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July 2006 www.sla.org

vol. 10, no.7

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Columns andDepartments

5Executive Outlook

The First Step Is To Start TogetherBy Rebecca B. Vargha

6News

6Web Sites Worth a Click

By Carolyn J. Sosnowski

8Business Management

Succession PlanningBy Debbie Schachter

35Coming Events/Ad Index

36Copyright Corner

Non-Copyright PoliciesBy Lesley Ellen Harris

38Information TechIslands in the Stream

By Stephen Abram

40Information Management

BB, X and YBy John R. Latham

SLA MEMBER PROFILE

10As Easy as Jumping Off a CliffBy Forrest Glenn Spencer

COVER STORY : SLA 2006

14SLA 2006

COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE

23Libraries and Competition Intelligence for Management and StrategyBy Cynthia Cheng Correia

VIRTUAL WORKPLACE

29Making Virtual Library Staffing a RealityBy Carolyn Minor and Beth Dunning

vol. 10, no. 7 | July 2006 | information outlook | 3

Features

4 | information outlook |July 2006 | vol. 10, no. 7

The Monthly Magazine of the Special Libraries AssociationVol. 10, No. 7July 2006

Publisher, Editor in Chief: John T. Adams III([email protected])Columnists:

Stephen AbramLesley Ellen HarrisJanice R. LachanceJohn R. LathamDebbie SchachterCarolyn J. SosnowskiRebecca B. Vargha

Layout & Design: Nathan Yungkans

Information Outlook®

(ISSN 1091-0808) is the monthly, award-winning publication of the Special Libraries Association, 331South Patrick Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22314,[email protected]. (703) 647-4900

2006 Subscription Rates:Annual subscription, $125 (U.S. and International).Single issue, $15. Please report missing copiespromptly to [email protected]. To ensure continu-ous delivery of Information Outlook, please notify SLApromptly of address changes by [email protected]. When submitting addresschanges, please include all the information on themailing label. Changes may not go into effect for fourto six weeks.

Postmaster:Send address changes to Subscriptions, InformationOutlook, Special Libraries Association, InternationalHeadquarters, 331 South Patrick Street, Alexandria, VA22314-3501, USA. Periodicals postage paid atAlexandria, VA, and at additional mailing offices.Canadian Publications Mail Agreement #40031619.Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses to: P.O. Box1051, Fort Erie, ON L2A 6C7.

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Information Outlook® is a registered trademark ofthe Special Libraries Association.

© 2006 by Special Libraries AssociationMaterial protected by this copyright may bephotocopied for the non-commercial purpose ofscholarship or research.

[email protected] Information Outlook OnlineSponsored byStandard & Poor’s

www.sla.org

2007200720072007

3-6 June Denver, CO USA

Becoming president of SLA is the begin-ning of a journey for me, one that beganearly in my career. Much of who I am andwhat I have learned comes from where Iwas raised in North Carolina, and whotaught me. I did not arrive here alone.

North Carolina has been on a journey ofsorts over the past century. It has traveledfrom an economy focused on timber, tobac-co, and textiles to one embracing an aston-ishing range of information-based tech-nologies and services supporting business,finance, biotechnology, government, acade-mia, the military, social sciences, muse-ums, and the arts. In fact, North Carolinareflects the composition of nearly all thesubject areas in SLA. In this way, I see thatover time change is natural and leads tonew opportunities for everyone.

Coach Dean Smith is a North Carolinalegend. He was the head coach of the men’sbasketball team at the University of NorthCarolina in Chapel Hill from 1961 to 1997.I carry the keystones of his coaching phi-losophy with me wherever I go: Play hard.Play smart. Play together. This is very goodleadership and team building advice forany organization.

For me, the other vital source ofstrength is my family: my husband, Steve;our sons, Josh and Ben; and my mother,Myrna Brogden. I’m grateful for the con-nection they provide to the events that haveshaped my life.

These powerful and energizing sourceshelped me to get this far in my journey, butI have much further to go. My success—our success—requires even more supportfrom a greater number of sources.

First, let me share with you my person-al SLA core values:

• We are committed to the success ofSLA and each other.

• We are responsible for own well beingand career path.

• We speak positively of our colleaguesand treat them with dignity.

• Our communications are clear, direct,and honest.

• We recognize diversity as a strengththat is appreciated.

• We build trust as leaders.

Based on those values, I have a visionfor this association. It is to focus our talentand energies on creating a strong, vibrantforce for learning, teaching, and innovationthroughout the world.

The specific priorities for my term asSLA president are:

1. Membership growth and retention.2. Planning our centennial celebration

in 2009.3. Reaching a net growth of 1,000 mem-

bers by our 100th anniversary year.You will hear more about plans for

our centennial celebration over the nextsix months. For now, let’s focus onmembership.

We have created a MembershipWorking Group during the recent SLABoard of Directors Meeting. The workinggroup will focus on logical target groupsas potential members. We will exhibit atstrategic conferences. We will build onthe successful Member-Get-a-MemberCampaign. We will focus our energies onincreasing membership to make SLAstronger, more vital, and an even greatersource of professional support and net-working than it is today.

I am asking for your help in makingthis roadmap for growth. I need your sup-port in building consensus and deliveringresults. I need your creativity to turn ideasinto reality. I want your energy in doingwhat we believe is right for our Associationand our profession.

Our opportunities are endless, our jour-ney is long, but, working together, we canaccomplish good, even great things. Theimportant first step is to begin together.

Mark Twain offers a wise observation:“Twenty years from now you will bemore disappointed by the things that youdidn’t do than by the ones that you diddo. So, throw off the bowlines. Sail awayfrom the safe harbor. Catch the tradewinds in your sails.”

So I offer the challenge of journeyingwith me to travel ahead, connecting peopleand information.

Yours in SLA,Rebecca


The First Step Is To Start Together


By Carolyn J. Sosnowski, MLIS

In a previous column, I wrote about LISTA, a free bib-liographic database from EBSCO that is devoted to LISliterature. This month, I’m featuring open access LIS-related journals. Too often, we go to the same placesto get information. Try a new journal, and get a newperspective, today.

Issues in Science &Technology Librarianshipwww.istl.org

This quarterly journal dates back to the early1990s, when the topics of the day were patents onCD-ROM and access to European databases. Now,read about open access publishing, citation analysisfor collection development, and the repurposing oflibrary space in an era of virtual services. Most issuesare published around a theme (such as non-tradition-al reference or digital archiving), and include board-approved articles, refereed articles, product and bookreviews, and editorial content. The author index com-plements the advanced search tool, which enablesyou to search by keyword, field, and date. The jour-nal, fully indexed in CINAHL, INSPEC, LISA, andLibrary Literature, is the work of the Science &Technology Section of the Association of College &Research Libraries of ALA.

Biomedical Digital Librarieswww.bio-diglib.com/home

You’ll find research, commentary, reviews, anddebate articles in this peer-reviewed journal thatfocuses on “digital library content and usage in bio-medical settings.” The journal is brought to you byBioMed Central and is indexed in PubMed (articlesare linked to the database). Although only one or twoarticles are posted each month, users may sign up forRSS or e-mail notification. The journal recentlyacquired new editors-in-chief, who plan to offer mul-timedia content such as podcasts and movies. Otheritems of note: articles include links to related PubMedcontent, and the handy FAQ explains the open peer-review process, article accessibility, and content redis-tribution guidelines. Recent topics: a review ofScopus, training for educational technology, and theuse of geographic information systems for librarymarketing.

Griffiths Named to Science BoardPolicy expert, researcher, and university administrator, Dr. José-Marie

Griffiths has been nominated by President George W. Bush to serve on theUnited States National Science Board.

The President's nomination has been presented to the U.S. Senate for con-firmation.

Griffiths is the dean of the School of Information and Library Science at theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and founding chair of TheKnowledge Trust, which is concerned with the role and preparation of 21st-century knowledge professionals.

Griffiths has held two previous presidential appointments, one to thePresident's Information Technology Advisory Committee from 2003 to 2005,and the other to the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and InformationScience from 1996 to 2002.

Griffiths also has served on blue-ribbon panels and committees for agen-cies including the National Academy of Sciences, NASA, Department ofEnergy, U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Navy.

“José-Marie Griffiths has impressive credentials in science and technologyand a broad range of experiences,” said UNC Chancellor James Moesser. “Sheis a perfect candidate for this prestigious national appointment, and we areproud that her significant talents have been recognized.”

The 24 member board advises the President and Congress on issues ofnational science and engineering policy, and is the governing board of theNational Science Foundation (NSF). The term of membership to the board issix years.

Report: 30% of WebSearches Fail

Almost one-third of Internetsearches don’t satisfy user needs, anew survey shows.

The new research from OutsellInc. shows several surprising shiftsover the past year in the expectations,habits and needs of workers seekingonline information.

Perhaps most surprising, thereport uncovers a 30 percent failurerate of Internet searches, despitesearch engines’ unchallenged statusas the first stop in user research.

The study also finds that on-the-job users are spending more timethan ever to find information, ratherthan analyzing data. Users nowspend an average of 12 hours of theirwork weeks on search tasks, up froman earlier high of 10.9 hours.

The study, based on interviewswith 7,000 professionals in corporate,government, healthcare, and academ-ic settings compares informationusers’ needs and behaviors "now"(using data gathered from November2005-February 2006) with previousfindings (based on data gathered

from September 2004-January 2005).The Outsell report, "2006 UserUpdate-How Information ProvidersCan Keep Pace with User Demandsfor Time-Saving Solutions," alsoreveals:

Press releases are becoming atreasure trove of information. In fact,they have overtaken trade journals asthe top information source for knowl-edge workers, followed by trade jour-nals and publications, referencebooks, academic journals, and text-books.

While users appear to be shiftingtowards intranets and away from theInternet as their resource of firstchoice, search failure rates are just ashigh inside the firewall, at a mean of31 percent.

About 66 percent of respondentsare using wireless handhelds, andamong that population, 71 percentare accessing and using "real" contenton them. For instance, 29 percent areaccessing e-books, and 18 percent areaccessing news.

Workers are gleaning informationfrom blogs, as well as more tradition-al sources. The average respondent toOutsell surveys is reading nine blogs.


Electronic Journal of Knowledge Managementwww.ejkm.com/index.htm

A bit on the scholarly side, but nonethelessinformative and valuable, EJKM includes case stud-ies, research, opinion papers, and book and confer-ence reviews covering both knowledge managementtheory and practice. Content is peer-reviewed and pre-sented in two issues per year; one issue is comprisedof articles on general topics, and the second is devot-ed to a selection of papers from the EuropeanConference on Knowledge Management, which isheld each fall. Some of what you’ll find: KM andsocial software, business models in the KM economy,and KM in communities of practice.

Information Researchhttp://informationr.net/ir

International in scope, Information Research cov-ers a wide array of subjects: environmental scanning,virtual reference services, and the enduring nature oftraditional news sources…relevant topics for ourinformation centers. IR is a quarterly publication thatcontains both peer-reviewed articles and workingpapers, as well as book and software reviews. Theauthor, subject, and review indexes provide easyaccess to the content, which is also searchable. Userswill find articles through LISA, Information ScienceAbstracts, and Social Science Index, among otherindexes. Unique among the journals in this list: somecontributions in Spanish accompanied by Englishabstracts.

Evidence Based Library and Information Practicehttp://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/EBLIP

We use the discussion lists to find out what works(and what doesn’t) for our colleagues. EBLIP, pub-lished by the University of Alberta, communicatesmore formally research that can help us create, main-tain, and improve information center products andservices. In addition to the original research and com-mentary in this quarterly, peer-reviewed publication,“evidence summaries” present existing research thatcan be applied in our libraries. Because this journal isnew, only two issues have been published, but it iscertainly one to watch and learn from. So far, articleshave touched on marketing, intranet usability, cus-tomer service, and copyright issues in digitization.

Carolyn J. Sosnowski, MLIS, is an information spe-cialist at SLA.

“Time” Is Most Common NounWe like to be punctual, we expect our trains to run to schedule,

and many of us spend our working day watching the clock. Now thenew revised 11th edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary canofficially confirm that we are indeed ruled by time. Drawing on evi-dence from the Oxford English Corpus, the word time tops the list ofcommonest nouns in the English language, with year (third place),day (fifth) and week (17th) not far behind.

