Practical action on Jinfo's Research Focus, from a research & information centre manager
Jinfo Blog

By Catherine Dhanjal

Abstract

The Insights and Actions Report from the Research Focus, "Benchmark information roles - optimise your structure" is available now for all site visitors. We asked subscriber Dany Lessard, of Business Development Bank of Canada, how she and her team of researchers have been using the benchmarking resources from the Research Focus.

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How are the articles, webinars and Community sessions from Research Focus "Benchmark information roles - optimise your structure" being used?

We spoke to one of our regular participants and readers, Dany Lessard, manager, Research and Information Centre at Business Development Bank of Canada, who shared with us what she has learned from the current Research Focus and how they will use this in future work.

Jinfo: What did you find most valuable about the Research Focus?

Dany Lessard: The benchmarking articles were ideal for reflection and the model for basic benchmarking neatly brought together and presented the practical elements.

Some of the articles in the Focus particularly jumped out at me:

• Rebecca Gebhardt Brizi's article, "Three steps to prosperous business partnerships" was practical, with insights that can be applied in my organisation. Having spoken to Rebecca in the past when she was with an information vendor, I was attracted to her article to glean her perspective around vendor relationships.

• Robin Neidorf's article "Does your information team possess 'radical adaptability'?" covered her interview with Kim Dority which yielded some useful tips and also tied in with innovation training that we had been given at BDC. I liked the distinction Kim made regarding interstitial and deep-dive time, which can be applied to both thinking and learning

• Helen Josephine's article "How understanding organisational structures can inform effective information services" was a good prompt for reflection. The information centre models were nicely summarised, as were their advantages and disadvantages.

Jinfo: How did the Research Focus affect your thinking?

Dany Lessard: The benchmarking articles provided a good introduction and high level view of this theme for information services. I appreciated the "next steps" in the articles, they're always useful as food for thought and prompts of how these ideas can be applied.

In terms of the Jinfo research around benchmarking, the topic first caught my attention, because I was thinking about how it might be useful regarding adding value, ROI, and how the value and pertinence of our services can be demonstrated.  

In the section of the analysis on customers and services, figure 4, the matrix of which services are provided and how they are provided (current awareness via self-service, for example), resonated with me. This is something I'll try to adapt and map against our services.

Figure 1

The section on measuring success was also useful. Although we have a few basic KPIs that we use, it would be useful if we could "easily" attach a dollar figure to the value we bring to the organisation. I know, easier said than done.

Jinfo: How does Jinfo help you to stay ahead of the curve on technology developments and gain other insights?

Dany Lessard: I read a lot of Jinfo articles and reports, as well as other publications. For a small corporate research service, Jinfo offers pertinent information targeted to the services we offer. I appreciate that Jinfo is comprehensive in its coverage and that it deals with the issues we're looking at.

Find out more

The main lessons learned from this three-month Research Focus, plus a thematic index to all content published, are included in the report Insights and Actions from the Research Focus "Benchmark information roles - optimise your structure", visit the Research Focus page to get your copy.

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