SLA Special Report: Your Wish Was Our Command
Jinfo Blog

By Robin Neidorf

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Prior to SLA, Free Pint Limited ran a survey across our communities (particularly FreePint, ResourceShelf, DocuTicker and Jinfo) to get users' feedback on what we should see and do during the action-packed conference schedule. We put together the calendar of sessions, created an online survey and asked you for your feedback.

FreePinters, ResourceShelf/DocuTicker power users and Jinfo job seekers all came through, and we used your opinions as our guide as what to attend. You'll see write-ups from the top sessions below.

Here's what we learned from the survey:

• Nearly 85% of respondents are SLA members
  
  
• Yet only 41% were planning to attend the conference
  
  
• Respondents live in the United Kingdom, throughout Europe, all across North America ... and even included a handful from Australia.
  
  

In the following results, ratings are on a 4-point scale, with 4=very interested and 1=not interested.

For Monday morning sessions, we offered 4 options for coverage. Respondents told us to go to:

• Going Local: Secrets to Finding Local Market Information (2.85 rating)
  
  
• The Mobility of Business Information (2.87 rating).
  
  

In the afternoon, we had several options across multiple session times. The top scoring options were:

• Three Stages of Knowledge Management (2.91 rating)
  
  
• Embedded Librarians: What is a Traditional Setting? (2.9 rating)
  
  
• Competitive Intelligence Around the World (2.82 rating).
  
  

Tuesday offered a number of extremely popular options, going by respondents' interest levels. In the morning, you wanted to know about:

• Beyond Online (3.23 rating)
  
  
• Study Update: Future of Librarians in the Workforce (3.2 rating)
  
  
• Knowledge Nexus: The Special Library of the Future (3.15 rating).
  
  

The afternoon had fewer but equally compelling sessions. You requested coverage of:

• Information Professionals Make All the Difference (3.24 rating)
  
  
• Knowledge Management in the Fortune 500 (2.8 rating).
  
  

By Wednesday, despite the full day of sessions, most of the Free Pint Limited team needed to leave the event, so we offered fewer options for what you could ask us to attend. At the top of the list were:

• Best Practices in Competitive Intelligence and Knowledge Management (3.2 rating)
  
  
• Librarians as Knowledge Managers: The View from the Executive Suite (3.11 rating).
  
  

Whilst we still could not get to everything our respondents requested, your ratings made it much easier to decide where and how to spend our time. Thanks to all who participated in the survey. We are pleased to help all our communities experience the opportunity of SLA, regardless of your travel and conference budget or geographic location. And maybe, if it's compelling enough, we'll see you next year in Seattle, for SLA 2008!

SLA 2007 Overview

This was my 16th SLA annual conference, which gives me the ability to take the long view. In 1992, the conference was in San Francisco, and I was amazed at how big it was. Conference sessions were held in the convention centre as well as in local hotels. Wherever you looked, you could spot a conference attendee (just look for the ubiquitous bag). It was tiring and exhilarating. Back then, it was important to me to attend as many sessions as humanly possible, but now I put importance on the content of the sessions and networking.

Over the years, the conference has changed. The keynotes have become more impressive (especially in staging). The use of technology during the conference has changed and increased, although we still don't have wi-fi broadly available. We continue to rely on a bulletin board for posting messages, but it is not the hub of activity that it used to be. Now messages are sent and received on laptops and cell phones.

The technology in the exhibit hall has changed and we expect live demos (not canned). We also expect companies to bring their equipment (eg, book scanners) rather than just passing out photos and literature. Even small stands can be a bastion of equipment and activity.

The conference schedule has changed with the conference now starting officially on Sunday. This has allowed the conference to make better use of the time. There are now more workshops and classroom training. Some are offered during the conference itself, while others are held on the weekend before. This means that our ability to learn real applicable skills has increased.

Someone wise said that the more conferences you attend, the more networking becomes important. At my first conference, I knew very few people, but since then my network has expanded. This once-a-year opportunity to catch up with people face-to-face is important and people who attend the conference seem to revel in the opportunity. Networking for many starts at the airport while waiting for a ride and ends as we leave the conference city. Networking helps us find resources, build safety nets and grow professionally. It is the people as much as the conference program that keeps attendees coming back.

Next year, the conference will be in Seattle. We've already been warned that more changes are afoot. Every change is meant to make the conference a better experience. Unfortunately, every change requires a period of adjustment. We've already adjusted to many changes in the conference, perhaps without realizing it, so these - whatever they are - should be a breeze. - Jill Hurst-Wahl, Hurst Associates, Ltd.

