Cerf, commonly deemed the “Father of the Internet” and now the Chief Internet Evangelist at Google, left us with these nuggets:
- “How can we be attentive in an age of distraction?”
- “Power corrupts, and PowerPoint corrupts absolutely.”
- “The book is static: we need dynamic information.”
Roy Tennant, Senior Program Officer at OCLC, in speaking about the Digital Library Landscape, urged us to realize that libraries are in imminent danger and that the challenges to libraries are foundational. Libraries were conceived in an era of information scarcity, whereas we now have ubiquitous information.
“If you dislike change, you are going to dislike irrelevance even less.”
–General Eric K. Shinseki, U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs
We were told that libraries need to become a part of the new “information ecology” by building services around user workflows. For example, academic libraries are refactoring the research/publish process, with tools such as eScholarhip. Public libraries are building communities, and special libraries are adding value and providing ROI.
Victoria Harriston, from the National Academy of Sciences, described working with Google to digitize 6,000 NAS documents. Through this digitization project, Victoria has increased access to the NAS collection and enhanced the endurance of their collection.
Paula Wolfe, from the University of Arizona, had these ideas– which I must remember– “metadata is a way of marketing” and “the information designer must care about the searcher’s needs.”
Christy Confetti-Higgins, from Sun Microsystem’s Digital Library and Research Group, gave an impressive demonstration of integrating information and social media tools into the business workflow. Integration is key to maximizing investment, exploiting content and engaging conversation. In one example, she showed how Sun authors had “author chats” in Second Life. The individual examples she showed were interesting on their own, but it was the way they leveraged and integrated content across the board that made the work they are doing so compelling.
Paul Hodengraber, director of the New York Public library, was a lively interviewer for the keynote on day one, and interviewee on day two. He claims his role at the NYPL is to “oxygenate the library.” He sees the library as a lively place of ideas and “embraces the friction of dialog.” Paul was incredibly quotable—he wants to “make the private experience of reading public” through events that he calls “cognitive theater.” His presentation was quite enjoyable.
At this point, I wish I hadn’t taken such good notes, as there is a lot more to digest. But I have to mention two additional topics…
Library Mashups: Exploring New Ways to Deliver Library Data, is a newly released book by Nicole Engard. There was great content here with loads of potential.
Rebecca Jones and Nicole Hennig’s presentation on “Persuasion, Influence, and Innovation” showed that influence skills are critical to our success. (Please refer to Roy Tennant above for the need for success.) Rebecca pointed out that there are three components of influence: clarity of message, competence of the speaker, and making sure you have the requisite relationships in place. Nicole recommended three books on the topic of influence:
- Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
- Weird Ideas That Work by Robert Sutton
- The Art of Woo: Using Strategic Persuasion to Sell Your Ideas, by G. Richard Shell
There was plenty more to report on (visualization, best science sites, etc.). I’ll let you rest here, just in case you’ve reached a saturation point – as I eventually did!
October 19, 2009
“No puny visions”
There is a big, healthy discussion going on right now about a new name for SLA. The Association has conducted more than two years of research to ascertain how to best align our association with the institutions and clients that we serve now and in the future.
After reading and reflecting on the Alignment Project research, the Board, with input from the membership, concluded that a name change is needed and put the name Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals before the membership earlier this month. We’re all trying the new name on for size, and the reactions predictably run the gamut from 0 to 10. For some the name is a tad presumptuous and doesn’t quite fit yet. For others, it’s something we’ve been doing for years and are very comfortable with.
One thing that has influenced my thinking in this discussion is Eugenie Prime’s admonishment: NO PUNY VISIONS! –that is, we need an identity that captures the full gamut of what we can do and what we want to do. And that is not a puny vision.
In the discussion of a new name, we must look at the cost of staying the same, that is, the lost opportunity cost of relinquishing information and knowledge management to another discipline. Thomas Friedman, when referring to the read/write web, states, “Anything that can be done will be done. The only question is will it be done to you or by you.” It’s a tough statement, and points out that, in our case, we need to take ownership of the information landscape or others will.
Recently, I spoke with Eugenie and asked her for her opinion. Here’s how the exchange went:
Cindy: SLA is in the midst of re-aligning itself, and there is a name-change possibility in the works. What is your take on these developments?
Eugenie: I am not opposed to a name change. It may be necessary, but it will never be sufficient on its own. If we change our name and change nothing else, it will be simply cosmetics. We need an attitudinal change that results in changes in the way we perceive our profession and our role.
I worked at Nike for 16 years and from that experience, I saw that Nike was at its most compelling when it was highlighting human potential through athletic endeavor. Nike sells fitness apparel, but its real strength is when its message challenges us to maximize our potential and be all that we can be as individuals. That’s the power of branding, and it serves as a guidepost as we position ourselves for the future.
Whatever we call ourselves, be it librarians, consultants, knowledge managers, or information wranglers, the mission is the same. We provide answers, we organize, disseminate, and analyze information. We need to look at our aspirations. We are strategic to the business and the client. We facilitate smart business decisions and inspire world-class research. We are a valuable link in the chain of execution in an organization.
The name the Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals is a step forward. You can still be a special librarian, an information professional, or one of the more than 2000 other titles that we call ourselves. The new name will help us capture the growth areas of our industry, and sit in that sweet spot where our work is valued and not just a commodity. So don’t get hung up on just the name change – there’s more to it than that. This is our chance to change our name, change our attitude, and our future.
September 25, 2009
“Sound of truth: Never underestimate yourself as a librarian.”
Candidates for SLA’s Board of Directors conducted an international call-in earlier this week to bring the election to members outside the US. This was the first time such a call was attempted. It was of some importance because it highlights SLA’s global reach and attempt to continue to involve and inform members outside the US.
With members in 75 countries throughout the world, SLA has a broad global membership. And in fact, global networking is one of the differientiators between SLA and other information professionals organizations. I find myself quoting the Alignment Project results frequently, and here’s what it has to say about global growth:
Global networking—differentiation and innovation
Global networking is a key benefit and area of differentiation for the Association.
This language worked particularly well with C-suite participants. Both corporate leaders and information professionals appreciate the value of having connections around the world.
This benefit is particularly powerful when framed in the context of promoting knowledge-sharing and the exchange of innovative ideas, insights and trends.
We want to provide opportunities for members to collaborate across national boundaries so we can move the global agenda forward. Why? Part of the reason is because we all benefit from a rich pool of networking opportunities and perpectives. How do we become more globally inclusive? By having working groups, committees, projects and other vehicles that provide the opportunity for members to collaborate across national boundaries.
Currently, members of the Board of Directors and 2009 candidates include leaders from the UK, Canada, and India. Web 2.0 tools take some of the bite out of working with people in distant places. Because of the economy and global warming, I predict there will be more prospects of using these tools to connect across timezones and boundtaries.
Another point is that there are cultural differences in the global SLA chapters. In fact, as I traveled to various chapters throughout my campaign I found that even chapters within the US have their own personalities, styles, opportunities, and strengths. I’m sure the differences are greater within and among the countries outside the US.
With that as background, I discovered this newsletter page when I was researching SLA’s chapters outside the US for the international call-in. Certainly, there are cultural differences in the global SLA chapters and the information in this newsletter post is steeped in its own culture, but there are strong similarities and a core value that we can all relate to. The way this is framed is simple and direct and his concluding words are very powerful: ”Sound of truth: Never underestimate yourself as a librarian.”
