sep oct information 12 V 16 | N 05 outlook THE MAGAZINE OF THE SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

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INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND sep oct information 12 V 16 | N 05 outlook THE MAGAZINE OF THE SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION

Info View SLA 2012 Contributed Paper 3 Measuring for Success 24 don’t Touch that Brent Mai String! There Went the Databases Inside Info Dee Baldwin, 4 nominations Sought Michael Kucsak, for Board Positions ∙ and Alice Eng SLA to Cease Printing Magazine in 2013 ∙ Competencies for Librarians Annual Conference 33 do Librarians Draws 3,500 to Chicago Need PhDs? Deanna B. Marcum Info News 6 Teaching, Communicating market share 8 Metrics for are Key to Proving Value ∙ 36 Marketing through Cost, Technology Enchantment: Special Libraries Spurring Rise in Group The Guy Kawasaki Research ∙ Major U.S. Approach News Sites Losing Jill Strand # Title here Credibility ∙ Graduates 10 whatAut Arehor We Measuring, Want Continued Access info tech and Does It Matter? to Research 39 Collaboration in Special 16St eTitleve Hill hereer Library Environments sla member interview stephen Abram Author 20 10 Questions: 13 Benchmarking: Dee Baldwin Info business A Powerful stuart hales 42 Metrics and Value Management Tool Debbie Schachters Martha Haswell 44 Industry Events Webinars 16 Beyond Metrics: Ad Index The Value of the Information Center Constance Ard info view

Measuring for Success

Another of the board’s strategic agen- Two SLA task forces are taking action da items is to grow SLA by diversifying to establish benchmarks for professional our membership. But in order to know development and membership diversification. whether this objective is being achieved, we must know who our members are. By Brent Mai, SLA president What industries do we represent? What work environments do we represent, and how long have we been working in these professions? What educational Wow! SLA 2012 is now one for the persed around the globe, it is difficult to backgrounds are represented among record books, and what an outstand- know what learning and networking ini- our members? To what other organiza- ing conference it was! Special thanks tiatives are taking place throughout our tions do we belong? go to Cindy Hill and her team on the association without monitoring more If we know the answers to these Conference Advisory Council for lead- than 150 unit Websites, discussion questions, SLA leaders can make bet- ing the planning process, to the division lists, blogs, and social media sites. ter decisions about what our mem- planners who put together 250-plus To facilitate sharing of this informa- bers need to support their professional continuing education sessions and net- tion, an association-wide calendar is development. A presidential task force working events designed to support being made available that will make led by Kimberly Silk is developing a list the professional development needs of SLA members, and to the many other volunteers who helped SLA fulfill its mission to strengthen its members through learning and networking initia- Measuring one’s performance is instrumental in tives. Bravo! Bravo! demonstrating success, both personally and professionally. This issue of Information Outlook focuses on metrics, so I’ll begin by SLA has two core values that relate to measuring success: providing some metrics of success for to add qualitative and quantitative value and to deliver SLA 2012. There were almost 3,500 attendees in Chicago, and the number measurable results. of those who paid to attend the full conference was up 20 percent over SLA 2011 in Philadelphia. This is a significant indicator that SLA mem- bers continue to find value in confer- it easier for both members and non- of questions that will be used to gather ence content and, furthermore, that members to see what opportunities are the information needed to support this more members are economically able available on a given day in any part of type of decision making. The answers to attend. More than 200 companies SLA’s global organization. This proj- to these questions can be used as a showcased their latest offerings at the ect builds on the efforts of Operation benchmark with which to measure our INFO-EXPO, the premier exhibition of Vitality (led by former board member success at diversifying our member- information management products and Daniel Lee), which has brought a uni- ship. services. fied technology platform to our units SLA’s success, however, is not mea- over the last two years. One of your Establishing Standards sured solely by its annual conference. board’s strategic goals for 2012-2014 In many professions, there are man- As Gary Labranche of the Association is to foster 24/7/365 continuing educa- dates to engage in lifelong learning for Corporate Growth pointed out dur- tion opportunities. This new calendar and professional development. These ing the leadership orientation session in will showcase what your association is mandates are often linked to licen- Chicago, professional associations like doing for members and will be a visible sure of some kind, requiring participa- SLA provide more educational opportu- indicator of whether the board is fulfill- tion in designated learning activities to nities than all colleges and universities ing this strategic goal. maintain credibility as a professional. combined. But with SLA chapters dis-

2 INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 September/October 2012 info view

This type of a professional development the leadership of past president Anne regime is rooted in the traditional con- Caputo, a task force is updating the SLA cept of a professional as autonomous Competencies and expects to complete and self-regulating, with specialized its final report by the end of the year. expertise and a responsibility to the Measuring one’s performance is public to maintain particular standards instrumental in demonstrating success, in this expertise. both personally and professionally. SLA SLA is not, at this time, a certifi- has two core values that relate to mea- cation-issuing professional association. suring success. One is to add qualita- We do, however, offer certificates that tive and quantitative value to informa- demonstrate proficiency in a hand- tion services and products; the other full of subject areas, notably copyright is to deliver measurable results in the and knowledge management. We also information economy and in our orga- provide, for those members who find nizations. them professionally useful, certificates This issue of Information Outlook fea- of completion for continuing education tures three articles by expert authors on courses sponsored by SLA. the subject of measuring for success. But the diversity of our member- Constance Ard discusses using metrics ship makes it difficult to establish a to communicate value; Martha Haswell uniform set of standards against which outlines how to use benchmarking to information professionals can measure improve performance; and Steve Hiller themselves. The SLA Competencies, dovetails information service metrics while they are not exactly metrics with with the goals of the overall organiza- which we can compare one member to tion. Their collective wisdom will give another, are used by many members you a broader understanding of the to define job parameters and set goals framework by which you can measure for performance evaluations. Under your professional success. Enjoy! SLA

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INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 september/October 2012 3 inside info

Board Nominations · Magazine · Annual Conference

Nominations Sought your job and career. of the magazine in 2013 and replace for Board Positions Nominations must be received by it with an enhanced online format Looking for a way to take your lead- 11 January 2013. To nominate an SLA designed to encourage reader interac- ership skills to the next level? Know member for the board, forward the fol- tion and sharing. someone who has the skills, desire and lowing information to any member of Beginning with the January/February drive to help SLA members prepare for the Nominating Committee: 2013 issue, SLA members will receive the future? If so, the SLA Nominating an e-mail notification that the issue • The nominee’s name, address and Committee invites you to nominate is available online through the asso- phone number; yourself or recommend a colleague to ciation’s Website. The online edition serve in one of the following leadership • The board position for which you are will boast a variety of features, includ- positions: recommending the nominee; ing mobile accessibility, rich media, searchable and zoomable content, and • President-elect; • The length of time the nominee has RSS feeds. Readers will be able to been an SLA member; • Chapter cabinet chair-elect; add notes and bookmarks, share con- • Offices the nominee has held in SLA tent with colleagues, and comment on • Division cabinet chair-elect; or chapters, divisions, committees, or articles. • Director (two positions). councils; The Information Outlook Advisory Council will help guide the process of The committee is seeking 10 can- • The association-level committees on selecting the appropriate mix of fea- didates—two for each of the five which the nominee has served; tures available to readers. positions—to stand for election in • Other SLA and professional activities September 2013 and begin serving in (e.g., teaching continuing education Annual Conference Draws January 2014. Candidates should be courses or writing articles for pub- 3,500 to Chicago good listeners and speakers, forward lication) in which the nominee has Nearly 3,500 information profession- thinkers (able to see the big picture participated; and als and representatives of information and guide the association in the proper services vendors gathered in Chicago direction), knowledgeable about SLA • Any additional information that dis- in mid-July to learn, network and share and its governance practices, solution tinguishes the candidate from others ideas and experiences at SLA’s 2012 oriented, and committed to following and illustrates why he or she is an Annual Conference & INFO-EXPO. through on projects and assignments. ideal candidate for the board. The titles of some of the 200-plus Information about each position can be Nominations can be sent to any conference sessions reflected the var- found on SLA’s Website at www.sla.org/ member of the Nominating Committee ied roles that information profession- content/SLA/governance/bodsection/ (see below). Contact information for als increasingly are assuming, with descriptions.cfm. committee members is available at presentations such as “Transitioning Board members are expected to www.sla.org/content/community/com- into Management and Leadership,” participate in monthly conference mitte/nom.cfm. “Reinventing Library Skills,” “Contract calls and meet in person at the SLA Negotiation” and “The Librarian as Annual Conference and the Leadership • Donna Scheeder, chair; Entrepreneur” drawing large and eager Summit. Travel reimbursement is avail- • James Manasco, chair-elect; audiences. The keynote speaker, Guy able for board members if needed; see Kawasaki, also proved popular with the SLA Travel and Expense Policy at • Amy Buckland; attendees, hundreds of whom listened www.sla.org/content/SLA/governance/ • Lorene Kennard; to him share lessons from his lat- Policies/01-92.cfm. est book, Enchantment: The Art of All SLA members, especially leaders • Karen Reczek; or Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions. of divisions, chapters, committees, and • Linda Broussard, SLA staff member. SLA’s INFO-EXPO, the premier exhi- councils, are encouraged to identify bition of information management prod- people they think are ready and willing ucts and services, featured 207 compa- to serve as members of the association’s SLA to Cease Printing nies showcasing their latest offerings. board. Service on the board provides an Magazine in 2013 The opening evening of the confer- opportunity to expand your manage- As previously reported in the March/ ence included a special awards cer- ment and leadership abilities, and the April 2012 issue of Information Outlook, emony that honored the following indi- skills learned can easily be applied to SLA will eliminate the printed version viduals:

4 INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 September/October 2012 inside info

• John Cotton Dana Award: Jesus Lau • IHS • SLA Hall of Fame: Sharon Lenius • J.J. Keller & Associates and Susan Fifer Canby • LexisNexis • Dow Jones Leadership Award: • NewsEdge Christine (Kee) Malesky • ProQuest & Dialog • ProQuest & Dialog Member Achievement Award: Daniel Lee • SLA Illinois Chapter • Rose L. Vormelker Award: Bruce • SLA Philadelphia Chapter Rosenstein and Denise Callihan • TRAK Records & Library • 2012 SLA Fellows: Scott Brown, Ann • Wolters Kluwer | Ovid Cullen, Ruth Kneale, Chris Olson, and Roberto Sarmiento • Wolters Kluwer | Law & Business • 2012 SLA Rising Stars: Davis • Taylor & Francis Group Erin Anderson, Janel Kinlaw, Moy • Wiley-Blackwell McIntosh, and Chris Zammarelli Jesus Lau • Recommind SLA Dow Jones and Springer supported the conference as platinum-level spon- sors. The following industry partners also sponsored events, products or services. • Copyright Clearance Center • Elsevier

Sharon Lenius

Scott Brown (left), Ann Cullen, Ruth Kneale, Chris Olson, and Roberto Sarmiento

Chris Zammarelli (left), Moy McIntosh, Erin Anderson, and Janel Kinlaw Susan Fifer Canby

INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 september/October 2012 5 info news

Library Value · Multi-author Papers · News Credibility

Teaching, Communicating tion center based in the Department of physics, space science and engineer- are Key to Proving Value Information Science at Loughborough ing, according to analysts at Thomson Information professionals need to University in Leicestershire, England. Reuters. become partners in the teaching and The project’s findings led to the devel- A recent article in ScienceWatch, research process and raise awareness opment of several recommendations, published by the Intellectual Property & of their services at all levels of the as follows: Science business of Thomson Reuters, organization, according to a project noted that scientific research typically For individual librarians designed to identify ways for academic has been conducted by individuals libraries to demonstrate their value. • Promote the relevance of librarian- or small groups of researchers, most The project, based on case stud- ship skills to the digital information of whom work for the same com- ies of eight university libraries in three environment pany. Beginning in 2008, however, countries, found that academic librar- • Reach out to users by improving large research projects comprising hun- ians typically receive positive feedback communication, building personal dreds and even thousands of scientists about their services but sense that fac- relationships, using appropriate became more common, with a com- ulty and staff do not take advantage of language, and following through mensurate rise in the number of papers all the resources the library has to offer. to build on success with multiple authors. It also found that librarians are strug- • Go beyond the comfort zone—for The article, “Multi-author Papers: gling to find systematic ways to capture example, develop skills in teaching Onward and Upward,” credited the and communicate evidence of their and marketing Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the par- value (rather than their activity) to the ticle accelerator located on the French- For library managers academic community and especially Swiss border, with the increase in multi- students. • Support and promote staff develop- author papers. Scientists from around The case studies showed that embed- ment by providing appropriate train- the world are conducting research at ded information literacy instruction is ing opportunities the LHC, which is being used by physi- highly valued by faculty—who can see • Collect evidence of the value of cists to study small particles that serve first-hand how it improves the quality library services—qualitative as well as the building blocks of all things. of the assignments they receive from as quantitative—and use it system- The LHC exemplifies three factors students—and that such instruction atically with the full range of stake- that are driving the rise in multi-author increasingly is being integrated into holders in the service papers: the high cost of science, teaching and curriculum development • Document the processes and effec- demands for faster innovation, and activities. They also provided evidence tive strategies for building partner- the speed of technology. These three of successful partnerships between ships with teaching and research factors have combined to produce a librarians and research staff in the staff, so that these can be replicated phenomenon known as “big science,” areas of literature reviewing and data easily which is characterized by several inter- curation. national organizations partnering to For institutions Communicating the availability and share complex, expensive technology value of these and other library services • Recognize the library contribution by at large installations. This approach to was also identified as critical to suc- engaging with the library at all levels, research lowers costs and leverages the cess. Meeting with individual research not just liaison librarians with teach- value of collaboration, but it calls into staff and targeting services to address ing and research staff, but also at question the nature of “authorship.” specific needs was seen as an effec- senior management level ScienceWatch is an open Web tive, although time-intensive, method • Uphold the status of librarians and resource for science metrics and for librarians to raise their profile and information professionals on an research performance analysis. To value. Ideally, such engagement should equivalent level with teaching and read “Multi-author Papers: Onward and be multidimensional—that is, it should research staff Upward,” visit sciencewatch.com/. take place at all levels of the institution, not just between librarians and depart- Cost, Technology Spurring Major U.S. News Sites mental liaison staff. Rise in Group Research Losing Credibility The project, “Working Together: National newspapers, cable news out- A growing number of research papers Evolving Value for Academic Libraries,” lets, broadcast television networks, and are being written by multiple authors, was commissioned by Sage and under- NPR have all seen their believability sometimes 3,000 or more, and this taken by LISU, a research and informa- ratings decline by double digits over trend is likely to continue in the fields of

6 INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 September/October 2012 information outlook Library Value · Multi-author Papers · News Credibility The Magazine of the Special Libraries Association Vol. 16, No. 05 September/October 2012

the past decade, with only local news- in graduate and professional programs Information Outlook Advisory Council: Agnes Mattis (chair), Martha Foote, Pamela papers and local TV news bucking the have announced they are supporting a Louderback, Victoria Platt, Deb Rash, Valerie Ryder, trend, according to a recent survey. larger effort to ensure that their mem- Jason Sokoloff, Justine Wheeler, Mary Whittaker

The Pew Research Center for the bers have access to research findings Editor: Stuart Hales People & the Press polled roughly 1,000 resulting from projects funded by grants Graphic Design: Thought Word & Deed

U.S. adults in mid-July and asked them from U.S. Government agencies. Information Outlook® to rate the credibility of individual news In a recent editorial in The Washington (ISSN 1091-0808) is published 6 times a year (January/February, March/April, May/June, July/ organizations using a 4-point scale. A Post, Matt Cooper, president and August, September/October, November/December) rating of 4 means a person believes “all CEO of the National Association of by the Special Libraries Association, 331 South Patrick Street, Alexandria, Virginia or most” of what a news organization Graduate-Professional Students, 22314, [email protected]. +1 703.647.4900 says, while a rating of 1 means a person and Elizabeth Wiley, president of the Subscription Rates: believes “almost nothing” of what the American Medical Student Association, Annual subscription, US$ 160 United States; organization says. called on President Obama to issue an US$ 175 International. Single issue, US$ 30. Please report missing copies promptly to Across all 13 news organizations Executive Order requiring journal arti- [email protected]. To ensure continuous delivery included in the survey, the average cles arising from federal non-defense of Information Outlook, please notify SLA promptly of address changes by writing [email protected]. positive believability rating (3 or 4 on research grants to be made publicly When submitting address changes, please include a 4-point scale) was 56 percent, down available within six months. all the information on the mailing label. Changes from 71 percent a decade ago. Local “At graduations across the country, may not go into effect for four to six weeks. TV news and the CBS News program students are walking across the stage, Postmaster: Send address changes to: “60 Minutes” rated most highly—as receiving their diplomas and beginning Information Outlook: Subscriptions they have in past Pew surveys—with the next chapter of their lives,” the two Special Libraries Association 331 South Patrick Street nearly two-thirds of respondents assign- wrote. “These graduates are equipped Alexandria, VA 22314-3501 ing them scores of 3 or 4. At the bot- with a wealth of new tools. However, USA

tom of the scale are MSNBC, the New nearly all are forced to leave behind Periodicals postage paid at Alexandria, Virginia, and York Times, Fox News and USA Today, one of the most important: their library at additional mailing offices. Canadian Publications Mail Agreement #40031619. Return undeliverable which are considered credible by half or card.” Canadian addresses to: P.O. Box 1051, Fort Erie, fewer news consumers. Cooper and Wiley cited PubMed ON L2A 6C7.