And we seem to be spending an increasing amount of our time atwork, which appears at number 16 in the list, while play and rest donot even make it into the top 100. Contrary to popular belief,though, money doesn’t quite make the world go round as it come inat a lowly 65th, but this is perhaps explained by the fact that wehave so many other words for money. We are still ruled by problems(24th), it appears, with no solutions in sight.

Although person is ranked second, it’s still very much a man’sworld with man appearing seventh in the list. Child then appears12th, with woman 14th. We talk far more about war (49th) thanpeace, which does not appear in the top 100 at all.

The list of commonest nouns in the English language is just oneof the facts contained in the brand-new English Uncovered supple-ment of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary (www.askoxford.com).

New business and political terms feature strongly in the newrevised edition of the dictionary, reflecting the ever-increasing timethat we spend in the workplace.

It’s a sign of the times that words describing illegal activities suchas keylogging, identity theft, shoulder-surfing are now included in thedictionary. But on the lighter side, the list of leisure pursuits nowcovers moblogging, leaf peeping, going radge while listening to crunkand, of course, watching the beautiful game. And for those celebu-tantes among you who are looking to get in shape for that all-impor-tant civil partnership ceremony there’s now the opportunity to keepyour bippy (or bahookie – whichever you prefer) aerobicized!

AAnndd ffoorr UUnnooffffiicciiaall EEnngglliisshhYou might have noticed that some American companies are get-

ting Bangalored. Perhaps you’ve watched the growing popularity ofcanine freestyle—or noted the obesity crisis is due in part to theplethora of yumtious foodstuffs.

Are you growing a pudding ring? Do you have a problem withgurgitators?

If you know any of these words – or if not knowing them makesyou utzy, The Official Dictionary Of Unofficial English may help youwith the crunkest verbiage out there. Neologian Grant Barrett hasscoured all manner of materials, from popular movies and maga-zines to weblogs, from the trivial to the wiki, in search of the wordsor terms teetering on the tipping points of tongues everywhere.

Entries range from Iraq war lingo, including “sandbox” (n., theMiddle East; a country in that region) and “Mortarville” (n., a mili-tary base subject to regular attack) to “Corrupticut” (n., a derisive orderogatory name for the State of Connecticut—the name stems froma series of corruption scandals, including one involving the state’sgovernor).


By Debbie Schachter

Although there have beena number of articles writtenabout the coming crisis ofleadership in many largelibrary systems, this columnon succession planning looksat the issues related to speciallibraries. We may work aloneor with a number of col-leagues, but my experienceshows that special librarystaffing tends to be verydynamic, in light of the factthat most have few staff mem-bers. Libraries close orexpand, staff members shift todifferent positions in the larg-er organization, and speciallibrarians move around intheir local special library com-munity. This dynamism ofstaffing requires successionplanning of a particular kind.

True professionalism in-volves not just doing a goodjob today, but planning forthe success of your libraryand its services over the longterm. As the library manager,this means considering theeffect of not only your depar-ture but also that of other keystaff. Your skilful planningwill have an impact on thelong-term success of yourlibrary, its role and success inthe larger organization, and at

the broadest level, your long-term impact on the profes-sion. If you are a “solo librari-an,” the actions and prepara-tions you make will have adirect effect on the successfulcontinuity of your libraryservices after your departure.

At the library or informa-tion center level, if you are themanager, you should consideryour personal plan. Will yoube leaving the position withinthe next five years, eitherretiring or moving on?Following best practices gen-erally, you should ensure alllibrary documentation is up todate. You should create,update, and distribute to allstaff full documentation forpolicies, procedures, andstrategic plans, as part of yourregular work. Whether youare planning to stay for a longtime or not, this type of docu-mentation is essential to theproper functioning of yourlibrary, and it is even morecritical to have it in place ifyou are planning to leave yourposition in the near future. Inaddition, having all processes,procedures, and job descrip-tions readily available meansthat in the event of a crisis, itis possible for temporary ornew staff to be hired to keepyour services available to your

customers. It also provides up-to-date information on whatyour staff members are doing,and allows you to realign theiractivities with changing long-term plans.

Clear succession planningalso has the added benefit ofincreasing retention amongyour staff. If staff knows thatthey have the opportunity todevelop new skills and to takeon new responsibilities leadingto leadership positions, theywill generally have more long-term commitment to yourlibrary and organization. Makestaff development a priority,and especially in largerlibraries, help to develop theleadership skills of those whoshow interest and promise.Even if they are not able to takeon a leadership role in the shortterm, having empowered,knowledgeable staff will makefor better library services and alibrary that is prepared in theevent of a leadership crisis.Continuing to be aware oftrends and developments in theprofession also help with suc-cession planning. Knowingwhat skills are becoming morevalued and required in the fieldand following trends in theeducation of new librarians,helps you identify areas foryour own staff’s development.

In a recent article inLibrary Journal, the workinvolved in succession plan-ning was described as follows:“Succession planning is morethan planning for contingen-cies if the proverbial Macktruck wipes out your manage-ment team (heaven forbid!). Itmeans assessing…the numberof key positions…that couldbecome vacant in the nearfuture. And, once the gaps areidentified, providing training,coaching, special assignments,and other development oppor-tunities so that staff membersare ready to move into themwhen the time comes.”1

If you are not already activewith SLA or other librarygroups, becoming so will alsoassist you in your successionplanning. Networking, attend-ing local library events, meet-ing the newer members to theprofession, and hearing whatother special libraries are doingare only some of the benefits ofinvolvement. Knowing who isin your community with whichskill sets will also help whenyou are trying to recruit fornew positions, and when fill-ing unexpected departures atyour library.

All of these activitiesensure continuity and qualityof services to your larger

Succession Planning

Debbie Schachter has a master’s degree in library science and a master’s degree in business administration.She is the head of strategic planning and development at the British Columbia Courthouse Library Society,where she is involved in planning and managing organization-wide projects, marketing and communica-tions, Web site management, and branch supervision. Schachter has more than 14 years of experience inmanagement and supervision, technology planning and support, and reference service in special library set-tings. She is the treasurer of SLA’s Western Canada chapter, and has previously held the positions of publicrelations chair (2003-2004) and fund development chair (2002-2003). She can be contacted [email protected].

businessmanagement

organization. The importanceof succession planning is inensuring it won’t “all fallapart” with the departure ofthe manager or other keystaff. Discuss with your super-visor how you are followingbest practices by your plans todevelop leadership within thelibrary. Make the professional-ism of your library depart-ment understood. Creating asuccession plan is not to makeyour boss can think you areeasily replaced, but to make itclear that you are a responsi-ble manager, you are follow-

ing industry best practices,and your expectations formonetary support for staffdevelopment and professionalsupport are high.

And finally, skillful suc-cession planning in alllibrary environments isimportant to the librarianshipgenerally—viewed bothinside and outside the profes-sion. We all need to take thisrole seriously, throughencouraging staff to take con-tinuing education courses,developing broad and specificskills, and to help develop

leadership. We may or maynot want to work in the sameposition for our entire career,but regardless of length oftenure, we want to leave apositive legacy within thatorganization. With so manyopportunities for librariansin non-traditional roles andallied fields, the profession-alism we individually exhib-it has positive and far-reach-ing effect on the view of theprofession in industry atlarge. By helping our staffdevelop their leadershipskills, think of it as under-

taking the very successionplanning for the future ofour profession as a whole.

1 Paula Singer, JeanneGoodrich, & Linda Goldberg,Your Library’s Future: Whenleaders leave, succession plan-ning can smooth the transi-tion. Library Journal, October15, 2004, p. 38.


businessmanagement

By Forrest Glenn Spencer

Thirty years ago, Deborah Hunt stood on the edge of aprecipice. Behind her was her formal education; before her was agrand canyon of uncertainties, yet not far away was a ledge thatoffered a foothold onto a mountain of opportunity. Hunt took aleap of faith, a jump she has never regretted, and since then shehas been climbing many mountains, making many leaps, theselast three decades.

In her career as an information specialist, Deborah Hunt hashad no institutional net below her. She is a solo special librarian.Her success has been one of perspiration, inspiration, and deter-mination. Her career as an information consultant was created anddeveloped from necessity with an enthusiastic attitude for thework and the people who employed her.

In the summer of 1976, Hunt was preparing to graduate fromthe University of California, Berkeley, with an MLS and she, like somany others, was hitting the streets looking for work, to put hernewly taught skills into practice. And like many others, Hunt wasfinding challenges in securing a job. She recalled that there was aglut of librarians in the Bay Area at the time.

“I remember I applied for a job in an entry-level librarian posi-tion,” Hunt says, “and I didn’t get it so I called them to ask what Icould’ve done differently. They said they got applications fromlibrarians with 10 years of experience; so, of course, they hiredthem. The market wasn’t too great.”

A three-by-five index card on the library school’s job boardbegan a chain of events that changed Hunt’s life.

“An engineering firm was looking for somebody to organizetheir library,” Hunt recalls. “They were alumni of Berkeley of thecivil engineering program. I called them, wrote up a proposal withprofessional wages, and they accepted it. I went to go work forthem, getting them organized.”


SLA Member Profile

For Deborah Hunt,Getting Started as an InformationProfessional Was

As Easy asJumpingOff a Cliff

Instead of securing a traditional librarian job, Hunt became aconsultant right out of school. She’s one of those rare individuals, asolo information specialist who works for multiple institutions onvarious projects. She soon founded Information Edge.

It’s a business that provides services using Web-based and otherdigital tools, interpersonal skills, and instructional tutorials—and aprofession that was built upon experience, perseverance, and thenecessity of the opportunities presented to her.

“Information Edge—my company—provides business intelli-gence that helps clients stay ahead of the competition,” Hunt says.“I do everything from online research using the invisible Web andthe open Web as well as using proprietary databases, like Dialog,LexisNexis, and Factiva. I specialize in engineering technology, sci-ence, medicine, health sciences, and pharmaceuticals.”

Her career was born in the very early days of computer-basedtools, when the special librarian had to perform site-specific tasksand information was primarily hardbound.

“I organized this library for the engineering firm. It had growntoo large for them,” says Hunt. “They couldn’t go to the shelf any-more and say, ‘I’m looking for that red book.’ They knew a lot oftheir material was out of date—city codes, plumbing codes—and noone was keeping track of what had to be updated.

“I went in and I had a secretary who worked with me to typethe library cards. They had a mini-computer but no library trackingsoftware at the time. So I organized the entire library, oriented thestaff, and what was interesting was several of their clients saw thework I did. So over the course of a year, I went around to those engi-neering firms in the Bay Area and organized their collections. I justjumped in with both feet.”

In 1977, Hunt moved to Reno, where her husband began work-ing on his graduate degree. They lived there for five years. Duringthat time, Hunt was employed as a government publications librar-ian for the University of Nevada, Reno, and as a collections librari-an at the Nevada State Library in Carson City. The collections posi-tion was a new one where Hunt oversaw and coordinated the col-lections statewide, at a time when online searching was just gettingstarted with Dialog and SBC Orbit. Hunt started the first statewideonline users group in Nevada.

“I searched when I was at UNR,” Hunt began. “We used theSilent 700 TI terminals, with the thermal paper. It was a dial-up cou-pler to Dialog’s NSCC mainframe with a connection speed of 300baud. You could see the words come out on the paper and see if youwere on track or not for your search. It was so slow, and I remem-ber when we went to 1,200 baud we were so excited. It was thestone-age of online searching.”

As the technological tools of the information specialist grew,Hunt rode that wave through various jobs that ultimately led to hercompany, Information Edge.

“I’m always running after the technology, trying to see what’sout there,” Hunt says. “The hard part has been—especially the last10 or 15 years—that there’s only so much you can keep up with.When I started searching on Dialog in the late 1970s, they only hada dozen databases and there was the U.S. Department ofEducation’s database, ERIC, and that’s what most people searchedon. Now, there are over 600 databases on Dialog alone, and many,many more on LexisNexis and Factiva. The technology has beenvery helpful, but you don’t have to learn it all. You’ve got to spe-

cialize more and more, because nobody can be good at everything.Pick your niche and go after it.”

