FreePint Feedback - Value of the Information Centre
Jinfo Blog

By Catherine Dhanjal

Abstract

FreePint's managing editor, Catherine Dhanjal, draws out recent FreePint articles, webinars and Community of Practice sessions to answer a customer query: "I'm interested in FreePint's resources on the value of the information centre so that I can include this in my report for senior management to justify investment in the centre and its staff."

Item

We received a question from a customer: 

"I'm interested in FreePint's resources on the value of the information centre so that I can include this in my report for senior management to justify investment in the centre and its staff."

We replied:

Skills

We have a long way to go in raising awareness among corporate leadership around the urgent need for a trained and information-savvy workforce, as shown in the blog item highlighting our current research: "Initial View on Information Skills Development Survey".

Key points from our recent Community of Practice event on getting information skills development on the strategic agenda are captured in Robin Neidorf's blog item "Persuading Stakeholders, with Some Help from Your Peers". Getting the attention of senior management was also tackled in a FreePint Webinar (recording available for Subscribers) "Convincing the C-Suite... and Getting Their Attention in the First Place".

Value of the Information Centre

Producing meaningful information on the value of the information centre is not easy and Jan Sykes gave a roundup of recent FreePint articles, webinars and Community of Practice events in the blog item "Engaging Stakeholders for Realistic Value Metrics - FreePint for Professional Services".

Investment in information sources must be justified and measured, a topic Robin Neidorf tackles in the Subscription article "What's the Value of Current Awareness?". The importance of sources and source awareness is also covered in the Webinar "Source Expertise and Your Value to Your Business (recording available for Subscribers).

What Do We Mean by Value?

Developing key criteria to identify and define value concepts and how to create a value statement are covered by Robyn Smith in "Proactively Defining "Value" for More Successful Communication with Stakeholders". 

In her blog item "What Do We Mean When We Talk about Value?", Shimrit Janes gets to grips with what information professionals and stakeholders understand by value and ROI, whilst in her Subscription article "Four Components of "Value" Essential for Meaningful Conversations with Stakeholders", she introduces a useful framework for defining and reaching agreement on what constitutes "value".

Looking at value from a different viewpoint, Willem (Bill) Noorlander explains why isolating "value" when purchasing information is so very complex and how developing guidelines in each of these areas can help to move towards shared understanding of value within your own organisation.

A FreePint Subscription provides access to all these resources and more. Click a link and login to view, or learn more about a subscription.

Do you have a question about Sources, Technology or Value? We can help, please contact us.

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