The decline in believability has been Central (PMC) at the National Institutes Advertising: accompanied by a growing partisan of Health (NIH) as a model for their Acceptance of an advertisement does not constitute endorsement of the product by the divide, with Republicans exhibiting a ambitions. PMC is a free, full-text archive Special Libraries Association. rising distrust of the news media in of biomedical and life sciences journal general and broadcast and cable TV literature at NIH’s National Library of To advertise, contact: news organizations in particular. Of the Medicine. Nearly 2.5 million articles are John Walsh SLA 13 news organizations included in the archived in PMC, including every article 331 S. Patrick Street survey, just two—Fox News and local from more than 1,000 journals that Alexandria, Virginia 22314 Phone: +1.703.647.4917 TV news—garnered positive credibility have agreed to deposit the complete Fax: +1.703.647.4901 ratings from respondents who identified contents of each issue into the reposi- [email protected] themselves as Republicans; in 2002, tory. Roughly a half-million people use only two news organizations did not PubMed each day, downloading more Information Outlook® is a registered trademark of receive positive ratings from at least than 1 million papers. the Special Libraries Association. two-thirds of Republicans. A decade Cooper and Wiley said their organi- ago, the “credibility gap” between zations are joining with the Wikimedia Republicans and Democrats who rated Foundation, Creative Commons, and cable TV networks positively was only other groups and individuals to back about 10 points, but since then, the gap “We, the People,” a White House-

has grown to more than 30 points. sponsored petition to require free © 2012 by Special Libraries Association. For more information about the sur- Internet access to scientific journal Material protected by this copyright may be photocopied for the non-commercial purpose of vey, visit www.people-press.org/. articles arising from taxpayer-funded scholarship or research. research. More than 30,000 people [email protected] Graduates Want Continued have signed the petition, enough to To view Information Outlook online go to: Access to Research require the White House to issue a for- http://www.sla.org/io/ Two organizations representing students mal response. SLA

INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 september/October 2012 7 Metrics for Special Libraries

Foreword By Stuart hales, Editor, Information Outlook

hat if you measured measurements, in and of themselves, “Yes, they do. Value metrics not only the performance of are of limited impact. “Performance measure what is critical for organiza- your library or infor- measurement proponents need to go tional success, they also show those mation center, and beyond the theoretical value of mea- outside the library our vision for services nobodyW in senior management paid any surement,” they wrote. “They need to and our commitment to change.” attention to your results? change fundamentally the way people Many information professionals, how- A few years ago, two students at think about and give to nonprofits” ever, find they must put metrics to Harvard Business School interviewed (Cunningham and Ricks 2004). more basic uses, namely defending several people who donate significant their staffing and funding levels. Martha sums of money—collectively, about Supporting the Overall Mission Haswell, in “Benchmarking: A Powerful $50 million per year—to charity. These Management Tool,” explains that met- This message applies as well to infor- donors all worked in the finance and rics developed for these reactive pur- mation professionals, who must change investment fields and thus were familiar poses can also be used proactively the way their organizations’ leaders with, and advocates of, performance and strategically to help position librar- think about libraries. That mandate measurement. The students reasoned ies as value centers within organiza- infuses this issue’s three theme articles, that because their subjects were pas- tions. Specifically, she notes that two of which focus on the need for libraries to sionate about gathering data and using the most common questions her firm show how they support the overall mis- it to make objective business decisions, answers when performing benchmark sion of their parent organizations. they would welcome such information studies for corporate libraries are “What In “What Are We Measuring, and about the charities they supported. are the best ways to demonstrate library Does It Matter?” Steve Hiller recounts To their surprise, fewer than 20 per- quality to senior management?” and the history of library metrics and par- cent of the donors expressed interest in “Where can we improve effectiveness ticularly their evolution from “counts” receiving better data about nonprofits. or improve efficiency?” of volumes, budgets and users to mea- The others were skeptical of its value or Benchmarking studies conducted by sures of value and outcomes. He dis- even opposed to measuring charities’ Haswell’s firm have found that the per- cusses the impact of this evolution on performance. Typical of such reactions centage of potential library users who both corporate and academic librar- was this one, from a managing director are actual users has increased over the ies, noting that the former typically at Morgan Stanley: “Once I’ve gotten years, from 17.5 percent in 2003 to are better integrated into the planning beyond an assurance of efficiency— 37 percent in 2011. This metric helps infrastructure of their parent organi- that the organization is not running a demonstrate the value of libraries and zations and more likely to be able to deficit—and as long as the staff can information centers and positions them demonstrate their contributions to orga- articulate that they are meeting their as need-to-have resources rather than nizational success. He concludes his goal, I don’t apply the same rigor.” nice-to-have services. article by stating that librarians should Puzzled by their findings, the students The goal of positioning the library can recruit organizational management and began interviewing institutional funders, be furthered by using qualitative as well the user community to help develop nonprofit executives, and industry ana- as quantitative analyses, as Constance value metrics so that all three groups lysts to gain more insight. They conclud- Ard argues in “Beyond Metrics: The better understand and recognize the ed that the objections to receiving per- Value of the Information Center.” What difference the library makes. formance information demonstrate that Ard calls “the nuances of information “Do value metrics matter?” he asks.

8 iNFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 september/October 2012 services” make it difficult to take a one- In addition to the theme articles, Harvard students noted in their study size-fits-all approach to using metrics Debbie Schachter’s “Info Business” analysis, “In order to be interested in to demonstrate value, so she recom- column also addresses metrics and measurement, donors would need to mends using a framework defined by value. Schachter posits that research believe that there is a substantive dif- six simple questions: who, what, where, in areas such as human resources ference among organizations. In other when, why and how. can lead to strategies and tactics that words, it is important to track perfor- Answering these questions, however, librarians can use to help measure and mance if and only if you expect to find is only part of the process—information communicate their value. that one organization is better than professionals must also package and “Can you evaluate and communicate another.” communicate the results. “While the the value of your service in a similar Can you afford not to show that your CFO may want to see just numbers, manner as other departments in your library or information center is better— graphs and charts, a CEO will want to organization?” she asks. “Will this help and, even more important, that it deliv- tell a story that demonstrates the posi- senior management understand what ers value? tive impact of information services on you are contributing to the bottom the bottom line,” she writes. “Qualitative line?” REFERENCES value is much easier to share in a story The key lesson for information pro- Cunningham, Katie, and Marc Ricks. 2004. than quantitative value, so reporting fessionals may be that the purpose of Measuring Social Impact: Why Measure? methods that combine the two may be using metrics is to demonstrate that the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Summer. the ideal solution.” library makes a difference. As the two

INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 september/October 2012 9 Metrics for Special Libraries What Are We Measuring, and Does It Matter? Value has replaced size as the preferred library metric, and value ultimately lies in supporting the parent organization’s mission.

By Steve Hiller, MLS, MA

ew libraries exist in a A Little Metrics History Robinson did not propose a meth- “ vacuum, accountable Determining value is difficult. It is od for determining library value, but only to themselves. There much easier to count things, which is he understood that counting played is always a larger con- why library statistics historically have little or no role in such a process. “… text F for assessing library quality, that focused on numbers. As the modern [T]he number of books has very little is, what and how well does the library library developed in the 19th century, to do with their educational value,” he contribute to achieving the overall goals volumes, annual acquisitions, budgets, wrote. “Take chemistry, geology, almost of the parent constituencies.” (Sarah and registered users were counted. But any science—ten good new books may Pritchard, “Determining Quality in problems often arose with the consis- be worth more than a whole case twen- Academic Libraries,” 1996) tency of the counts, and some librar- ty-five years old.” (Robinson 1876) What makes a good library? For many ians began to question whether volume James Thayer Gerould, library direc- years, library “goodness” was defined counts were a useful means of measur- tor at the University of Minnesota and by size (of the budget, collections, staff, ing library quality. later at Princeton, was among the first facilities, and so on), access, availabil- Otis Robinson, a librarian at the to discuss the practical value of com- ity, and efficiency. Today, the focus is University of Rochester, captured the parative library data. In his seminal on value—that is, “How much good essence of these questions when he 1906 article in Library Journal, he noted does this library do?” observed in 1876, “It is as if excellence that progressive librarians ask the fol- Libraries need to demonstrate their were in numbers alone. How many lowing questions: value to customers and stakeholders. volumes? This is always the question; • Is this method the best? To do so, they must answer the follow- never [h]ow much and how well do you ing questions: use what you have?” • Is our practice, in this particular, • What do we know about our com- munities to provide services and resources to make them successful? Steve Hiller is director of assessment and planning at the University of Washington • How do we measure our Libraries. He has been active in library assessment for 20 years, leading an ongoing assess- ment program at the U.W. Libraries, presenting and publishing widely on several assess- contribution(s) to user and organiza- ment-related topics, and serving as an assessment consultant. His current areas of interest tional success? are user needs assessment, organizational performance metrics, and developing library • What do our stakeholders need to assessment expertise. understand to provide the resources needed for a successful library?

10 iNFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 september/October 2012 Metrics for Special Libraries

adapted to secure the most effective achieve) or value, they are metrics that Metrics Terminology administration? an institution would see as supporting its mission. • Inputs are resources that contrib- • Are we up to the standard set by ute to the development and deliv- similar institutions of our class? ery of resources and services. Metrics that Matter “These questions are of the most fun- During the past 50 years, more sys- • Outputs are resources and ser- damental type,” he wrote, “and upon tematic planning processes have been vices produced, and their use. the success with which we answer them developed in both the commercial and depends much of the success of our • Processes are activities that turn nonprofit sectors, and these have exert- administration.” (Gerould 1906) inputs into outputs. ed a powerful and growing impact on Gerould thought that collecting sta- the choice and value of library metrics. • Outcomes are the effects of the tistics in the following categories would A focus on user outcomes, the availabil- library on the individual and com- prove helpful in administering a library: ity of online and Internet resources, and munity. facilities, collections, finances, staff, increased stress on institutional and salaries, ordering and processing, cata- • Metrics are verifiable quantitative organizational finances have also begun loging, collection use, reference trans- and qualitative measures used to to factor into the equation. actions, and departmental libraries. He evaluate the performance of the These trends have resulted in a shift began collecting and publishing data in library in achieving its objectives. toward metrics that measure value 1907 from a select group of academic rather than size. As Alexander Astin research libraries, a practice that con- noted in 1991, “Institutional assess- tinued (after his retirement) until 1962, ment efforts should not be concerned when the Association of Research nizational success. These questions about valuing what can be measured, Libraries (ARL) took over the collection, include the following: but instead about measuring what is compilation, analysis, and distribution valued.” Martha Kyrillidou echoed this • How does the library save money for of statistics for its membership. sentiment in 1998, writing “What is the organization? Gerould clearly advocated for com- easy to measure is not necessarily what paring data between institutions, pri- • How does the library save employee is desirable to measure. It is always marily to discover and compare best time and increase productivity? tempting to set goals based on the data practices that could be employed in that are gathered, rather than develop- • What information does the library other libraries. But although he worked ing a data-gathering system linked to provide that cannot be obtained with a relatively small, voluntary group assessing progress towards meeting elsewhere? of research libraries, Gerould had dif- established goals.” ficulty coming up with a standard set of • Does the library provide information This trend has been especially pro- consistent data. In the end, he was able that prevents legal problems? nounced in corporate libraries. Corporate to collect information only on collection libraries, because they have had to • Does the library provide accurate, size/annual acquisitions, staffing, and demonstrate their value to the organi- consistent and friendly service? budgets, and even then there were zation to secure funding and support, corrections, missed data, and copious are generally well integrated into their footnotes explaining inconsistencies. Matthews advised special libraries organizational planning infrastructure. Gerould’s data comprise the oldest to use a balanced scorecard approach Whether through billable hours, charge- comparative statistics among academic because it will assist librarians in “iden- backs, or activity-based budgets, corpo- libraries, and they are usually labeled tifying what measures are important” rate special libraries have documented “inputs” and “library-centric metrics.” and because it “supports the presenta- their value to their organization. But is this really the case? We don’t tion of these measures in a cogent and As competition has grown from know much about the specific expecta- understandable form for the manage- Internet-based resources and out- tions (stated or unstated) that institu- ment team of a larger organization.” sourcers, special libraries have also tions had for their libraries at that time, This approach would be especially use- had to demonstrate that they are cost but it is reasonable to assume these ful if the organization already uses the effective in comparison with these new would have included facilities for hous- balanced scorecard or a similar organi- competitors. Joe Matthews, in his 2002 ing collections and for students and zational performance model. book, The Bottom Line: Determining faculty to work, collections for teaching, The questions Matthews posed reflect and Communicating the Value of the learning and research, and efficien- a move away from inputs and outputs as Special Library, listed several questions cies related to library funding. While measures of library quality and a focus that organizational management would these don’t get at outcomes (e.g., what instead on individual and organizational see as critical to the library’s ability to they enabled students and faculty to outcomes. This emphasis on determin- demonstrate its contribution to orga-

INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 september/October 2012 11 Metrics for Special Libraries

ing the value of special libraries to the academic programs that support teach- has worked with its membership to parent organization has generated use- ing and learning. Libraries need to be develop new measures that move away ful research on economic benefits and aligned with the mission and goals of from a focus on print collections and user impact. Don King and his associ- the institution, and their metrics must instead incorporate e-resource usage, ates, for example, have used contingent demonstrate their contribution(s) to stu- customer satisfaction surveys, and value valuation techniques to arrive at dollars dent success and learning. metrics. ARL is a major participant in and time saved by libraries for their The Association of College and the LibValue project, which is designed organizations and employees compared Research Libraries (ACRL) has played to develop methods and measures that to alternatives. a key role in promulgating the use of demonstrate library value in different While there have been successful metrics that focus on outcomes. The settings. Some of the initial LibValue efforts to determine library value at the ACRL Information Literacy Competency research has been completed, and the organizational level, they continue to be Standards for Higher Education, released results are being presented and pub- problematic for broader benchmarking, in 2000, were designed as institutional lished. (LibValue also offers a search- even when comparing similar organiza- standards rather than library standards. able database of library value and ROI tions. Value metrics tend to be “local” ACRL also commissioned an excellent literature that contains more than 900 due to differences in data definition and study by Megan Oakleaf, The Value references.) Another ARL initiative, the organizational missions and objectives. of Academic Libraries (2010), to help Library Scorecard, uses the balanced librarians understand how the library scorecard organizational performance Metrics in Academic Libraries advances the missions of the larger model as a way of better integrating organization. Oakleaf’s work discusses planning, outcomes and metrics. Academic institutions, especially specific methods for evaluating how the Changes in higher education fund- research universities, have only recently library affects the institution’s mission ing models have created additional focused on better defining their institu- in 10 areas, and while it focuses on pressure to identify and use metrics tional missions and learning outcomes. academic libraries, it reviews relevant to allocate budget monies at academic Their efforts to develop outcomes-based literature for all library types (including institutions. Activity-based budgeting metrics have generally been motivated special libraries) and is a must-read for (ABB) is employed in a growing num- by pressure from external bodies, such anyone interested in library value. ber of universities where the primary as political entities, governing boards, The ACRL Standards for Libraries in set of allocation measures is related accrediting organizations, and founda- Higher Education (2011) reinforce the to student enrollment. ABB also taxes tions. Accrediting agencies, for exam- need for libraries to align their met- academic programs at a certain rate to ple, have moved away from inputs and rics with institutional ones. For exam- fund both academic and non-academ- outputs in program and institutional ple, the standard titled “Institutional ic support services, such as libraries. evaluation to focus on outcomes. The Effectiveness” includes the following However, in most cases, the universities onus now lies with the institutions to performance indicators: have not developed metrics for evaluat- demonstrate how they meet outcomes- ing library value, and funding alloca- based accreditation standards. • The library defines and measures tions are based on previous years and For academic libraries, the trend outcomes in the context of institu- the current financial situation. toward aligning metrics with organi- tional mission; zational missions and goals is being • The library develops outcomes driven by changes in accreditation and Value Metrics: Whose Job is it? that are aligned with institutional, the use of metric-driven allocation for- So, who should develop metrics to departmental and student affairs mulas. These changes, especially in evaluate library value? The short answer outcomes; programmatic accreditation, mean that is that no one group should do it. This no longer are evaluators concerned with • The library develops outcomes that process should be a joint venture that inputs such as the number of library are aligned with accreditation guide- involves organizational management volumes and journal subscriptions and lines for the institution; and leadership, the library, and the the size of the budget and staff. Instead, user community, as follows: • The library contributes to student they want to know how the library con- recruitment, retention, time to • Management needs to set expecta- tributes to student learning and success degree, and academic success; and tions for the organization and delin- within the mission of, say, the engineer- eate the library’s role. ing program. • The library communicates with the Institutional accreditation has moved campus community to highlight its • The members of the user community in the same direction. No longer do any value in the educational mission and must articulate what they need to of the regional accrediting agencies in institutional effectiveness. be successful in their work and the have a separate library standard; library The Association of Research Libraries Continued on page 41 evaluation is now integrated with other

12 INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 september/October 2012 Metrics for Special Libraries Benchmarking: A Powerful Management Tool Benchmarking can be used reactively, proactively or strategically to help information professionals position their libraries for greater success.

