Why I will vote against the SLA name change

This may be a bit off topic, but since this is the Embedded Librarian blog, I’d like to share my views on the proposal to change the name of the Special Libraries Association to “Association of Strategic Knowledge Professionals”, a change that will eliminate all forms of the word “library” from the name and dissociate the association from the profession of librarianship.

I’ve followed the communication and debate regarding the proposed name change from Special Libraries Association to Association of Strategic Knowledge Professionals, and tried to understand the issues as best I could. I’ve concluded that I cannot vote for the name change.

I’ve concluded that above all, this is a debate about whether our Association will remain dedicated to the profession of librarianship or not. I think that if the name is changed, it will become – sooner or later – something else, to which some librarians may belong, but which no longer stands next to ALA, MLA, AALL, and other associations that represent the profession of librarianship. That is not the path I would like to see us travel.

I have heard several reasons for changing the name and breaking the identification of our Association with the profession of librarianship, and I don’t think they are valid. What I’ve heard is:

• Our job titles are now diverse, as are our organizational and physical locations. Many of us don’t have “librarian” in our job titles, and we don’t work in traditional libraries.
• The Alignment research tells us we must eliminate the words libraries or librarians from our association name.
• We need a “bigger tent” as an association; we need to appeal to non-librarians and the “librarian” label is too confining.

Here are my thoughts:

• We are an association of librarians. In my research (conducted with Mary Talley and sponsored by SLA), 84% of embedded librarians held an ALA-accredited Master’s degree. Nine percent held another library science degree or equivalent. While we can’t be sure that the percentages for the entire association are the same, my guess is that they are similar. Eliminating all forms of “library” from the name denies the fact of who we are.
• The profession of Librarianship isn’t dependent on our job title, the box on the organization chart where our name is listed, or where our office is located. It’s based on shared competencies, interests, values and ethics. Most of us start to develop these shared traits by acquiring the Master’s degree, though I don’t believe the degree is required to develop them, or to take the professional label “librarian”. Many of us identify our profession as “librarian” even though we don’t have the word in our job title.
• I have not been able to find specific research results that support the claim that we must abandon all forms of the word “library”. I have asked for these results and not received a meaningful response. From my reading of the research, the terms “special libraries” and “Special Libraries Association” were evaluated and found to be poorly understood and perceived. I’m not surprised by that. But that’s not justification for abandoning the word “library” altogether. We all know the stereotypes of librarians, and we know that there’s little truth to them now – if there ever was. I think we should make common cause with others who are working to dispel them – not run away from the profession.
• Librarianship is a “big tent” – and we need to make it bigger. The profession is open to all who share our competencies, interests, values and ethics. The whole profession is undergoing dramatic changes and I see positive examples in all sectors. All librarians need the alignment leadership that our Association is providing through research, professional development, and peer to peer collaboration. Now is not the time to abandon librarianship, now is the time to expand it. We should welcome all who share the ideals, interests, and competencies of librarians, and encourage them to call themselves librarians too. We should educate executives about why they need to hire and promote librarians. But we will not be able to do that if we abandon the term “library” in some form.

I hope that our Association can move ahead and find a new name that affirms our role in the profession of Librarianship while eliminating the confusion that the term “special libraries” creates. Like other professional associations, we should adopt a new name that proudly proclaims or professional identity, and then through collateral communication as well as our deeds demonstrate our strategic value to society. Let’s be librarians.

In closing, I would like to quote this finding from the Alignment research:
“The word “librarian” still carries a significant amount of equity among both information professionals and C-suites. Communication efforts should leverage the positive attributes of librarianship while stressing more modern applications of the profession.” (Positioning SLA for the Future, http://wiki.sla.org/download/attachments/33587698/Positioning+SLA+for+Future.pdf ,slide 33)

That’s not what the proposed name does. I will vote No on the name change, in hopes that we can come up with the right name and then move ahead with Alignment.
–David Shumaker

Self-Directed Work (Why Embedded Librarians Have More Fun…)

Here are a few examples of how we see embedded librarians direct the work they perform as a result of the relationships they build. Each is from our research on embedded programs and each shows just how important relationship- building is in expanding roles and value….and fun, too.

In a small academic institution, a professional is hired to expand outreach to faculty and students; but isn’t given any strategies, or even guidelines, to achieve her goals. What does she do? Volunteers to serve on a newly formed task force to establish a required, freshman seminar. She builds relationships (and credibility) with faculty members on the committee and is able to introduce embedded information literacy instruction into the new freshman class.