In 1981, Hunt, her husband, and their two children returnedto the San Francisco Bay area. She reconnected with old clientsfrom her consulting work and she then was employed part-timeas a medical librarian at the Alameda Hospital Library for eightyears where, among some of her tasks, she performed all refer-ence and collection development, created, edited and publishedthe quarterly library newsletter, and founded the HospitalComputer Users’ Group.

“By the early ’90s I felt did I had done as much as I could at thehospital,” Hunt said. “I did the engineering stuff off and on, but itwas no longer fun because the principals I enjoyed working withhad retired or were simply gone. I had to re-focus my business.Soon, my consulting really began to fly. I started doing online andtechnical researching for companies in Silicon Valley. There wasjust so much work.”

What came next in Hunt’s life began as a six-month project withthe Exploratorium in San Francisco. Ten years later, she is still


SLA Member Profile

Joined SSLA: 1986

Job: Principal

Employer: InformationEdge

Experience: 30 years

Education: MLS,University of California,Berkeley; BA Spanish and

Literature, University ofCalifornia, Berkeley

First jjob: EngineeringLibrary Consultant

Biggest CChallenge:“Juggling all the differ-ent things I do and keep-ing up with technology.”

SLA MMember PProfile

Deborah HHunt

employed by them part-time, performing tasks such as creation,administration, maintenance and promotion of the museum’sInternet resources and education portals; managing various proj-ects, and more.

And the rest of her consulting business continued to grow.“When my kids were little it was wonderful because I could workmy schedule around their activities, like their sporting events,”Hunt says.

One of the consistent challenges as a solo information specialistis finding work. Hunt recommends two books: One is Sue Rugge’sThe Information Broker’s Handbook—“this is the bible,” she says.The other is Mary Ellen Bates’s Building and Running a SuccessfulResearch Business.

Bates, she says, is “one of our foremost success stories of theindependents and that is such a fabulous book. The challengeabout marketing is when you’re in the middle of various proj-ects you don’t think about it, but at some point, the project willbe over. So you need to make time to reconnect with old clientsor set aside time to make proposals to potential new clients. Butyour time ebbs and flows; when you’re not working you’respending your time marketing, and when you’re working, lesstime marketing.”

Networking, says Hunt, is an essential part of the consultingspecial librarian. She recommends joining groups and attendingconferences. Hunt is currently a member of SLA, the Association ofIndependent Information Professionals (AIIP) and BayNet (the BayArea Library and Information Network).

Hunt has been a member of SLA for 20 years. Her involve-ment includes being the president, past president, and vice pres-ident of the San Francisco Bay Region Chapter. In 2002, she won

the chapter’s Personal Achievement Award. She also served onthe Board of AIIP and as president of BayNet.

“The San Francisco SLA chapter is a fabulous group,” Huntbeams. “It’s about 500 members, and the thing that amazes me isthe amount of time people are willing to give as volunteers for thechapter on the committees and programs. It’s a lot of work to do,like the professional development workshops or the monthly meet-ings, and everybody comes through wonderfully.”

In addition, she has written articles and conducted presentationson a variety of topics, including mining intellectual capital, planningand implementing a Web site, and marketing. She also has taughtonline searching and electronic research through the University ofCalifornia Extension, Berkeley, and since 1994 has taught librarian-ship skills through the Library and Information TechnologyCertificate Program at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill.

“The teaching is very satisfying,” Hunt says. “Most of the stu-dents are in their 40s and 50s. Many of them are women returningto work, and many of them had volunteered in their child’s schoollibrary. They love it and now they want to get paid for it.” The class-es, Hunt adds, are small, usually up to 25 students. She’s alsoactively engaged in mentoring those in the information field. “Iencourage people to look into areas they like but also into areasthey may not like – and they’re often pleasantly surprised.”

Hunt always looks for what she can bring to the profession. Heradvice is for individuals to be willing to expand and try new things.

“My belief has always been if you’re notwilling to leap off the edge, then you’re notgoing anywhere,” Hunt says. “Don’t leaprecklessly, but be willing to take risks.”


SLA Member Profile

Forrest Glenn Spencer is a Virginia-based independent development researcher and freelance writer. Hespecializes in developing potential donor prospects for non-profit organizations, such as America’sPromise – The Alliance for Youth, the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, and American RedCross. Forrest was a 14-year broadcast news associate and has written for numerous print and Internetpublications over the last several years. He can be reached [email protected].


SLA 2006

SLA Increasing Membership

Tops PrioritiesNew SLA President Rebecca B. Varghasees an organization that focuses its “tal-ent and energies on creating a strong andvibrant forum for learning, teaching andinnovation throughout the world.” In abrief speech at the annual business meet-ing Tuesday, Vargha, pictured at rightwith outgoing President Pam Rollo, saidher three priorities are: increasing mem-bership growth and retention, planningSLA’s 100th anniversary celebration in2009, and gaining 1,000 members bySLA’s centennial. She asked members fortheir support, creativity, and "wonderfulenergy" in reaching those goals. “Theimportant first step,” she said, “is tobegin together.” For more on Vargha’splans, see “Executive Outlook” on page 5.

Members listen to presentations during the annual business meeting.


SLA 2006

2006Lachance Calls for

Mobilization for the FutureMembers heard a review of recent accomplishments and a

look at the future of the association in SLA’s annual businessmeeting Tuesday.

The meeting also included the installation of Rebecca B.Vargha as president for 2006-2007. SLA CEO Janice Lachance and 2005-2006 President Pam Rolloreviewed the past association year.

Lachance—who announced at the meeting that her executivecontract with SLA has been renewed for three and a half moreyears—noted one of the more obvious successes: Attendance atSLA 2006 is “a few hundred more” than last year in Toronto.

For her, highlights of the last year included:• Approval of new bylaws to permit electronic member voting. • Approval of new bylaws to restructure member dues. • Realignment of SLA’s governance year (formerly June to

June) to coincide with the January-December fiscal year. Thischange means SLA's newly installed board members will serve alittle more than 18 months, from now until January 2008.

• Creation of new staff positions to "enhance the value of themembership experience."

• An energetic focus on international development. • New strategies for increasing the scope of Click University

(http://sla.learn.com/learncenter.asp?id=178409&CFID=91510&CFTOKEN=17012781).

• Continuing work to acquire new association managementsoftware that will improve service to members and to volunteerleaders.

• A facelift of www.sla.org, replacing the 2004 design andadding new features for RSS feeds and personalization.

• An agreement with Information Today Inc. to collaborateon events, publications, and information sharing.

• A new advertising campaign in Information World Review(http://www.iwr.co.uk) aimed at information professionals out-side North America.

• Baltimore transit bus advertising in the downtown areaduring the run of SLA 2006.

• An ad in the Baltimore Business Journal promoting theannual conference and the profession.

Lachance also described her vision for SLA. “To strive for

great things,” she said, “we must be motivated, energized, andmobilized for the future.” The vision includes:

• Strong chapters. • Globalization. • Becoming a center of learning for information professionals. • Employing "advanced, but easy-to-use" communication

technologies. • Becoming a teaching laboratory that will permit members to

see, test and experience new things. • Identifying “rising stars” in the profession and showcasing

“the best the profession has to offer us.”• Becoming a powerful advocate for the profession worldwide.• Being “organized, structured and branded so people would

be speaking about how SLA delivers on its promise.”

Rollo’s RecapSLA gained much from the task forces formed a year ago, out-

going President Pam Rollo said at Tuesday's annual businessmeeting. Moreover, she said, the board of directors didn't justreceive the task force reports, it took action.

At SLA 2005, the newly installed president announced thatshe was forming several task forces to study aspects of SLA rang-ing from how it recognizes members to how it uses technology.The groups started work last October and submitted their finalreports last month.

When the board met June 9 and 10, its actions includedvotes to:

• Institutionalize an annual plan to recruit new members. • Work more with partners and develop programs to

attract more. • Give support to SLA branding and marketing. • Create new awards, especially for members new to

the profession. • Improve relationships with graduate schools. • Develop “aspirational” education programs. • Make improvements in communication technology.In addition to these action steps, Rollo said the task forces

provided SLA with:• Rich, robust research. • Hundreds of ideas and recommendations. • “Great” analyses.For more information on board actions at SLA 2006, see

“Board Adopts Many Task Force Proposals” on page 16.

Board Adopts

Many Task Force

ProposalsSLA staff will be working on a

number of new projects over the nextfew months as a result of a busyBoard of Directors meeting at theAnnual Conference.

Many of the initiatives came fromthe recommendations of various taskforces that were established last yearto analyze several aspects of SLA serv-ices and products. These included:

Alliances and Partners Task Force

• Create a work group to focus onincreasing SLA membership; to create adefinition of what a logical target mem-ber would be—to include informationworkers of all types for whom informa-tion is a primary job function.

• Build a model that incorporatescurrent processes and expands them toreach out to information partners toincrease membership and participationto the benefit of both parties.

• Create, with member involve-ment, an initiative for internal evalua-tion to determine what SLA wishes toaccomplish through partnerships. Thiswill include the identification of poten-tial association partners shape the bene-fits of interest to all involved parties. Astatus report is due in October.

Chapter Modeling Task Force• Investigate the costs of investing

in technology that will allow collabora-tion globally, such as virtual meetingsor Web conferencing, and make recom-mendations to the board by the January2007 Leadership Summit.

• Review, along with the ChapterCabinet Chair and Chair-Elect, con-straints of chapter infrastructure, inves-tigate alternatives, and report back tothe Board by the January 2007Leadership Summit.

• Propose a strategic framework fordeveloping membership growth interna-tionally that considers the recommenda-tions of the task force, including thefinancial impact to the association,making a recommendation to the boardby the June 2007 Annual Conference.

Proposals from the task forces onExecutive Growth, New Visions, andProfessional Value were referred to stafffor consideration. Proposals from theRecognition Task Force will be consid-ered further by the board.

In other action, the board:• Voted to create a new global event

to replace International Special

Librarians Day and focus on the ethicalmanagement of information.

• To have staff, rather than a mem-ber task force, handle disaster-responseactivities, including the IPANDA blog.

• Created a new ConferenceModeling Work Group, composed ofmembers and staff, to study broadissues of annual conference planningand report back to the board byOctober.

• Eliminated the Research andEndowment committees and formed anew Research and DevelopmentCommittee.


SLA 2006

The new SLA Board of Directors will serve an extended term, until January 2008, toalign the association’s governance and fiscal years. They are, from left, standing:Director 2005-2008 Roberto A. Sarmiento, Northwestern University Library, Chicago;Director 2006-2009 Tamika McCollough, Reference and Information Literacy, NorthCarolina A & T State University, Greensboro; Director 2004-2007 Susan Klopper, EmoryUniversity, Goizeuta Business Library, Atlanta; President-Elect Stephen Abram,SirsiDynix, Toronto; Director 2004-2007 Dan Trefethen, Boeing Company, Seattle;Division Cabinet Chair Agnes K. Mattis, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, NewYork; Director 2006-2009 Kate L. Arnold, NHS Direct Online, Hampshire, U.K.; DivisionCabinet Chair-Elect Robyn C. Frank, Robyn Frank Strategic Partners, Fulton, Maryland;seated: SLA CEO Janice R. Lachance; Chapter Cabinet Chair-Elect Libby Trudell, Dialog,Sunnyvale, California; Director 2005-2008 Cindy Romaine, Nike, Beaverton, Oregon;President Rebecca B. Vargha, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Treasurer SylviaR. James, Sylvia James Consultancy, West Sussex, U.K.; Past President Pamela Rollo,New York Public Library; Chapter Cabinet Chair Anne Caputo, Factiva, Washington, D.C.


Conference attendees pack the registration area Sunday morning, justbefore the opening of the INFO-EXPO.

‘I Wanted To Be a Librarian’Television journalist Gwen Ifill opened the conference Sunday telling the crowd that when she was young, she wanted to be alibrarian. Ifill, seen on the PBS programs Washington Week and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, also moderated the 2004candidates’ debate between Vice President Dick Cheney and Sen. John Edwards, the Democratic challenger. “If I looked goodat all at the vice presidential debate,” Ifill said, “it’s because the research librarians told me the questions Dick Cheney didn’twant to answer.”

