Information Outlook, Vol. 5, no. 1, January 2001
Global 2000: Perspectives of a Foreign Delegate
by Marietjie Marais
GLOBAL 2000 THE INFORMATION AGE: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
BRIGHTON, UK, 16-19 October 2000
Brighton, a beautiful city in the south of England, was chosen as the venue for the second worldwide conference on special librarianship arranged by the SLA. The first such conference was held in 1979, and both the organisers and delegates expressed the opinion that the third conference should definitely not be scheduled twenty-one years into the future. Twenty-one months was nearer to the mark! About 650 information professionals from all over the world gathered in the Brighton Hilton Metropole Hotel to discuss issues concerning the profession. Hardly any other work environment has been touched so deeply by the huge developments in the information industry. The world has indeed become a global village and we are a part of that. We as special librarians, information professionals, cybrarians, whatever you wish to call us, need to change to keep up with the needs of our clients, we constantly have to develop new skills and we must be willing to be facilitators in introducing our clients to the possibilities of the Internet. There have been enormous changes in the way we gather information, as well as in the way we present this information to our users. Competitive intelligence is essential to survive in today's business world. We need to co-operate closely with business leaders and show them the value of what we do and we need to change and adapt constantly. Many a special library, or information centre, was "killed" by the unwillingness, or inability, to change.
This conference gave us an opportunity to network and to learn from each other. We must become used to sharing ideas and taking the profession to an even higher level of excellence. Information professionals are often key players in profitless prosperity. . . bringing success in the work environment and prosperity in life, though not necessarily higher profit.
May I share my perspectives with you through the keynote speakers of the three days of Conference:
The first keynote speaker was Dame Stephanie Shirley, founder and life president of the FI Group, a technology information company, and the top selfmade woman in the UK. What an inspiration it was to listen to Dame Stephanie as she told us the story of why and how her company started and developed. She gave practical advice using her action-oriented management style. She had the audience in the palm of her hand when she started off by saying that she "just loves libraries"… because as she perceives things, librarians "are endlessly and selflessly helping others.
Dame Stephanie had a traumatic background as war orphan, but this was also her freedom drive and the driving force to survive. The story of her business success started in 1962 around her dining-room table, a cottage industry for women. From the start they upheld a professional image. FI became a company of women for women. It started off as jobs for women, through jobs for women with children working flexible hours, to careers for women with dependants. This was a new way of staffing the market and for many households it brought on "profitless prosperity". The company created opportunities for women, the choice of when and where to work. Her company shared ownership right from the start, right through the company. Today 24% of the shares are with the workforce and the company has 5,000 fulltime staff… and seventy millionaires!
Dame Stephanie emphasised the importance of knowing when and how to let go. Since the company was her brainchild, she wanted to do everything herself, be involved in every aspect of the work. This became impossible as the company became so big, and as a result she suffered burnout. Success is often on the edge of failure. She took stock and realised that while she was strong on technology and had lots of ideas, she was just an average manager. The company hired an excellent manager and went from strength to strength. She stressed how important it is that a leader should act – thinking is not enough. A leader must have physical courage, and must be passionately interested in achieving goals. Leading a company needs discretion, innovation and trust in others. Communication and training, teambuilding and enthusiasm, empowerment and a sense of direction are key issues to success in a company.
After stepping down and taking a lesser role in the running of the company--she retired seven years ago--she worked at going beyond herself. Leaders, women leaders, must be role models for the younger generation and they must work at putting something back into the community. Dame Stephanie advised the audience that success is more about giving than about taking. There must be a set of morals and values to drive the company. It is after all people, not organisations, who drive the business world! She is still involved in several projects such as information portals and a free site with information on autism.
Dame Stephanie stated that to her mind computers are depersonalising the world, but it is an essential part of work and business. Special librarians should be aware of all the new trends in the information services business. They must adapt to these new trends and become compatible with new developments. Technology outdistanced the community' s ability to cope with it, and therein lies the advantage for information professionals today. We must use these new technologies and new ideas to supply even better information more timeously to the correct client and ensure our future in this way.
On Wednesday morning Monsieur Yves-Michel Marti, founder and president of EGIDERIA, the leading business intelligence company in Europe, addressed the plenary session. He was also the co-founder of the French branch of SCIP, the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals. Aha, spy stories, we all thought and sat back to enjoy his presentation!
Monsieur Marti spoke on the topic "Librarians and Competitive Intelligence". In the 1970s, he said, Japanese technology worried the CIA. In the 1980s the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals was established. The 1990s had the spies of the Cold War era looking for jobs in the private sector, and now, in the year 2000, competitive intelligence is used by most major companies in the world. In a competitive environment it is extremely important to supply
- the right information
- in the right format
- at the right time
- to the right user
The intelligence process is based first of all on finding and gaining access to the right sources. Mapping these sources results in faster and better search results. Gathering and analysing the information are equally important. Dissemination of the results is necessary. One cannot give random results to executives who suffer f rom information overload already. Feedback to the customers is the final and probably the most important step. The Competitive Intelligence Professional must be able to ask the right questions to distinguish between the wants (noise) and the needs (serendipity) of his customer. Intelligence planning is actually the overlap of these two areas.