Dream Jobs of the Future - Diane Goldstein, Hazel Hall, Deb Schwartz, Joel Burger

Many said the discussion didn't focus enough on what these dream jobs would be, but everyone was relieved to learn that librarians were included in the future. However, their titles might be different. Hazel Hall, panel member and senior lecturer at Napier University, says to look beyond job titles to identify e-information role opportunities. Be on the lookout for these titles: business analyst, coach, community and network facilitator, competitive intelligence officer, data steward, digital project manager and e-learning facilitator, among others.

Hall, flanked by information recruiters, also said recruiting agencies would play an increasingly important role in helping jobseekers find work. As job titles become more enigmatic, recruiters will serve as stewards and translators for the new work environment. Schwartz, Burger and Goldstein all said more companies are outsourcing information work, for which they turn to professional recruiters.

Want to beef up your CV with an advanced degree? Try an MBA, a linguistics degree, or one featuring ontology and taxonomy. Overall, become better managers, a weak point according to all panel members.
- Monique Cuvelier

Emerging Markets Intelligence Resources. Gloria Reyes

Gloria Reyes offered an excellent overview of the problems associated with accessing company data on emerging economies and how to overcome them. Problems include poor company record keeping, company registration that isn't transparent, data that may be corrupt and unreliable, small markets due to state holdings and difficulties associated with verifying the bone fides of individuals, as executives listed in trade registers, etc, may be proxies. In many countries, sole proprietorships, partnerships and other privately owned entities do not have to register, so alternative sources have to be used, such as trade and craft associations and tax sources. Many large companies avoid disclosure by registering offshore in Switzerland, for example. Panama also offers a tax-free zone and companies may be registered there. Reyes suggested many sources, including:

• NBZ Search Center <http://victorian.fortunecity.com/>
  
  
• Trade registers <http://www.ibc.co.uk/>
  
  
• Financial, accounts <http://www.icp-redit.com/>
  
  
• SkyMinder <http://www.skyminder.com>
  
  
• Freedom of Information Portal <http://www.freedominfo.org/>
  
  
• Lowtax.net <http://lowtax.net/>.
  
  

Creative sources, such as social networks for locating people within specific companies, can also be useful. Particularly recommended were LinkedIn <http://www.linkedin.com/> for US individuals and Xing <http://www.xing.com/> for Europeans.
- Pam Foster

Future of Librarians in the Workforce. Jose-Marie Griffiths

The session provided an update on the progress of the ongoing IMLS- (Institute of Museum and Library Services) sponsored study that aims to: identify future and potential labour shortfalls in the library and information sector due to retirement, the skills needed to fill these vacancies, the current and potential capacity of LIS schools to meet these demands and effective approaches to recruitment and retaining staff.

Initial findings of the latest round of research reveal some interesting trends. We're now seeing more remote users of library services, which means that total usage is increasing, even if visits to the library are diminishing. The number of non-professional library staff is also increasing, especially in public libraries where there has been a large increase in non-professional jobs (IT, etc). Estimates show that by 2016 there will be a need for 14,120 special librarians and 26,000 public librarians. More than 4,000 graduates are becoming available each year, suggesting that a crisis will hit at some point - a bottleneck is caused by individuals not retiring as early as originally thought. The number of graduates has been consistent since at least the last workforce study in 1982.

Clearly, the information profession has some work to do in terms of attracting and retaining talented students. Another phase of the study will be approaching high school (pre-university) guidance counsellors to ensure they are appropriately counselling students into considering the information field. At the same time, a parallel crisis is emerging in attracting and retaining faculty to teach in accredited information at the university level. A dearth of PhD candidates today means no incoming tenure-track faculty. As programmes are (hopefully) recruiting more students, they will also have to be creative about supporting them with dedicated, knowledgeable and enthusiastic faculty.

When asked about job satisfaction, nearly 38% of those surveyed said that they would choose the same career again. Professional development is an issue. When asked about the adequacy or not of their library/information education, there was general agreement, by respondents, that they felt well prepared for the first couple of years, but felt the need for more management education over the next five years.

Another interesting aspect to the study is its identification of the increasing 'bleed' between librarianship as a profession and other jobs and roles. Based on the preliminary data, the number of workers who are engaged in information functions is 10 times the number of workers who have a library-specific degree from an accredited programme.

