|
|
Rebecca Jones posted this in Conferences on April 11th, 2012 Juanita is a candidate for the SLA Presidency. The candidates responding to questions that will better acquaint the membership with the candidate’s perspectives and opinions.
SLA 2012 Leadership Summit: Liz, Juanita, Gloria & Allison
SLA: Question: What sort of advice would you give to professionals, both newly minted and more seasoned professionals, who might be interested in nontraditional career paths?
Juanita:There is no such thing as a non-traditional career path. Our background and training have provided us with the skill set to select, acquire, organize, manage and share information. While these skills are fundamental to a traditional library environment, they are also fundamental to any organization where data / information / intelligence / knowledge is at the hub of that organization’s business. And in this knowledge economy – and in the face of the information explosion that is the Internet, more and more organizations have come to recognize the importance of information.
The pace of change combined with a sophisticated technical infrastructure to manage information has reached a stage where NOT having staff in place to manage not just the technology (the “pipes”) but the actual content, the data, the intelligence, the “water” means that that organization is not capitalizing on the one quality that can differentiate one company, one university, one country from another: our intellectual capital.
This is our moment. The time is now to expand beyond our traditional environments and take on new challenging roles in career paths that are, in fact, the exact right fit for us.
Continue reading “Traditional” Career? What’s That?
Rebecca Jones posted this in Conferences, Lib, IM, KM on March 30th, 2012 Purdue University’s Management and Economics Library has undergone a complete redesign. Hal Kirkwood, Associate Head of the Library and Tomalee Doan, Division Head of Business Libraries, shared the Library’s experience at CIL2012’s post-conference workshop, Transforming Services & Spaces. Their focus was to create spaces totally aligned with their vision:
And they did so in carefully managed phases.
Check out their prezi. And thanks to Hal and Tomalee for sharing their insights with us.
Rebecca Jones posted this in Conferences, Leadership on March 29th, 2012 The theme of Michael Edson’s keynote at Computers in Libraries 2012 last week was “think big, start small, move fast.” Thanks to Information Today (CIL producers & publishers) and This Week in Libraries for their video coverage of all the keynotes and many presentations. I encourage you to grab a coffee or tea, and, if you work with co-workers, grab them too, and view some of these resources. Erik Boekesteijn’s interview with Michael is below, so maybe you could start with this one. Pay particular attention to what he says and the implications for strategic and operational plans:
Think Big: dream, imagine and design the experiences you envision for your library, your organization, your clients, your staff, yourself Start Small: identify the initiatives that will lead to the dream that are doable, that give you wins & successes to maintain the momentum so crucial to keep going Move Fast: get to it, today. As Michael says, what cost thousands of dollars & personpower a few years ago can now be piloted for a few thousand within a matter of weeks. Do it. Now. What’s the worst that can happen? To Jane & I, the worst that can happen is that you don’t move fast, & someone else does, leaving you way behind.
Other gold nuggets Mike left us with to consider: “The tangible value of the present moment needs to be exploited.”
“Every user is a hero on their own epic journey and it is
Continue reading Think Big, Start Small, Move Fast
Rebecca Jones posted this in Conferences on March 24th, 2012 Computers in Libraries 2012 hosted its first Battledecks, “Innovate…..or else.” Thanks to all those involved — Judges Darlene Fichter, Marshall Breeding, Maurice Coleman, Amanda Etches, Julie Strange and Rebecca; Battlers Stephen Abram, Joe Murphy, Gary Price, Andromeda Yelton, Amy Buckland and Sarah Houghton, and especially to Janie Hermann for her incredible facilitation & control of the event! Wow — I’m amazed by the Battlers courage and ability to articulate concepts with humour. Phew! It was stressful just to watch and listen to them as those mystery slides appeared for them to address. Congrats & thanks to all!
Thanks Lia Friedman @piebrarian for this photo:
battledecks! #cildc twitter.com/piebrarian/sta…
— lia friedman (@piebrarian) March 22, 2012
Jeffrey Phillips at CIL 2012
The 27th annual Computers in Libraries is focusing on Creating Innovative Libraries. Author Jeffrey Phillips talked about relentless innovation and the need to change from BAU (business as usual) to” innovation business as usual”. He illustrated how we have been focusing on quality, efficiency, core competencies and being lean for the last 30 years and although they are good things, they have not been balanced with innovation as they were in the 1970′s. To accomplish innovation business as usual with more emphasis on innovation in organizations he discussed the need for: communication & commitment (demonstrating with words and actions), compensation (if you want people to be innovative you have to reward them for doing so), and culture (creating attitudes, perspectives, and ways of working that sees innovation as important). In addition, new skill sets have to be learned (focusing on customer needs, trend watching, managing innovation). He left the audience with his Fab Four imperatives: create clear innovation goals (& strategies) — he used P&G as an example; begin to define & sustain a process with language, methodologies, culture (understand how it works); rebalance with tools & skills; rework culture, incentives, rewards. If you want more, check out his book, Relentless Innovation, and his blog.
Fantastic! Spring is here — according to today’s Google Doodle, and the cherry blossoms that are now blooming in full force in DC, and the 27the Computers in Libraries which began with lots of workshops today. Later today the opening networking event, Gaming & Gadgets Petting Zoo, provides an opportunity to reconnect, meet, and greet colleagues as well as to try your hand at some fun games (and understand what the young folk love!) and also try out each others’ gadgets. Always a fun activity. Tomorrow brings our morning keynote, Jeffrey Phillips, VP OVO Innovate on Purpose, and author of Relentless Innovation: What Works, What Doesn’t — And What That Means for Your Business.