An embedded professional in a science-based company insists to a business acquisitions team that she can’t work on the project if she doesn’t “have a seat at the table” with the project leaders during their teleconferencing meetings. She gets her seat and goes on to institute a “best practice” for routinely including an embedded professional on all business acquisition projects.

Sometimes the opportunities embedded librarians discover are outside the traditional role of an information service provider. Information professional we know is embedded in both a scientific institute and a science academic department on the campus of a major university. She has taken on the role of organizer for the institute’s frequent seminars, has since strengthened the seminar offerings (not to mention her own visibility and credibility). Now, she’s frequently invited to participate in new initiatives and grants and is chair of the institute’s annual symposium for 2010.

This same professional initiated her relationship with the academic department by attending faculty meetings and presenting her library’s liaison program. From there she was invited to attend the department’s Journal Club and went on to actively contribute to the faculty’s discussion of important scholarly articles. Today, she provides bioinformatics instruction and is considered a member of the department’s faculty. Not a bad return on the initial effort of attending faculty meetings.

I could keep going, but I’m sure you get the picture. Actually, you can help us enlarge the picture. Tell us some of your stories about building-relationships and directing the path our work has taken as an embedded librarian.

Do Embedded Librarians Have More Fun….cont.

Are embedded librarians really more satisfied in their jobs than other information professionals?  I’ve asked the question and here’s a qualified answer:  yes, we believe so.   Our research didn’t include a study of job satisfaction levels among embedded and non-embedded librarians.  Job satisfaction is certainly not exclusive to embedded librarians; plenty of information professionals of all types love their roles and their jobs.   But, we continually observe the unique role of an embedded librarian leading to an extraordinary sense of job satisfaction.    Here are some of the reasons why.

Embedded librarians are great at relationship-building.  Our  research shows embedded librarians engaging in multiple interactions with customer groups  - interactions they are as likely to initiate as the customer  - that give them an intimate knowledge of the group’s work and related challenges.   We see them regularly participating in their customers’ work meetings, taking advantage of the same learning opportunities, and meeting with all levels of group members to discuss challenges and solutions.  These are game-changing tactics that put embedded librarians on the ground with their customer groups  - and in a very advantageous position.

This may all sound very exciting, but how does it translate into greater job satisfaction?  When embedded librarians drive interactions with their customers, they change the dynamics of the service provider and customer roles –  and, put themselves in a position to control more of the work they perform.  What we’ve witnessed is a cycle in which the closer embedded librarians work with a group, the more they know; the more they know, the more they can take part in the group’s conversation; and the more they actively participate in the conversation, the easier it is to spot opportunities to apply their skills and expertise to problem solving.  This is truly expanding your own capabilities and directing your own work.

What is job satisfaction about if it isn’t the ability to direct your work and expand into more interesting, challenging and responsible roles?

(In my next post, I’ll give some real-life examples of how embedded librarians are directing and developing their own work.)

“Models of Embedded Librarianship” Final Report Published

The final report of our research project, Models of Embedded Librarianship, has been published on the Special Libraries Association website.

See http://www.sla.org/pdfs/EmbeddedLibrarianshipFinalRptRev.pdf

SLA has not yet published the appendices to the report, and we’re checking on that.

Update: SLA has posted a new version that includes the Appendices: a total of 196 pages. Still at the same URL.

For background on the SLA Research Program and other reports of SLA-sponsored research, visit http://www.sla.org/content/resources/scholargrant/resgrant/index.cfm

Alignment and Embeddedness, Part 1

As an active member of the Special Libraries Association, I’m thinking a lot about “Alignment” these days. SLA’s Alignment Project has focused on both helping members “align their value and contributions with the strategic goals of their organizations” and develop communications that executives and employers will understand, so that what the librarian does will be recognized and valued by their bosses.

(If you’re not an SLA member and would like to know more about the Alignment Project, visit http://www.sla.org/content/SLA/alignment/index.cfm .)

Alignment is a laudable goal and I completely agree with it. The question is, how does a librarian achieve it? How do we ensure that what we’re doing really matches up with the needs of the organization — and that we talk about it in terms that leaders of the organization understand?

It seems to me that Embeddedness has something to offer. The Embedded Library Services model has to do with getting close enough to others in the organization — whether physically, by locating your office in their area; organizationally, by transferring supervision from the library manager to the customer group manager; or operationally, by forming a strong working relationship — to understand their information needs and develop specialized solutions that meet those needs. Our research (see Executive Summary posted on the blog last month) has shown that successful embedded librarians are good at building relationships, and either bring a good knowledge of the customer’s domain to the organization when they arrive, or work diligently to develop it as they begin work.

