Information Professionals and Librarians Forced to Become Entrepreneurs…03.17.09

Below is an excerpt from a First Librarian post today I’d rather be stung by a jellyfish which I thought was relevant for the times and has some useful information (The “lone wolf librarian” also likes the “wolf“ cliché).  

“Some workers are turning into entrepreneurs to keep the wolf from the door, or engaging in ‘forced entrepreneurship‘…

There’s a summary of how to become an information entrepreneur on the companion website to the book, Rethinking Information Careers, as well as plenty of other resources…”

Here is a portion of Become an Information Entrepreneur from Rethinking Information Careers:

“…Product vs. Service

What’s the difference between a product and a service? A service is generally provided to a client, and is tailored to the needs of that client. It’s generally provided ‘on demand’ — in other words, a client asks you to provide a service, which you do in response to that request.

A product, on the other hand, is some type of predefined ‘package’ of information that you offer for sale or license to customers. Your goal is to create your information product once, then sell it multiple times (as opposed to a service, which you offer one-on-one to a specific client). Essentially, you’re ‘productizing’ some aspect of your information expertise…

Characteristics of a Product

Think about a product as something that you create once, then sell many times. Some standard characteristics of a product include:

• pre-packaged — you’ve created a standard format for the product that is used for/by all customers
• pre-established pricing — you have a set price for your product, although tiering is a possibility (you can offer more info/features/functionality for more money)
• minimal personal engagement — your goal is to create passive revenue, with minimal “labor” costs
• minimum customization — your goal is to have a single version that you create once, sell multiple times with as little involvement/intervention by you as possible
• focus is on market size (a group of customers) rather than on individual clients
• sale is of an existing, tangible item with immediate benefits that customer either needs or doesn’t; not about relationship-building (as is the case with a service business)…

Info-Product Examples

Depending on your area of expertise and your interests, there’s a wide range of information products that you might want to consider. These include, among others:

• market research reports
• workbooks and training guides
• syndicated columns
• podcasts
• self-directed online tutorials
• industry or personal-interest newsletters
• training CDs
• annual market trend analyses and/or forecasts
• weekly/monthly environmental scans
• e-books
• databases
• revenue-producing website…”

“What’s the Alternative? Career Options for Librarians and Info Pros”…03.06.09

Since the economic crisis is turn the world upside down and professionals are worried and/or scambling for work, I thought I would hight the following recent publication:

What’s the Alternative? Career Options for Librarians and Info Pros by Rachel Singer Gordon the Liminal Librarian

2008, 288 pp. softbound, ISBN 978-1-57387-333-8, $35

From Amazon:

“As the global information economy grows, librarians who are able to retool and transfer their skills are finding themselves increasingly in demand. Here, Rachel Singer Gordon explains the dynamics of the shifting market for information-based work, reveals a range of nontraditional employment opportunities for librarians, and encourages info pros to utilize their skills in new and exciting ways. Mixing practical advice with real-life stories of librarians working in various fields, Gordon provides a wealth of useful ideas and resources for info pros rethinking their career paths. Whether you re a recent library school grad facing a tight job market, a working librarian seeking improved work/life balance, or an info pro with an entrepreneurial streak, What s the Alternative? will help you explore your options and maximize your career potential.”

Captain Kirk Sometimes Thought He Should Have Been a Librarian  :

Holland’s Vocational Preference Inventory Profile of Librarians and Information Professionals…03.02.09

(Image credit: Theresa knott )

Since there has been a great deal of interest in the personalities of librarians and information professionals, I thought I would highlight today John L. Holland’s Vocational Preference Inventory:

“…Holland mapped these types into a hexagon which he then broke down into the RIASEC job environments :

• Realistic – practical, physical, hands-on, tool-oriented
• Investigative – analytical, intellectual, scientific, explorative
• Artistic – creative, original, independent, chaotic
• Social – cooperative, supporting, helping, healing/nurturing
• Enterprising – competitive environments, leadership, persuading
• Conventional – detail-oriented, organizing, clerical

Holland argues that 2-3 types dominate in each person…”

Source: Holland Codes

Librarians and Information Professionals are labeled in the following job environment group:

Creator (Artistic)

Non-conforming, original, independent, chaotic, creative:

• Actor/Performance
• Animation
• Art therapy
• Artist
• Author/ Poet
• Dance therapy
• Expressive therapy
• Graphic designer
• Library and information science^[1]
• Music therapy
• Musician
• Painter“

Mmmmmmmmm…interesting.