SLA 2006

Attendance Up From 2005Total attendance at SLA 2006 was up more than

10 percent over last year's event: for Baltimore,5,848; for Toronto, 5,283.

The breakdown for this year's conference:• Paid Full Conference Registrants—2428• Exhibition Personnel—2021• One-Day Conference Registrants—243• Exhibits-Only Registrants—639• Continuing Education Registrants—65• Other—452 (This includes support staff, affili-

ated association registrations, division registrations,guests, press, retired members, students, and volun-teer registrations.)

INFO-EXPO exhibitors also were up this year,from 235 last year to 305. The exhibiting companiesbought 480 booth spaces this year, compared to 441last year.


The Winner Is…The last official business in the INFO-EXPOhall Tuesday was selecting the winner of the$2,000 prize. And the winner, VanessaBrogsdale, couldn't wait to collect. In thephoto sequence, Brogsdale heard her name,then ran through the crowd celebrating toclaim her prize.

SLA Releases

Copyright Book

Laura N. Gasaway’s book GettingCopyright Right, a compilation of“Copyright Corner” columns fromInformation Outlook, was released by SLAduring the conference.

Gasaway wrote the monthly“Copyright Corner” column in InformationOutlook for six years, winning the H. W.Wilson Award for her columns at the 2005SLA Annual Conference. This collection,fully updated for 2006, includes the mosttopical of her writings. Gasaway selected30 of the best columns from the 74 thatshe wrote during her tenure as a colum-nist for SLA’s flagship magazine.

According to Gasaway, “It was goodto review what I had written and toconsider later cases and other develop-ments that had affected the subject areaof the column. Much of the pendinglegislation never passed, but some of itwas enacted. The 30 columns that areincluded in the book have been updat-

ed to reflect newer information.”The book is available for purchase

at http://www.sla.org/sla/stores/1/product1.asp?SID=1&Product_ID=114.Members are entitled to a discountedprice.

About the Author“Lolly” as her friends call her, is a pro-

fessor of law and director of the KatherineR. Everett Law Library at the University ofNorth Carolina. She teaches courses oncopyright law, cyberspace law, intellectualproperty, and copyright law for librarians.In addition to her columns in InformationOutlook, she has published three booksand many book chapters and journal arti-cles. She was named a Fellow of SLA in1998 and received the prestigious JohnCotton Dana Award from SLA in 1987.She holds B.A. and MLS degrees fromTexas Woman’s University and a JDfrom the University of Houston.

SLA 2006


Click U Celebrates Birthday,

Unveils New CI ProgramSLA will offer members three new competitive

intelligence certificate programs through ClickUniversity, the online learning system for post-graduate, practicing librarians and informationprofessionals. The announcement was made asClick U celebrated its first birthday at SLA 2006.The CI certificate program will consist of threedifferent levels of curriculum so information pro-fessionals can choose their courses based on theirfunction within their organizations.

SLA will work with Knowledge inForm, draw-ing on the intelligence, research, and trainingexpertise of its principals Cynthia Cheng Correiaand Samantha Chmelik to design and develop theprogram. A blended learning approach, combin-ing online modules with instructor-led classroomtraining, will be incorporated into all three certifi-cates. Courses will begin in late 2006 and will beopen to those working towards a CI certificate aswell as to those SLA members who wish to takeoccasional courses to enhance their professionaldevelopment and expertise.

The programs will be appropriate for seasonedCI professionals as well as library and informa-tion science professionals who are not currentlyperforming a CI function. A third certificate willcombine the two.

SLA 2006

SLA Professional Development Director John Lowery, left, Knowledge inFormPrincipal Cynthia Cheng Correia, SLA CEO Janice Lachance, Click U OnlineCampus Manager Doresa Ibrahim, and SLA Learning Coordinator Shelva Suggswith the Click U birthday cake.

Mossberg on the

‘Information Grid’Most people don’t think about the electricalgrid when they plug in an appliance, and soonthey won’t think about the Internet when theygo online, Wall Street Journal technologycolumnist told a packed closing general sessionWednesday morning. As more householditems—toasters, refrigerators, and the like—become Internet ready, “the Internet itself willrecede more and more into the background,”Mossberg said. “The Internet is a grid...intowhich a great number of devices will beplugged—and they will take from it whateverthey need” to do what they were designed for.The phrase “I was online” will fade from ourvocabulary, he said, because “the Internet isgoing to become a 24/7 thing for everyone.”


Thanks to the SponsorsOnce again, LexisNexis, Factiva, Thomson Scientific and Dialog,

and Springer served as Major Conference Partners for what iswidely considered the largest knowledge and information manage-ment event in North America.

“Committing to these partnerships with SLA reflects the dedica-tion these companies have to advancing the information professionand the work of our members,” said SLA CEO Janice R. Lachance.“These companies have returned to our annual conference asmajor partners year after year and I want to thank them for thecontinued support. We are excited to have them back again withus this year in Baltimore for another successful conference!”

The Major Conference Partners pledged support for a variety ofspecific events, services, and activities for SLA members to enjoyas well as sponsored meetings and activities:

LexisNexisLexisNexis’ continuing dedication and support to SLA will be ondisplay through a range of activities in Baltimore. Of particularnote is its sponsorship of the Opening General Session, featuring akeynote address by broadcast journalist Gwen Ifill of Americanpublic television’s Washington Week and The NewsHour with JimLehrer. LexisNexis is also the title sponsor of SLA’s Innovations inTechnology Award, and will sponsor the SLA Board of Directorsmeetings, along with the meetings of various SLA chapter anddivision board meetings.

FactivaFactiva’s strong involvement and commitment to SLA continuesthis year with its sponsorship of the Closing General Session, fea-turing Walter Mossberg, author of the “Personal Technology” col-umn in The Wall Street Journal. Factiva also develops the contentand provides speakers for the sellout seminars of the SLATechZone and other continuing education classes. Its support ofthe Factiva Leadership Award since its inception has highlightedinformation professionals’ commitment to developing competen-cies for career growth.

Thomson Scientific and DialogThomson Scientific and Dialog will continue their history of sup-port to SLA by sponsoring the Info-Expo Networking Reception onits opening day. They also continue to support the SLA LeadershipDevelopment Institute, the SLA Hot Topic Series and a number ofSLA division events. This year, the two organizations go a step fur-ther with sponsorship of the SLA President’s Award. This award isgiven to an individual in recognition of a specific major achieve-ment in the field of librarianship or information science.

SpringerFor the past two years, Springer has exhibited strong support ofSLA and the information profession by sponsoring the SLAProfessional Award. This award is presented to an individual inrecognition of a major achievement in the field of librarianship orinformation science. In addition to the award, Springer will besponsoring Info-Expo hall refreshment breaks and a number ofDivision events and activities.

SLA 2006

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Competitive Intelligence

By Cynthia Cheng Correia

Among library and information sci-ence professionals, competitive intelli-gence (CI) and market intelligence (MI)are primarily considered processes andactivities applicable to operating busi-nesses. Moreover, there is the commonbelief that intelligence is only signifi-cant to LIS professionals who are prac-ticing in corporate information or intel-ligence settings, or who work in theinformation and content industry.

Intelligence, however, is a vital toolthat may be applied beyond standardcommercial environments and applica-tions. In fact, aallll organizations—as wellas departments and units—encountercompetition, whether it is traditional oruntraditional, direct or indirect. In thepublic and academic environments,libraries and not-for-profit organizations

face competition (however friendly) forfunding and support. Libraries andinformation centers within commercialorganizations aren’t exempt, as they reg-ularly defend their value, budgets, andresources among other departments andinformation or knowledge-related toolsthat compete for the attention—and thebudget—of users and decision-makers.

LIS: Competition Heats UpCompetitive pressures for libraries

and information centers have increasedsignificantly over the past two decades.We have witnessed considerable shiftsin our profession, both in our practicesand in perceptions regarding our servic-es. These shifts, which drive subse-quent changes in the practices, prod-ucts, and services offered by LIS profes-sionals, are also evident in the informa-tion and content industry.

Libraries andCompetition

Intelligence for Management

and Strategy

Libraries andCompetition

Intelligence for Management

and Strategy

PART I:2 p.m. ET

Tuesday,August 15

PART II:2 p.m. ET Tuesday, August 29

Instructor: Cynthia Cheng Correia

Details and registration information are at

www.sla.org/clickulive

Libraries and Competition:Intelligence for

Management and Strategy



The expansion of the Web; theresulting redefinition of informationand content presentation, access, anddelivery; the increasing pace of com-munication and informationexchange, innovation, globalization;and other factors have increased pres-sure on information services. Forsome services, this impact has meantincreased user expectations, fasterdelivery times, funding and budgetarypressures, and the need to reconsiderservices and service models. Forsome, the situation has been moresevere, commoditizing informationservices and signifying considerablecutbacks in internal services, eventhe closure of information centers.Many of us can look back over thepast decades and see that the signs ofchange—and that cause and effect—are evident.

Even given the experiences oflibraries and information centers overthe past decade, some LIS profession-als continue to be surprised by nega-tive events and developments thatcould have been identified or antici-pated. Intelligence provides us theprocess, frameworks, tools, and per-spectives that can help us recognizelikely developments; observe signalsfor specific changes; better under-stand our users, suppliers, opportuni-ties, threats, and more. For example,LIS managers in commercial sectorshave observed tremendous shifts inmanagement needs; user behavior,perceptions, and expectations; vendorfocus on designing products for endusers; and increased emphasis ondemonstrating value within theirorganizations or to shareholders.

Well-prepared and savvy LIS man-agers recognized these shifts earlier,better understood their significancetowards risks and opportunities, andapplied the resulting intelligencetoward adjusting their strategies. Theydeveloped higher-value products andservices and established ways to moredeeply support their organizations’management and decision needs.Some of these solutions went wellbeyond traditional and familiar servic-es. While many of their LIS peers hadbeen focused on enhancing their inter-nal marketing efforts, these managersunderstood that their issues went

beyond marketing and involved funda-mental issues of function and identity.

Intelligence: Beyond the Competition

Today, competition in our profes-sion and related industries tends tobe more clearly defined and threatstend to be greater. We have witnessedthe ensuing fallout on too manylibraries and information centers aswe face non-traditional competition.Google is perceived by many users tobe the engine for all global informa-tion and knowledge. Users are devel-oping direct relationships with infor-mation and content services.Organizational resources are redirectedto other departments. Moreover, theinformation and content industry—suppliers to library and informationcenters—are experiencing greater com-petitive pressures that ultimately affectlibrary and information services.These and other factors affect varioustypes of libraries and information cen-ters differently, but they are undeni-ably real and the stakes can be high.

An unforgettable example is theRoweCom case, in which the estab-lished and well-regarded subscription

services company was acquired bydot-com supernova divine in 2002.The financial collapse of divine soonafter acquiring RoweCom caughtmany by surprise, and the impact wasdevastating to libraries and informa-tion centers, many of which lostentire subscription budgets, someexceeding a million dollars. The over-all impact to libraries was estimatedto be tens of millions of dollars (per-haps exceeding $80 million).

Only after this news broke didmany in our profession see that thesignals for collapse had been there:Parent company divine was con-fronting management issues, hadoverextended itself through expan-sion, and was facing questionsregarding its financial health. Topmanagement and other employeeswere leaving divine Library Services.And librarians and industry profes-sionals were beginning to hear thatdivine Library Services had stoppedplacing orders with publishersmonths earlier. Most of us in our pro-fession had missed these signals,failed to connect the dots, or lackedthe frameworks to derive sufficientmeaning from these signals. The lackof intelligence awareness and applica-tion regarding this vendor exposedlibraries to unnecessary risk.