The study is also examining usage of different types of libraries. Data gathered to date indicates that libraries - public and specialised - remain vital. Whilst in-person visits for some categories of library are flat or (in some cases) decreasing, remote visits (for the subset of the sample that could report this information) are increasing. At the same time, it is troubling how many respondents had to state 'Don't Know' in response to the question regarding remote access. If we cannot track usage of information resources, it is difficult to make a compelling case for their continuation, let alone expansion.

In the question period, we made the observation that the study, funded in part by the US federal government, is focused specifically on the US workforce. Yet the information profession is international - workers train in one country but work in another and vice versa; multinational corporations must staff multinational information 'centres' that may not have a central location. The investigators are considering some of these issues for future iterations of the study by asking questions about multinational workforces, as well as cross- border educational experiences.

An IMLS website provides further information <http://www.libraryworkforce.org/>. - P.F. and Robin Neidorf

Going Local: Secrets to Finding Local Market Information. Marcy Phelps

Local definitely meant local as Marcy Phelps used the conference's host city Denver as an example of how to find essential market information and data. However, many of the types of sources she quoted can be applied to most major towns and cities. Convention and visitor's bureaux, chambers of commerce, economic development agencies, consulates and local government websites, and local newspapers are available for most areas and can provide good starting- off points. Connecting with essential people such as local journalists, editors, chamber representatives, SLA chapter members and local researchers can also provide valuable leads. A number of wider sources, most of which were US-based, such as Claritas <http://www.claritas.com/>, were also provided but, once again, sources such as censuses, local business sites and community surveys are available for most countries and provide useful demographic data.

A case study of a fictional for-profit university looking for sponsorship was provided, along with suggested sources. - P.F.

Knowledge Management in a Fortune 500 Company. Adam Bennington

Adam Bennington presented a case study on the benefits and challenges in implementing a Knowledge Management programme at State Farm, a large US insurance company. His presentation looked at the challenges and cultural changes facing the library since the creation of a knowledge management centre some three or four years ago. The library mainly relies on external information, so there was limited experience in internal document management. The image of the State Farm library is perceived as an ageing dinosaur but it quickly realised that it could help the KM unit with document management and so keep itself more relevant to the organisation. It's generally agreed that neither the library nor the KM centre has done as well as it could in terms of collaboration. There's a mistrust of sharing information by some individuals who cannot see the benefits. Legal issues can also be touchy - if it's in a written format then it can be discovered. A lack of staffing and a budget that hasn't been increased since 2003 have added to the problems.

There was heavy audience participation on the question of KM software, particularly its shortcomings. SharePoint was mentioned frequently. However, it was generally agreed that KM is about people and not software. Although the State Farm Library and KM team approach KM differently, they are both working towards the same goal - ie, connecting people to people. - P.F.

Librarians as Knowledge Managers: The View from the Executive Suite.
David Pollad

David Pollad presented on knowledge management in different types of organisations, based on his years of experience as the chief knowledge officer in Ernst & Young's Center for Business Knowledge. His remarks were grounded in research, but he also shared resonant anecdotal titbits, such as the client executive who once asked, 'Do you know what a knowledge worker is, and do we have any on staff?'

To demonstrate the power of the information professional as a knowledge manager, Pollad offered up two archetypes of organisations in terms of their orientation to knowledge management. The first is still in old-world mode: short-term planning, focus on risk and profit, built on hierarchies and seeing workers as motivated by promotions or raises. The second is the new world of knowledge management, characterised by the following:

• Long-term planning
  
  
• Focus on agility and opportunity
  
  
• Peer-to-peer and collaborative working styles
  
  
• Networks rather than hierarchies
  
  
• Motivation through personal satisfaction as well as promotion.
  
  

Knowledge managers in old-style companies have to focus on pleasing the executives, while in forward-looking companies, they can focus on pleasing the frontline workers.

Pollard also provided a handy comparative chart of what matters in information practice and knowledge management today:

PAST FOCUS
Know 'what'
Building collections
Content
'Just in case'

PRESENT FOCUS
Know 'who'
Building connections
Context
'Just in time'

- R.N.

Related FreePint links:

• "Impressions of SLA" With contributions from Jill Hurst-Wahl, Tara Murray, Jane Macoustra, and Joann Wleklinski <http://www.freepint.com/issues/130706.htm#feature>
  
  
• "Two Views of the SLA Conference, Toronto, June 2005" By Mary Hudson and Joanna Kaczmarczyk <http://www.freepint.com/issues/160605.htm#tips>
  
  

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