SEE ALSO:

Librarian Signal Personality “Patterns” Survey and DisC Profile Results

Librarian ALERT: “Recorded Knowlege” is an Oxymoron…02.27.09

There is a GREAT post today from Virtual Dave which librarians and information professionals need to heed titled Bullet Point: “Recorded Knowledge is an Oxymoron” and excerpted here:

“There is a phrase widely used in librarianship that has always bothered me – ‘recorded knowledge.’ It bothers me for a couple reasons, not the least of which it is often invoked by folks who define librarianship as collections and stacks. However, it is much more problematic in the light of participatory librarianship…

Regardless of what your theoretical stance is on knowing, however, why limit the field of librarianship to simply organizing and pointing to artifacts? Why ever limit knowledge to what is recorded – ask indigenous people, or the under represented, or the fringe, or even the craftsman. The main goal of librarianship isn’t the orderly distribution and location of stuff. It’s to make our communities smarter, and to make the world a better place. By focusing on recorded knowledge, which I take to mean artifacts like books, DVD’s, web pages, papyrus scrolls, stone tablets, and tapestry (among others), we move our attention away from where it matters – our members/users/patrons…

We forever stand at the breach, the frontline between ignorance and enlightenment. We are the kind hand that conveys our communities from the darkness of the uninformed into the light of knowledge. We must stand shoulder to shoulder with our communities to hold back the tide of indifference and intolerance. Through active service, we must not only point the way to better days, but we must live the way…”

“Who Should Pay for the Training or Learning Required to Perform the Job?…02.22.09

 

“Does it Pay Off to Invest in Knowledge during Non-Billable Time?“

(From Billing Knowledge blog)

This is a very interesting and relevant to information professionals, librarians and others, short post from Bill Bennett on the Knowledge Workers blog titled Investing in knowledge training and James Whistler and will give us much to ponder:

“It’s not brand new, but  Does it Pay Off to Invest in Knowledge during Non-Billable Time? posted in December by GG Bari at Billing Knowledge gets right to the heart of a problem many freelance or consultant knowledge workers face. That is, whether or not customers should pay for the training or learning required to perform the job they hired you for. And, if they don’t pay for training, how much needs to be loaded onto the fee to take the learning component into account?

These are difficult questions for anyone who bills by the hour and remind me of the kerfuffle over James Whistler the painter. Whister would sometimes create a painting in a day or two, but charge his usual hefty fee. When questioned about the morality of expecting to be paid what amounted to a huge hour rate he replied he wasn’t charging for the hours worked, but for a ‘lifetime of expereince’.”

“The Billing Price Does not Run Parallel to Knowledge Investments“

 

(From Billing Knowledge blog)

“The Importance of Social Networking to Information Work”…11.23.08

This is an excerpt from a post [http://www.thesocialorganization.com/2008/11/the-importance-of-social-networking-to-information-work.html] on The Social Organization blog:

“Collaboration software was designed for the information worker and it has indeed, helped tremendously by giving people more ways and channels to communicate and work together on content.  However, collaboration – in its more traditional definition – is too limited for what information workers need because it doesn’t acknowledge the entire work flow, it typically helps with different points along that process.  What instigates collaboration in the first place?  What is the actionable results from the collaboration?   Who and what are the actors in collaboration and how trustworthy are they?  When are formal processes appropriate and when are more informal processes needed?

I like to think of this information work process as a circular thing, one work flow impacting and influencing others.  The process is sometimes kicked off formally – through perhaps a executive strategy discussion – and other times the process is kicked of by an informal conversation between two colleagues.  To me, the process looks something like – each step informed by the information source:

The other thing about information work that sometimes goes unacknowledged is…if you don’t publish, broadcast, and get buy-in you might as well have fell a tree in the middle of Alaska for the amount of impact it will have. So to me information work is not effective if it doesn’t get marketed to the audience it is intended to impact. Many, many people do not get this…working slavishly but feeling like they don’t get the acknowledgement they deserve because they fail to ‘market’ their work…”

Click on the link above to read the complete post.

Information Professional Identities and Our Online Reputation by Stephen Abram online…08.20.08

As usual a good read is available from Stephen Abram’s latest article in SLA’s Information Outlook: 

Information Professional Identities and Our Online Reputation 

Conclusion: “…We need to learn to address the challenging 21st century issues in this socially networked world – privacy, DRM, rights, legal issues, ownership, safety, etc. We need to understand the issues related to our photos – are they real, B&W, colour – professional, edgy, silly, embarrassing, whatever? Will we want them to turn up in other contexts? What about our private lives and photos? What about weird Uncle Bill?

Either way, it’s time to re-find our voice as professionals. Anonymity just isn’t working for us. Professionalism requires that we learn to how to present ourselves, promote ourselves and be where our market of users can discover us and be impressed that we are the sharks in the tank of the emerging information and knowledge economy. Our reputation will play out in the social web space as much as anywhere else. We need to get good at this.”

Helpful Thoughts in Articulating the Value of Librarians and Information Professionals…07.11

Although the excerpt below is from an article from Stephen Abram published in the February 2008 Information Outlook entitled “Is There Such a Thing as Information Overload?”, I found his thoughts below insightful in helping to provide fodder to those who question the relative need for and/or ROI of having information professionals and/or librarians on staff.  It is a longer excerpt than normal but I don’t think he will mind.  Chime in with comments if you have additional thoughts!