By Martha Haswell, MIS

n today’s tough economy, librar- libraries in some of the world’s lead- defensive tactic to justify staffing or ies are under increasing pres- ing companies. Typically, information funding levels or an offensive effort to sure to deliver value while hold- professionals considering library bench- demonstrate superior performance to ing down or reducing costs. All marking have similar initial questions senior management. Itoo often, librarians find themselves about its goals, uses, limitations, trends, in the position of either justifying their and benefits. This article will address Don’t libraries already budgets or figuring out where to make some of the most common questions have their own metrics? cuts with minimal damage to services we hear. As a rule, yes. The libraries we bench- and resources. In either situation, one mark typically keep internal metrics on of the most effective management tools What motivates libraries to the number of user transactions and librarians can utilize is benchmarking. engage in benchmarking? the volume of information resources Benchmarking enables information In our experience, benchmarking is used. These internal metrics are invalu- professionals to measure and compare most often driven by the senior man- able in managing a library, but they the cost efficiency and overall effec- agement group to which the library are not sufficient for influencing senior tiveness of their library against librar- reports. Management wants to ensure management’s thinking on library value ies serving their competitors or peers. that corporate functions (including the or funding. Benchmarking, in contrast, For higher performers in benchmarking library) are meeting the company’s provides objective, external metrics that studies, the results can be used to needs as effectively and efficiently as can be used to evaluate how well a demonstrate the library’s value to senior possible. Although management com- library is performing compared to librar- management; for lower performers, the missions the study, library staff typically ies in similar organizations. results can be used to identify gaps and participate actively in benchmarking make needed improvements to bring and welcome the opportunity to learn What key metrics are used in the library back into line. from their peers. library benchmarking today? Over the past 10 years, my employer, In some cases, library staff commis- Because different libraries have dif- Best Practices, LLC, has conducted sion benchmarking studies directly. In ferent missions and serve different five benchmarking studies for corporate these cases, benchmarking can be a populations at different organizations, it is rarely useful to compare size- based metrics, such as the number of Martha Haswell is senior research associate at Best Practices, LLC (www.best- holdings, number of staff, or amount in-class.com/), which conducts more than 20 different types of benchmark research for of space. Libraries need metrics that Fortune 500 companies in all industries and regions. She worked in corporate libraries translate well regardless of library or for 15 years before joining Best Practices 10 years ago. She holds an MS in Information company size or location. In this regard, Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She can be contacted at the three most powerful metrics are the [email protected]. following: • Budget per library user, which stan-

INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 september/October 2012 13 Metrics for Special Libraries

dardizes cost comparisons across fulfill a strategic need, keeping up with example, it’s interesting to know that libraries; new technologies and methods, and the average number of library FTEs is • Number of users per library FTE identifying best practices to adopt. 12.5, but that metric alone will not tell (full-time equivalent employee), For example, senior management at you whether a library with three FTEs which standardizes comparisons of one company commissioned a bench- is understaffed. A more meaningful staff size; and marking study in the belief that its comparison is the number of end users • Percentage of potential library users large library might be overstaffed and supported per library FTE. Using this who are actual users, which mea- overfunded. The study revealed, how- example, if the benchmark average is sures outreach effectiveness. ever, that based on the number of 834 users per FTE, a library supporting users served, the library was under- 1,000 users per FTE would be compar- Are there any new metrics that staffed and underfunded. In addition, atively understaffed, while one support- libraries are beginning to use? the library offered more services and ing 500 would be overstaffed. Data sets As the workplace continues to global- was open more hours than many of its can also be segmented into groups of ize, one new metric that companies competitors. libraries that are similar in size, thereby are starting to value is the number of allowing any library to compare itself to hours per day that library staff are avail- What common questions does the most applicable segment. able to assist users. Providing extended benchmarking answer? access can demonstrate value to senior The 12 most common questions we What are some potential pitfalls management in a global company, and answer through library benchmarking of using benchmarking metrics? a few libraries with locations in multiple are the following: Resource metrics (number of people, regions are now able to make staff • Is our budget in line with libraries number of journals, and so on) don’t available to employees 24 hours a day. at other companies? translate well across libraries and are These libraries are the exception, but in • Do we have the right level of staff rarely used in our studies today for a recent study of 43 corporate libraries, to serve our user base? identifying performance gaps. Metrics we found that 70 percent could assist • Where can we increase effectiveness around processes and services are employees at least 10 hours a day (only or improve efficiency? more useful for making comparisons. a quarter were working the traditional • Do we have the right mix of services? Caution should also be taken when 8-9 hour schedule). • Where can we make budget cuts comparing individual metrics directly to Given tight budgets and high costs with the smallest negative impact? the averages for a group of libraries that for specialized resources, another use- • Are we funded from the right is dissimilar in size, function, scope, ful new metric is the percentage of sources? industry, etc. The averages for dissimi- e-content funding contributed by other • Should we be charging users for lar companies provide good general, departments. Libraries increasingly are services or resources? directional information, but won’t show asking user groups to contribute to • Are we keeping pace with new you what your real gaps are. resource costs, and many of them are technologies? A third potential pitfall stems from having success with this approach. In a • What, if anything, should we be misinterpreting gap analysis data. For recent study, for example, 71 percent of outsourcing? example, if data show that a library is libraries reported receiving assistance • What are the best ways to spending much less than its peers, to purchase e-content. This evidence demonstrate library quality to management might see that as a good provides leverage for information pro- senior management? sign, yet it may indicate that information fessionals who want to maximize the • What best practices are others using resources are inadequate to effectively purchasing power of library budgets. that could help our performance if support the company’s employees. we adopted them? Insufficiently defining processes and How are libraries using data • What key trends should we be terms is another potential pitfall. For from benchmarking studies? following? comparisons to be meaningful, clear, Savvy information professionals are complete definitions are essential. using benchmarking results to man- Can metrics for large libraries age their libraries more strategically be applied to a small library? What is a “gap analysis”? and make senior management aware Yes. Two techniques in data analysis In benchmarking, a gap analysis is a of areas where they are leading (or are used to ensure that benchmarking method used to identify and measure lagging) the pack. Among the most results are relevant to all libraries in a performance differences between one frequent uses of benchmarking data study, regardless of size: standardiza- study participant and the other partici- are defending budgets or head counts, tion and segmentation. pants in the study. The analysis points identifying areas for improvement, elim- Standardization involves creating out the extent of the differences, identi- inating services or resources that don’t and comparing meaningful ratios. For fies the likely reasons, and suggests

14 INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 september/October 2012 Metrics for Special Libraries

a path for making improvements (if positions that handled those tasks and marking is a powerful management improvements are indicated). reallocate funds to professional posi- tool information professionals can use Figure 1 illustrates a cost gap between tions that require a degree in library or to help them navigate their libraries the benchmark average and one of information science. The result is that, through economic turbulence. Savvy the participating libraries, identified as today, only about 19 percent of library librarians use benchmarking reactively “YOUR LIBRARY.” The data indicate staff are administrative employees. to justify budget or staffing levels, pro- that the highlighted library is spending Two additional changes that are being actively to evaluate the comparative 54 percent more than average on a driven by the emergence of e-resources effectiveness and efficiency of their per-user basis. The analysis suggests are increases in the ratio of budget operations, and strategically to win con- that several factors could be causing dollars per library FTE and increases tinued support from senior manage- the gap—insufficient marketing, higher in the amount of funding that libraries ment. Benchmarking helps library lead- acquisition costs, or user access hur- are receiving from other departments ers identify performance gaps, gives dles. “YOUR LIBRARY” should investi- to help pay for e-content. Figure 2 illus- them a rationale for the differences, and gate these factors and make appropri- trates these and some other key metrics suggests a path to improvement that, if ate adjustments. trends we have observed across bench- followed, can help ensure their organi- Another method of conducting a marking studies completed in 2003, zations survive and thrive regardless of gap analysis is comparing your current 2007 and 2011. the economic climate. SLA benchmarking results to past results. Figures 1 and 2 illustrate that bench- Comparing your own benchmarks over time lets you assess the impact of Figure 1 changes you have made and evalu- Gap Analysis Example ate the effectiveness of any process Library Cost per Actual User Averages $405 improvements. Some companies go The benchmark average cost per actual user of library services was $405 for the past through this exercise annually as part year, compared with $624 at “YOUR LIBRARY.” Spend for “YOUR LIBRARY” was 54% above average and nearly 25% above the median. of a continuous improvement program.

Cost Per Actual User ($US) Libraries pull down cost per user by providing What data trends in libraries services & resources in $1,188 e-formats accessible to have you observed over time? all employees & then We’ve identified a number of data marketing them to increase uptake. trends in our library benchmarking over the past 10 years. For the most part, $624 YOUR LIBRARY these trends have been driven by the $500 54% $405 gap migration of information resources in BENCHMARK AVG. corporate libraries from print to elec- $200 This gap indicates that tronic formats. YOUR LIBRARY may need to improve its outreach, user access With the adoption of electronic for- 25th 75th Average Median or acquisition process. mats, libraries have extended access (n=34) Percentile Percentile to their holdings to many employees DEFINITION: Total Actual Users= Individual employees who actually used any services and/or resources—including electronic databases and websites. who previously were unable to use 1 ®  BEST PRACTICES, LLC library resources because they were Copyright © Best Practices , LLC not within close proximity. Today, any employee with a computer can use the Figure 2 library. This change has doubled the percentage of potential library users Metric 2003 2007 2011 who have become actual users, thereby % of potential users who are actual users 17.5% 27% 37% producing economies of scale that have # of users supported per library FTE 173 492 834 brought down costs and improved staff Budget $ per library user $1,380 $700 $405 utilization (see Figure 2). Budget $ per library FTE $175,000 $252,000 $338,000 Another impact of the transition to % of budget for purchasing e-resources 40% 48% 49% e-resources has been an increase in the % of budget for purchasing hard copy resources 13% 8% 5% ratio of professional to administrative % of libraries receiving some e-content funds staff. Electronic access has reduced the from other departments n/a 59% 71% need for such activities as circulation, Average hours of staff availability per weekday n/a 9 11.6 shelving, and journal routing, allow- SOURCE: Best Practices, LLC ing libraries to eliminate administrative

INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 september/October 2012 15 Metrics for Special Libraries Beyond Metrics: The Value of the Information Center

Information professionals must get away from counting and measuring and demonstrate the difference that information services make to their organization.

By Constance Ard, MLIS

decade after the release of counting and calculating and toward library services; over time, qualitative The High Cost of Not Finding looking at users’ experiences. The same user experience testimonials also began Information (Feldman and Library Journal article quoted ACRL to play a role in illustrating the value of S herman 2001) by the Executive Director Mary Ellen Davis on the information center. Today’s com- AInternational Data Corporation, there is why new measures are necessary. “The plex information environment requires still a struggle to measure library ser- political and financial climates … make more than just numbers and goodwill vices and report their impact in a mean- it imperative that [w]e demonstrate stories, however, so quantitative analy- ingful manner. Calls for alignment and [that] what we are doing is making a sis is becoming more critical in certain demands for new metrics resonate at all difference, how it is making a differ- camps due to financial and political levels, but implementing these changes ence, and what it is making a difference pressures within the organization. remains a challenge. Information pro- to,” she said (Fialkoff 2011). The process of identifying who and fessionals are making progress in com- what matters in measuring and evalu- municating value, but too often they Contributing to Good Decisions ating information services may make spend their time “circling back” with information professionals feel as though While Davis and Neal were speaking justifications rather than mapping out the real value is hidden in a complex of public and academic institutions, the path forward for a secure future in maze. Direct user service is certainly the need to develop new measures the information enterprise. one aspect to consider, but it may not and demonstrate the difference libraries More recently, a Library Journal article hold much weight when an organiza- make applies to corporate and special discussed James Neal’s comments from tion is struggling to justify large finan- libraries just as it does to public and the 2011 ACRL (Association of College cial outlays for a service perceived as academic institutions. Historically, col- & Research Libraries) Conference, in overhead. Another angle to consider lection and usage metrics were the which he called for shifting away from is the cost of bad information or poorly standards used to justify the need for

Constance Ardis is an independent information professional with more than 15 years of experience in the field. She offers information and content management business consulting services and specializes in strategic social media services. You can follow her blog at www.answermaven.com and find out more about her services at www.answermaven- solutions.com. Her latest publication is Adding Value to Corporate Libraries and Information Services (Ark Group 2012).

16 iNFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 september/October 2012 Metrics for Special Libraries

managed information. The Information Opportunity Report stated that “poor Your goal is to identify the best method(s) utilisation of information assets equates for aligning with your organization, to an annual £46 billion missed oppor- tunity for private sector profits, and £21 evaluating the services provided, and billion in administrative costs across the public sector” (Harji 2008). implementing changes that demonstrate These types of bottom-line effects the information center’s value. impose a new level of urgency on find- ing the best ways to measure impact and adjust services to make maximum use of an organization’s investment in in the C-suite. The conversation about newsletters and blogs. information services. Information pro- metrics in libraries then comes down to How to report value is nearly as com- fessionals must measure services and the basic questions of what, who, how, plex as what to report. Value should be report their impact in a manner that where, when, and why. communicated verbally, visually and, looks to the evolution of those services Why may be the easiest question to perhaps most importantly, in the lan- in order to remain a central component answer in the context of using metrics guage of those receiving the informa- of the effective knowledge economy to demonstrate value. Without the abil- tion. Using the terminology of orga- enterprise. ity to communicate relevant data about nizational decision makers allows the Providing services that contribute to the impact of information services on information center to add value to the good business decisions may be the the organization, it is easy to dismiss report by placing library metrics in a single most powerful thing that libraries the library as overhead, making it vul- business decision context. can do to add value to the organization. nerable to competition for funding and As Ulla de Stricker (2012) advocates, As Feldman and Sherman (2008) noted short-term cost savings measures. A we need to have people with clout deliver in the IDC report, “Company executives search solution that offers ease of use, the message of our value. In the private overwhelmingly agree that good access comprehensive analytics, and a seem- sector, she says, those with clout are to information is the basis for improved ingly simple, technology-based, one- “… the ones attached to image, brand, decision making and leads to less dupli- time cost replacement is perceived as marketing, sales and similar functions cation of effort within the enterprise.” an attractive option for decision makers delivering revenue and profit.” A mes- The Information Opportunity Report who may not fully comprehend the sage delivered by those responsible for indicated that while poor information longer-term implications. making the business succeed has a quality and information systems were When is easy to answer—value larger impact than a message delivered barriers to making good business deci- should be demonstrated and commu- by our everyday users. sions, other obstacles existed as well, nicated continually. Comprehensive Who is very similar to why in that including “ineffective policies and pro- reports should be delivered at regular end users, library champions, corporate cedures, a lack of staff skills and train- intervals, such as quarterly or annually. decision makers and strategic partners ing, the user culture, and business pro- These reports should be aligned with (both internal and external) all need cesses” (Harji 2008). This suggests that the reporting cycle of the organization. to understand the value of informa- an information audit may be a critical Where metrics should be used and tion services. Communicating metrics to first step in identifying the metrics that value demonstrated leads us to a more librarians is essential to having a single matter. The challenge is then to apply complicated answer. Information pro- message of high value communicated metrics that demonstrate value and fessionals move seamlessly throughout through all channels to the broadest contribute to profitable business prac- the hierarchy of their organizations, possible audience of stakeholders. tices while creating reports that speak performing projects for everyone from What to communicate can open a to the needs of various stakeholders the newest employee to the most senior world of debate that is intertwined with within the organization. executive. Information users are just how to report value. There is a need to one of many audiences that need to “find meaningful methods of communi- Meeting the Challenge receive and share the message of the cating the need for, benefits and value information center’s value. of information services delivered by The process of using metrics to dem- From a management perspective, knowledgeable and capable profession- onstrate value is influenced by the however, where becomes more for- als” (Ard 2012). Gaining that insight nuances of information services. Actual malized and requires consideration of and delivering it in a manner that helps usage is imprecise, the value of usage is reporting value in management meet- the information center require taking a not necessarily quantifiable, and quali- ings, departmental briefings and other look at metrics and more. tative reports do not illustrate an impact internal channels, including intranets, on the bottom line that is easily digested

INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 september/October 2012 17 Metrics for Special Libraries

