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SLA-Southern California Chapter |
Thank you, Teresa, and good evening. It has been quite a day, hasn't it? I know I have learned a lot, and I hope you have, too.
It is always a pleasure to be with a group of librarians and information professionals. You work in an amazing array of jobs. But you have so much in common. You are smart. You are savvy. And you are incredibly well informed.
You are, in fact, so well informed that I can make one important assumption: All of you understand that the economy--to use a technical term--stinks right now. Whether we are employed or not, virtually all of us are all feeling the pinch, both at home and on the job.
And, hindsight being 20/20, many of us have composed retroactive Wish Lists . . . things we would have done differently had we known a recession was coming. Here is a personal example:
- I wish I could take the money I invested in my 401K Plan . . . and put it under the mattress, where at least it wouldn't be losing value!
- And . . . I wish that the mattress I put it under was the perfectly good innerspring one I had . . . before I decided I needed the super-temper-foam-air thing with the remote control . . . so I could take the money I spent on the fancy mattress and put it under that good old mattress, too.
- Oh, and add my investment in those 600-thread-count sheets and the super-down comforter, too. I'd rather have a security blanket, thank you very much!
And then there is the professional Wish List. If they could turn back time, many people's professional Wish List would include items like this:
- I wish I had made a better effort to build my professional network.
- I wish I had kept up with the latest professional developments and gained some new skills.
- And of course?I wish I had a better understanding of the business aspects of my organization.
As tempting as it is to dwell on wish lists, I remind myself of that old proverb: If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
Anyone who knows me well will assure you that I am no Pollyanna . . . in fact, I am a compulsive worry-wart. However, the convergence of this rotten economy and SLA's Centennial year has gotten me to thinking. I am coming around to the idea that counting our blessings--and capitalizing on them--might be a much more productive activity than compiling Wish Lists.
And there is, after all, a great deal to be grateful for. I'll start with John Cotton Dana and his colleagues, who had the wisdom and foresight to establish the Special Libraries Association one hundred years ago . . . creating a permanent partnership between and among information professionals, no matter where they live and work.
I think it's important to understand the time and place in history that caused a group of librarians to come together to form the alliance that still unites information professionals. It was a very different time, to be sure. But the dynamics that were the catalyst for the creation of SLA have some modern parallels, too.
The first years of the 20th Century have been called the Second Industrial Revolution with good reason. For the first time, the United States was, well, united, with transcontinental transportation and communication connecting people and ideas, and moving goods and services, on a level most people had never dared imagine. New industrial processes, like Henry Ford's assembly line . . . and new materials, like steel, aluminum and early plastics . . . combined with plentiful labor and new financing mechanisms to create opportunities that seemed without limit.
The ground below the marketplace was profoundly shifting. For the very first time, the U.S. was claiming its place as the world's leading industrial nation. With so many possibilities, entrepreneurs were hungry . . .they needed more information about discoveries, innovations, inventions, and competitors that they could put to work. And they asked librarians to join with them in finding it.
The early partnerships between librarians and entrepreneurs were based on a revolutionary idea: information and knowledge could be practical, not just intellectual. Together, they could put knowledge to work.
Soon, libraries, corporations, museums, universities and more were assembling their own specialized collections with the help of a new breed of librarian . . . the specialized librarian.
I am very grateful for this turn of events, and not only because I now have the privilege of working for SLA. I believe that information, and the knowledge it fuels, leads to progress--and that knowledge will get us out of this economic crisis and build a better world. We don't drive at night without the headlights on, and we have grown accustomed to having the light of knowledge to guide us when we move forward.
I am grateful for the spirit of partnership that was at the very core of SLA's founding. I recently looked at the June 1910 issue of Special Libraries, SLA's first publication, and was touched by this argument in favor of sharing information:
"We suffer from a lack of knowledge of what others are doing, and sometimes ignorantly do things which are already better done."
The answer was to collaborate, specifically on bibliographies. Soon, special librarians were taking on topics of widespread importance. Special Libraries published a brand-new cooperative bibliography in 1910. The subject might have seemed quaint until recently: it was the "public drinking cup question."
