Blog - Improve your Current Awareness Strategy

At Vable we believe that business skills for librarians are as essential as research skills. Through conferences and workshops together we can learn from each other and share best practice. Practical, immediately applicable sessions are always the most popular events at BIALL, and Claire Fox’s session was full. She focused on business planning and how we can assist our organisations in ensuring future success.

As information professionals we play important roles in their organizations’ competitive intelligence program, but often neglect applying that same rigor to our own information environments. Just like others in our organizations, librarians must understand precisely who their competition is, the library “owned” products and services provided to a client base, the words and mechanisms employed to persuade prospective clients, the degree of product/service satisfaction, and most importantly, the value your clients place on each.

March 31st is upon us, and this has prompted us to think about budgets. Even if your annual library budget for next year is already written in stone, it’s worth reflecting on your budget - and the process you use to plan your budget - now, while the experience is fresh.

Most professional jobs require at least an element of management, and being a librarian is no exception. Yet, according to Ken Haycock, few beginning Library and Information Science students will say they want to be managers or leaders in the field. What’s more, many LIS graduates also complain¹ that they lacked training and education in management during their studies, while others say² that management modules that were offered but they were not required. So what training would LIS students need to feel qualified to be library managers?

You might think that you shouldn’t still need to make a case for your continued existence, and I understand your frustration. However, there’s an ongoing problem across industries of people not understanding what exactly Knowledge Management professionals do.

The one thing that surprised me about being a Librarian is that while we serve many knowledgeable people, our value still resides in our ability to mediate between the collection and the people we serve. As Librarians, we can be confident that we remain experts in knowing where the right information can be found, to the point where we can legitimately train our clients in research skills.

Last week at #BIALL2017 I was lucky enough to find the time to attend some of the sessions from this year’s excellent speakers. One that particularly caught my attention was from Hilary Smith and Miriam Davis, where they recounted their experience of working together to provide an enquiry service to Shell’s legal community. Kudos to both Hilary and Miriam for delivering such an insightful and engaging talk, one which we are happily able to recap below.

The last few weeks have seen a wave of inclement weather across the US and UK with many offices being forced to close. This brings about the question - what is your plan for winter-proofing your library?

New Year, new you new library. What if you made 2017 the year that you transformed your information service?  

For Librarians and Information Specialists, efficiency is absolutely paramount. Budget cuts (that I’m sure we’re all tired of hearing about by now) combined with a lack of understanding of the work and value of the library by decision makers only exasperates this.