Making Inroads into the Organisation
Jinfo Blog

By Scott Brown

Abstract

The concept of 'embedded librarianship' feels as if information professionals somehow insinuated themselves into a more strategic position in the organisation (which, in part, is exactly what we did). This Information Practice Newsletter editorial reflects some other stealthy ways that information professionals are making inroads into the organisation.

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The concept of the embedded librarian – ‘embedding’ information professionals into working groups and teams in the organisation – has, to me, a feeling of stealth (in a good way). It feels as if, with embedded librarianship, we somehow insinuated ourselves into a more strategic position (which, in part, is exactly what we did). This week’s Information Practice Newsletter reflects some other stealthy ways that information professionals are making inroads into the organisation.

On the research side, Rachel Bates Wilfahrt shares her insights on how a prospect research approach may be applied to other research contexts. In addition to identifying prospective donors, researchers could use the tools and process outlined to identify potential leaders, or find venture capital investors, among other things. You’ll find new sources and approaches to improve the impact of your research.

As guest editor Barbara Fullerton points out, finding information on private companies can be one of our most daunting tasks. The FreePint Report: Private Company Research brings together recent articles on private company sources and techniques.

On the social side, James Mullan discusses the barriers to adoption of social tools in the organisation. He identifies that a focus on collaboration, communication and – ultimately – business use of social tools (in this case, wikis) is what will successfully drive adoption. In another piece, James reports on the new Hootsuite Conversation feature. If you use Hootsuite already, you know that you can use it to help track and manage your incoming Twitter feeds. Hootsuite Conversations allows you to create and invite people to a private group to discuss information being tracked in Hootsuite. As James points out, this is significant in that it has the potential to significantly alter the way teams within organisations manage Twitter and other social media content – in a tool many of us already use. I think information professionals can make good use of these kinds of emerging features to lead discussions in the organisation.

Valerie Kittell takes us into a discussion on how Pinterest might effectively be used in the organisation. As with many new and emerging tools, one of my first questions is, is it worth the effort? Valerie shares several examples and encourages information centres to reflect on their goals and their audience to weigh the costs and benefits.

Finally, Tim Buckley Owen looks at the evolving conversation about the cloud, and points out that helping users and the organisation make sense of the plethora of tools is another way we can increase our influence – and ultimately expand our reach.

Stealthy? Well – only for the good of the organisation.

As always, I welcome your comments.

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