If you aren’t registered for the conference but are in the DC area, you can take advantage of the free sessions, Cybertours, which are happening in the Exhibit Hall on Wednesday through Friday.
If you aren’t able to join us this year in person in DC, follow the Twitter feed (#CILDC), conference blog (www.Libconf.com) which links to other conference bloggers, and watch for some live streaming with links from the blog! See you in person or online.
Rebecca Jones posted this in Conferences on February 7th, 2012 Ah….we all know the rush of adrenalin experienced at a conference. Many of us have just returned from a fantastic OLA 2012 Superconference – one of the best I’ve been to in Ontario in a long time. So much networking! So many people to contact, products to consider, ideas to explore, presentations to follow up on! So much learning!
And………we all know that first week back at work. The conference is a faded memory already…..the notes we so carefully scribbled or typed set aside for—- ah, for—– for when we get time to look at them, discuss them with our colleagues, take action with them. We have the best of intentions, and too often, the worst of follow-up.
Thanks to The Learning Circuits blog for “10 Ways to Bring a Conference Back to Work,“ and to Stephen Abram for tweeting it! Here’s some tips from The Learning Circuits post:
BLOG LIVE FROM THE CONFERENCE – or Post-Conference I agree wholeheartedly with this tip – unless you couldn’t get on the wireless, which is sometimes the case; but typing your notes lets you quickly plug them into blog posts when you do get back to work, even if it’ your personal blog in which you can tag the topics and easily retrieve the info and ideas in 6 months when your brain says “wait a minute….I heard someone at OLA talk about this….”. If I don’t have my laptop or iPad, I type notes into my Blackberry to sync the docs or memo
Continue reading Ways to Bring a Conference Back to Work
Juanita posted this in Conferences, Leadership on February 7th, 2012 Wendy Hicks of Stratford Public Library created and moderated a session with an incredible mix of seasoned managers offering their top ten tips to be an effective manager. Although they didn’t say it, I heard the overall message as “Keep in touch.”
1. Keep in touch with the front line: Know what front line staff knows. Go on the front line occasionally to find out what the customers are thinking, and what staff is experiencing.
2. Keep in touch with yourself: Govern your temper, put everything in perspective, and be the calm centre of any storm. Be in control of yourself. 3. Keep in touch with staff: Be respectful of staff, and that respect will then be reciprocated. Acknowledge and highlight the work someone does well. Don’t just point out flaws. While it’s important to make sure staff knows what they can improve, it’s important that they know what they have done well.
4. Keep in touch with the golden rule: Give 100% of the credit to everyone else when a project has gone well. Heap praise on them. Be front and centre when criticism comes your way. Project your people. Take the burden of blame. Build trust, show you have their back and people will do their best for you.
5. Keep in touch with the culture: Keep your style flexible to reflect the style needed in any given environment.
6. Keep in touch with opportunities: Look for opportunities to guide people. Don’t try to control. Identify people’s
Continue reading OLA Superconference 2012: Top Ten Management Tips
Jane Dysart posted this in Conferences, Learning, Lib, IM, KM on February 6th, 2012 Knowledge, creating it and sharing, it is at the core of what I have been involved in throughout my career — in libraries, in corporations, at conferences, on the web, with friends and colleagues. I like the post this morning from Nina Platt, which included the following:
Those of us working in knowledge management (KM) have long said that we need KM more in troubled economic times than any other time. Why? Because using KM as a strategy for getting or staying ahead of competitors makes sense. KM can drive consistency, consistency drives quality, and quality work brings in repeat customers. While this is true, why did we see so many layoffs of KM staff as the economy turned south? Apparently, hiring KM staff picking up again or it may be that it is being outsourced? As a KM consultant, Nick Milton reports that his business is growing. Read more in If knowledge management is dead, why does it have such a strong pulse?
I am very excited about KMWorld 2012, October 16-19 in DC which will include Taxonomy Boot Camp (Oct 16-17), Enterprise Search Summit (Oct 17-19), and SharePoint Symposium (oct 18-19). The call for speakers for KMWorld 2012 is online and I hope you will consider sharing your experiences and knowledge with your colleagues at this key event for those in the KM field. The theme of this year’s event is Knowledge Sharing & Learning: Communication, Collaboration & Innovation . I’ll be sharing more information about new initiatives and keynote
Continue reading Knowledge, KM & Success
Rebecca Jones posted this in Conferences on January 31st, 2012
OLA Poster Session on Friday February 3, 2012 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Lower Lobby of the MTCC
Community Mapping: Keeping it Simple and Straightforward
Jenny Schnoll and Lina Kim
Toronto Public Library
Toronto Public Library’s new approach to community outreach and engagement says that library staff partner and collaborate with groups and individuals so they can define and fulfill their own interests and needs. To do this well, staff need the right skill set. This poster session describes a community mapping process adopted by TPL to help staff make that first step in community entry. Community mapping is generally recognized as the first step in helping library leaders and branch staff alike develop a new understanding of how the library fits into and contributes to the existing fabric of the community.
|
What’s Impacting Our Future?
|