The Intelligence StigmaDespite the value of intelligence as

a management tool, some LIS profes-sionals find the idea of competitionuncomfortable or distasteful, particu-larly when presented in the contextof competitive intelligence. We areoften drawn to this profession by itsnoble culture and tradition of service,learning, sharing, and cooperation—all of which seem antithetical to com-petition. Libraries and informationcenters, however, have always con-fronted competition. Competition mayhave been present in the form ofdepartments and services that com-pete for funding, external informationservices (i.e. information brokerages),or any alternative informationsources (even in the form of userscalling their contacts vs. using alibrary). Furthermore, competition isnot necessarily a malicious or offen-sive concept. In countless positive

Cynthia ChengCorreia is princi-pal of KnowledgeinForm Inc., aconsulting andtraining firm spe-cializing in com-petitive and mar-ket intelligence.She is a frequentspeaker on intelli-

gence topics and issues, and she hasbeen featured in a number of publica-tions, including “Super Searchers onCompetitive Intelligence” (InformationToday). She is editor of IntelligenceInsights, as well as the author ofbooks and articles on intelligence. Sheis a member of the SLA and itsCompetitive Intelligence Division, theSociety for Competitive IntelligenceProfessionals, and the AmericanSociety of Training & Development.She may be reached [email protected]



instances, competition presentsopportunities to challenge us to exceland to improve our products, servic-es, and performance. This is ultimate-ly good for us, and for our users.

Competitive intelligence is alsoviewed by some as inherently unethi-cal or illegal. Since its establishmentas a profession, competitive intelli-gence has been guided by establishedethical codes. The Society ofCompetitive Intelligence (SCIP) hasoutlined a set of codes for ethicalpractitioners, many of whom also fur-ther define their own.

Intelligence ExpansionToo often LIS professionals have

only a partial understanding of ourenvironment and developments—andor their impact to our circumstances.This may be due to a number of fac-tors, including our comfort with infor-mation collection and managementfunctions, lack of intelligence aware-ness, and the demand of our workloadand performance pressures. Adoptingintelligence to help us manage, how-ever, does not necessarily mean apply-ing more precious time or resourcesfrom our already limited store.

The process, practices, and frame-works for intelligence can often helpus mmoorree eeffffiicciieennttllyy monitor develop-ments to better understand our envi-ronment. Even if we have sufficienttime to track our profession and relat-ed industries, however, gathering newsalone is inadequate for developing thelevel of insight we need to managewell. We must apply the appropriateanalytical tools when necessary, and

establish a mindset and commitmentto intelligence. Once our intelligenceawareness and understanding is devel-oped, it is almost impossible to contin-ue business-as-usual practices and toexclude intelligence from one’s prac-tices and outlook.

In the face of our current competi-tive environment, intelligence shouldbe regarded as an indispensable tool.Increasingly, LIS professionals under-stand the power of intelligence formanaging their organizations, theirservices, and their careers. For exam-ple, in only its second year, SLA’sCompetitive Intelligence Division hasbeen the fastest growing division andis serving more than 650 members todate. Many LIS pros are also spear-heading or supporting intelligenceinitiatives within their own organiza-tions, improving intelligence prac-tices, and even using intelligence tomanage their own careers.

Intelligence for LISIntelligence practices may vary

between formal, highly structured,and/or complex systems to on the fly,simple systems that require minimalresources. Encompassing all degreesof the spectrum, there are specificintelligence functions that comprisethe Intelligence Process orIntelligence Cycle1(Figure 1).

From planning to research toanalysis to dissemination, each func-tion formally defines components forgenerating intelligence. Practicing orgenerating intelligence doesn’t neces-sarily require following each functionstep by step. More important are the

knowledge and understanding of:1. The practices and frameworkswithin each function.2. Applying them appropriately tothe situation at hand.3. Harnessing the resulting intelli-gence for effective management anddecision-support.

It is important to underscore thatintelligence is more than reviewingprofessional and industry news andevents. The information we collectmust be understood in key questionor decision contexts. This requireseither formal or improvised analysisfrom which intelligence is created.The focus of your intelligence effortsmay be applied toward long-term,mid-term, or near-term questions andissues. They can help define factors,trends, and conditions that caninform strategic developments, plan-ning, and decision-making. At itsmost effective, intelligence generationis systematic and continuous.

In LIS, intelligence can address thespecific needs of various types oflibraries and information centers. Inacademic and public libraries, thefocus tends be placed on indirect com-petitors; competitors who may com-pete for funding, users, and mind-share; and the broaderinformation/content industry. In theseenvironments, intelligence may specif-ically be used to:

• Improve your understanding ofhow your library or institution ispositioned with your organization,market, and so on, in order to makebetter management decisions.

• Understand competition in grant fund-ing and departmental funding to developsound strategies for securing funds.

• Identify trends and developmentsin the information and content indus-try to anticipate innovation, changesin products and services, user expecta-tions, positioning of key players, andbargaining power within the industry.

• Apply more comprehensiveframeworks for benchmarking andidentifying best practices.

• Anticipate a range of threats fromdirect and indirect competition, as wellas opportunities from competition,markets (user groups), and innovation.

• Identify opportunities to partnerwith other organizations to strength-

Figure 1



en positioning and offer novel prod-ucts and service

• Identify and enhance opportuni-ties for sponsorships and donor sup-port.

• Assist your community (e.g. col-lege/university, town/city, businessusers) to improve its competitiveawareness and capabilities.

For libraries and information cen-ters that reside within corporations orsimilar entities, intelligence may beapplied similarly. The idea is to betterunderstand your unit, your organiza-tion, the needs of key players, andhow external and internal factors willaffect your unit’s services and opera-tions. From this, you can develop theenvironmental awareness andenhanced foresight that will help youact appropriately—and in time.

For all libraries and informationcenters, competitive intelligence maybe combined with market or userstudies to generate more comprehen-sive market and competitive intelli-gence, and solutions. Applied thisway, CI provides an understanding ofthe ccoommppeettiittiivvee ffoorrcceess aanndd iissssuueess,while MI offers a deeper understand-ing of uusseerrss aanndd ppootteennttiiaall uusseerrss.

Take this scenario, for example: Anacademic library concerned about vastlydeclining library use among itsMillennial/Generation Y student popu-lation has gathered from its collectiveCI efforts that certain vendors are seek-ing opportunities to pilot a suite ofinformation products via mobilephones. MI tells the library that thisgroup of users and potential users with-in its community:

• Relies on mobile resources (92 per-cent consistently rely on mobile phones,73 percent have mobile Web access).

• Is seeking enhanced mobile services.• Will find this service valuable• Will likely use (and view) this

service as an extension of the library.

The library, identifying this devel-opment as an opportunity to addressdeclining usage, works with the ven-dor to introduce the service to its usersand, in the process, includes the

design of custom services and toolsthat support the library’s efforts ininformation literacy, bibliographicinstruction, and library wayfinding viamobile technology.

Getting Started: ResourcesSo if you want to develop your intel-

ligence awareness and understanding,what’s a perceptive LIS pro to do? Manyresources can help professionals learnmore about intelligence and its applica-tions. As you review material aboutintelligence that primarily targets com-mercial applications, consider how thetechniques, tools, and practices may beadapted for application in your ownenvironment. To begin, consider theseresources:

• SSLLAA CCoommppeettiittiivvee IInntteelllliiggeenncceeDDiivviissiioonn. The CI Division is specificallygeared to support LIS professionals intheir intelligence understanding andprofessional development. Check out itsIInntteelllliiggeennccee IInnssiigghhttss bulletin, discussionlist, Community of Practice, programs,and other resources.

• TTaakkee aaddvvaannttaaggee ooff SSLLAA’’ss lleeaarrnniinnggooppppoorrttuunniittiieess22 aanndd ootthheerr ttrraaiinniinngg pprroo--ggrraammss. SLA offers online seminars inintelligence practices and issues. ClickUniversity has also announced itsCompetitive Intelligence CertificatesProgram in partnership with KnowledgeinForm.

• CCoonnssuulltt ccoommppeettiittiivvee aanndd mmaarrkkeettiinntteelllliiggeennccee ppuubblliiccaattiioonnss. A number ofbooks, journals, and articles can helpyou learn about the intelligenceprocess, as well as its practices, tools,techniques, and issues. Intelligencepractitioners can recommend theirfavorites.

• NNeettwwoorrkk wwiitthh iinntteelllliiggeennccee pprrooffeess--ssiioonnaallss aanndd pprraaccttiittiioonneerrss. Intelligencerequires different practices and mind-sets from information-related services.3

Exposing yourself to the “intelligenceway of thinking” will help you morequickly, efficiently, and effectively prac-tice and apply intelligence.

• SSeeeekk aaddvviiccee ffrroomm iinntteelllliiggeennccee ccoonn--ssuullttaannttss. Intelligence consultants tendto work with a variety of organizationsto help them solve intelligence issues.Working with an experience intelli-gence professional who is knowledge-

able about your sector will help youlearn how to practice intelligence appro-priately to your organization and cir-cumstances, as well as to avoid pitfalls.

Even if your organization or unitdoesn’t face commercial competition,intelligence can affect how you manageexisting and emerging threats andopportunities to your services. Takingfull advantage of intelligence requiresan understanding of its practices, tools,and impact, as well as a commitment toits application. Given the risks that wecontinue to experience in our professionand in the information industry, aren’tthe benefits to our survival and successworth it?

1 For more details, listen to a replay ofCorreia’s SLA Virtual Learning seminar,“Competitive Intelligence Building Blocks:Research, Part I” at http://www.sla.org/content/learn/learnmore/distance/2005virtsem/021005vls/index.cfm2 To help you learn more about competi-tive and market intelligence, how it cansupport libraries and other not-for-profitorganizations, and how you can get start-ed, join Correia for her a two-part seriesof the same title at SLA’s Click U Live! inAugust. Visit http://www.sla.org/con-tent/learn/learnmore/distance/2006cul/index.cfm for seminar descriptions and reg-istration details.3 See Correia’s article, “From LIS to CI:Practices, Issues, and Recommendations,”in the January 2005 issue of InformationOutlook.

vol. 10, no. 5 | May 2006 | information outlook | 29

By Carolyn Minor and Beth Dunning

Imagine hiring employees you have never met and arenever likely to meet. You will conduct your working relation-ships via email, chat, and phone. Is this pushing the telecom-muting solution too far?

Most case studies to date involve having acurrent full-time librarian work one or twodays from home or being granted a leave totelecommute for a few months. In these situa-tions, managers have already worked in per-son with their telecommuting staff. They arefamiliar with the telecommuting librarian’swork habits, performance, and personality

and they have regular in-person opportunities to discuss proj-ects and give feedback. Would telecommuting work withoutthis personal contact?

In October 2004 such a telecommuting solution wasimplemented in order to staff weekend chat reference serviceat the University of Winnipeg Library (UWL), Winnipeg,

Canada. Instead of hiring a librarian to provide chat ref-erence from a distance, they hired two library schoolstudents as “virtual graduate assistants” to cover theirweekend chat reference hours.

As a current virtual graduate assistant and a for-mer UWL librarian, we decided to share this innova-

tive staffing model with other librarians. Overall, theexperience has been positive for UWL, the graduate

MMaakkiinngg VViirrttuuaall LLiibbrraarryy SSttaaffffiinngg aa RReeaalliittyy

Virtual Workplace

students hired and library patrons who use the chat referenceservice. We’ve pushed the boundaries of the telecommutingsolution and we’re pleased to report that the water is fine.

Some Context The UWL serves 10,000 students on a vibrant and diverse

downtown campus in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The closestlibrary schools are in Edmonton, Alberta, 800 miles to thewest, and in London, Ontario, 1,300 miles to the east.

In spite of the UWL’s distance from a library school, theyhave a history of positive staffing solutions involving newprofessionals. Since 2001, the library has hired four recentMLIS graduates as information literacy (IL) interns. Theinterns have been responsible, among other things, for thelibrary’s Live Help chat reference service, which is not mucholder than the internship program itself.

The Live Help chat reference service, introduced in 2001,has proven to be hugely popular with both students and fac-ulty. Live Help bases much of its success on the choice anopen source product called RAKIM (developed at MiamiUniversity of Ohio) over commercial chat reference software.

The ProblemThis do-it-yourself philosophy carries over into the

library’s attitude towards chat reference staffing. Because ofthe importance placed on providing chat reference serviceduring the evenings and weekends, the library had previous-ly relied on filling temporary positions with support staff.When budget cuts in the fall of 2004 made it impossible torehire for these positions, librarians were asked to fill fourevenings a week by working at home, which still left theproblem of the weekend hours. After receiving no response toa librarian job posting that offered only weekend hours, theInformation Literacy Librarian Karen Hunt began to look forcreative solutions.

