From Decision-Making to Discovery Services
Jinfo Blog

By Scott Vine

Abstract

Jinfo's current Research Focus is the "Strategic Alignment of Information Services and IT". Co-producer Scott Vine reflects on recently-published articles on subjects from creating constructive meetings to single-search solutions and looks at what else is still to come.

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We've hit the halfway point in our Research Focus "Strategic Alignment of Information Services and IT". It's been enjoyable reading the different takes on the relationships between information services and IT that our contributors have addressed.

What has been the overriding message of the Focus so far is that we all naturally and easily fall into silos and cliques that can leave us blinkered to the needs, working methods and thought processes of others within our organisations.

Most of us know we do it, but due to pressures of work - time especially - we don't always make enough effort to try and bridge the gaps between ourselves and others who could help us work better. Worse still, we tend to make often unfounded assumptions about those in other roles based on our initial interactions that are hard to change.

Clearly this Research Focus alone is not going to solve these problems, but it never hurts to highlight these issues and remind ourselves that the solutions to most of these problems lie with ourselves.

Our Latest Articles, Reviews and Research

Sally Roberts discusses decision-making and how we should try to ensure the right experts (from whatever part of the organisation) are involved in decision-making. She also looks at how having the right documentation in place can help support this process, and how something seemingly as simple as creating a constructive meeting room environment can aid decision-making. 

We are also taking a look at discovery services as part of this Research Focus, and Sophie Alexander has been reviewing the EBSCO Discovery Service which provides libraries with a powerful discovery layer providing a unified index of a library's resources and a single search experience.  

Research forms a core element of the Focus and we've launched our survey to find your views on elements such as organisational structure, control of projects that involve skills from both IS and IT, and IT department priorities and structure. Complete the survey now and provide your email address to receive a copy of the report upon publication in March 2016.

Still to Come

Tim Barlow will examine where the border should be drawn between the work of the information services and information technology teams; his experience is that "mission creep" on IT-related projects can be a problem in the IS team.

An article showcasing the highlights of the Webinar "IS and IT Make Sense of the 'Digital Workplace'" is coming soon, along with a market landscape report on "Industry Analysts and the Digital Workplace".  If you weren't able to attend our in-person Communities of Practice event in London recently, "Step One to Alignment Between IS and IT", then the article from attendee Shimrit Janes will interest you. 

Sophie finishes her look at the EBSCO Discovery Service, and I'll review rival ProQuest Summon and take a look at the use of discovery services in general.

These articles plus the Webinars and Communities of Practice in the Focus will continue to provide food for thought as you look to achieve a better working relationship with IT.

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