“…The Skills that Information Professionals and Librarians Enhance  

1. Search, Seek and Find

Widespread access to the web and its riches has created the illusion with the average end-user that they have unlimited access to quality information. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is a vast difference between simple, positive, information experiences when choosing a movie, vacation or restaurant and those required when one is betting the business. Hundreds or indeed thousands of expensive coworkers spending hours seeking information on the web and not finding it or finding it very slowly, or repeating these efforts many times across many employees is not a good way to run a business. If informed decision-making is the goal of organizations then organizations must, logically, invest in excellent information practices. Empowered librarians do this.

2. Going Beyond the Free Web

We all know that there is good content for free on the web. It is, however, not a competitive advantage to have identical information to everyone else. It seems simple but it’s amazing to me how many executives fail to grasp this concept! Information wants to be free – not just cost free but unfettered. The best way to unfetter information is to employ an information professional. The free web is riddled with information rot, aging websites, bad links and more. Simply put, librarians know how to access quality, on point information.

3. Determining Authority

Few people can determine authority and authoritativeness to a business standard. Librarians can. This issue goes beyond brand. It’s about making sure that the information that users base their decisions on is trustworthy. Ask, do we want our doctors basing our own health decisions on the free web?; Anti-terrorism strategies?; Your own legal defence? Really – are there any critical questions of life that we would trust our own lives to the free web? Why would be apply a different standard to our enterprise strategies? In many sectors the latest information is sometimes the best. On the web it is often difficult and sometimes impossible to gauge the currentness of the information being accessed. When it really matters, you need to know. Librarians can look under the hood of content and websites, and increase the trust factor.

4. Separating Fact and Opinion

This is the essential skill of true information literacy (and a bunch of other literacies too – media, critical thinking, and more). As our media outlets continue to blur the line between reporting and editorial opinion, this is getting to be a more critical aspect of information practice. I believe that most people cannot tell the difference between a blog and a website or a news article and a column. As we support decisions based on information, it is essential that someone can separate fact, opinion, bias, and point of view. Enterprises must value this skill or risk disaster.

5. Understanding Optimized Search Results 

Too many end users do not understand the role that the search engine optimization industry (SEO) plays in search result rankings. Special interest groups, partisan factions and advertisers have at their disposal a range of tools that allow them to influence what is displayed on the search results that end users see. With localization of SEO becoming more commonplace, your organization is at risk. Does anyone think it’s good that your competitors may be optimizing the results for your co-workers? Value added, for fee or OA databases are not (or at least less) subject to this result manipulation.

6. Filtering and Adding Value

Again most free search engine results give the searcher a huge number of results. This is overload at its worst. Good librarians filter out the best based on the context of the user and their question(s). Great librarians also add value to make the information more instantaneously useful.

7. De-Duplication

With most web searches you find tons of duplicate information. Making end users filter and read all of this is a definite waste of time and productivity. On an organization-wide scale it’s a huge waste of money and staff time. Librarians remove the duplicate information and polish the search results to enhance the productivity of our patrons. Licensing haystacks and finding needles are two different things!

8. Cost Effective Enterprises and Efficiency

In the old days of time-based pricing for online, librarians became adept at ‘fast’ in-and-out searches. Now the game is played differently. Enterprise-wide intranet licensing and the needed end-user training can be cost effective solutions to organization wide information productivity issues. Librarians excel at this.

9. Credulity

As anyone who has been on the Internet for decades knows, spam, phishing and other Internet scams are not new. For whatever reason, there are people out there who have reason to introduce false information into the web. Others just leave superseded information out there through neglect. It takes some time to develop credulity skills and ensure that the information tools and content offered is credible.

10. Content and Tool Awareness  

 

Lastly (although I know there are many more talents!), when your enterprise depends on information to make great decisions then you must invest in content, information systems and information professionals like librarians.  You must invest in keeping up-to-date for competitive advantage. If an organization doesn’t then it deserve to decline and expire. Most organizations depend on informed decisions and knowledgebased learning. Imagine any major knowledge enterprise today doing otherwise. Woul you hire a law firm, go to a hospital; invest in an R&D based company that failed to have good information practice? I hope not…” 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

www.http://.sirsidynix.com/Resources/Pdfs/Company/Abram/IOColumn_66.pdf 

 (Complete article)

Wall Street Journal Recognizes the Value of Information Professionals…07.08.08

The following is the content of a Wall Street Journal full-page ad (http://www.sla.org/PDFs/WSJ-SLAad.pdf) that the paper ran for 4 days during the 2008 SLA convention:

The right people, information and decisions

Behind every good business decision is an information professional.

The competitive advantages you bring to the table are superior management strategies and decision-making capabilities. Both originate from information that’s been gathered, organized and shared throughout your enterprise by people called information professionals.

The relevant, high-quality business information you need to take action doesn’t turn up all by itself. Whether internally or externally produced, it’s the lifeblood of people who work for you: librarians, knowledge managers, chief information officers, Web developers, information brokers and researchers.

The Special Libraries Association, with support from Dow Jones Factiva, is behind your most profitable decisions. To learn how an SLA information professional can benefit your organization, visit www.sla.org today.