The second half of Alignment is communicating in terms that the organization’s management understands and values. Managers of successful embedded services do just that. Among the attributes we’ve found associated with the management of successful embedded programs are that they evaluate their programs in financial terms and through stories, as well as using more traditional activity statistics. Also, they communicate their evaluations back to customer managers.

Ultimately, successful embedded librarians transcend the traditional library operational model of providing services in response to requests, and become partners with their “customers” — sharing the responsibilities and the rewards for organizational outcomes.

What could be better aligned than that?

(In part 2, I’ll share some thoughts on what can go wrong.)

More from the SLA Annual Conference

I want make sure readers of this blog are aware of 2 good contributed papers from the 2009 SLA Annual Conference.

“Navigating through Turbulent Times: How the Corporate Special Library and Brand Communications Work Together to Forge a Path for the Future”, by Jill Heinze and Kimberly Kortash of the Affinion Loyalty Group,

and

“Reflecting the Corporate Strategy: MITRE Information Services Clusters”, by Jeanne Slater Trimble of the MITRE Corporation.

Jill (the Research Analyst) and Kimberly (Director of Brand Communications) collaborated on a presentation that describes the benefits of moving Jill’s office into the Marketing Department area, and how both have benefited from the closer working relationship that developed.

Jeanne, who is Lead Information Services Staff at MITRE, describes how MITRE’s embedded information analyst services are evolving in response to (alignment with!) the evolving, highly matrixed operational philosophy of the parent organization.

Both are well worth a read, and I look forward to more from both of these leading programs!

Do Embedded Librarians Have More Fun?

Take a look at the slides from my presentation as part of a panel for the program, “The New Face of the Special Librarian: Embedded Librarians,” at the SLA Conference this summer and see what you think  It’s a light-hearted take on what we think is an important factor in being an embedded librarian – job satisfaction.

SLA2009_Do Embedded Librarians Have More Fun?

PDF Version

Models of Embedded Librarianship: Executive Summary

I thought it might be helpful to post the executive summary of the research report Mary and I submitted to SLA on June 30. We hope the full report will be available soon. Here it is:

ExecutiveSummaryModels of Embedded Librarianship

SLA Conference Presentation

In response to requests, I’m posting the slides of our presentation to the SLA Annual Conference this past Tuesday. ModelsofEmbeddedLibrarianshipJune162009

The file is also available from SLA at http://www.sla.org/pdfs/sla2009/ModelsofEmbeddedLibrarianshipJune162009.pdf

Science Fiction Writers, Homeland Security and Embedded Librarians?

As an avid science fiction reader (starting at age 10 with Edgar Rice Burrough’s John Carter of Mars), I was caught by a headline in Friday, May 22nd’s Washington Post  that read “U.S. Mission for Sci-Fi Writers: Imagine That.”  Reading it, I kept seeing interesting parallels between what Homeland Security is doing to get researchers to think more creatively and what one innovative institution is doing to embed librarians in an academic program.   

Homeland Security introduced sci-fi writers to their conference participants (mostly researchers) to help them imagine future risks and solutions.  Interacting with the sci-fi writers pushed the researchers outside their comfort zone and away from their datasets into a new a new territory of possibilities.

Dave and I recently visited an academic institution with a dynamic embedded program that uses a not-so-different technique to introduce embedded instructional services.   

This university mixes students and faculty from the soft and hard sciences on teams to tackle an issue facing a local population (50% of the projects are in foreign countries).  The success of student/faculty teams depends on well-crafted project proposals with context-dependent, imaginative, approaches. Research in unfamiliar areas is critical to understand the culture, the problem, and what might and might not work.  Successful proposals are followed by onsite implementation.  One project of these dealt with seasonal flooding and destruction in Africa and proposed an effective dam constructed of old tires.   

Everyone is working outside their own disciplines; everyone is outside their comfort zone.   

Into this mix comes an embedded librarian, incorporated as a team member, briefed on all project team issues.  Like the science fiction writers at the conference, the librarian opens up new worlds to the students.  The librarian introduces new research strategies, new, resources, and new information – leading the teams to broader perspectives.  Students learn how to research in unfamiliar areas, use the literature and, finally, to be self-sufficient researchers in the field.   

Pushing everyone outside their comfort zone and onto inter-disciplinary teams facilitates acceptance of the embedded librarian as a project team member and an integral part of the curriculum.   

The university has metrics to show the benefit from working with a librarian at this level.  Students on project teams that included an embedded librarian perform significantly better in researching and analyzing data than those on teams without these innovative members.  The Dean of the program believes the work of the embedded librarians has made the difference.