View from the Hill

Should Information tip the scales on the balance sheet?

Our Friday breakfast discussions highlighted the importance of online content strategy being understood and supported by everyone in an organisation, in particular at CEO and board level.  Information, unlike a warehouse full of product or work in progress, is invisible and often not recognised or valued as asset.  In the current climate the easily recognised costs of organised access to information are often being cut (the information managers) thus indirectly adding to the cost of ensuring that those who need it can find and identify the appropriate information.  This becomes even more difficult in a global organisation where the cultures may differ and local management have a differing view.  Corporate memory is an eroded value asset.

Equally having a sound information or online content strategy can bring benefits that outstrip information forced into an IT infrastructure that doesn't always fit the need of the users or the organisation.  One delegate mentioned that the corporate ethos of "make search work" was somewhat at odds with several thousand users developing their own mini libraries on local servers without understanding the need for globalised sharing.  This led another delegate to make the point that in their company people only admit where their information stored is if it appears they may lose it or lose access to it.

Risk is always an issue.  Users expect the keepers to circumvent the rules put in place by IT or even to try and bypass contractual limitations. The security of information in the cloud was seen as uncertain - sanctioned by some employers and feared by others.  Social Media is still blocked in certain types of organisation and consequently people use their own personal devices more and more.  This is something that mobile and home working tends to take advantage off.  Providing accessible access to internal information but encouraging staff to provide their own space, PCs and devices cuts overheads whilst at the same time giving risk management a higher profile as organisations try and balance security, access and reputational management.

Intriguingly cultures differ within the same types of organisations and recent co-operation between public organisations has brought that into perspective.  Of three local authorities moving to shared services one has everything outsourced, directly opposite to another where everything is done in-house whilst the third has a mix of both.  Change needs driving from the top down but you often still need information people to make sense of it.

Above all the ability to make a decision (be it right or wrong) is vital as failure to make decisions invariably causes damage and can stall progress.  In a tracked programme of change, four months of 13 months was attributed to failure to make appropriate decisions.  A valuable aid going forward has been to run risk registers alongside the process thus facilitating better decision making.

Asking delegates present to outline the biggest changes they had seen in the last five years brought forth growing user expectations, outsourcing (justification and value), mobile technologies, ways of working, lack of boundaries, globalisation ideology and keeping up with the pace of technological development and concepts.  The final comment brought a wry smile from all those present; "SharePoint is not the answer!"

Sue H

Economy and change - I'll say it again "Economy and Change - and did I hear outsourcing?"

Breakfast at Roast Restaurant this week ended with a vox pop of the eleven replete breakfasters.  The question asked was: "In one word, what has had the biggest effect on your daily work in the last five years?"   We all thought, wrote down our word and then said it out loud:  economy, change, economy, enterprise2, change, outsourcing, change, outsourcing, transparency, market research, change!  So four for change, two each for outsourcing and economy (surely related in some bizarre spider web way) and one for the rest.  There was consensus that the speed of change was the highlight.  It will be interesting to see who has what to say on that topic next week.

 

Earlier, while delectable kippers, old-fashioned boiled eggs with marmite soldiers, lush eggs Benedict and copious quantities of coffee were consumed the conversation focussed on the many things that occupy our working (and sometimes waking) hours.  Change of course had featured then as well.  A recruitment freeze was seen as both positive and negative in that it encouraged managers to think smarter as teams got smaller.  That tied in with showing demonstrable ROI when new systems or ways of working were introduced.  Decision making surfaced both as a positive (where prompt and effective decisions were made) and as a negative where failure to make decisions is like a weight around our necks impacts on progress.  Decisions lead to change - keep change positive - give colleagues credit to understand why change is needed, keep communication lines open and include them.  There was more of course - at times intense and at times we roared with laughter.   

 

Want to know more?  Come to a Sue Hill Recruitment Networking Breakfast.  You won’t be scrambled or boiled - just the eggs will be. 