Karen explains, “I was thinking that wouldn’t it be great ifWinnipeg had a library school, then we could hire libraryschool students. Then I thought, if they’re working fromhome anyway, what does it matter if they’re in Winnipeg orMontreal, Alberta or Vancouver! I knew from our experienceof reviewing the applications for the Information LiteracyInternship, that Library School students often get part-timejobs working reference in academic libraries, so why not vir-tual reference?”

The next logical connection was made to the IL InternCarolyn Minor’s former library school at McGill University(Montreal, Quebec). Within a week, two library school stu-dents from McGill were hired as “virtual graduate assistants”to cover the weekend Live Help hours.

Part of Carolyn’s responsibility as the IL Intern was tooversee the Live Help chat service and thus, the new virtualgraduate assistants. With little time to consider the chal-lenges we were facing or to contemplate whether or not thiswould work introductions were made via email, appropriatepasswords were communicated, and the virtual graduateassistants were let loose! These are some of the lessons welearned along the way.


Virtual Workplace

Tips from the trenches…

• Interact often with your staff in the commonvirtual environment, both to be aware of thechallenges they are facing and to model good chattechnique.

• Provide many examples of good chat tech-nique by selecting transcripts to serve as exem-plars of behavior you wish to encourage.

• Provide feedback by reviewing their chat tran-scripts and making comments and suggestions, aswell as by forwarding user feedback to them.

• Build adequate time into your schedule to pro-vide direct virtual supervision while your staffare working. This needs to be recognized at anadministrative level.


Provide both written and verbal (including chat)instructions for new tasks. Arrange to spendsome time together either online or on the phoneto troubleshoot any process to be followed.

Beth Dunning is an MLIS student atMcGill University’s Graduate School ofLibrary and Information Studies inMontreal, Canada. She has been work-ing as a virtual graduate assistant forthe University of Winnipeg library sinceOctober 2004 and works as a referenceassistant at McGill’s Howard RossLibrary of Management. You can findout more at www.bethdunning.com .

Carolyn Minor now works at theWinnipeg Public Library’s newly openedMillennium Library. After finishing herinternship in information literacy at theUniversity of Winnipeg, she is exploringthe world of public computer trainingand library tours. She enjoyed workingvirtually so much that she decided towrite this article with Beth.

vol. 10, no. 2 | February 2006 | information outlook | 31

Virtual Workplace

Training and SupervisionThe biggest lesson we learned about training was the

importance of hiring people who can take initiative fortheir own learning. There is only so much direction thatcan be done from a distance. Even after instructions havebeen given, in writing or over the phone, there is littlechance to observe and provide direct feedback during thework itself.

Having said that, being immediately available toanswer questions played an important role in reassuringboth sides that all was well. Carolyn would often log intothe Live Help chat service while the virtual assistantswere working and provide feedback should they needclarification or direction. Unfortunately, this often meantworking outside of regularly scheduled workdays.

Another way to monitor virtual work and provide feed-back is to take the time to read the electronic record of thevirtual assistants’ work and provide lots of praise and sug-gestions as soon as possible. In our case, Carolyn wouldread the weekend’s transcripts and respond with feedback.However, as C.J. deJong (the current IL intern) points out,“Staff sometimes encounter situations where they wouldlike to have feedback, but this would only be recognized ifI reviewed every transcript. Therefore, we have decidedthat the virtual staff will notify me of any situations wherethey require more clarification or assistance.” Virtual staffmust take the initiative to be aware of problems and ques-tions they are having and seek guidance.

C.J. also mentioned the importance of passing alonguser feedback (most of it positive), especially when itmentions the virtual assistant by name.

Other Duties as AssignedThe UWL’s virtual graduate assistants’ job description

included “other duties as assigned” in order to maximizetheir time when the chat line was slow. It was challengingto think of work that can be done at a distance. It was alsochallenging to think of tasks that can be easily explainedwithout being able to “show someone how”.

Even after crafting what seems like a perfectly clearwritten explanation of the steps involved in carrying out aparticular task, you will never know what you have left outuntil someone has tried to follow the directions. Then thework grinds to a halt until you’re available fill in the gaps.

If there is a procedure to be followed, it is best to bothprovide written instructions and to walk the personthrough it once (either on the phone or through chat) andbe available to fill in the gaps in the instructions. While itmay seem tiresome to provide both written and verbalinstructions, it is important for the virtual staff to havesomething to jog their memory when you are not aroundto talk to. This also reinforces the importance of havingsome overlap between the work schedules of your virtualstaff and their supervisor.

Working with Other StaffNot only were our virtual graduate assistants called

upon to develop working relationships with people theyhad never met, but certain situations also required themto interact with other library staff with whom they had noconnection. Without direct introductions from the super-visor, there is little way for virtual staff to discover theidentity and roles of others in the organization and forthose staff to be aware of the virtual employees.

This can cause trouble, especially in access and pass-word issues. In trying to obtain passwords for a staff-onlyportion of the UWL web site for the virtual graduate assis-tants, Carolyn got the unfortunate response, “Who isBeth? (And why should I give her access to my site.)”

After one or two such interactions and the religiouscopying of emails back and forth, Carolyn felt more confi-dent asking the virtual assistants to embark on their owntroubleshooting. Once again, we see the importance ofmodeling certain kinds of behavior, when instructionaltime (both on the phone and in the time it takes toexplain something in an e-mail) is at a premium. This ismatched in importance by the necessity of the virtual staffbeing receptive learners to the modeling process.


• Introduce new virtual staff to other librarystaff via an email that everyone receives andmake names, positions (including areas ofresponsibility) and contact information availableto the virtual staff.

• At the beginning of your working relationship,it is important to have all problems reporteddirectly to you, but make sure you include the vir-tual staff in all the follow-up correspondence,modeling the problem-solving approach you wishthem to take.


• Each person will prefer a different mix ofemail, chat, and phone communication. Try totailor your approach to the individual.

• Use some kind of common virtual environment(blogs, wikis, intranet) to share problems andsolutions for future reference.


Virtual Workplace

CommunicationE-mail is not enough. This medium works when you

already have a pre-established working relationship withthe other correspondent. However, the need to establishcontext sensitivity without additional face-to-face-commu-nication reveals the limitations of email.

We discovered one of the best ways to combine com-munication and training was to use the RAKIM chat refer-ence software interface as a means of communication.This was especially important, as already noted, for train-ing purposes. We also relied on other commercial chatsoftware, such as MSN Messenger, when a more respon-sive chat environment was required, but that only hap-pened after we had all become conversant in our ownchat environment.

Another challenge was to create a permanent andshared record of as much of our work as possible, espe-cially for the “other duties as assigned” tasks. This wasimportant because we could not immediately call upon

one another for advice if we were having a problem withsomething. Working in physical isolation from colleaguesrequires some sort of virtual compensation for the loss incollegiality.

Our solution was to use a wiki to create a virtualworkspace in which everyone was free to report problemsand solutions. A wiki is a type of Web site that can beedited by a number of people, with no knowledge ofHTML required. We also used the wiki as a substitute forpassing collaborative documents back and forth overemail. In this way, the work was always centrally locatedinstead of in someone’s email inbox and there was neverany conflict over version control. We also experimented with providing written instructionsfor various tasks in the wiki. These centrally locatedinstructions then became evolving pieces as the workflowchanged and adapted to problems we encountered. Aswith the verbal instructions that needed to accompany thewritten, this evolving written record demonstrates theneed to provide diverse means of communication.

For More Information

Hiring and Training Graduate AssistantsBorin, J. “Training, Supervising, and

Evaluating Student Information Assistants.”Reference Librarian no. 72 (2001): 195-206.

Womack, Kay, and Karen J. Rupp-Serrano.“The Librarian’s Apprentice: Reference GraduateAssistants. Survey Results.” Reference ServicesReview 28, no. 2 (2000): 119-129.

Wu Qi. “Win-Win Strategy for theEmployment of Reference Graduate Assistants inAcademic Libraries.” Reference Services Review31, no. 2 (2003): 141-153.

Making Telework WorkBaker, Katherine. “Flexible Work Styles in the

Corporate Research Center.” Information Outlook4, no. 1 (Jan, 2000): 28.

Blue, Anthony. “The Telecommuting Trend: Isit for You?” Information Outlook 6, no. 7 (Jul,2002): 44,

Calzonetti, Jo Ann, and Aimee deChambeau.

“Virtual Reference: A TelecommutingOpportunity?” Information Outlook 7, no. 10(Oct, 2003): 34.

Haines, V. Y., S. St-Onge, and M.Archambault. “Environmental and PersonAntecedents of Telecommuting Outcomes.”Journal of End User Computing 14, no. 3 (Jul-Sep, 2002): 32-50.

Jaskowski, Selma K., Linda M. Sobey, andLinda J. Sutton. “Cataloging Coast to Coast.Staff Member at the University of CentralFlorida Telecommutes Temporarily.” TechnicalServices Quarterly 19, no. 2 (2001): 43-52.

Manley, Will. “Telework, Or WatchingTelevision?. Telecommuting for Librarians.”American Libraries 33, no. 4 (Apr, 2002): 124.Putnam, L. “Distance Teamwork: The Realitiesof Collaborating with Virtual Colleagues.” Online25, no. 2 (Mar/Apr 2001, p.54-6, 2001).

Venkatesh, V., and C. Speier. “Creating anEffective Training Environment for EnhancingTelework.” International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 52, no. 6 (Jun, 2000): 991-1005.

June

2006

Digital information sources

Possible topics: Selection process, RFP writing,maximizing usage.

Apr. 7, 2006

July

2006

Managing

Possible topics: Planning, budgeting,supervising a staff, purchasing.

May 5,2006

August

2006

Knowledge management

Possible topics:KM systems, indexing information, low-budget KM.

June 9,2006

September

2006

Internal Marketing

Possible topics:Using intranets and e-mail,training internal clients, special events, tips for increasing usage, showing return on investment.

July 7,2006

October

2006

Web searching

Possible topics:Meta directories, using online search engines, the best sites for various content areas.

Aug. 11,2006

November

2006

Copyright

Possible topics: Global considerations,permissions, new laws and regulations

Sept. 8,2006

December

2006

Managing

Possible topics: Planning, budgeting,supervising a staff, purchasing.

Oct. 6,2006

Editorial CalendarEach issue of INFORMATION OUTLOOK includes articles on many more topics than the ones listed here.The calendar is only a general guide for editorial direction.“Cover article”topics for one issue will be suitable as features inanother.

Please e-mail article queries and proposals to [email protected]. If you arewriting for a particular issue, your query should be early enough to allow for writing the article.

Issue Cover Article Deadline

How to Write forInformation Outlook

SLA’s monthly magazine is written primarily by and for infor-mation professionals. INFORMATION OUTLOOK interprets thenews and covers trends and issues that affect information pro-fessionals in a global environment.

If you know of an interesting improvement in a special libraryor information center… If you’ve solved a difficult problem—orprevented one… If you or a colleague have done somethingextraordinary… If you want to give something back to the profes-sion by sharing your experiences with others… We want to hearfrom you.

We welcome proposals for articles of interest to information pro-fessionals.

TopicsThe editorial calendar is a guide for the editorial direction of the

magazine. Each issue covers many more topics than those includedin the calendar. “Cover article” topics for one issue will be suitable asfeatures in another.

When you propose an article, make sure you can relate the topic tothe specific needs of our readers. INFORMATION OUTLOOK readers rep-resent companies of all sizes. They work in large libraries with largestaffs and as solo librarians in small companies. Their experience rangesfrom senior professionals to beginners just out of school.

INFORMATION OUTLOOK readers want to read articles about new tech-niques, new ideas, new trends. They’re interested in articles about searchengines, knowledge management, international issues, copyright law, tech-nology, innovation, the Internet. They’re interested in articles on adminis-tration, organization, marketing, and operations.

INFORMATION OUTLOOK readers like case studies. They’re interested ingrowing their organizations and in planning their careers. They want toknow what works, and what doesn’t work. They want success stories. Theywant to know how to confront problems and how to avoid them.

Articles should include something new, something different, some-thing important. When the reader is finished, he or she should feel smarterthan before.

A note to vendors and service providersIn many cases you may have the best and most current information on

a topic. We invite you to share that expertise with our readers, to advancethe body of knowledge of the profession. But—we’ll insist that your arti-cles do not promote your business or claim that your product or service isthe only solution to a given problem. Expanded writers guidelines are atwww.sla.org/content/Shop/Information/writingforio/index.cfm.

