For Chapter Cabinet Chair-elect

W. DAVENPORT (DAV) ROBERTSON

Chief, Library and Information Services Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences/National Institutes of Health, Research Triangle Park, NC, (1988-present).

SLA Member Since: 1977

Past Employment: Librarian, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, (1977-1988); Supervisor of Internship Program, EPA/UNC-Chapel Hill School of Library Science, School of Library Science, Research Triangle Park, NC, (1975-1977); Peace Corps Volunteer, Korea, (1969-1971).

Education: MSLS, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, (1975); BA with Honors, History, (1969).

SLA Chapter Activities: North Carolina Chapter: Strategic Planning Committee Chair, (1997-1998); SLA Winter Meeting (Raleigh, NC) Local-Planning Task Force Member, (1994-1995); Nominating Committee Chair, (1991-1992); Awards Committee Chair, (1990-1991); President, (1989-1990); Secretary, (1985-1987); Public Relations Chair, (1987-1988); Government Relations Chair, (1984); Bulletin Business Manager, (1979-1981).

SLA Division Activities: Environment and Resource Management Division: Director, (2000-2002, 1989-1991); Nominating Committee, (1994-1995); Environmental Information Division: Chair, (1928-1983); Biomedical and Life Sciences Division: member; Library Management Division: member.

SLA Association-level Activities: Professional Development Committee, (1998-2001, 1991-1994); Second South Atlantic Regional Conference: Steering Committee Representative from North Carolina Chapter, (1999-2002); First South Atlantic Regional Conference: Budget Committee, (1998-1999).

Other Professional Activities: Beta Phi Mu (Epsilon Chapter): President-elect, (2001-2002); NC Governor's Conference on Libraries and Information Services (Triangle Region) Executive Planning Committee member and Registration Committee Chair, (1990); TRI-LIBS (Research Triangle Park Librarians Association) Founding President, (1986); Library Services and Construction Act Advisory Council for NC, (1981-1985).

Selected Publications and Presentations: "Design and Implementation of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Dublin Core Metadata Schema," presented at the International Conference on Dublin Core and Metadata Applications 2001 (DC-2001), Tokyo, Japan, (2001); "Evaluating Medical Web Sites," presented at the NC Association of Medical Writers Conference, (1997); "Management of Special Libraries," presented at the NC Central University School of Library and Information Sciences, (1990); "A User-Oriented Approach to Setting Priorities for Library Services," Special Libraries 71: 345-353, 1980.

Awards and Honors: National Institutes of Health Award of Merit, (1996, 1980); NC Chapter, SLA, Meritorious Achievement Award, (1992); Beta Phi Mu, (1976); Phi Beta Kappa, (1968).

What are the key qualities of leadership? Give an example of how you exemplify these qualities.

I learned in the Peace Corps a leader is a change agent ready to take risks. A leader is forthright, a listener, and builder of coalitions, a delegator who trusts subordinates. A leader inspires confidence, has a positive, can-do attitude, and is able to make both quick and considered decisions. I led the team reviewing information services at our agency when we were reinventing government. The team, a cross-section of our clientele, listened to my staff and me, and I listened to the team. I built coalitions based on constituencies I knew had confidence in me. They knew from past experience that I could deliver on whatever plan we developed. At my urging, the team recommended a new emphasis on electronic journals that put us into the forefront of organizations at that time.

What was your greatest disappointment in life? How has this disappointment made you a better leader?

Putting a positive spin on this question, I shall discuss overcoming my biggest challenge: how to stay engaged while working for the same organization for 24 years. Leadership means change. If you want things to stay the same, you don't need leaders. Paradoxically, because I have not changed organizations I have had to change the organization. My success results from hiring excellent people and from conveying to them and to my administration my vision of information services. I took a risk 15 years ago by instituting an internship program as an answer to contracting out services. Annually, my library hosts three new students in library or information science and they keep me on my toes. They look at our operations with a fresh face, posing questions about our way of doing business that keep me inspired in my position. They have forced constant reassessment, testing my leadership skills and reinvigorating me each year.

When you talk to other information professionals, what do you say about SLA? Do you say the same things to people who are not in the information profession?

I tell other information professionals that our chosen vocation is incomplete without being active in a professional association and that SLA is the ideal complement to our jobs. SLA provides opportunities for lifelong learning, networking, staying ahead of the curve, and winning plaudits from your true peers, not to mention making lifetime friends. To people outside our profession, I say that SLA is the principal international association for information professionals working in specialized libraries and other settings. I always give specific examples of corporate, government or news libraries, academic or research collections, webmasters, knowledge managers, and information vendors. I tell them that being active in SLA is the best way for information professionals to keep their contacts and skills up to date to meet the challenges of such turbulent times.