You may be interested in knowing that only one state, Massachusetts, had passed a law banning the use of shared public drinking cups in places like schools, factories, and train stations by the summer of 1910. It was a very hot topic, and SLA members were able to consult a carefully compiled bibliography and be knowledgeable about the body of available literature on the subject.
It is easy to see why cooperative exchange of information was critical to early special librarians--and why it continues to be imperative today. They were motivated by a lack of information; you are challenged with what seems like too much. But the same approach--collaboration--has been successful in addressing both feasts and famines of information. Long story short: Through SLA, information professionals continue to find out what really matters in their industry.
Let's face it. The fast pace of technology provides new options almost daily for procuring, storing, cooking, serving, and eating information. You hardly have time to grab lunch, much less master every communication cuisine that comes along.
But never fear: SLA members are near! You can rely on 11,000 SLA members to work together and determine which new things you need to pay attention to. You can count on SLA's professional development tools to help you gain the skills worth getting. And if you have been a member for awhile, you know that SLA never lets up in its efforts to help members create the strong professional networks that are so very necessary to information professionals.
A lot of people I know--women mostly, but men as well--have recently taken up beading . . . making jewelry. And there is a terrific beading supply store near SLA's offices in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. I visited it not long ago, and it was overwhelming . . . bin upon bin of beads in all shapes and sizes, in all colors and materials. Big glass beads, little silver beads . . . precious stones and chunks of funky plastic.
Yet carefully selected and strung together, those very beads are transformed into glorious necklaces . . . bracelets . . . earrings. They have a presence, integrity, and strength that no individual bead could ever project. That journey . . . from bead to bling, if you will . . . is a bit like SLA's journey over these past one hundred years.
The information profession and your professional association have joined together to create something new and important during the last century. And we have been looking closely at that creation. One major effort SLA has been involved in recently is our Alignment Project, an exhaustive series of research studies about the information profession. First, we looked at how information professionals and special librarians view their jobs and their contributions to their organizations. Then we looked at how employers view information professionals and what they value about the work they do. The two groups agreed on five areas where information professionals can make important contributions to their organizations' future success.
If you are an information professional who wants to demonstrate what you do to make your organization successful, these are important insights. It is up to you to ensure your organization connects its success with yours. You know that the information you so carefully turn into actionable knowledge creates a competitive advantage for your organization. You know that this advantage has a positive effect on your organization's bottom line.
Your organization, however, is unlikely to understand that without your help. In connecting your work to your organization's success, here are the top five areas to stress.
The first area is knowledge sharing. Information professionals and specialized librarians promote continuous learning and knowledge sharing through innovative technology and education practices. To do your job, you have to stay up-to-date on the latest developments in communications and technology. Everyone agrees that organizations must have the knowledge they need to make strategic decisions--but they have to be taught that information professionals create this culture of knowledge in their organizations.
Second: In information as in other matters, quality counts. It may require investment, but in the long run, it saves money. Information professionals know the available tools and how to most economically access the most relevant information in a timely, convenient, and secure manner. That saves your organization time and money--but you have to be able to measure those savings and communicate them.
Smart organizations use their employees' skills wisely. If they have a great salesperson, that person's skills are not well used doing research on a potential client. A great salesperson should be out there talking to people, networking, and selling your products and services.
And where does a great salesperson get the knowledge that will result in the best sales? From somebody who knows your business, someone who knows where to mine that special nugget of information that will give your organization the advantage and help your great salesperson close the deal. That person is an information professional.
Third: Expert information leads to good decisions. Information professionals facilitate good decision-making by providing expert analysis and identifying insights and trends. In other words, they build knowledge that creates a competitive advantage. You can demonstrate the role you play in facilitating good decision making by not only measuring your performance by appropriate metrics . . . but also by proactively sharing relevant information targeted to the needs of various parts of your organization.
Fourth, the commitment of information professionals to continuous learning and professional development makes you an important organizational asset. Most of the executives we surveyed recognize that information professionals must constantly learn new skills and technologies. They value continuous learning, and they recognize that information professionals help other employees stay on top of current skills as well as trends affecting their industry. The savvy information professional uses every opportunity to share learning.