To submit a proposal…If you have an idea for an article, please send a proposal to

[email protected] outlining the article and your qualifications for writing it.A paragraph or two and a few bullet points will suffice. We usually respondin a couple of weeks or less.


Means Business

B Y P R O V I D I N G A C C E S S

T O T H E R E L E VA N T

I N F O R M AT I O N

E M P L O Y E E S N E E D

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B U S I N E S S D E C I S I O N S .

SM

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leaders .?ebrary offers highly interactive eBook databases in

Leadership and Management, and Sales and Marketing.

• Current titles from leading publishers such as AMACOM Books,

John Wiley & Sons, Jossey-Bass Publishers, Kaplan Publishing,

McGraw-Hill Book Companies, and many others.

• User friendly interface makes searching, navigating, and storing

information easy.

• Features InfoTools™, which turns every word into a contextual link

to the online resources of your choice including existing research

resources and information on the web.

• Simultaneous, multi-user access.

• Content growth at no extra cost throughout the subscription term.

• Affordable pricing.

Special limited-time pricing for SLA members!

For more information or to sign up for a web demo or free trial,

e-mail [email protected].

How are companies like yours


August 2006Third International Conference on

Knowledge Management (ICKM)

University of Greenwich et al.1-2 August 2006Greenwich, UK

29th Annual International ACM

SIGIR Conference

6-11 August 2006Seattle, WA, USA

Libraries and Competition:

Intelligence for Management and

Strategy - Part I

15 August 2006http://www.sla.org/clickulive

72nd Annual World Library and

Information Congress

International Federation of LibraryAssociations and Institutions (IFLA)20-24 August 2006

Libraries and Competition:

Intelligence for Management and

Strategy - Part II

29 August 2006http://www.sla.org/clickulive

Hypertext 2006

ACM23-25 August 2006Odense, Denmarkhttp://www.ht06.org/

September 2006Digital Resources in the

Humanities and Arts

3-6 September 2006Totnes, Devon, UKhttp://www.ahds.ac.uk/drha2006/index.php?cf=5

I-KNOW: 6th International

Conference on Knowledge

Management

6-8 September 2006Graz, Austriahttp://i-know.know-center.tugraz.at/

10th European Conference of

Medical and Health Libraries

European Association of HealthInformation and Libraries (EAHIL)11-16 September 2006Cluj-Napoca, Romaniahttp://www.eahilconfcluj.ro/

Project Management for Solo

Librarians – Part I

13 September 2006www.sla.org/clickulive

Bringing Text Alive: The Future of

Scholarship, Pedagogy, and

Electronic Publication

Text Creation Partnership14-17 September 2006Ann Arbor, MI, USAhttp://www.lib.umich.edu/tcp/conference

ALIA 2006 Biennial Conference

Australian Library and

Information Association

19-22 September 2006Perth, Australiahttp://conferences.alia.org.au/alia2006/

Project Management for Solo

Librarians – Part II

27 September 2006www.sla.org/clickulive

October 2006LIANZA Conference 2006

Library & Information Association ofNew Zealand Aotearoa8-11 October 2006Wellington, New Zealandhttp://www.lianza.org.nz/events/conference2006/

Internet Librarian International

Information Today16-17 October 2006London, UKhttp://www.internet-librarian.com/index.shtml/

Internet Librarian 2006

Information Today23-25 October 2006Monterey, CA, USA http://www.infotoday.com/il2006

2006 actKM Conference

actKM Forum25-26 October 2006Canberra, Australiahttp://www.actkm.org/actkm_2006_conference.php

Library Assessment Conference

ARL, UVa, University of Washington25-27 October 2006Charlottesville, VA, USAhttp://www.arl.org/stats/laconf.html

International Conference on

Multidisciplinary Information

Sciences & Technologies

University of Extremedura and theOpen Institute of Knowledge25-28 October 2006Mérida, Spainhttp://www.instac.es/inscit2006

2006 LITA National Forum

Library & Information TechnologyAssociation26-29 October 2006Nashville, TN, USA http://www.ala.org/ala/lita/litaevents/litanationalforum2006nashvilletn/06_Call.pdf

KMWorld & Intranets 2006

Information Today31 October-2 November 2006San Jose, CA, USAhttp://www.kmworld.com/kmw06

November 2006ASIS&T 2006 Annual Meeting

American Society of InformationScience and Technology3-9 November 2006Austin, TX, USAhttp://www.asis.org/Conferences/AM06/am06call.html

ECM West Conference & Expo

AIIM6-8 November 2006San Jose, CA, USAhttp://ecmwest.com/ecmwest/v42/index.cvn?id=10000&p_navID=9

Writing for Publication

7 November 2006 www.sla.org/clickulive

Sofia 2006

Various Universities8-10 November 2006Sofia, Bulgariahttp://slim.emporia.edu/globenet/Sofia2006

The Value of Corporate Libraries

22 November 2006 www.sla.org/clickulive

Online Information 2006

28-30 November 2006London, UKhttp://www.online-information.co.uk

December 2006New Librarians' Symposium 2006

Australian Library and InformationAssociation (ALIA)1-2 December 2006Sydney, Australiahttp://conferences.alia.org.au/newlibrarian2006/

50th Anniversary - Golden

Relection & Directions

Military Librarians Workshop Dec 4-8, 2006http://www.sla.org/division/dmil/index.html

Copyright for the Corporate

Librarian: The Importance &

Consequences of Copyright Issues

in the Digital Environment

6 December 2006 www.sla.org/clickulive

American Chemical Society 12www.acs.org

American Medical Association 22jama.ama-assn.org

Dialog Back Coverwww.dialog.com

ebrary, Inc. 34www.ebrary.com

Elsevier 1www.scopus.com

Global Industry Analysts, Inc. Insertwww.strategyr.com

LexisNexis 2www.lexisnexis.com

Thomson Business Intelligence Inside Front Coverinfo.thomsonbusinessintelligence.com

Wall Street Journal Inside Back Coverwww.wsj.com

By Lesley Ellen Harris

Although the focus of this columnis copyright issues, this month we willexamine a number of other areas relat-ed to copyright that often arise whendiscussing copyright issues. We willlook at these issues in terms of creat-ing enterprise-wide policies on them.Not every area may be relevant to yourenterprise.

Trademark PolicyA trademark is defined in U.S. law

as a “word, design, number, 2 or 3dimensional form, sound or color, or acombination, which a person uses todistinguish his products or services.”Examples of trademarks are the goldenarches of McDonald’s, and the name,logos, marks, or icons used in con-junction with software such as AdobeReader.

Some countries provide protectionfor unregistered trademarks, and mostcountries have a registration system.Trademark, whether the mark isunregistered or registered, preventsothers from legally using a similar,confusing mark to yours for the sameor similar goods or services.

A trademark policy for your enter-prise may cover issues like protectingyour marks, licensing your marks toothers, and proper uses of your andothers’ marks.

Patent PolicyA patent provides the owner with

the exclusive right to manufacture,sell, and use the patented invention.For example, the altered genes and

cells in many genetically altered cropseeds are patented by companies, andfarmers who want to use those seedsmust obtain permission from thosecompanies.

You need to obtain a patent foryour invention in each country youwant protection for it. A patent givesyour company exclusive rights to dis-tribute, license or sell that particularinvention. A patent gives the owner aright to file a claim for patent infringe-ment if that invention is used withoutthe consent of the patent holder.

Your patent policy may explainwho owns patents created at work,how your organization protects itspatents, rules about licensing yourorganization's patents, and using thepatents of others.

Ownership PolicyOwnership issues arise in many

organizational settings, especially inacademia.

Ownership of copyrights andpatents may belong to either the indi-vidual or institution, depending on thepolicy of your enterprise and any writ-ten agreements created in furtheranceof that policy. For example, the owner-ship policy could make it clear that auniversity professor who writes abook separately from teaching classes,and on his own time, owns the copy-right in that book.

E-Mail and/or Internet PolicyEmployers generally have an obli-

gation to provide an environment freefrom discrimination and harassment.Harassment may occur if an employee

downloads pornographic images ontoa computer at work. Therefore, a poli-cy may be established to address thisand similar behavior involving e-mailand Internet use.

You may want to establish a clearstatement of your corporate policy onissues that arise with e-mail andInternet use, and all employees shouldbe made aware of the policy. Forexample:

• The organization’s e-mail systemand Internet access shall only be usedfor work purposes.

• Use of the Internet may be moni-tored by appropriate personnel.

• The enterprise prohibits illegaluse of e-mail and the Internet. If e-mail or the Internet is used for illegalpurposes, then the individual may facediscipline.

Issues related to the content andownership of a blog by an employeemay fall within this category as well.

Privacy PolicyIndividuals using the Internet have

the expectation that their e-mails willnot be intercepted and their personalinformation will not be disclosed to athird party. Therefore, whether it isrequired by law in your jurisdiction, itis always prudent for an enterprise topost a privacy policy on its Web site.

In particular, a privacy policyshould include the following:

• Why personal information is col-lected. Is it collected for a survey?

• For what purpose the personalinformation is used. Will it be used toprovide better service for the visitor?

• A statement that sensitive infor-


Reprography Collectives

Lesley Ellen Harris is a copyright lawyer/consultant who works on legal, business, and strategicissues in the publishing, content, entertainment, Internet, and information industries. She is the edi-tor of the print newsletter, The Copyright and New Media Law Newsletter, in its 10th year of publi-cation in 2006. If you would like a sample copy of this newsletter, e-mail: [email protected].

She also is a professor at SLA’s Click University where she teaches a number of online courses oncopyright, licensing, and managing copyright and digital content for SLA members. SLA members mayregister for the fall 2006 courses at: http://www.sla.org/content/learn/learnmore/distance/2006cul/index.cfm.

mation is used through a secure server.For example, credit card informationwill be secure.

• A notice that information collect-ed will not be disclosed to a thirdparty.

• A statement that visitors will benotified of any changes to the policy.

• An explanation that “cookies”automatically save information.

Terms and Conditions of Web Site Use

Management may also consider set-ting out the terms and conditions ofuse of its Web site. For example, the

Web site may state that its contentmay change at any time without noti-fication to visitors and that it is forpersonal information use only. TheWeb site also may state that links pro-vided on it are given as a convenienceto the visitors and that the enterprisedoes not monitor nor endorse thelinks. Further, the enterprise may dis-claim responsibility for risks to thevisitor in using information on its Website.

Legislation-Specific PoliciesLegislation may require your enter-

prise to have particular policies in place.

For example, in the U.S., the DigitalMillennium Copyright Act (DMCA)requires Internet service providers toimplement certain policies to limit theirliability for content on their networks.Also, in the U.S., the TEACH Actrequires an academic institution to haveparticular policies to enable certain con-tent to be used in online education with-out prior permission. Check with yourcorporate counsel to see whether youare subject to any specific policies andprocedures mandated from any specificlegislation.


By Stephen Abram

Islands in the streamThat is what we are.No one in-betweenHow can we be wrong?Sail away with me to another world.And we rely on each other, ah-ah.From one lover to another, ah-ah.Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, and the Bee Gees.

Streaming media is breaking out. Arewe ready for it to really hit the big time? Orwill libraries be an island in the stream?Are we immersed in a text-dominatedocean while hot media expands every-where?

I‘ve talked about podcasts in a previouscolumn, and now it’s time for everyone toplay assertively with the new media for-mats that gather loosely under the “stream-ing” banner. iPods (and other MP3-orienteddevices) can now play music, radio, andlectures. They also play TV shows andmovies as downloads and some phones inKorea play free TV while phones in theU.S., within territories that have EVDO, cantoo. If my YouTube addiction continues, Ican imagine a bunch of new portabledevices in my future.

Librarians know all about player pianorolls, wax records, vinyl LPs, eight-tracks,cassettes, Beta and VHS tapes, etc.; andwe’ve stored them all well in our culturalarchives. We keep them safe for posterityand that’s great. However, we do need to beup to date with the latest stuff, too. Ourusers and clients look to us to know a lotabout how to use the new formats comingdown the pipe.