The Impact of Metrics surements you make should also be There are a variety of documented The baseline consideration related to reviewed regularly to ensure that the methods that can help you manage the metrics is the need to use the right metrics are still relevant. business of metrics. Cost-benefit analy- metrics depending upon the audience As technology develops and usage sis, gap analysis, benchmarking and you are addressing. Just as a speaker or shifts, so does the what you previ- critical success factors are just a few writer needs to know some basic facts ously defined. No longer is it relevant of the available methods. Whether you about his or her intended audience, to report the number of volumes you use one, all, or some combination, your an information professional must know have in a collection when the message goal is to identify the best method(s) for who will be reviewing the metrics and is related to value. The value derived aligning with your organization, evaluat- for what purpose(s) in order to deliver from housing a large collection is eas- ing the services provided, and imple- actionable and relevant data. ily challenged in the face of high real menting changes that demonstrate the The information center is a mixed bag estate costs, duplicate access points, information center’s value. of services that consists of tangible and and actual usage. Exploiting information that resides intangible values. The picture gets even The key factor in determining what within the enterprise is a driving prior- more muddled when comparing quan- to report is aligning with organizational ity for businesses. As The Information titative and qualitative measures. Thus, goals and values. Identifying metrics Opportunity Report explains, an expen- customizing the message is critical to that express how the information center sive content management or enter- demonstrating and communicating the meets those goals and supports those prise search system does not neces- importance, impact and relevance of values is an important task that infor- sarily improve business performance. information services to the organization mation centers should undertake. Information professionals are critical to in a complex knowledge economy. How you communicate the metrics maximizing the information assets in Competition within that economy is another area that requires prepa- their organization. Metrics are an impor- influences decisions related to the fund- ration and flexibility. One size does tant element in demonstrating how the ing and management of the information not fit all when it comes to reporting information center drives the success- center. A change in the perceived value impact and value. While the CFO may ful exploitation of information assets of an information center can cause a want to just see numbers, graphs and beyond the library. SLA shift from a supportive environment charts, a CEO will want to tell a story to one that questions the relationship that demonstrates the positive impact REFERENCES between costs and benefits. of information services on the bottom Ard, Constance. 2012. Adding Value to So much work today is performed in line. Qualitative value is much easier to Corporate Libraries and Information Services. a digital environment that there may be share in a story than quantitative value, London: Ark Group. challenges related to metrics provided so reporting methods that combine the Bhatnagar, Alka. 2009. Web Analytics for by third-party content providers. While two may be the ideal solution. Business Intelligence: Beyond Hits and Web analytics and content use metrics Reporting for reporting’s sake is as Sessions. Online,33(6): 32-35. certainly have a place in assessing the useless as meeting for meeting’s sake. value of information services, it would Reporting accomplishments must be De Stricker, Ulla. 2012. When ‘Believe be unwise for information professionals accompanied by projections of how Us, It is So Worth the Money!’ Won’t Cut to step away from the responsibility of services can be adjusted to help the It—Communicating Information Value owning those metrics. organization continue its successful to Senior Executives. In Adding Value to “In today’s hyper-competitive and exploitation of information assets. Corporate Libraries and Information Services. increasingly cost-conscious business London: Ark Group. environment, the full potential of auto- From Tradition to Projection Feldman, Susan, and Chris Sherman. 2001. mated [W]eb analytics to derive busi- Measuring what has been done is The High Cost of Not Finding Information. ness intelligence has not been realized somewhat easier than forecasting what Framingham, Mass.: International Data in [the] library,” wrote Alka Bhatnagar is to come with an eye to making service Corporation. in a 2009 article in Online. “Without this adjustments. For example, return on analysis, libraries risk being marginal- Fialkoff, Francine. 2011. More Alike Than We investment is an after-the-fact metric ized in the virtual information world” Think. Library Journal, 136(8): . that definitely has a place in report- (Bhatnagar 2009). ing impact. Unfortunately, as competi- Harji, Ramesh. 2008. The Information Different stakeholders will interpret tion for funding within organizations Opportunity Report: Harnessing Information the value of information services in dif- increases and the lines between library to Enhance Business Performance. Woking, ferent ways. As discussed previously, services and information services blend Surrey, U.K.: Capgemini. deciding what to measure is a com- and meld with other departments, ROI plicated question and one that should becomes less useful than it once was. be addressed proactively. The mea-

18 INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 september/October 2012 master of science in information and knowledge strategy

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Writing the best contributed paper that was presented at SLA 2012 was only the latest unexpected turn of events in Dee Baldwin’s extraordinary career.

By Stuart Hales

Dee Baldwin earned a master’s degree in Chicago at the SLA 2012 Annual Your paper describes how your staff in Spanish, then took a library job Conference. Her paper, which was implemented Web-scale discovery tools years later in a French-speaking coun- judged the best among the 11 papers at the University of North Florida. When try. When she started her career in the presented, explains how the University you started this project, did you envi- information profession, her long-term of North Florida overcame technical sion that a contributed paper would goal was to work in a map room in and human challenges to implement result from it? Texas; instead, she spent 10 years Web-scale discovery tools. Dee hadn’t It really started out as a project that in Africa building a library from the intended to write a paper about the we wanted to do because we could ground up. project, but decided to do so after real- see the use for it in the library. I knew Some might say Dee lacks focus, izing that what she considered a minor it would be difficult from a technical but she calls it serendipity. And she technological upgrade was seen by standpoint, but there were things I makes no apologies for the twists and many of her colleagues as a profound really felt we would get out of it. turns in her career, calling her time in cultural shift. I wasn’t at all expecting much of a Cameroon “a dream job” and suggest- Information Outlook interviewed Dee human reaction to it. I’m so used to ing that her willingness to take risks about her winning paper, the proj- dealing with change that I just expect makes it easier for her to accept day- ect it describes, and her experience others to be OK with it as well, and I to-day changes that come her way. with SLA. To read her paper, turn to had forgotten that some people do not For example, she recently found page 24. understand all of the ramifications of herself presenting a contributed paper change. That was one of the things that got to me. I had no intention of writing anything about the project when we started it. Stuart Hales is senior writer/editor at SLA and editor of There had been some talk of writing Information Outlook. papers about the technical aspects of the project, but then I said, “You know, one of the things that really got to me was the human reaction to it—how some people really took to it and others

20 INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 september/October 2012 sla member interview

didn’t.” And that’s when I really thought, maybe there’s a paper in this. We’ve had computer technology in the workplace for many years now. Why do you think technology upgrades are still so unsettling? It wasn’t just that it was technology— it was a shift in the known library universe. Prior to the introduction of discovery tools, the catalog was the first point of contact in the library. You knew to go to the catalog and you would find the information you needed, or it would lead you to something else, or you might have to use a periodical or another database. With Web discovery, we got back to a very simple time in which you had the confluence of books, e-books, elec- Having implemented new technology at her library, Dee Baldwin shares a moment with some of the tronic journals, other online resources old technologies from her past, including a firewire hub affectionately known as Hubzilla. and other indexes all in one place. That required a fundamental shift in thinking for library staff, one that I hadn’t really would be well received, but they took to line. I wrote the first draft of the paper; thought would be very difficult to move it like ducks to water. They had abso- Alice did a lot of the editing. Then we all toward. Apparently, a lot of us seemed lutely no problem with it, and they really sat down together and went through the to be rooted in the catalog as the center enjoyed it. paper literally paragraph by paragraph of the library universe. In reality, the The faculty either loved it or hated it. to make sure it captured what we really catalog is a physical representation of Those who were comfortable with tech- wanted to say. our inventory, and it doesn’t include all nology really thought it was great; those Once I got the paper written, we spent of these new and exciting tools that we who were used to coming over and about four hours editing it. Writing the have. The discovery tool pulls them all browsing the shelves thought it wasn’t. draft probably took a weekend after I together. It was a technological divide between conducted the research. That shift gave them, I think, a real those who were trained one way and start. They suddenly realized—although Now that you’ve written and presented those who were trained another way. we had been telling them that this the paper, do you expect to follow up would come about—that the catalog, Two of your colleagues, Michael later and present more findings about while it is a core piece, is no longer the Kucsak and Alice Eng, assisted you this project, or is this the end of the whole. It is a part of the whole. All of with the paper. How did you allocate line for sharing information about it? those long-held beliefs that the catalog duties to each person, and how well did I think this will follow me for a while. was the place to start were challenged, that work? It’s apparently taking on a life of its own and there weren’t data to back up the Michael and Alice were both on the that I didn’t suspect it would. idea that the catalog was a better place implementation team, so they had a When we first started this project, I to start than the discovery tool. The dis- lot of hands-on experience. What they thought that our library was unique in covery tool answered questions quicker lacked was the bird’s-eye view that I terms of the resistance to change. But and better, and it included the catalog. had, because I would get all of the input after conducting the research, I found So, that was the hard core of the from faculty members who either liked that it was more of a common phe- resistance—that the catalog was no lon- it or didn’t. The three of us got together nomenon than I realized. It seems that, ger the center of the library universe. and I said, “These are the technologi- particularly in Florida, the same debate cal things that were really good about is going on in a lot of the other univer- As you look back on the project, what it, but I want to try to write something sities. Depending on how advanced was the most positive surprise that about the human side.” That’s how it they are technologically and how suc- resulted from the implementation came about. cessfully they get acceptance from the process? Michael and Alice helped me with the faculty—and in this case I mean library The best thing was how well it was technology and with developing an out- faculty—the Web discovery tools will received by the students. I thought it

INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 september/October 2012 21 sla member interview

So I was quite fortunate because, at a very early age, I was offered the dream job of building a university library from scratch. either be on the front page or buried on the back page. So I probably will have to do some more work on this. The diplomas on her office wall don’t tell the story of perhaps Dee’s most educational experience: Did the paper presentation give you a building a library from scratch in Cameroon. different perspective on attending the SLA Annual Conference in Chicago? At this point in my career, I really felt then passing it off for someone else to I was nervous about presenting the I had something to give back. I hadn’t put in place. Sustainability will be key paper, but once Alice and I got there, done enough to give back to the profes- for the chapter going forward. it was fine. I’ve been a longtime con- sion itself, so I decided I wanted to go ference-goer and I’ve participated in You spent a few years working as a through the process of being chapter several different ways in various confer- librarian in Cameroon, a West African president. It’s not that I felt I could bring ence forums, but this was my first time country that has been in the headlines anything special to it—I just felt that this presenting a paper. The committee that recently because some of its Olympic was the time that I should try to give I worked with and the people on that athletes left the team. Why did you go something back. committee were excellent—they were to Cameroon, and what did you learn We know that we have geographical very supportive and helpful. They made during your stay there? issues with our chapter as well as a lack it very easy for us, and we felt very My whole life has been a choice that of funding. To be quite frank, we don’t comfortable. looks like it’s been serendipity. When I know how the new chapter allotments was working at the University of Florida, When and how did you hear about SLA, are going to work out and whether our I had a neighbor in my apartment and how long have you been a member? chapter will continue. We simply do complex who was a grant writer, and When I was working at the University not have much outside funding. That’s he was writing a grant for a university of Florida, I had a lot of friends and something Joy [Banks, the current project in Cameroon. Over dinner one colleagues who were active in the state chapter president] and I have talked night he said, “You’re a librarian—give chapter, and they were the ones who about and are trying to overcome. me your resume.” I gave it to him, and got me involved in SLA. That was in One of the options we used was the the next thing I knew I was on my way the late 1970s or early 1980s. I was SLA Loyalty Project. Working with Jim to Cameroon. That’s kind of how my life actively attending chapter meetings at Kane on the project has been a real has been and how I got to go to Africa. that time. help, but it has also reinforced some Once I got there, not only was I Then I had an interval of about 10 things we knew about—that the chapter a librarian, I was also a very good years while I was working on special board was having trouble communicat- ambassador for universities and librar- projects in Cameroon. It wasn’t until ing the need to do certain things to the ies within Cameroon. We had a really I came back to Florida that I really members and getting buy-in from the good mix of librarians from all over became a full-time member, which I’ve chapter. the world—French, German, Canadian, been since 1997. One of my goals is to make sure British and American—all there at there’s a succession plan in place for You’re the president-elect of the SLA the same time, all working on various the chapter. That’s something I’ve had Florida & Caribbean Chapter. What are projects. With the help of the univer- quite a bit of practice doing over the your priorities for your year as presi- sity library in Yaoundé, which was the years—creating a strategic plan and dent, and what special skills or experi- national university, we all got together getting it to the point of implementation, ences do you bring to that role? and tried to start a Cameroonian library

22 INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 september/October 2012 sla member interview

association that would iron out things Texas, working in their maps area. That like how to deal with inter-library loan was still my ambition when I started out in Cameroon. That effort came about at the University of Florida in their Latin because I networked with people I knew American collection, which was the on the various projects. And because I second-largest such collection in the was there for a long period of time, I United States, behind the one at Texas. was able to develop the Cameroonian I figured that from there, I could work contacts as well. my way to Austin. So I was quite fortunate because, Instead, I took that left turn over din- at a very early age, I was offered the ner and went to Africa. But I still use dream job of building a university library my Spanish—I’m the library liaison for from scratch. I had to do everything, the World Languages Department at from training the staff to making sure North Florida. I speak not just Spanish they could get their master’s degrees but also French, and together they to building the collection and teaching give me an entrée into developing and people how to perform reference. I even using the organizational skills I have as wired the building! It was hard, but I a librarian to bring things together. If I loved it. If you give me a challenge, I try see a need, I can usually find someone to rise to the occasion. or something to fill it. That’s probably Dee expects to be answering questions about what I do best. her implementation project for months to come. You have a master’s degree in Spanish. For me, the languages have been a What impact (if any) does your fluency passion and door opener for much of my business world is sometimes called an in Spanish have on your role and your career. But I really enjoy librarianship. environmental scan, where you survey ability to perform your duties? It’s what I call “the art of bricolage”— the background and pull out the salient When I decided on a library degree, you have to pull so many parts together, points. The skills that a librarian has, if my 20-year goal was to be at the Nettie and that’s an art I think librarians are used well, can take you just about any- Lee Benson Library at the University of good at. We’re able to see what in the where you want to go. SLA

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INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 september/October 2012 23 sla 2012 Contributed Paper Don’t Touch that String! There Went the Databases Dee Baldwin, MA, MLS Associate Dean Thomas G. Carpenter Library, University of North Florida Jacksonville, FL Chapter President Elect, SLA Florida and Caribbean Chapter Michael Kucsak, MLIS Director of Library Systems and Technology Thomas G. Carpenter Library, University of North Florida Jacksonville, FL Alice Eng, MLIS Electronic Resources Librarian Thomas G. Carpenter Library, University of North Florida Jacksonville, FL

ABSTRACT Web discovery tools can change not only the way users search and retrieve information, but also, how libraries and librarians work with information. When the University of North Florida implemented web scale discovery tools, we discovered that the technical implementation was challenging, but the most difficult changes were related to the library culture. Our students were “early adopters” moving from over 26 different entry points to finding most library materials in one search. But our staff and faculty were more resistant to the change. Technical challenges related to implementation included coordinating the various technology pieces to customize the search interface, convert link resolvers, and to maintain interaction with the proxy server. Because of the complicated nature of web- scale discovery, we learned that no matter how much you prepare for implementation, there will be new and unexpected issues to resolve. Solutions for these problems require input from external entities and not just the library. Cultural challenges involved library faculty and staff that had the perception that the discovery tool did not produce comparable results to a search done directly in a specific database. When we analyzed this issue, we found that not only did the discovery tool return more accurate results, but also more relevant results. In addition, the results were from databases faculty and staff would not have normally thought to use. The issue then demonstrated the need for more training for library faculty and staff to learn how to refine searches in the discovery tool to achieve maximum results. By implementing web scale, we essentially untied the string that contained our expectations and experience regarding how search engines work and how users interact with them-—and this unraveled all our previously held assumptions about how the library provides research service. The University of North Florida Library’s internet presence consisted of access points to over 300 databases which were avail- able to users only by subject grouping and alphabetized lists. The Library realized that we were limiting access to content by forcing users to choose a database before starting a search. Therefore, relevant content in databases that the user might not think to search was excluded. Additionally, it was difficult to becomingly increasingly difficult to maintain the subject access approach using a list. In the past, UNF Library had dabbled unsuccessfully with federated search services. We chose to look for a technical solution that could unite our databases, make access to content easy, and make searching less cumbersome for our users. So we chose to look at new web scale discovery tools to answer our needs. We looked at emerging library discovery tools such as EDS by EBSCO, Summon by Serials Solutions, and Primo Central by Ex Libris.

24 INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 september/October 2012 sla 2012 Contributed Paper

LITERATURE REVIEW While web scale discovery tools are recent additions to the library market, their antecedents stem from the decades old busi- ness discovery tools that are used to data mine internal documents. Both Forrester and Gartner have tracked the software matu- ration process of these tools over the years. Breeding first reported in library literature the migration of these tools to the library market.1 Vaughan describes the potential of web scale discovery tools as well as the key concepts of the tool.2 He also highlighted the connection between user expectation and use of discovery tools. Way provided one of the first analysis the impact of web scale discovery tools on full text searching as well as abstracts and indexes.3 He showed that full text searching provided greater use of content. However, he did not cover the changes that would happen to the organization. By starting a web scale discovery project the Library ventured into new workflows. This was a major change event for the Library. It was not a one-time event as initially thought, but rather, a series of improvements made to library workflows as sys- tems were integrated, metadata tweaked, parameters adjusted, new collections added to the index, and even personnel changes occurred. Although Cervone wrote about new digitization projects and the impact they had on library personnel, much that he described about resistance to change in digital projects is relevant to new web scale discovery projects.4 Cervone mentioned that change in an organization should be considered when undertaking a new library project. The bulk of the responsibility usually fell on library management and the project man- ager. However, the expected organizational outcomes were not what are usually produced by a new project.5 Several important elements were identified by Hannan and Freeman as factors that created “structural inertia” in an organization. In their article they stated: Some of the factors that generate structural inertia are internal to organizations: these include sunk costs in plant, equipment, and personnel, the dynamics of political coalitions, and the tendency for precedents to become normative standards. Others are external. There are legal and other barriers to entry and exit from realms of activity. Exchange relations with other organizations constitute an investment that is not written off lightly. Finally, attempting radical structural change often threatens legitimacy, the loss of institutional support may be devastating.6

We easily identified some of these factors in any library organization, but there were other factors that could very well be involved. For example, Stanley et al found that resistance to change can be primarily attributed to employee cynicism.7 Their cynicism was based on not believing in the motives of others, specifically management. Furst and Cable found that the quality of the relationship between employee and manager had a significant influence on resistance to change.8 In other words, managers who interacted with their employees frequently were better able to integrate change into an organization whereas in organizations with low levels of manager-employee interaction, resistance to change was almost always higher.