Finally, in this global economy, every professional must have a global network to be successful. SLA is that network for people in the information profession.
Now . . . back to gratitude. I am grateful that SLA had the foresight to take a number of significant steps this year . . . steps that ensure twe will stay united as a professional association, and continue to attract new members from all over the world . . .despite the economic realities.
We know that some of our members have lost jobs, and that others have taken pay cuts, had their hours cut, and so forth. As a result, some of our members were struggling to stay members.
That just won't work. I mean, when do you need your professional network most? When you lose your job!
When do you have the time and the incentive to learn new skills? Again, it's when you lose your job.
So what would be the worst possible time to lose your SLA membership? When you lose your job, of course!
That is one of the reasons I am grateful that our board approved a new membership category, which allows those making $18,000 or less to join or renew for just $35. They can remain full members and take advantage of everything that SLA has to offer.
With this new rate, we are also attracting new members from outside of North America, and particularly from India. That has never been more important. Anybody who doubted that ours is a global economy has become a believer in this recession! SLA fosters global networking, knowledge sharing and collaboration because it is the best way to promote the exchange of new ideas, trends and cutting-edge developments. Our new membership rate will help us move forward in our century-long mission to build a network second to none.
That's not all we've done to address member needs in this challenging economy, either. Many organizations that were very pleased to pay professional development expenses for their employees have cut back or cut out for the time being. We hope this is a short-lived practice, and I am confident most of them do as well. In the meantime, SLA is making its Click University Webinars and replays free for the first time, along with a wealth of other Click U resources.
How many of you have taken advantage of Click U? [Comment on response.] It is SLA's online learning portal, which also has premium content--our online certificate courses in knowledge management, competitive intelligence and copyright. If you have not used Click U, you are missing out on one of the great benefits of your SLA membership.
Another great benefit: SLA's Career Center, which offers a whole range of services, from resume posting to job listings to career advice--and it's free for members.
SLA has also worked hard to hold the line on conference costs, and to find other ways to make SLA 2009 more affordable. Clearly those efforts have met some success. I am more than grateful to report that right now, it looks like attendance will be at about the level it has been for the past two years. I know of no other professional association that can make that claim.
And it truly will be a terrific conference. We will begin with a keynote address by Colin Powell. We will end with a panel moderated by Judy Woodruff that features author Robyn Meredith, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, and technology guru John Patrick talking about the future . . . and propelling us into SLA's next 100 years.
In between, attendees will be able to choose from more than 400 sessions and workshops and visit about 450 industry vendors. We will be sharing more information about the Alignment Project, too. And, of course, the conference is in Washington--which I happen to think is one terrific city!
For members who cannot come, we have made a special point of asking our conference speakers to provide copies of their presentations or to allow for them to be recorded for podcast, and we will post the results on the SLA Website after the conference. And we are once again tweeting--all members can follow the conference on Twitter. The hashtag for you birds is: sla2009.
Don't forget--it's never too early to start planning for SLA2010. I can promise you that we are going to have a good time because it takes place in another of my favorite places--New Orleans. I went to law school there, and I am here to tell you that folks in New Orleans really know how to treat guests. Mark your calendars: June 13 to June 16, 2010. Laissez les bon temps rouler! Let the good times roll!
Speaking of rolling. . . I would like to roll back in time a bit, to where I started today . . . 1909, when the nation and the world were undergoing profound economic changes that made information essential--times that created exciting and new opportunities for a group of professionals who knew how to find, manage, analyze, and share information.
The economic shifts we are currently experiencing are different in nature, but will have the same result: a demand for professionals who can provide the actionable knowledge that will give their organizations a competitive advantage.
At SLA, we believe that information and the knowledge it creates builds strong, resilient organizations that can confidently move forward in today's economy.
We believe that creating a culture that values reliable information is the best way to build the trust that the global marketplace needs so much right now.
We believe that information professionals are key to helping organizations of all kinds and sizes become more successful and more worthy of the trust placed in them.
And we believe that one way to answer the question of the day--"How can we do more with less?"--is to partner with one another through SLA.
We are grateful that while those ideas may be a century old, they remain relevant and fresh today.
Thank you!
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