Spotlight on SLA Members: Trudy Katz
MasterCard International recently appointed Trudy Katz, a longtime SLA member, to vice president of their Information Center. Katz joined MasterCard in1997 and has played a leading role in the development and management of an electronic information database that offers convenient, cost-effective information and services to employees around the world.
Katz, who has been the director of the Information Center, will continue to report to Barbara Delia, senior vice president, Global Information & Research at MasterCard. "Since joining MasterCard, Trudy has made an extremely valuable contribution to the development of MasterCard's Corporate Information Center," Delia said. "She has built a strong team, making the information center the first place MasterCard employees turn for research on industry news and current events. She also developed the first electronic information database at MasterCard that specializes in keeping employees up-to-date on industry trends." MasterCard International has a comprehensive portfolio of payment brands throughout the world. An association comprised of more than 20,000 member financial institutions, MasterCard serves consumers and businesses, both large and small, in 210 countries and territories. In 1999, gross dollar volume exceeded US$725 billion.
Katz is the Information Technology Division Chair of the Special Libraries Association. She has a bachelor of science degree from Temple University and a Masters degree in Library Science from the University of South Carolina. Katz is also an adjunct professor at both Queens College and Long Island University in New York.
Information Outlook: What is the mission of your information center?
Trudy Katz: Our mission is to develop and manage convenient, accessible, and cost-effective information services that are aligned with the strategic directives of MasterCard International. We are sensitive to the dynamics within the company and the payments industry and we change our information resources as needed.
IO: Who are your clients? Staff, scientists, the general public? Can you give an example of a typical request? What is the most interesting request you ever received? Are requests time sensitive?
TK: What most people don't know is that MasterCard International is a member association. The Information Center's clients are MasterCard employees; we are not open to outside inquiries. MasterCard has approximately 3000 people employed internationally. Our two main offices are in Purchase, NY (headquarters) and St. Louis. Requests come in via e-mail, fax , telephone or walk-ins. A majority of the requests are regarding the payments industry. We also answer questions regarding economics, e-commerce, and banking. And, of course, some questions are not typical to the industry. Seventy-five percent of the reference requests are global in scope. It is our international offices that request the U.S.-centric information.
IO: What type of staff do you have? How many are on staff?
TK: There are three people on staff: myself, a manager, Nancy Bobrek, and a research analyst. Stacey Rivera. We share a lot of the research, often working on the requests as a team. I handle budget and strategic planning. It is Nancy's growing responsibility to manage vendor relationships. Stacey spends considerable time managing one of our two Lotus Notes databases.
I was hired in June 1997 to start-up the Information Center. Staff has increased since then but the physical size of our facility has remained the same. We rely heavily on non-print resources. The payments industry is rapidly evolving and we find that most print resources are out of date when we receive them.
IO: To whom do you report at MasterCard?
TK: I report to the senior vice president, Global Information and Research. She reports to the Chief Marketing Officer. Even though we reside in Marketing, we provide service to the entire company.
IO: Do you have any involvement in MasterCard's Internet/Intranet? If so, how?
TK: We are Lotus Notes based but moving to an intranet by second quarter 2001. I was involved in the initial meetings with many of the departments regarding the information architecture for the new intranet but faced considerable time constraints in remaining involved with the project at that level. We are currently developing the Information Center's web site. I was also part of a team that developed an extranet for our members.
We are not directly involved with MasterCard's Internet but we do provide research in supporting both the business and consumer sides of the site.
IO: How do you market your information center? What has been a successful marketing tactic for you?
TK: We are in the development phase of a marketing strategy plan. We are segmenting our users to determine opportunities and also arranging group meetings to discuss synergies between our users and the Information Center. It has been very important for us to retain our brand, "Information Center" on all work produced. We have also had promotions such as open houses, raffles, buttons, and brochures.
We produce an electronic alert called the Information Center Exchange (ICE). ICE contains the full-text of information sources we follow for the company. Through an e-mail we market the Information Center to over 700 desktops on a daily basis. Once we started ICE and rolled it out to the entire company, usage statistics shot up dramatically. And, the reference questions are much more complex now that we provide basic information directly to the desktop. We are now in the process of web-enabling ICE.
IO: What is exciting about working at MasterCard? How do you feel about the word librarian? Do you feel it adequately reflects what you do?
TK: Every day is different at MasterCard. On any given day I could be working on the budget, completing research requests, participating on a task force or just about anything else. I am encouraged to grow intellectually and explore new talents..
I am not afraid of the word librarianship but find, in certain circumstances, that I do not entirely embrace it either. Internally people interchange the words "library" and "information center". They really don't care what we call ourselves as long as we answer their call. However, I think that the name should change to reflect the changes within our profession.
IO: How has your involvement in SLA helped your career?
TK: I have learned so much from being active in SLA! Its trueyou get what you give. I transferred leadership and web design skills directly into my job. And I don't think I could enumerate all of the ideas I have "borrowed" from fellow professionals over the years.
IO: How did you move into your executive position? What will be your new roles and responsibilities? What advice would you give other information professionals looking to move into such positions in their organizations?
TK: In November 2000, I started discussions with my HR specialist about a promotion. What I didn't know was at the same time Barbara (my boss) was talking to HR about the same issue. I looked at the job description for a Vice President and realized I was already doing the job. Obviously, everyone else did also because I got the call about the promotion in December. Barbara told me that she had no problem getting the promotion approved. In fact, most people already thought I was a Vice President. I received a lot of remarks like, "I thought you already were." The rest of the comments were, "It's about time."
For me there were two factors that unlocked the promotion door:
1. Communicating successes and challenges upward in the organization. And building a relationship with my manager that facilitates this communication.
2. Discovering the key to the new job description. The big difference between director and vice president is the word "innovate."
IO: What's on the horizon for you?
TK: Personally (yes, I do have a personal life), I want to teach Stormy, my cat, more stupid tricks! Within MasterCard, I look forward to expanding my role of "internal consultant" by discovering innovative ways to meet the corporate objectives. Professionally, I want to continue to share my enthusiasm and knowledge of our profession with students and I plan on mentoring young professionals when the opportunities arise. 
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