SLA Virtual Seminar

 "What I Should Have Learned in Library School:
Insights for Information Professionals"

By Camille Noel and Tom Richardson - SLAIS Students

On Wednesday, September 27th, SLA members gathered to attend "What I Should Have Learned in Library School: Insights for Information Professionals" It was facilitated by Lucy Lettis, Director, U.S. Business Information Network, Arthur Andersen LLP. It was part of the 2000 Virtual Seminar Series presented by SLA's Strategic Learning and Development Center in Partnership with Information Outlook. The web-based PowerPoint presentation coupled with a teleconferencing hookup provided participants the opportunity to ask questions and vote on issues with other librarians and information professionals across the continent.

Lucy explored many issues concerning how and why information professionals can propel themselves into leadership positions. The first issue she addressed was our responsibility for our image in the parent organization. In order to impact the success of the organization, information professionals must think strategically about the perceived and actual role of their information center or library. If the library is going to be an invaluable resource, we have to abandon what we learned in library school and stop intellectualizing ideas and being theory-driven. Information professionals should instead concentrate on selling ideas, setting policies, and adding services and value to the organization.

The presentation also emphasized that information professionals can and should develop the skills and business savvy needed to meet the challenges of the modern workplace, including strong marketing and advocacy skills. It is paramount to have a management philosophy reflective of the larger organization's goals, articulated through a concrete statement of objectives, strategies, and tactics of how you will get to your goals. We must promote ourselves, our departments and our services to senior management. Polishing informal conversational skills for impromptu marketing and advocacy opportunities is as important in this regard as effective budgeting and proposal writing. In short, information professionals should "morph" into their environments even if that means dropping library jargon, and developing new skills and abilities that they did not learn in library school. All of the issues discussed were very interesting. What we found most provocative and tangible were four challenges Lucy posed to working information professionals:

• By the end of October invite 2-3 of your best customers to lunch and ask them how your information center's services are viewed within the organization. Seek out feedback and find out how you can improve.

• By the end of November write down the mission of your information center and in three pages or less.

• By the end of December make a bold statement of how your organization will change over the next decade and customize your services and products to help key players in the organization understand this future.

• By the end of January brainstorm with colleagues and clients on 3-5 new services your information center can offer and develop a business plan to implement at least one.

Even if you do not take up these specific challenges, they serve as a useful reminder that marketing, advocacy and innovation are as central to our success as information services and collections. Skills that our professional education often (sadly) does not strongly reinforce.