Communities of Shared Practices
One of the undisputed benefits of SLA membership is the opportunity to network with your industry colleagues. As information professionals, we are almost unique in our ability to understand both technology and information. Discussion lists, chat rooms, message boards, and the like combine to create great networking opportunities, but how should we make best use of these virtual communities?
Etienne Wenger's conversation with Jeff De Cagna in July's Information Outlook gives an interesting insight into communities of practice, which he defines as "a group of people who share an interest in a domain of knowledge." He explains that the members of the community will interact with one-another, engage with one-another, talk with one-another, think with one-another, and develop relationships with one-another. You only have to subscribe to the solo librarians discussion list to understand how librarians interact, engage, and talk with one-another. While these interactions do create networks, one wonders whether these are communities yet. I doubt it. I do not know what goes on between members offsite, whether they think together and develop relationships. The networking is easy, but the truly rewarding bit is the creation of a community, which is an ongoing experience of sharing, learning, and developing relationships.
In this month's "Executive Outlook," Hope Tillman refers to both the important role we have to play in sharing information and the best practices initiatives set up on Virtual SLA. I have to say that I have a slight problem with the term, "best practices," which implies something is better than something else. My best practice may not be the best one for you. I like to think of them as shared practices. But whatever we call them the SLA community needs to use and develop them as part of the benefits of the community. The Leadership Knowledge Center for Association Units (www.sla.org/content/leadership/lkc/index.cfm) is a database of best practices added to the database by various chapters and divisions. It includes useful examples of procedures, policies, and experiences. These include "Thinking Outside the Box for Fundraising," "Chapter/Library School Relations," and "Membership Survey." These shared practices help members manage the association, but there needs to be a similar database of shared practices to help us all become indispensable in our organizations.
We are all trying to do more with less, so lets avoid reinventing the wheel. Share your accomplishments in becoming a smart information center. Today's operating environment leaves little room for information professionals who cannot turn trends and challenges into current practice and opportunities for their customers. The information market is becoming a market only for the most fit and SLA members should be striving for gold medal. We have the makings of an impressive support team within the members and HQ staff. The Smart Information Centers' Circle of Excellence (www.sla.org/content/interactive/knowledge/bestpractice.cfm) is being reviewed and will be relaunched to provide a vehicle for capturing the wisdom of SLA members and developing the community of practice beyond networking.
Wenger talks about the community of practice within an organization, but we can expand it outside the organization to a global community. THis community can be very powerful because, at its core, it is a group of practitioners who have taken on the responsibility of managing knowledge in their areas of expertise. Becasue the community is outside the organization the two databases mentioned above bring together the practices to be shared, but they are only a small part of the whole community. It is the practitioners who know how to manage knowledge in their areas of experitse and by sharing this knowledge the power of the community can be harnessed and released. At the association we are often faulted for not doingenough to promote the value of the information professional, but what could be a better way than by facilitating a community, the shared experience of which can make our members indispensible.
Management Documents Collection
The Management Documents Collection (MDC) in the Information Resources Center (IRC) at HQ is a prime example of how best practices have been shared by SLA members for many years. They are folders of sample policies, user surveys, marketing materials, etc. collected from SLA members over the years. Unfortunately "over the years" means just that and therefore some of the folders are far from being current. Please send the IRC, electronically or in print, recent examples form your organization of any of hte MDC topics listed in Virtual SLA at http://www.sla.org/content/Shop/Loan/MDC.cfm , and in particular Acquisitions & Collection Development policies, Fees for Service policies or brochures, FLoor Plans, Mission Statements/ Strategic Plans or User Surveys. The names of your organizations can be deleted if required.
is the sole sponsor of the IRC
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