The role of the librarian
- In 80% of your time provide information on the strategic axis, strategy-oriented information.
- In 20% of your time do and disseminate serendipity and watch the orphan themes.
- In between, manage your dynamic thesaurii by learning new words before the other guys.
The success of information depends to a large extent on how well you do your homework. The following table will show the distribution of sources and their value:
| High | Grey | Low | |
| Mass | 80% | 15% |
5% |
| Value | 15% | 80% | 5% |
| Source | Paper, Online, Databases, Internet | Village Network, Competition | Intrusion, Wiretaps, Corruption, Blackmail, Hacking |
Your priority will obviously be to use the best sources for the best results.
The role of the librarian
- Preserve the "precious paper"
- Access to databases
- Organise bookmark sharing
- Identify internal experts
- Identify external industry experts
- Identify talent in the industry
Network with other librarians
Analysing information for the customer is of the utmost importance. Lead him through the assignment and analyse the different steps. Information is the broad base of the work of the competitive intelligence professional. It becomes a mental model from which recommendations can be made. It will then become meaningful to the customer.
…and the role of the librarian
- Develop a new approach to classification. Forget about keywords and start thinking projects.
- Build the company memory by accumulating stories, company folklore and forgotten best practices.
Dissemination and presentation of the information should be balanced. President Pompidou of France once asked his head of secret services to give him the bad news as everyone is presenting him only with good news.
The role of the librarian
- Educate the decision makers
- Use your influence techniques
Continuous feedback to the customer is ess ential. It keeps you on track and it keeps him involved. One often hears remarks such as "I'll know it when I see it". By showing them something and asking for feedback you will know if you are still one the right track.
… and the role of the librarian
- Manage feedback
Give rough and quick answers, then discuss it in detail
Never accept a request without discussionBe adamant and never send results through the mail or by e-mail
- Measure value
Always ask what the return on investment will be – at the beginning of the project
Never ask that question at the end of the year
Monsieur Marti closed this very informative and practical presentation by telling the librarians present they are "not selling information, they are selling gateways to networks and to experts".
As they say, when people have fun together, extraordinary things happen, and that was exactly the case with this conference. Librarians from across the globe networked with new friends and colleagues. Strategic issues were discussed, new developments were evaluated, knowledge gained and new friends were made. By Thursday, delegates were actually sad to be saying goodbye and sorry to be leaving Brighton. The closing luncheon was an excellent idea. The Oxford Room, where the plenary sessions were held, was transformed with the smartly set tables for the luncheon. An excellent menu, lively discussions and a presentation by Chantal Cuer…there was no better way to bring the second global conference to a close.
Cuer is a communications specialist, as well as a TV and radio presenter. She lectures, makes films and chairs conferences. Her French / English mannerisms, expressions and body language had the audience in the palm of her hand. She was entertaining, but gave delegates excellent advice too. She shared her experiences with the press and politicians with us, and she shared with us her belief in excellence.
Cuer gave some pointers on how to deal with news. One should always avoid propaganda and be honest with the audience. There is the danger of too much news. Journalists should act responsibly, they should not disinform, but always use their moral judgement. While jou rnalists should respect the genius of man, mankind must keep an open mind when dealing with the news.
While entertaining delegates with stories of her working life, Ms Cuer brought honest business principles home. She explained how loyalty, or the lack thereof, can make or break business strategy. She lamented that the old paternalistic way of doing business was still alive in some companies. Top-down decisions still alienate and upset staff. Fortunately companies are mostly run quite differently nowadays. You have informed personnel who have autonomy of responsibility. You have the knowledge, you should use it correctly.
There are several dangers in today's world, and the worst is perhaps the information overload. The human brain is still the same size it used to be centuries ago, yet we expect it to retain so much more. Propaganda is so terribly wrong. We should avoid it at all cost. We must STOP the rape of the crowd.
What a wonderful opportunity it was to attend this conference. Coming from faraway South Africa, I was delighted to be part of a global group of special librarians, to share knowledge, to network and to learn from them. Coming together like this, sharing knowledge and developing the profession is more important now than ever before. I hope to be able to attend the next SLA Global Conference for special librarians in the not too distant future!
Marietjie Marais has been active in the Library and Information services field for many
years as librarian in public libraries, university libraries, and special libraries. For the last twelve years, she have been working in the Sasol group of libraries. Sasol is a large petrochemical company, producing fuel from coal and a variety of downstream chemicals. She is am in charge of the Secunda branch of the Sasol Library. We render library and information services to a registered membership of 3500. LIASA, the association I represented at the Global 2000 Conference, is the Library and Information Services Organisation of South Africa. She is the chairperson of the Mpumalanga Branch of the Association. She also serves on the Representative Council of LIASA as well as on the Executive Committee of Council.
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