Information skills are one thing, con-tainer skills are quite another. When infor-mation was just printed text and pictureson a page, reading was just about enough.Now we are also necessarily containerexperts—podcasts, MP3s, eBooks, audiobooks, DVDs, etc. Many of these formatsfound their initial footing in the consumermarketplace, and now they’re finding cur-

rency in the academic, education, corpo-rate, government, and institutional market-places. But they’re moving along fast as theworlds of entertainment and sports are farstronger drivers of technology adoption!

Indeed, SLA uses many of these tech-nologies in our Click University efforts. Myemployer also uses Web casting and collab-oration technologies for both internal andexternal training—and for our SirsiDynixInstitute for both synchronous and asyn-chronous events, as well as podcasts on ourown and through iTunes. Customer uptakeis growing very fast.

If it doesn’t already, your employer willbe creating, licensing, storing, and offeringeducation, training, meeting, and commu-nication events to its employees, partnersand clients, and maybe even the generalpublic. Whether these are called streamingmedia, Web casts, e-learning, webinars,podcasts, video on demand, VOD casts, orwhatever—we, as information profession-als, should be ready. How do you usethem? How are they acquired and whatrights are licensed? How are they indexed,archived, and made accessible? Can they beput into the OPAC or intranet? How are theypreserved and stored? Can their contents besearched? Are there better formats? Whatare the trends? What recommendationsshould we be making for our companies’intranet, Blackberries, browser plug-ins,etc.? There are plenty of questions!

Anyway, I thought this month that Iwould point you to a couple of places toplay this summer. Playing is the best wayto learn anyway, and some of us are luckyto have a few extra minutes in the sum-mertime that can be invested in learning

new skills. Unfortunately, if you don’t haveany extra time, you don’t get a mulligan.

For StartersWe’re librarians, so we like to read first.

Okay, in the sidebar to this article there area few simple readings. Start with theWikipedia entries on video and streamingmedia. These are always simple enoughand provide plenty of links to the arcaneworld of the new language of streamingmedia. Since they’re in a wiki, they areoften updated as improvements and newinventions occur.

Next up, dive a few times into theStreamingMedia.com and Streaming MediaWorld Web sites. You’ll find a wealth ofarticles and resources. Indeed, theStreamingMedia.com site offers two excel-lent white papers that address the basics ofWeb casting events and the issues involvedin enterprise Web casting. Not a bad start.

Next, make sure you have downloadedthe major video viewers. This will let youavoid all sorts of messy learning. The majorviewers are Microsoft Windows MediaPlayer, Real, Adobe Macromedia Flash andQuickTime. They’re easy to learn and notdifficult to download. You’ll learn whichones you like, but don’t fall in love withany one viewer. Love the one you’re with,but things are changing too fast in thisspace to make a long-term commitment.

Getting the Streaming Video BugYou just can’t speak with authority

about this stuff until you’ve played withit. Now I’m not advocating that youspend your sum-mer downloading


Islands in the Stream

Stephen Abram, MLS is vice president, innovation, for SirsiDynixand the President–elect of SLA. He is an SLA Fellow and the pastpresident of the Ontario Library Association and the immediatepast president of the Canadian Library Association. In June 2003,he was awarded SLA’s John Cotton Dana Award. This column con-tains his perspectives and does not necessarily represent the opin-ions or positions of SirsiDynix. He would love to hear from you [email protected].

your favorite videos for your home collec-tion on the boss’s clock and dime. I amadvocating that you spend a little timeunderstanding a few key things. Learningshould be fun, so pick your favorite topic,hobby, career goal, and start surfing!

1. Start with a few easy videos. I’ve pro-vided a few interesting or funny ones in thesidebar.2. Now head off to the major consumersites like Google Video, Yahoo! Video,YouTube, MSN Video, CNN Video, etc. andjust try viewing a few. Determine if theexperience is comfortable and that youhave the Internet speed, browser settings,viewers, and plug-ins you need.3. Learn how to search for video: con-sumer, educational, professional, or busi-ness training. Try sites like the YouTube,

NICEM Film and Video Finder Online,Media Sleuth, International Tele-Film,Singingfish, Blinkx, Blinkx TV, or the pop-ular Rocketboom. Search for fun stuff,library stuff, or things that matter to yourorganization’s strategies.4. Sign up for the sample sessions formajor Web-based professional events andcollaboration software. These includeMicrosoft Live Meeting, Saba Centra, andWebex. You may have already used these,in training sessions but they have manymore features that need to be understoodand explored.5. Sign up for some SLA Click Universityevents so you can use your newly acquiredskills in your own cause.6. If you really get into this, there are anumber of specialized conferences, includ-ing Streaming Media East, Streaming

Media West, eStream, Streaming andDigital Media Conference, and more.7. License a few appropriate videos andload them onto your intranet, cataloguethem in your OPAC and market them, pos-sibly in partnership with systems or HR.Trial them, pilot, evaluate, and adjust.Position yourself as the source for any kindof information, regardless of container.

Hey, now you’re well on your way tobeing a video demon. Before you know it,you’ll be producing your own YouTubelibrary viral marketing events, trainingvideos for Click University, and editing doc-umentaries on the weekend. Be that islandin the stream. See you at the Oscars! Havea playful summer.


Useful Streaming Media LinksGeneral ResourcesStreamingMedia.com—http://www.streamingmedia.com/Streaming Media World—http://www.streamingmediaworld.com/Wikipedia Entry on “Video”—http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VideoWikipedia Entry on “Streaming Media”—http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streaming_mediaEV-DO—http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EVDO

Free PDF White PapersWeb cast Essentials: Presenting Successful Events Online—http://www.streamingmedia.com/whitepapers/SM_InnovationSeries_2005.pdfSolutions for Enterprise Streaming & Digital Media—http://www.streamingmedia.com/downloads/Enterprise-White-Paper.pdf

Sample VideosYouTube—www.youtube.comYahoo! Video—http://video.yahoo.comGoogle Video—http://video.google.com/CNN Video—www.cnn.com/video/MovieFlix—www.movieflix.com/United Streaming—http://www.unitedstreaming.com/MSN Video—http://video.msn.com/v/us/v.htmNICEM Film and Video Finder Online—http://www.nicem.com/Media Sleuth—http://www.mediasleuth.com/International Tele-Film—http://www.itf.ca/Singingfish—http://search.singingfish.com/sfw/home.jspBlinkx—http://www.blinkx.com/Blinkx TV—http://tv.blinkx.com/Rocketboom—http://www.rocketboom.com/vlog/search.htmlClick University—http://sla.learn.com/learncenter.asp?id=178409

Webinar TechnologyMicrosoft Live Meeting—http://www.microsoft.com/office/uc/livemeeting/default.mspxSaba Centra—http://www.saba.com/centra-saba/Webex—http://www.webex.com

PlayersMicrosoft Windows Media Player—http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/default.mspxReal – RealPlayer, Rhapsody—http://www.real.com/QuickTime—http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/win.htmlAdobe Macromedia Flash—http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash

Must-watch Streaming Video (just for fun)(Okay, so it’s my quirky sense of humor.)Real Life Simpsons Intro—http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49IDp76kjPwHow to get kicked out of the library—http://www.youtube.com/results?search=library+dominoes&search_type=search_videosMothers’ Day—http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKXFqGUGdTk&search=mothers%20dayThe Daily Show with Jon Stewart—http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_daily_show/index.jhtmlLate Night with Conan O’Brien—http://www.nbc.com/Late_Night_with_Conan_O'Brien/index.shtmlThe Late Show with David Letterman—http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/EPIC 2014—http://www.robinsloan.com/epic/EPIC 2015—http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/epic

By John Latham

Those of you who follow my columnwill know that I keep batting on about theimportance of professionalism. Afterattending my 11th SLA Annual Conference,I am pleased to announce that there is hopefor us yet.

One of my lasting impressions of theBaltimore conference was that the atten-dees dressed more professionally than atany earlier conference I have attended. Iwondered why this might be and came upwith a couple of explanations. Our mem-bers are moving into more senior manage-ment positions with the inherent upgradein dress code, or it is a generational thing.

I am not an expert on the generationtheories, but I found another possibleexplanation in the excellent white paperprepared by the Business LibrariansAdvisory Panel of the IMLS-funded study,“The Future of Librarians in theWorkforce,” of which SLA is a co-partner1.The paper refers to the differences betweenBaby Boomers and Generations X and Y. Itnotes in particular that Generations X andY are “more family or dual-centric than thework-centric Baby Boomers.” This mayaffect attire in that Gen Xers and Ys do notdifferentiate so much between workplaceand home, and so they do not need to dressdown when not at the office. I think thiswould likely mean the opposite—that Xand Y are more casual and don’t focus somuch on appearance but the work itself.Whatever. There are more important issuesraised in this paper.

Although the paper addresses the futureof business librarians, the points it raisescan just as easily be adapted to academic orother contexts. Dear to my heart were thefollowing sentences in the introduction:“We must integrate ourselves into the deci-sion process and become an integral part ofour company’s strategy. In order to survivewe must take a strong leadership role. Notonly must we market ourselves but wemust get involved in company-wide initia-tives.” 2

This does not mean that everyone hasto become a leader to exist. To have leaders,you have to have followers, and there isnothing wrong in not wanting to get to thetop. But as a group, we have to put our pro-fession into leadership positions or we willbe sidelined. The post-Baby Boomers donot see themselves in one career for theirworking life, and this is a good thing. Weare told that they value flexibility and liketo pursue further educational opportuni-ties. The former allows them to see them-selves in other positions within an organi-zation, which makes it a natural progres-sion from library to senior management.The latter facilitates the former in that theyare more than happy to extend their educa-tion, which is a prerequisite to advance-ment.

The apparent comfort that the youngergeneration has with change is encouragingbecause leaders have to be change agents.We have to look at our target audiences,and adapt our services accordingly to meettheir needs—and not forget to include sen-ior management as an important audience,which is ignored at our peril.

By all accounts, the recent SLA confer-ence in Baltimore was a great success;although, as one gets older, the staminarequired to stay the course increases expo-nentially. I will spare you my stories fromBoston and Seattle, but I am amazed that Imade it to the end of those conferences inone piece.

Looking at the program in Baltimore, Iwas encouraged and discouraged by thenumber of sessions that addressed leader-ship and management topics. I found somethat dealt with these topics, but found morethat had been cancelled, perhaps becauseof lack of interest. The IMLS white paperposits that advancement will depend onobtaining competen-cies in leadership andmanagement oforganizations, infor-mation technology orother disciplines cen-tral to a particular

enterprise.3 I see lots of conference offeringson the last two competencies, but not onthe first. Do the attendees think that learn-ing or brushing up on the last two skills ismore important, or do the courses offeredfor leadership and management not meetthe needs of the attendees?

It is probably a combination of both. Ifmy experience with my course on financialmanagement of information projects isanything to go by, it is difficult to generateinterest from our profession in skills suchas these that are required for us to growand progress within our organizations orinstitutions. On the other side of the coin,SLA does not have vast experience in man-agement training, and therefore may not bethe natural source to which one looks forthis area of expertise. However, this givesus a great opportunity to look to partneringwith organizations that specialize in thisfield, and this just happens to be one of theCEO objectives set by the board of directors.The new partnership between Click U andKnowledge inForm is a prime example ofhow SLA is already meeting this objective

There is no doubt that we gain fromexpanding our skills in the specific areaswith which we are comfortable, but wealso have to stretch ourselves into areasthat require more effort. The rewards for usindividually and as a profession will beeven greater.

1 “The Future of Librarians in the Workforce:Business Librarians IMLS White Paper.” JanChindlund, Denise Chochrek, Jean Scanlon,David Shumaker and Julie Stich. December15, 2005. http://imlsworkforce.org/. 2 “The Future of Librarians in the Workforce:Business Librarians IMLS White Paper.” JanChindlund, Denise Chochrek, Jean Scanlon,David Shumaker and Julie Stich. December15, 2005: page 1. http://imlsworkforce.org/.3 “The Future of Librarians in the Workforce:Business Librarians IMLS White Paper.” JanChindlund, Denise Chochrek, Jean Scanlon,David Shumaker and Julie Stich. December15, 2005: page 10. http://imlsworkforce.org/.


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John R. Latham is the director of the SLA Information Center.He can be reached at [email protected].

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