DISCOVERY SYSTEM AT UNF In August 2011 the Web Scale Implementation Work Group formed. The work group developed a project charter outlining the scope, goals and evaluation criteria for a successful implementation of a discovery system. See appendix for charter. The team included librarians from Technical Services, Public Services and Library Systems. In consultation with the rest of the library staff, they developed business requirements for the system. Building from the recognized problem that the library limited user access to content by forcing them to choose a database, the team defined the process in three steps. 1. The patron searches the system 2. The system returns relevant results 3. The results direct the patron to the corresponding full text

From the defined process, the work group developed web scale discovery business requirements. They wanted a system that: 1. Effectively matched its metadata to existing library resources 2. Returned relevant search results 3. Allowed users to combine facets in order to refine search results 4. Provided the option to include or exclude results linking to full text resources outside of the library’s own holdings

INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 september/October 2012 25 sla 2012 Contributed Paper

5. Provided prominent links to full text 6. Included detailed reports supporting analysis for the evaluation of the tool’s effectiveness The work group tested the system against the requirements with the assistance of several Reference volunteers. These staff performed dozens of searches and collected hundreds of results in order to ensure relevance and reliability. A seamless, easy flow from discovery through delivery is critical to end users. This point may seem obvious, but it is important to remember that for many end users, without the delivery of something he or she wants or needs, discovery alone is a waste of time.8

The work group had an ambitious timeline to get the pilot project ready during the Fall Semester 2011.

IMPLEMENTATION The Web Discovery Work Group outlined nine major issues to resolve when they implemented the Discovery System. We found that these issues were like strings. These strings were not a one to one relationship or cause and a single effect. Once a string was pulled, it unraveled several workflows or policies the library had been using. While implementing this new technology, we were, in effect, unraveling nine strings which affected the way we worked. The first string affected library policies. The work group needed to assure that the work matched the Library policies. After reviewing the library policies, the group modified some policies and developed new policies to describe what content went into the discovery system and what content was pulled from the catalog. What they did changed cataloging and acquisition workflows. No longer would the library add all new content into the online catalog. New collections of electronic content were added directly to the web scale discovery system, this system became the new catalog for the library. This change in how collections were added then required new ways to track material ownership. Second, they worked on system interoperability. They listed the other library systems and web content that the new discovery system would impact and decided how they would tackle system integration. The Aleph Integrated Library System (ILS) would have to export the MARC data of the print collection. EZProxy was integrated into all of the URLs for databases and e-journals to provide seamless remote access. Custom search boxes had to be created to work with LibGuides as well as the university’s content management system to ensure patrons could search directly from the Library’s home page. Third, the work group felt that training library staff to use the new tool would be essential. They worked out a plan to train all staff on the new discovery system. The main components of the staff training were setting up user accounts, accessing search history, and sorting results. The group also set up a method for other staff members to report unexpected results, i.e. to support troubleshooting. Fourth, the group wanted front-end customization. This included using the UNF web skins required to provide the consistent look and feel of the library’s web site. The group designed default and advanced search boxes, set up processes for how RSS feeds would be extracted, and configured a small number of databases to add within the discovery tool’s federated search portals. (These were not typical resources available or offered as part of our discovery tool.) Fifth, the work group negotiated the contract with the discovery system vendor. They worked to make sure that the record load- ing was provided by the vendor and that the proper MARC record configuration was available. As part of the negotiation, price increases were capped, and the Library purchased more database content from the vendor at favorable terms. Sixth, the work group wanted to be sure that the database content be well integrated in the new system. This was new ground for many of them as they established record loading destinations, scheduled daily record loads, extracted MARC records from the catalog, added open access databases available through the vendor, and uploaded the Library digital repository. Seventh, honing full text functionality was crucial. The work group fine tuned the system by ranking databases according to their ability to deliver full text reliably. They also spent many hours working with the vendor on the custom linking for full text. Along the way they gathered knowledge and data on how best to setup full text linking and the link resolver. Eighth, Facet searching needed to be concise. When the team tested the facet searching, they found inconsistencies that required resolution by the vendor. The work group considered facet searching a requirement because result sets were large and the ability to refine them was critical. The vendor worked with the group and resolved the searching inconsistencies.

26 INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 september/October 2012 systems, but they were considered critical by some of the team members upon implementation. sla 2012 Contributed Paper systems, but they were considered critical by some of the team members upon implementation.Within 30 days, the work group had a pilot project ready for the fall deadline.

WithinNinth, the30 workdays, group the workwas aware groupTECHNICAL of twohad development a pilot project OUTCOMES issues ready that the for vendor the fall would deadline. need to work on while the work group was implementing the product. The first issue included searching Ulrich’s Periodical Directory so students could complete known projects. The second issue was if there were no full text resolution to a citation within Discovery, then the result should link to an interlibraryWe wereloan request eager forto theseeTECHNICAL user what to ifrequest any changes full-text. OUTCOMES Neither there wouldof these be issues in user was includedbehavior in whenthe initial study of competing systems, we rolled but out they the were discovery considered system. critical byMore some specifically, of the team members we wanted upon to implementation. see if our most expensive databases would show a good return on the investment. We established a Within We30 days, were the eager work togroup see had what a pilot if any project changes ready forthere the wouldfall deadline. be in user behavior when webaseline rolled of out database the discovery usage for system. the most More expensive specifically, databases we wanted before to the see discovery if our most tool expensivewas brought databases online. Itwould showed show the a library good return had about on the 9000 investment. full text downloadsWe established during a peak baselineterm paper of writingdatabase in usage March for in the both most 2010 expensiveTEC andH NICAL2011. databases We OUTCOMES saw before a three the percent discovery decrease tool in wasourWe top broughtwere database eager online. to usagesee Itwhat showed in if2011 any thechanges from library 2010. there had Whilewould about be we in9000 did user notfull behavior add text any downloadswhen new we collectionsrolled during out the peak in discovery system. More 10 specifically,term2011 paperour findingswe writing wanted mirror into Marchsee Way’if our in most sboth pre expensive web2010 sc andale databases 2011.discovery Wewould sawimplementa show a three a good percenttion. return Weon decrease the believe investment. in We established a baselineourthat topthis ofdatabase year database-to- yearusage usage decline forin 2011the mostmay from expensivebe 2010.explained databases While by we stagnation. before did notthe discoveryadd any toolnew was collections brought online. in It showed the library had about 9000 full text downloadsWay’ during peak term paper writing in March in both 201010 and 2011. We saw a three percent decrease2011 our in findings our top database mirror usage ins pre2011 web from sc 2010.ale discovery While we did implementa not add anytion. new collectionsWe believe in 2011 our findings mirror Way’sthat this pre webyear scale-to-year discovery decline implementation. may be explained10 We believe by stagnation.that this year-to-year decline may be explained by stagnation.

Figure 1. Full text downloads 2010-2011

FFigureigure 1. 1 AfterF. ullFull text the text downloads discovery downloads 2010-2011 tool 2010 was - 2011implemented we saw a major increase in full text downloads.After the discovery In the toolfirst was full implemented quarter of we operation, saw a major the increase four most in full expensive text downloads. databases In the firstwere full quarter of operation, theup fourover mostAfter 50% expensive thein full discovery textdatabases downloads tool were was up comparedimplementedover 50% in to full the wetext same sawdownloads atime major comparedperiod increase the to previousthe in samefull text time year period the previous year withoutdownloads.without web web scale. In scale. the first full quarter of operation, the four most expensive databases were up over 50% in full text downloads compared to the same time period the previous year without web scale.

FFigureigure 2. 2. F ullFull text text downloads downloads 2010/2011-2011/2012 2010/2011-2011/2012

The LibraryThe wasLibrary interested was ininterested return on investment,in return on particularly investment, on very particularly expensive databases. on very Oexpensivef our four most expensive data- bases,Figure two 2. showedFull text dramatic downloads increase, 2010/2011 one displayed-2011/2012 a mild increase and one showed a dramatic decrease. Full-text downloads from databases. Elsevier Ofwere our up four54% mostover the expensive first quarter. databases Sage had, atwo 177% showed increase. dramatic Wiley was increase, up 3% and one IEEE down 18%. The use of Edisplayedlsevier, STheage a andmildLibrary Wiley increase waswas attributedinterested and one to showed inthe return full text a on dramaticcontent investment, and decrease. their particularlyrelevancy Full- ranking.text on downloads very There expensive were from two possible reasons that IEEEdatabases.Elsevier statistics were Of declined. ourup 54%four UN overmostF did the expensivenot firequirerst quarter. undergraduatesdatabases Sage, twohad to ashoweduse 177% the database, increase.dramatic and Wileyincrease, the graduate was one up program3% had just begun. Tdisplayedandhe second IEEE adownreason mild 18%. wasincrease possibly The and use related oneof Elsevier, toshowed metadata. aSage dramatic IEEE and metadata Wiley decrease. may was not Fullattributed have-text been downloads to as the robust full as fromtext competing vendors, thus pushingElsevier relevancy were up ranking 54% down.over the first quarter. Sage had a 177% increase. Wiley was up 3% andOne IEEE of the down many strings18%. wasThe the use decision of Elsevier, to not load Sage new and e-book Wiley collections was attributed into the library’s to the ILS full. We text decided the catalog was a physical representation of our collection. The e-book collection was treated as a database and added directly to the discovery tool as opposed to the catalog. Statistics were derived from the web discovery tool’s administrative function. Usage during our peak paper writing period in February affirmed our decision. The library saw a 2451% increase in the e-book collection’s usage.

INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 september/October 2012 27 content and their relevancy ranking. There were two possible reasons that IEEE statistics declined. UNF did not require undergraduates to use the database, and the graduate program had just begun. The second reason was possibly related to metadata. IEEE contentmetadata and may their not relevancy have been ranking. as robust There as competing were two vendors,possible thusreasons pushing that IEEE relev ancystatistics declined.ranking down. UNF did not require undergraduates to use the database, and the graduate program had just begun. The second reason was possibly related to metadata. IEEE metadataOne may of notthe havemany been strings as robustwas the as decision competing to not vendors, load new thus e pushing-book co rellectionslevancy into rankingthe library’s down. ILS . We decided the catalog was a physical representation of our collection. The e-book collection was treated as a database and added directly to the discovery tool as opposedOne toof the the catalog many strings. Statistics was werethe decision derived tofrom not theload web new discovery e-book co toolllections’s into theadministrative library’s ILS function. We decided. Usage the during catalog our was peak a paperphysical writing representation period in Februaryof our collection. affirmed Theour decision.e-book collection The library was saw treated a 2451% as a databaseincrease inand the added e-book directly collection’s to the discovery usage. tool as opposed to the catalog. Statistics were derived from the web discovery tool’s administrative function. Usage duringsla our 2012 peak C paperontribu writingted period Paper in February affirmed our decision. The library saw a 2451% increase in the e-book collection’s usage.

Figure 3. Ebook downloads

We chose to make article interlibrary loan seamless with our discovery system. FFigureMeaning,igure 3. 3. Ebook Ebif weook downloads did downloads not have the full text, the user was sent to an auto populated interlibrary We chose to loan make page article without interlibrary requiring loan seamless authentication with our discovery. Interlibrary system. loan Meaning, decre ifased, we did not have the full text, the usersupporting was sentWe thetochose an theory auto to populatedmake that usersarticle interlibrary were interlibrary finding loan page loanenough without seamless contentrequiring with toauthentication. support our discovery their Interlibrary research system. loan decreased, supporting theMeaning,without theory havingthat if weusers todid wereuse not findinginterlibrary have enoughthe full loan. content text, the to support user was their sent research to an without auto populatedhaving to use interlibrary loan. interlibrary loan page without requiring authentication. Interlibrary loan decreased, supporting the theory that users were finding enough content to support their research without having to use interlibrary loan. $1,100

$825

$550 $1,100

$275 $825 October $0 November December $550 FFigureigure 4. 4. Interlibrary Interlibrary loan chargesloan charges 2010-2011 201 0-2011 $275

October $0 November SHIFTINGSHIFTING VIEWPOINTSDecember VIEWPOINTS Figure 4. Interlibrary loan charges 2010-2011 Web scale discovery tools represented a giant leap in how libraries provided access to their collections. Where database silos existed basedWeb on scale subject discovery content ortools provider represented content, thea giant web discoveryleap in how tools libraries united the provide content dinto one index. It no longer matteredaccess to where their content collections. resided. Where WhatSHIFTING mattered database was silos aVIEWPOINTS source existed had indexingbased on and subject full content. content or providerWalls came content, down on the down web on discovery some points tools of view united for the the discovery content work in togroup one and index. the library. It no longerThis changed our way of look- ingmattered at contentWeb where and scale workflows.content discovery resided. We shifted tools What representedfrom mattereda qualitative a wasgiant to a a quantitative leapsource in howhad view indlibraries pointexing and provideand developed fulld new requirements for our vendorsaccesscontent including:to. their collections. Where database silos existed based on subject content or provider • “The first content, question the we web ask databasediscovery vendors tools is united does it thework content with our in Webto one scale index. system.” It no longer mattered• “If we can’twhere find content reliable statisticsresided. to What show themattered number was of full a textsource downloads had ind forexing a given and database, full we cannot justify purchas- contenting it.”. • “It is the vendor’s responsibility to provide good indexing and metadata for their product, not ours.” We worked hard with our vendor to improve the way statistics are reported and that they were reported in a timely man- ner. We used vendors’ Counter reports (Database Report 1 and Journal Report 1) for our statistics. The reports were used to determine the worth of a database by measuring cost per use through full text downloads and searches. Search and session numbers reports became an irrelevant method to measure usage. Searches performed within a web scale system search every resource indexed within its knowledge base regardless of relevancy. Thus, search statistics were inflated. Full text download reports provided a better understanding of user preferences but we expected to continue exploring other methods. For example, non-Counter reports that included “linked-to” and “linked-from” data enabled us to better understand the value of a database’s metadata and the impact of indexes and abstracts.

LIBRARY CULTURE

When we started the web scale discovery project, the library did not anticipate the multitude of changes that could occur to our workflows. The work group planned for training on the new tool; however, the fundamental shift from using a traditional online catalog to discovery tool as a starting point was more difficult anticipated.

28 INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 september/October 2012 sla 2012 Contributed Paper

Unlike other state universities, many of UNF’s original library staff have continued to work at the university. They built and shaped the library vision for over 30 years. This influential group of original librarians long emphasized building a traditional print collection. In contrast, recent faculty hires brought a mixture of different concepts into this homogenous culture. The most notable concept was the change from primarily collecting content in print to providing content access electronically. The tipping point for the library was the influx of librarians with diverse backgrounds and strong support from the library administration. Following the ideas put forth by Hannan and Freeman, the library had “political coalitions, and the tendency for precedents to become normative standards.”11 The work group also encountered Stanley’s “employee cynacism” that the project would not be accomplished within the timeframe.12 Some library staff did not believe that the library administration and the work group could accomplish the necessary steps within the timeframe and consequently they were not prepared for the rapid change. The Dean’s Office was very supportive of the web scale discovery project. One of the most critical documents for the adoption of the Discovery tools was an administrative email stating that the Library would use the Discovery tool first in reference, first in instruction and first on the web site. Birnbaum noted that leaders can drive significant change from the top most easily in universities that are in a state of acknowl- edged crisis, are small, are conspicuously out of date, and have autocratic leadership.13 With an enrollment of around 12,000 UNF has been called a small university. The emphasis on print collection development prior to the web scale project dated the library. We had to have a strong leadership stance otherwise web scale implementation would have failed to launch on time.

USABILITY FEEDBACK Once the project was launched, the work group collected web scale feedback via presentations for faculty, one-on-one ses- sions with users, library classes for students and the reference desk. The core work group felt that they had done a good job ensuring that the system provided solid results. They set standards to check against over time and are still providing that data to our library faculty. The UNF Library had several categories of database users. Each group presented different challenges to using the new dis- covery tool. We had Library faculty and staff, UNF faculty, UNF Students, as well as the general public. For the purpose of this paper UNF Students and the general public were considered one group. For each group the usability issue or acceptance was slightly different.

Library Staff and Library Faculty The web scale discovery system affected the way library faculty worked. They needed to incorporate the new system into their workflows. The resistance to change was evidenced by reluctance to acknowledge the change. Library staff did not want the new system to change the way they accomplished their work. Creating a bridge between the comfortable and familiar to new systems that require different abilities and offer new functions was difficult. The work group provided training on how to use the new system to all library staff. Changes needed to be made in all library-related web content. Instruction librarians changed the way they taught searching using individual or subject databases to how to interpret or evaluate search results. This refocused the teaching of how to search and lead to more emphasis on critical thinking about referred journals, scholarly journals, and to discerning news bias.

UNF Faculty Based on feedback gathered UNF Faculty tended to either love it or hate it. Faculty who were not heavy users of the databases easily adapted to using the new system. They liked the facets and how easy it was to use. They found more relevant articles and books and they found them easily. Faculty that did not like the discovery system wanted only to go to certain databases. One faculty member demanded that the library go back to the way it was, but our subject area specialist/liaison resolved the issue. Our Liaison Librarians showed faculty how easy it was to use the system and helped them put links into our course system (BlackBoard). Once faculty saw how easy it was, dissention died out. A serendipitous outcome was that faculty updated their lesson plans and had real conversations with their liaison librarians. This helped library faculty work more closely with faculty and better plan for the future.

INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 september/October 2012 29 sla 2012 Contributed Paper

UNF Students The third set of users was our student population. The students were part of the born digital generation. They did not want to understand the difference in scope among the catalog, databases, digitized collections, or free scholarly content. They were accustomed to using Goggle and wanted similar intuitive usage. Concerns were voiced that students would complain or not be able to do their work for their classes and that the staff would be overwhelmed at the Reference Desk. This never happened. Questions went down. Usage went up and online comments were enthusiastic. One student wrote: It took you long enough!

LESSONS LEARNED What did we do right? We had a very detailed technical implementation plan that we followed. This helped maintain focus. Assignments were given out and milestones established. We met our deadline. The library administration was a vocal champion for web scale discovery. We implemented an effective system that worked well. What did we do wrong? The Library did not anticipate all the drastic changes that would impact our workflows. We did not develop a good introduction to the discovery tool for all staff. Adequate training for the tool was given; however, we did not judge well the scope of changes that would need to occur in teaching the tool to the students, in talking to faculty, and in working with patrons while on the Reference Desk. The new web scale discovery tool presented unanticipated changes affecting library faculty outside the discovery work group. The web master and the discovery work group placed the new tool prominently on the library’s home page, but neglected to consider the scope of new navigational changes and searching. Web scale discovery allowed users to simultaneously search the online catalog and databases rather than the traditional method of separate and multiple interface searching. Making the catalog an optional tab was antithetical to many librarians and was an abrupt change.

FUTURE THOUGHTS Technology implementation is not a one time event. It is an ongoing cultural process that must be communicated frequently. Cultural change is not rapid. It can be done incrementally but we should not lose sight of the ultimate goal. While UNF thought that the resistance among Library Faculty was unique, we found that other state institutions working on discovery tools experi- enced similar, if not more traumatic, issues than UNF. One institution lost the battle for using the discovery tool was forced to bury it on the library’s home page. No other Florida state university has demonstrated (to date) the success that UNF achieved. We believe our result is a factor of having focused and committed to our goal. Communication is critical. We had weekly meetings for the Discovery work group and weekly reporting to Management. We had faculty meetings to showcase the tool, but it was still not enough. We could have used more time to disseminate and talk to library faculty so that they could have started earlier thinking about the changes in their workflows that would need to happen. Individual talks with key UNF faculty and staff about “what’s in it for me” would have been helpful. The discussions would have eased some fears and promoted the behaviors we would have liked to have seen among the faculty. Never assume anything. A simple assumption by one team member will lead to false expectations by another team member. Clear and direct communication among the work group is essential. Repetition of ideas from one meeting to another also provides a consistent point of reference for the project work group. Be ready to watch your organizational structure change. We found that our traditional work silos are collapsing. Lines are blurring among Public Services, Technical Services and Library Systems. We are considering a major reorganization along work group lines and flattening the organization.

30 INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 september/October 2012 sla 2012 Contributed Paper

APPENDIX EDS Implementation Project Charter Project Scope The responsibilities of the team begins with the technical implementation of a functioning, searchable system which provides at least the minimal capabilities documented by the business requirements. A successful implementation will provide for the following: • Integration with existing systems including CMS and EZProxy • Training of staff • Troubleshooting and methods of internal communications • Reporting and statistics supporting long-term evaluation The team has complete decision making authority over the implementation of the system. Promotion of the new system will fall under the purview of the Communications Committee. Goal Statement Implement the core functionality of the Ebsco EDS as the primary library search tool for the University by September 30. The system will index the library’s physical and covered virtual holdings to integrating seamlessly into our existing systems (e.g. CMS and EZProxy) providing end users with enhanced search results and direct access to full-text content online. The library will be able to use EDS first and foremost for searching, teaching and one on one instructions. Project Team Facilitator: Michael Kucsak Team Members: Sarah Philips, Jeff Bowen, Alice Eng, Susan Massey, Lauren Newton, and Jim Alderman Measures of Success: A successful implementation will allow users to search and retrieve local and online holdings through the library website on or off campus with full- text links delivering students directly to content at least 90% of the time. Library staff will be trained in basic functionality and able to work with patrons on common technical issues. A system of problem reporting will be in place for all library staff and issues will be recorded for resolution and analysis. Reporting systems will clearly demonstrate any value add to users. Bench Strength: Robb Waltner (UNF) Oliver Pesch (Ebsco) Peter Favazza (Ebsco) Timeline: The project will be completed by September 30, 2011 with the modification of the CMS site.

Endnotes 1. marshall Breeding, “Plotting a New Course for Metasearch,” Computers in Libraries 25, no. 2 (2005): 27-29. 2. Jason Vaughan, “Web Scale Discovery: What and Why,” Library Technology Reports 47, no. 1 (2011): 5-11. 3. Doug Way, “The Impact of Web-Scale Discovery on the Use of a Library Collection,” Serials Review 36, no. 4 (2010): 214- 20. 4. H. Frank Cervone, “Overcoming Resistance to Change in Digital Library Proejects,” OCLC Systems & Services 27, no. 2 (2011): 95-98. 5. Michael Beer, “Why Total Quality Management Programs Do Not Persist: The Role of Management Quality and Implications for Leading a TQM Transformation,” Decision Sciences 34, no. 4 (2003): 623-42. 6. michael T. Hannan and John Freeman, “Structural Inertia and Organizational Change,” American Sociological Review 49, no. 2 (1984): 49-164. 7. David J. Stanley, John P. Meyer, and Laryssa Topolnytsky, “Employee Cynicism and Resistance to Organizational Change,” Journal of Business and Psychology 19, no. 4 (2005): 425-59. 8. Karen Calhoun, Joanne Cantrell, Peggy Gallagher, and Janet Hawk, “Online Catalogs: What Users and Librarians Want,” An OCLC Report (Dublin, OH: OCLC, 2009).

INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 september/October 2012 31 sla 2012 Contributed Paper

9. stacie A. Furst and Daniel M. Cable, “Employee Resistance to Organizational Change: Managerial Influence Tactics and Leader-Member Exchange,” Journal of Applied Psychology 93, no. 2 (2008): 453-62. 10. Doug Way, “The Impact of Web-Scale Discovery on the Use of a Library Collection,” Serials Review 36, no. 4 (2010): 214- 20. 11. Michael T. Hannan and John Freeman, “Structural Inertia and Organizational Change,” American Sociological Review 49, no. 2 (1984): 49-164. 12. David J. Stanley, John P. Meyer, and Laryssa Topolnytsky, “Employee Cynicism and Resistance to Organizational Change,” Journal of Business and Psychology 19, no. 4 (2005): 425-59. 13. Robert Birnbaum , How Colleges Work: The Cybernetics of Academic Organization and Leadership (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1988), 205.

Bibliography Beer, Michael. “Why Total Quality Management Programs Do Not Persist: The Role of Management Quality and Implications for Leading a TQM Transformation.” Decision Sciences 34, no. 4 (2003): 623-42. Birnbaum, Robert. How Colleges Work: The Cybernetics of Academic Organizational and Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey- Bass, 1988. Breeding, Marshall. “Plotting a New Course for Metasearch.” Computers in Libraries 25, no. 2 (2005): 27-29. Calhoun, Karen, Joanne Cantrell, Peggy Gallagher, and Janet Hawk, “Online Catalogs: What Users and Librarians Want,” An OCLC Report (Dublin, OH: OCLC, 2009). Cervone, H. Frank. “Overcoming Resistance to Change in Digital Library Projects.” OCLC Systems & Services 27, no. 2 (2011): 95-98. Furst, Stacie A., and Daniel M. Cable. “Employee Resistance to Organizational Change: Managerial Influence Tactics and Leader- Member Exchange.” Journal of Applied Psychology 93, no. 2 (2008): 453-62. Hannan, Michael T., and John Freeman. “Structural Inertia and Organizational Change.” American Sociological Review 49, no. 2 (1984): 49-164. Stanley, David J., John P. Meyer, and Laryssa Topolnytsky. “Employee Cynicism and Resistance to Organizational Change.” Journal of Business and Psychology 19, no. 4 (2005): 425-59. Way, Doug. “The Impact of Web-Scale Discovery on the Use of a Library Collection.” Serials Review 36, no. 4 (2010): 214-20. Vaughan, Jason. “Web Scale Discovery: What and Why.” Library Technology Reports 47, no. 1 (2011): 5-11.12

32 INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 september/October 2012 Competencies for Librarians Do Librarians Need PhDs?

New technologies are changing the roles of academic librarians and forcing them to think of themselves as ‘partners in the scholarly enterprise.’

By Deanna B. Marcum, PhD, MLS

as a PhD become neces- understanding of information technol- most of our fellows took full-time library sary or even desirable for ogy. We did not identify such specialists jobs, and many of them, hoping for an academic librarian? as practitioners of the “digital humani- permanent jobs when their fellowships I have considered that ties,” but that was the idea. ended, decided not to take chances Hquestion more than once in my long Announcement of the program pro- and pursued MLS degrees. After their career, sometimes to the consterna- voked emotionally charged letters. fellowships ended, many graduates did tion of colleagues. But as information Some asserted that we considered find full-time employment in research technologies evolve, questions about trained librarians not good enough for libraries. And at least some of them, librarians’ qualifications seem increas- discipline-based positions in research much to my satisfaction, are in new ingly important. So, reluctantly, here I libraries. Some protested that our new positions that combine digital scholar- go again. PhDs would enter library ranks at an ship and publishing with research sup- First, a bit of history. In 2002, the exalted level. Some thought our pro- port for students and faculty. Council on Library and Information gram unfair to generalist librarians who These former fellows have created Resources (CLIR), of which I was had toiled in the field for years. Others online finding aids, reference tools, president, hypothesized that doctoral said PhDs could not be recruited into and teaching and learning resources. degrees would be useful in research librarianship. Their work has led to the development libraries. We created a program offer- So, what happened? of portals and wikis, providing others ing two-year postdoctoral fellowships The program has now continued with access to new knowledge that our to PhDs in the humanities who were at CLIR for a decade. Originally we former fellows helped develop. They willing to learn about library work. We thought that PhDs who received our fel- have also organized substantial, stimu- designed the fellowships to foster a new lowships would hold joint appointments lating exhibits—on topics such as car- kind of specialist—one who combined in research libraries and in their disci- tography, literary collections, and early depth in a humanistic discipline with an plines’ academic departments. Instead, examples of advertising—that combine

Deanna Marcum is managing director of Ithaka S+R, a provider of strategic consulting and research services for transforming scholarship in relation to evolving technology. She has previously been associate librarian for library services at the Library of Congress, president of the Council on Library and Information Resources, and dean of the School of Library and Information Science at Catholic University. She can be reached at [email protected].

INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 september/October 2012 33 Competencies for Librarians

traditional and digital content. (Details ly” and included the ability to remain professional assignments in such may be found at www.clir.org/fellow- “flexible and positive in an ever-chang- areas as systems, human resources, ships/postdoc/projsandpubs). ing environment.” The third category fundraising, publishing, instructional contained “professional competencies” technology, facilities management, Competencies and Knowledge consisting of the ability to manage infor- and other specialties that demand mation organizations, resources, and diverse educational backgrounds. . . CLIR’s fellowship program has been an services and to apply “information tools The new professional groups have attempt to try something new at a time and technologies” (Abels et al. 2003). been “raised” in other environments when many organizations and librarians These competencies seemed to and bring to the academic library a have been rethinking competencies emphasize managerial and technical “feral” set of values, outlooks, styles, that digital-era librarians may need. For skills, and even personality traits, more and expectations (Neal 2006). example, in 1999, a grant from CLIR than content knowledge. As I read enabled the Association of Southeastern According to Neal, professionals out- them, I realized that my interest in Research Libraries to establish an side the “traditional MLS education recruiting PhDs for library work reflect- Education Committee to “investigate the channel” will be increasingly needed, ed the needs of libraries in academic educational needs of librarians to sup- and library administrators must treat institutions. Jobs in academia require port the research library of the future.” these new professionals with sensitivity managerial competencies, but they The committee subsequently issued a and provide them with a “more fero- also involve work with professors and report identifying desirable categories of cious” training regimen. “New areas students. Granted, academic librarians future competence. are emerging and already evolving for sometimes seek advanced degrees to The report stated that the academ- academic libraries as publishers, edu- help their patrons more knowledge- ic library of the future will “function cators, research and development orga- ably and gain their respect, but subject increasingly as a teaching institution” nizations, entrepreneurs, and policy matter depth, and particularly techno- and become an “active participant in advocates,” he wrote. “The MLS may logical know-how, may come from other instructional and research processes.” not provide the requisite skills for the sources. The challenge posed by new Librarians, said the report, will need to development and advancement these information technologies, I began to guide their organizations into that future new areas demand” (Neal 2006). think, might not be whether PhDs were by developing, managing and custom- Qualified support for Neal’s position needed, but whether the MLS degree izing services, collaborating with others came in 2007 from Stanley Wilder, asso- remained adequate. to enhance services, and developing ciate dean of the River Campus libraries knowledge of “the structure, organiza- at the University of Rochester, who had tion, creation, management, dissemina- Raised in Other Environments been studying staff trends in academic tion, use, and preservation of informa- That question emerged with unnerving libraries for years. In an article titled tion resources, new and existing, in all force in a provocative article, “Raised by “The New Library Professional,” Wilder formats.” The report added that future Wolves: Integrating the New Generation analyzed 2005 demographic data from librarians will need to remain commit- of Feral Professionals into the Library,” the Association of Research Libraries ted to “the values and principles of published in the Library Journal in 2006. showing that the number of people in librarianship,” but will also need to be The author, James G. Neal, university library positions without degrees from “knowledgeable about technology” and librarian and vice president for informa- library programs was “exploding”—up “often” will need “specialized subject tion services at Columbia University, 142 percent since 1985 and 35 per- knowledge” (ASERL 1999). PhD pro- noted that people with nontraditional cent since 2000. Most of those with- grams, it seemed, could meet some of kinds of expertise not only were need- out library degrees, he wrote, were these needs. ed on staffs of research libraries, but “clustered in nontraditional positions,” A somewhat different approach already had begun to arrive. but he also found that among library was proposed by the Special Libraries employees holding such positions, a Academic libraries now hire an Association, which in 2003 developed substantial number did have library increasing number of individuals to a three-part set of competencies for degrees (Wilder 2007). fill professional librarian positions “information professionals.” A willing- Wilder reported that age had a lot to do who do not have the master’s degree ness to share professional knowledge with the positions that employees held in library science. . . . [They] hold and a commitment to professional eth- in research libraries. For example, two a variety of qualifications, such as ics were deemed “core competencies” of every five library professionals under advanced degrees in subject disci- and served to anchor the others. A the age of 35 worked in nontraditional plines, specialized language skills, second category, called “personal com- positions, while only one in five over 35 teaching experience, or technology petencies,” comprised “attitudes, skills, held such jobs. He also documented expertise. Academic libraries are and values that enable practitioners to a salary gap: of employees under 35 also creating a wide range of new work effectively and contribute positive- in traditional positions, only 7 percent

34 INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 september/October 2012 Competencies for Librarians

earned $54,000 or more, whereas 24 of Research Libraries, through its academic disciplines may find increas- percent of those in nontraditional posi- Transforming Research Libraries ini- ing opportunities in hybrid library-class- tions earned that much. Staff members tiative, sees its members taking on room environments in digital scholar- holding nontraditional positions tended “new and expanding roles” in teach- ship centers and institutes. to be young and male, and although ing and learning (ARL 2012). The ini- At the moment, these roles seem like many had degrees in library science, tiative declares that “developing staff sidecars—granted, intellectually inter- their experience or their non-academic capacities to engage in new work and esting and better paying sidecars— education had given them information in working with users in new ways, and attached to the traditional library. But technology credentials (Wilder 2007). bringing new kinds of skill and expertise as more students and faculty members Wilder wrote of the “timeless values into research libraries, are priorities for learn to provide their own library servic- that lie at the heart” of the library pro- effective change and adaptation” (ARL es through Web-based resources, many fession and predicted that successful 2010). traditional librarians will need to learn libraries will be those that “apply the full In light of all this, my thinking about new skills and new attitudes. Some of range of nontraditional expertise in the the desirability of PhDs in libraries has the new service roles valued by faculty service of those timeless values, and not evolved. I once believed that librarians and graduate students are taking root in the other way around.” Nonetheless, he must understand research and scholar- the university, but they are as likely to saw those in the under-35 cohort as the ly processes at a deep level to meet the be found in digital humanities centers vanguard of a “new kind of academ- collection and service needs of research and programs as in the library. ic library professional” whose “traits” institutions. I felt that earning a PhD Researchers on their own cannot would “bear directly on the ability of conferred that kind of understanding. take full advantage of technologies libraries to thrive amid the continuing I saw the real goal as developing one’s of value in their deeply rooted disci- revolutions in scholarship, teaching, scholarly instinct and inclination. plinary practices. Librarians need to and learning” (Wilder 2007). Now, technology has evolved to the help them use these technologies—not point that scholars increasingly use in some separate unit out of the A More ‘Local’ Role new resources such as Google Scholar, mainstream, but as a fundamental with its broad ability to search scholarly service of the research library. In the In response to these revolutions, many literature. The role of the librarian con- process, librarians may even define a libraries have been “rethinking” their sequently has become more “local.” new profession. SLA mission and roles in ways likely to The academic librarian now asks, How require new kinds of positions and can our faculty learn more about the REFERENCES expertise. The Harvard Library, guided latest technological trends and applica- Abels, Eileen, Rebecca Jones, John Latham, by recommendations made in 2009 tions? How can our university take full Dee Magnoni, and Joanne Gard Marshall. and 2010, provides a particularly ambi- advantage of online learning opportuni- 2003. Competencies for Info Pros. Alexandria, tious example. ties? How can our teachers use these Va.: Special Libraries Association. As part of its transition to a new orga- opportunities to make courses more nizational and operational design, the Association of Research Libraries. 2012. meaningful to students? library has committed itself to “provid- Transforming Research Libraries: Overview. The skills for answering such ques- ing unparalleled services that advance Washington, D.C.: ARL. tions may come from recent PhDs who the [u]niversity’s mission to create new _____. 2010. Transforming Research Libraries: are digital scholars. But more likely they knowledge.” Harvard’s librarians will Reconfiguring the Professional Workforce. will be found in ambitious, bright young not be passive supporters in this mis- Washington, D.C.: ARL. members of library staffs, trained or sion, but “essential partners in research experienced in any number of fields. Association of Southeastern Research and learning.” Harvard librarians will The most important need now is for Libraries. 1999. Shaping the Future: ASERL’s have “subject knowledge expertise” university research librarians to trans- Competencies for Research Libraries. Durham, and “deep knowledge of information form themselves into partners in the N.C.: ASERL. behavior.” They will design informa- scholarly enterprise. Ithaka S+R’s sur- Neal, James G. 2006. Raised by Wolves: tion products and services, participate veys of faculty show that researchers Integrating the New Generation of Feral in curriculum development, and make have little connection to general refer- Professionals into the Library. Library Journal, information technology “an engine of ence librarians, but strong connections 131(3): 42-44. innovation.” Harvard plans to provide to librarians who have training in their library staff members with “the infor- Wilder, Stanley. 2007. The New Library disciplines. In the near future, general- Professional. The Chronicle of Higher mation, resources, and technology they ists from MLS programs without addi- Education, 53(25). need to support research, teaching, tional degrees or experience may find and learning” in “even better ways” employment opportunities in university (Harvard 2011). libraries scarce. Meanwhile, PhDs in In a similar vein, the Association

INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 september/October 2012 35 Market share

Marketing through Enchantment: The Guy Kawasaki Approach

or get less. “Your gain shouldn’t mean The keynote speaker at SLA’s 2012 Annual Conference another’s loss,” he said. “Eaters want a talked about baking a bigger pie, eating like a bird, and bigger slice of the existing pie; bakers getting a shoeshine from Richard Branson. think everyone can win with a bigger pie.” As such, bakers strive to help By Jill Strand, MLIS bake a bigger pie. In Enchantment, he offers some examples of this advice. “Twitter made a bigger pie because anyone could pro- For those who were not able to facial muscles that give you crow’s feet vide news or updates. Google wrested attend the SLA Annual Conference in around the eyes. Part of achieving like- advertising out of the hands of agen- Chicago and hear keynote speaker Guy ability also means learning to accept cies and gave it to small businesses. Kawasaki’s talk on how to enchant others, because we can’t expect to be All these companies baked a bigger people, I thought it would be helpful to liked if we don’t like others. pie instead of eating more of the same write a summary of it. His presentation Default to yes. When you meet some- pie.” was full of great tips and insights into one new, try to think of ways you can Perfect your product or service and how we can better market ourselves, help him or her. It doesn’t have to be a make it great. This is easy to say, but our departments, and our services. As chore. For example, I met a student at how do you do it? Guy recommended you continue reading, think about how the closing conference reception who an approach called DICEE: make it you might “act out” some of these ideas mentioned that she was interested in deep, intelligent, complete, empower- at work so I can collect and share them working in a news library. Soon after ing and elegant. To break it down fur- in a future column. the conference, I happened to see a ther: A deep cause has many features. Guy was chief evangelist at Apple and job opening at a news organization An intelligent cause solves people’s later co-founded Alltop.com (and was a in her area and sent it to her. It was problems in smart ways. A complete founding partner at Garage Technology something I could do for her in about cause provides a great experience that Ventures). He has written 10 books, two minutes. includes service, support and enhance- including Enchantment (his latest), The Another part of this tip involves ments. An empowering cause enables Art of the Start, Rules for Revolutionaries, trusting others. Guy pointed out how you to do old things better and do new How to Drive Your Competition Crazy, Zappo’s, an online shoe retailer, under- things you couldn’t do at all. An elegant and Selling the Dream. stood that customers would want to cause means someone cared about the try on shoes before deciding to keep user interface and experience. Guy’s Ten Tips them. Zappo’s pays both the outgoing Guy outlined some of the features of In his talk, Guy shared 10 tips for and return shipping costs because they Ford’s MyKey product as an example. enchanting clients and potential cus- trust their customers not to abuse this It lets you limit your car’s speed (by tomers: system and believe it will make them sounding a chime as it climbs above a Achieve likeability. He wasn’t really more likely to shop with Zappo’s again. certain limit), enhance safety (by acti- saying you had to get everyone to like (Guess what? We do!) vating an alarm if the driver isn’t wear- you so much as he was suggesting that Guy also advised the audience to ing a seatbelt while the car is in motion), you should be genuine. For example, “bake, don’t eat.” In other words, if and regulate noise level (by setting a when you smile, make it real—use the you eat or take more, others must eat maximum volume at which the audio

Jill Strand is director of the Information Resources Library at the law firm of Maslon Edelman Borman & Brand, LLP in Minneapolis. An SLA Fellow, she is currently chair of the SLA 2013 Conference Advisory Council and professional development chair for the SLA Legal Division. She previously served as chair of the SLA 2011 Nominating Committee, president of the SLA Minnesota Chapter, and chair of the Public Relations Advisory Council and was a member of the 2011 Conference Advisory Council. She can be reached at jillstrand@gmail.com.

36 INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 September/October 2012 Market share

system can be played). All of this is can communicate your point faster and Websites/blogs, online special interest pretty appealing to someone looking for more clearly. groups, and conferences. By doing a safe car for a teenage child to drive. Guy also recommended enchanting this, you increase the satisfaction that Launch. Guy shared several ideas for all of the influencers. Start by asking people receive from your service as well how to get the word out about your new yourself who will be making decisions as the number of people who may help resources and services. about taking advantage of your services you in the future. First, tell a great story and make it or using your resources. Convincing a Finally, invoke and ask for reciproca- personal. Saying that your dad had a few key stakeholders is always critical, tion. Rather than simply say “you’re Cadillac and drove it 150,000 miles without any major maintenance issues says a lot more than “this car will last you a long time.” Be sure to plant many seeds so people can find what you want them to Try to avoid boring buzzwords like patent pending find. After you figure out your market- ing message and strategy, give up the and scalable; instead, use your passion for what you illusion of control and just “let it rip.” do to talk about a dream for your services. You don’t always know exactly who will find your product or service appeal- ing, so think in terms of planting fields rather than flower boxes (which could limit your reach and miss an important customer). Finally, use salient points that will but it may not be enough. welcome” when someone thanks you make the most sense to your customer. For example, my law firm just switched for doing them a favor, say “I’m sure For example, which feature resonates to a new vendor for our primary legal you’d do the same for me.” By doing better with the average non-tech person research needs. The biggest users of this, you take some of the pressure off buying an iPod: the number of giga- this resource are not the firm’s partners, the person you’ve helped by providing bytes of storage, or the number of songs but the mid-level litigation associates him or her a way to repay the debt in it can hold? who perform most of the legal research. the future. Overcome resistance to enchantment. When the decision was made to switch, Present. It’s all in the presentation, Again, Guy offered some ideas and we met with the associates so we could so start by customizing your presenta- examples. One idea is to provide social communicate the facts behind the deci- tion for your audience. When speak- proof. For example, how did Apple sion. This went a long way toward ing in another city, Guy tries to arrive convince customers that iPods were convincing them that the difficulties in early and do a little sightseeing, which becoming popular? It gave them white making the change were outweighed by includes taking pictures he can include headphones that stood out from the the long-term benefits to the firm. in his presentation. (Some of the pic- black headphones attached to all other Make your enchantment endure. Guy tures are humorous—one shows him devices. Suddenly, people saw white said he happened to meet Richard wearing a very tall fez, with the shop headphones everywhere, and it made Branson, the CEO of Virgin Atlantic owner grinning behind him.) If he’s them want their own iPods. Airlines, when both were speaking at a meeting with a particular company and Another idea is to use a dataset conference in Moscow. Richard asked has their products in his home, he’ll to change a mindset. (This should Guy if he ever flew Virgin Atlantic. Guy include photos of them. be easy for many librarian data junk- said no, because he was a United Guy also emphasized the need to ies!) Guy described using Gapminder’s Airlines customer. Richard then got really sell your dream. Try to avoid bor- Trendalyzer software to translate sta- down on his knees and gave Guy a ing buzzwords like patent pending and tistics into an interactive graph to dis- shoeshine with his coat! Since then, scalable; instead, use your passion for prove a long-held misconception that Guy’s first choice when flying is Virgin what you do to talk about a dream for people in Western countries have fewer Atlantic. your services. children and live longer than those Guy also recommended building For example, a member of my firm’s in developing countries. (It turns out an ecosystem (i.e., a community that Governance Committee recently sug- that people in most nations are having will complement your cause). Such an gested that I create two “buckets” of fewer children and living longer lives.) ecosystem could include consultants, ideas: one for those that fell within the Sometimes showing something visually developers, re-sellers, user groups, realm of the possible, and one for those

INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 september/October 2012 37 Market share

that were way out there. He recognized create a quick prototype in PowerPoint. that some of the best ideas can come Also, deliver bad news early so that from our wildest imagination. (This just there are no surprises and more time is Info File happened recently and I’m still perco- available to brainstorm solutions. lating on it, but will let you know where Enchant down (to your employees). Writing for Information Outlook Information Outlook welcomes queries from authors it leads.) Mastery, autonomy and purpose are about articles of interest to information professionals. Also, consider the format. While he strong motivators, so let people know For writer’s guidelines and a current editorial calendar, see www.sla.org/WriteForIO or write to [email protected]. admitted that his own presentation what they need to do to master the job Please allow six to eight weeks for acceptance. included more than 70 slides, Guy and why they are doing it. Then, step Letters to the Editor suggested limiting most presentations back and let them do it. Empower them Comments on articles or opinions on any topic to no more than 10 slides (with text in to action by letting them know you trust of interest to information professionals may be submitted as letters to the editor. They should be 30-point type) and 20 minutes. If these their judgment. sent to [email protected], with a subject line of “Letter boundaries don’t help you focus on the At the same time, be the kind of boss to Editor.” All letters should include the following: writer’s name, SLA volunteer title (if applicable), best and most essential points, I’m not who is willing to do dirty or difficult jobs city and state/province, and phone number. (We sure what will! once in a while. Don’t ask your staff to won’t publish the phone number, but we may wish to call for verification.) Letters may be edited for Use technology. In Enchantment, Guy do something you wouldn’t be willing brevity or clarity—or to conform to the publication’s goes into a lot of detail about using both to roll up your sleeves and do yourself. style. Letter writers will have an opportunity to ap- prove extensive editing prior to publication. “push” and “pull” technologies. For example, our library manages sev- When using technology, first remove eral different online resources and soft- Permissions Authors may distribute their articles as photocop- “speed bumps” (anything that will hang ware programs. Although problems with ies or as postings to corporate intranet or personal people up before they have a chance these resources and programs never Web sites—for educational purposes only—without advance permission. In all cases, the reprinted to hear or read your message). Have seem to arise at convenient times, I or republished articles must include a complete you ever visited a Website that makes step in every so often to help clients and citation and also reference the URL www.sla.org/ content/Shop/Information/index.cfm. you copy four or five wavy letters and trouble-shoot solutions with vendors. numbers to register or proceed? If so, I’m looking forward to putting these For permission to reprint Information Outlook articles in other publications, write to editor@sla. did you have trouble getting them right tips to work and, even more important- org. Include the issue in which the article was the first time? That’s a speed bump, ly, to enchanting my co-workers. Guy published, the title of the article, and a description of how the article would be used. and you need to eliminate it. If you’re certainly did that—he was a dynamic using e-mail, personalize the subject and entertaining speaker, and I think Subscriptions Print subscriptions are available for US$ 160 per line, keep it short, ask for something most of the audience forgave him for year in the United States and US$ 175 outside specific, and minimize attachments. having far more than 10 slides by the the United States. To order a subscription, visit www.sla.org/merchandise. Click on “Publications” Use the technology to provide infor- time he was finished. (To get a PDF in the left column under “Categories,” then scroll mation, insights and assistance. For copy of his slides, just send an e-mail down to “Information Outlook Subscription.” There is no discount to agencies. instance, Alltop aggregates information to [email protected].) For more tips by topic to make it easy for people to and engaging examples, be sure to Bulk subscription orders may be sent by postal mail to: Information Outlook Subscriptions, 331 South identify things they want to read (much check out his book, Enchantment: The Patrick Street, Alexandria, VA 22314, USA. Enclose like a virtual magazine rack). Taking Art of Changing Minds, Hearts and payment with the order to avoid delays in activation. this a step further, you could use it Actions (Portfolio/Penguin 2011.) And Online subscriptions are included with membership for finding links to items of interest to if any of Guy’s suggestions take root in and are not available to non-member subscribers. post to Twitter that others might want your library or department, please let Claims to read. me know so I might share them in a Claims for missing issues should be sent to [email protected]. Claimants should include Finally, Guy advised us to “eat like future column. SLA full name and address of the subscriber and a bird, poop like an elephant” (yes, volume and issue numbers of missing issues. Provision of additional information—such as pur- he actually said this!). In other words, chase date of subscription, check number, invoice/ be selective about the information you account number—may reduce processing time. “eat” (collect), but be generous in Membership spreading it around and sharing it with Inquiries about SLA membership should be sent to [email protected]. clients. You will create a rising tide that floats all boats. To update your address or other account informa- tion, to join SLA, or to renew your membership, go Enchant up (to your boss). If you to www.sla.org/content/membership and select the aren’t doing this already, look for ways appropriate item from the menu in the left column. to make your boss look good. If he or she needs help putting together a pre- sentation, drop what you’re doing and

38 INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 September/October 2012 info tech

Collaboration in Special Library Environments

as enterprises and as a society. Disruptive technological innovations are creating new So, let’s consider the points of inter- opportunities for information professionals to improve section between information profession- teams, workplaces and organizations. als and our clients, teams and groups and assess them in the context of the by Stephen Abram, MLS value we deliver and the impact we have in a transformational context.

A Few Definitions One of the great stereotypical myths of As information professionals who Simply put, collaboration is the action our society is that of the solitary genius support the needs of work teams, busi- of working with someone to produce who invents or creates something out nesses and institutions, we are well or create something. More specifically, of the ether. Amadeus Mozart created advised to focus on our relationships collaboration means the following: brilliant symphonies, but it would have with clients over the course of their been all for naught without the team- projects and enterprise goals. Many Collaboration is working together to work of the orchestra (and, by exten- (and probably most) of our clients have achieve a goal. It is a recursive pro- sion, the opera houses and symphony networks that extend beyond the orga- cess where two or more people or halls and today’s broadcast, technol- nization’s boundaries. By connecting to organizations work together to realize ogy and recording industries that keep our clients’ networks, we connect to the shared goals—(this is more than the his music alive). Stephen Hawking ethos of their collaborative efforts and intersection of common goals seen is perhaps the most verifiable living become part of their team. These net- in co-operative ventures, but a deep, genius, yet his magnificent intelligence works are changing with the advent of collective, determination to reach an is trapped in a body wracked by disease enterprise intranets, expertise networks, identical objective)—for example, an and atrophy. Without the talents and social networks like Facebook, and intriguing endeavor that is creative skills of his collaborators, publishers, business networks like LinkedIn, and in nature by sharing knowledge, university, family, and caregivers, we we ignore these changes at our peril. learning and building consensus. would know nothing of his insights and Indeed, transformational librarianship Most collaboration requires leader- lose the human potential he exempli- is far more about relationships than ship, although the form of leadership fies. about statistics that emphasize trans- can be social within a decentralized Genius is not a myth, but invention actional librarianship. While it’s true and egalitarian group. In particular, in solitude is. We not only stand on the that social institutions like businesses, teams that work collaboratively can shoulders of those who’ve gone before associations, colleges and universities, obtain greater resources, recognition us, we depend on the support and governments and, indeed, libraries and reward when facing competition collaboration of talents and teams that are aggregations of individual efforts, for finite resources. (Wikipedia) expand our own success. And it almost keeping score of individual transac- Cooperation is the “act or instance of goes without saying that libraries and tions detracts from the ultimate value working or acting together for a com- librarians play a huge role in conserv- of collaboration. Recognizing that our mon purpose or benefit; joint action, the ing and providing access to recorded societies comprise diverse individuals more or less active assistance from a knowledge—the proverbial shoulders of who depend on each other for survival person, organization, etc., a willingness those who’ve gone before us. and progress is essential to succeeding to cooperate in activities for shared for mutual benefit.” (Dictionary.com) Teamwork is the “cooperative or coor- Stephen Abram is vice president of strategic partnerships and dinated effort on the part of a group of markets for Gale Cengage Learning. He is a past president of SLA, the persons acting together as a team or Ontario Library Association and the Canadian Library Association. He is in the interests of a common cause.” the author of Out Front with Stephen Abram (ALA Editions 2007) and a (Dictionary.com) personal blog, Stephen’s Lighthouse. Stephen would love to hear from Social is an adjective meaning “of or you at [email protected]. relating to society or its organization.” Libraries are social institutions, as are governments, schools, colleges,

INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 September/October 2012 39 info tech

businesses, churches—indeed, nearly more pedestrian basis, the social Web and deciding than about our founda- any human enterprise, whether for- has increased access to information, tions in nouns such as content, books, mally organized or not. Social life is the increased and/or changed our percep- databases, and records. The challenge basic way we achieve things. Therefore, tions of other people and cultures, and will be to balance human interactions social technology tools represent huge connected people, teams, and class- with the provision of quality content. opportunities for social professions. rooms on a scale that was unimaginable Collaboration systems like Yammer There have been some pressures even a few years ago. and SharePoint are rapidly becoming on social collaboration in the past few Mining the power of social technolo- the norm for business and government. decades. Disruptive innovations have gies and digital content is a complex Our clients are encountering a world taken technology from a mechanical task requiring teams of professionals, where the employer has an expecta- retrieval and workflow context to one including us. We can’t prepare employ- tion that new hires arrive with abilities that is aligned with human needs and ees, customers, users, researchers, that are quite different from the model behaviors in a societal context. This partners, and learners to connect at office of the last century. People will be transition has become more impor- exponentially higher rates by over-con- working virtually and globally as access tant as we have experienced the real trolling their access, as doing so would to talent and teams is no longer con- emergence of a global information- and damage our organizations’ success. At strained by geography. knowledge-based economy. This has this point in history, we are struggling Presentation systems like WebEx and forced social institutions to reimag- with finding the appropriate balance Adobe are progressing from broadcast ine the ways their people—employees, between access and privacy, and that to interactive, and this is changing learners, inventors, customers, and so balance will be different in different everything from education to entertain- on—interact, live, work and play. contexts. What is right for consumer ment to business to politics. Learning As collaboration technologies align agencies, the public sector, and the management systems and personal with the goals of society, human military intelligence community might learning networks in particular have engagement and work, librarians must not apply to medical records, the pri- great potential, and the opportunities prepare for a world where we can vate sector, or food safety. they present have been largely under- enlarge our impact on client and organi- If there is anything that’s clear, it’s exploited so far. This will change a lot in zational success even as we focus less that social and collaborative technolo- the next five years, as the Blackboards, on face-to-face interaction and physi- gies will play an ever-larger role in every Moodles, MindTaps, and D2L’s evolve to cal co-location. This, ironically, might aspect of our lives. Most of the current support the multiple needs, languages, move us back to a time when special crop of social tools and environments learning styles, disabilities, and learn- librarianship placed a greater emphasis will either not exist by 2025 or will have ing potentials of employees. As change on relationships and professional ser- changed radically by that date. That’s increases its pace, these technologies vice and less on accessing information. OK—they represent the features and will provide one of the greatest oppor- Renewing our emphasis on improving functions of an emerging ecosystem of tunities to scale learning and address our users in their context can be a key collaborative learning, work, and play the needs of organizations to adapt to a building block for increasing our value, that is assembling itself on the fly. rapidly changing work revolution. sustaining our success, and surviving So, what are the major puzzle pieces, Sharing and rating systems, mean- and thriving. and how have they changed? while, have the potential to crowdsource Many of us in SLA participate in the opinion and expert knowledge, even Collaborative Technologies success of our intranet and Website within a corporate context. The neoto- Technology is, in and of itself, neutral. environments. I predict that, over the nous systems in Amazon, YouTube However, when humans engage with next few years, these environments will and scholarly rating services are mov- technologies, the world gets messy. All start to look less and less like traditional ing inexorably toward having a greater of us can point to instances and events Websites and more and more like the impact, especially in expert or enter- of cyber-bullying, online fraud, spam- social networks that are becoming the prise networks focused on team or ming, phishing, loss of privacy, and norm for the Web experience. Aligning market success. Will we participate as identity theft that have been facilitated our development of digitally enhanced team members, or will we be standing by new technologies. But we can also collaboration experiences with this outside looking in? Will we be part of the point to the roles social technologies and trend will serve us well. team that ensures our users are able to digital content have played in promoting Creating experience portals beyond process the difference between con- invention and discovery, making hid- our current information portals will sumer, algorithmic, and expert recom- den content visible, reuniting families, underpin greater enterprise success. mendations? Will we be positioned as encouraging democracy movements, My standard analogy is that librarian trusted advisors and team members? and supporting the WikiLeaks govern- strategies are more about verbs like All of the preceding are being ment transparency movement. On a informing, reading, learning, relating, enhanced by the content systems and

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advanced access tools that are emerg- • Does the “social glue” (the relation- What Are We Measuring, ing in a post-Google world. Our users ships and skills that bind) get better and Does It Matter? and organizations will soon have too through the adoption and use of this Continued from page 12 much access and not enough context. tool? Indeed, it’s the classic “best of times, • Are we creating a more tolerant, value of the library to their success. worst of times.” As more and more of open and engaging society or are • The library must demonstrate that it the corpus of historical and current we risking too many negative conse- is efficient and effective in meeting print, audio and video content becomes quences and greater divisiveness? the expectations of the organization accessible through digitization, the con- • What impact will this tool have on and the needs of users. The library tent fire hose will demand higher-order our institutional culture? should also develop value metrics skills—in all employees, not just infor- • Does this tool support the best of that are aligned with organizational mation professionals. society—the world where new dis- planning and user needs. Many of us, and our colleagues, are coveries, inventions and creations vested in the traditions, environment, are widely made, disseminated, Finally, do value metrics matter? Yes, rules and processes of today. Yet we are enjoyed and used? they do. Value metrics not only measure entering a period of transformational • Will this tool support greater progress what is critical for organizational suc- and disruptive change at a faster pace toward a more perfect world? cess, they also show those outside the than even that of the last few decades. • What are the inherent risks of using library our vision for services and our To thrive, we’ll need to adapt and use this tool, and how do we mitigate commitment to change. SLA our critical thinking skills and values to those risks? As information profes- question the change, adjust the sails, sionals, what is our best advice? REFERENCES and invest in our own development. In addition to these technology-relat- How do we do that? Astin, Alexander. 1991. Assessment for ed queries, there are other types of Excellence: The Philosophy and Practice questions we should be regularly asking Keep the Goal in Mind of Assessment and Evaluation in Higher within our institutions and our profes- The best way to adapt to disruptive and Education. Englewood, Colo.: Libraries sional organizations and conferences. transformational change is to always Unlimited. These kinds of questions can focus us keep the goal in mind. What are the in challenging times. Gerould, James T. 1906. A Plan for the goals related to these social and col- Compilation of Comparative University and laborative technology changes in our • How can we create amazing experi- College Library Statistics. Library Journal, 31, industry, sector, library, or learning ences every day for our users? 761-763. context? • How can we help our clients ask First, we must ask ourselves—about better questions? Kyrillidou, Martha. 1998. An Overview of each and every new technology oppor- • How can we make our libraries Performance Measures in Higher Education tunity—the following questions: invaluable and irreplaceable in our and Libraries. Bimonthly Newsletter of communities? Research Library Issues and Actions, 197. • Does this tool help us prepare our • How can we nurture abundant colleagues for the world they are Oakleaf, Megan. 2010. The Value of Academic curiosity? encountering, in a scalable fashion? Libraries: A Comprehensive Research Review • Can we play with this tool to better Questions like these can guide our and Report. Chicago, Ill.: Association of understand its potential? thinking, help us do extraordinary College and Research Libraries. • Can we ensure that this tool is worth things, and prepare us to meet the Pritchard, Sarah M. 1996. Determining Quality adding to our pilots and trials to see future. These questions paint a vision of in Academic Libraries. Library Trends, 44(3): if it shows potential for improving the future that is aligned with our goals 572-594. learning and teaching? and values; they allow us to create the • Can we delay judgment until we future rather than just have it happen Robinson, Otis. 1876. College Library make a professional assessment of to us and our clients. Libraryland would Administration: Public Libraries of the United the potential and risks? be a happier place, and we’d frame States of America. Washington, D.C.: U.S. • Does this tool support lifelong learn- our challenges better, if we used this Government Printing Office. ing, collaboration, and social skills approach more often. and perspectives that people will We can make a choice to merely stay need to be successful in the com- afloat, or we can ask questions and munity and workplace of 2025? actively seek to create the kind of future • Will the world be a better place with we want. So, what questions are you this tool? asking? What questions do you want to be asking? SLA

INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 september/October 2012 41 Info business

Three Challenges Metrics and Value I myself often browse business literature to see what lessons can be applied to an industry or transferred from one profession to another. An interesting example I came upon recently can be applied directly to information centers— Lessons learned from the human resources profession an article titled “Transforming HRD into can help us better align our goals with those of our an Economic Value Add” (Berry 2011), organizations and more easily show our value. which advocates for human resources By Debbie Schachter, MLS, MBA functions identifying their value within their larger organizations. Many orga- nizational services such as human We are all expected to show value with- Identifying the value and impact of resources and information centers are in our organizations, whether through information services may actually be perceived as cost centers rather than usage statistics or through the informa- easier for those operating outside of value-generating areas and thus face tion center’s impact on organizational traditional information centers or librar- obstacles when trying to communicate success. Each organization has its own ies, such as embedded librarians or their value within their organizations. expectations and/or requirements, but project team members. Because they The article highlights three challenges it is standard practice to gather data, are directly engaged in the projects and to the human resources function—from measure the “right things,” and regu- programs they support, the value of senior management, from people using larly communicate our value to decision their skills is often much more apparent HR services, and from human resourc- makers. Identifying what to measure to the organization at large. But whether es staff—that are also entirely relevant and determining how meaningful such you are embedded or are working in a to information centers. For example, measures are to senior management more traditional role or environment, Berry notes that human resources “has have long been challenges for informa- it is important that you stay abreast of not been seen [by senior manage- tion professionals. the evolving methods for tracking and ment] as ‘a source of revenue or profit There are many different types of identifying service value within organi- growth’” but says that “by linking HRD measures, ranging from direct usage zations. solutions to specific business results, (for example, the number of queries, Mary Ellen Bates (2008) says we such as revenue-related metrics, senior the gate count, or the volume of data- should “count things that matter to the management will begin to see [human base or Web usage) to qualitative mea- bottom line.” She recommends asking resources] as a source of competitive sures to measures of the impact or questions such as “Did we meet your advantage.” This is a model we can also outcomes of our services, such as link- information need?” and “How was this apply directly to information services. ing information requests to successful information useful for you?” to gather As for the people who use human sales or business cases. The simplest anecdotal information; she also favors resources services, Berry explains that measures are often those we can per- identifying a method of reporting the they perceive such services as “trans- form easily, such as the examples of “value of time saved” by creating a mul- actional” in nature, as “the end game direct usage identified above. More tiplier for each hour of work conducted rather than a means to increased busi- meaningful measures generally involve by a librarian on behalf of another ness performance.” This is similar to much more effort to track and analyze, employee. Metrics that are effective one the dilemma faced by information cen- but they may, in the long run, be the year may not be so meaningful the next, ters, where customers think about get- most effective for justifying additional she says, so stay attuned to how other ting a particular problem solved or an resources or ensuring greater under- services are showing value in your orga- answer provided, but may not consider standing of the value of the information nization and try to adopt their measures the service as integral to the success of center (Hiller 2010). whenever possible. the business. The third challenge Berry identifies is how employees who provide human resources services are often impedi- Debbie Schachter is director of learning resources at ments themselves to changes that facili- Douglas College in New Westminster, British Columbia, and chapter cabinet chair-elect of SLA. She can be reached at tate the measurement of HR’s value and [email protected]. impact. “Colleagues may not be happy with your use of measurements that focus on how your solutions improve the organization’s performance,” he

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writes. While our profession has always Identify and implement metrics to on aligning the information center’s had the resiliency to change and adapt show this value. Ask yourself what you goals, both in intent and in language, to the expectations of our organizations, need to evaluate. Is it value, efficien- with the broader goals of the organiza- we need to think about different ways of cy, satisfaction, or outcomes? Can you tion. Always ensure that you are mea- measuring and sharing the value of the evaluate and communicate the value suring in a way that will have meaning information center, and there are other of your service in a similar manner as to your organization and industry. services that may help us determine other departments in your organiza- For support, encouragement and how we can do so. tion? Will this help senior management good ideas, look to your SLA colleagues Confirm and revise the information understand what you are contributing to and participate in SLA Webinars and center’s goals. In addition to chang- the bottom line? conference sessions. The best way to ing the way information services are Try to track the end use of your ser- prepare for the future is by staying viewed in the context of the organization vices. If you are able, assign individual connected and learning from the many (modeling it after the human resources information professionals to projects good ideas that are shared within our example), you can also ensure that to create a closer connection to your profession. SLA you are measuring the correct things end users and help them understand by focusing on aligning the information the integral role that info pros play and REFERENCES center’s goals with the organization’s how they contribute to project success. Bates, Mary Ellen. 2008. Library Metrics. goals. The first step is to examine all Build and sustain supporters, as this is Librarian of Fortune, January 5. of your existing services and activities one of the best ways to track usage and Berry, Jack. 2011. Transforming HRD into an with a view to how they contribute to support and also alert you to any down- Economic Value Add. T&D, 65(9): 66-69. organizational goals. If there are areas turn in perceived quality of service. that are not in alignment, you need to Review and modify. Review what you Hiller, Steve. 2010. Measure, Assess, Improve, consider how much effort is required to are measuring and why you are mea- Repeat: Using Library Performance Metrics. create and maintain these services and suring it. Do this regularly (at least on an Presentation to National Information Standards identify the true value of continuing to annual basis), depending on new proj- Organization, 8 September. offer them. ects or organizational changes. Focus

INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N05 september/October 2012 43 Coming events / ad index

Industry Events 9-11 June 2013 october 2012 SLA Annual Conference Emerging Technologies in & INFO-EXPO Academic Libraries San Diego, California, USA Norwegian University of Science and Technology Trondheim, Norway 1-3 webinars

KMWorld 2012 Insider Insights: How to Research Companies and Information Today Industries as Potential Employers Washington, D.C., USA It’s 2012, and looking for a job has changed drastically since 2002. Sure, Can’t attend a live Webinar? 17-19 you can go to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics site or the Occupational You can view Webinar Outlook Handbook to find information on industries and career paths. But Internet Librarian 2012 REPLAYS. These 90-minute what else is out there? What will give you the inside information you’re seminars from our Click Information Today really looking for: skills you need, current salaries, company culture? Who Monterey, Calif., USA University programs were can you talk to about the industry and where it’s headed? 22-24 recorded as they occurred, In this session, you’ll learn about traditional and non-traditional sources so you’ll get the complete Internet Librarian International for industry and company information, and how to reach the people and experience of the original Information Today experts you really need to talk to. Whether you’re starting a new career, session. Visit www.sla.org/clicku London, United Kingdom or looking for a new twist in your career, you’ll learn practical approaches for more information. 30-31 that will help you right now. Date: 10 October 2012 november 2012 Time: 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. Eastern time Health Science Librarians of Illinois Cost: US$ 49 for SLA members, US$ 129 for non-members Resurrection Medical Center Chicago, Illinois, USA Who Should Attend: 1-2 Information professionals looking for a change in their career; new graduates who are entering the job market; and job seekers and career december 2012 changers from any field. Information professionals who are interested in finding industry and career information will also gain valuable tools from Military Libraries Workshop this session. Military Libraries Division of SLA Albuquerque, N.M., USA Presenters: 3-7 Scott Brown draws on 20-plus years of experience in library and information organizations (including public, academic and corporate June 2013 settings) to bring an extraordinarily broad range of expertise to his LIS 4th Information: Interactions and career coaching. He is the owner of the Social Information Group, an Impact (i³) Conference independent information practice focused on the effective use of social Robert Gordon University networking tools for sharing and finding information. He was a founding Aberdeen, Scotland, UK board member of the SLA Competitive Intelligence Division and teaches 25-28 competitive intelligence topics as an adjunct faculty member at San Jose State University in California and the University of Denver in Colorado. Follow Scott on Twitter at @scbrown5 or @socialinfo. Kim Dority is the founder and president of Dority & Associates, an ADVERTISING INDEX information strategy and content development company focusing on research, writing, editing, information process design, and publishing. She is also on the advisory board of the University of Denver’s MLIS Columbia University ...... 5 program, where she created and has taught a popular course on alternative LIS career paths. She has spoken on a wide range of LIS career topics IEEE ...... C4 at national conferences and addressed LIS graduate student groups on career development strategies. She is the author of Rethinking Information IMF...... C2 Work: A Career Guide for Librarians and Other Information Professionals and manages the LinkedIn “LIS Career Options” group. She currently INFORMS...... 3 serves on a task force that is updating SLA’s Competencies for Information Professionals of the 21st Century. SPIE ...... 23 Critical Learning Questions: Thomson Reuters...... C3 • How can I identify the most useful resources for gathering company and industry information relevant to my job interests? • How do I find the current information I need to pursue a new direction in my career? • How can I connect with practitioners and experts in a professional, career-enhancing manner? Technical notes: The Webinar link will be sent to you when you register, and a reminder e-mail with the link will be sent to you the day of the program. Your registration is for one computer and one site only. You can host as many people as you like, so be sure to invite your colleagues to learn with you!

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