 

- Sue (Hill)

 

 

What would you do with £100m? LIKE25 at the Crown Tavern

Stimulating discussions at LIKE25, at the Crown Tavern in Clerkenwell last night with our guest, Caroline Brazier, the newly appointed Director of Scholarship & Collections at the British Library.  Caroline joined us to discuss how the British Library is balancing the current challenges of budget cuts with increasing expectations on the Library's leading role in supporting Britain in the digital information age.

With the background knowledge that the Library faces cuts of £25m over the next three years, Caroline outlined the strategies and evidence that are being presented to face this challenge.  She posed two questions to the audience. What is the one essential thing that the British Library does?  And if you were given £100m (the Library’s operating budget) what you spend it on to give maximum impact for public benefit?

A variety of answers came back on the second question, including a greater emphasis on digital infrastructure and digital licensing, and investment in outreach activities, particularly to the Higher Education community.  It was also suggested that in the current climate the BL should reconsider its core strategy and mission statement – is it sustainable now to be all things to all people?  A number of people also commented that £100m comparatively is not a large sum. "Ridiculously good value" has been a much repeated Twitter comment since last night. Should the BL be more ambitious and lobby actively for increased funding and increased private investment, rather than making do with what they are currently being given?

Caroline also drew our attention to three key documents as part of our discussion: 

The Value of Knowledge - the annual report for 2009/10

2020 Vision – the Library’s strategic vision statement for the next 10 years

and Return on Investment – a paper from last autumn which presents an economic model suggesting that for every £1 of public funding, the BL generates at least £4.40 for the UK economy.

Much food for thought. 

And talking of food, I was amused to see that our name badges for the evening displayed our first names, and not our employers, but the main course that we had ordered from the menu. Presumably networking conversations could then be started on the basis that you really are what you eat. Mine was more or less (fish)cakes and ale.  I leave you to draw your own conclusions there.

- Donald

Synthesising, synergy, scrambled eggs and smoked trout

On a brilliant sunny morning a diverse group of information professionals met this week at Roast Restaurant in London’s Borough Market and talked at length about the two things that are currently having the biggest effect on their working life.

The list, as Val Skelton so aptly summarises in the Information Today blog, was lengthy.  The organisations represented ranged from Central Government, Investment Banking, Charities, NHS, Academia, Digital Content Support and Publishers and yet commonality of interest shone through. 

I am still intrigued at the comment that the Punk generation (now 40-55) are currently running our businesses and that they are generally not inspirational managers.  Is it any wonder given that their 1980-1995 MBAs were written by others who did their MBAs in the 1960s?   One breakfaster deep into his MBA had been asked by his MD what ‘Creativity’ (the title of one his modules) was.  Lateral thinking?  Whatever the name a skill that is either welcomed or stifled depending on management.  Seven years working in Australia was seen as a fast track way to develop skills and push the boundaries as the general attitude is ‘What are you waiting for?  Do it!’

Information workers shouldn’t worry about what they do, where they fit and where they stand on the ‘professionalism’ ladder but more act as consultants, confident they have something unique and special to offer.

Next time I am going to have the pancakes with yoghurt and rhubarb jam.  - Sue

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a superinjunction.

All this talk (or non talk) of superinjunctions and their being broken (or should that be superbroken?) on Twitter has led me to ponder once again on the vagueries of the social media bandwagon we are all riding.

Leaving aside the question of privacy protection versus freedom of speech (and let’s face it, in this particular instance the eternal question of who has slept with whom is hardly a case for Wikileaks), I think we should take a moment to reflect on the fact that, for us mere mortals who cannot imagine being able to afford/ having a personal life interesting enough to require a superinjunction it is generally advisable to be a little bit careful about what we post to public forums such as Twitter.

I like to think that in this new age of the internet we are now all fairly savvy when it comes to Facebook – everyone’s heard the tales of potential employers scouring the Facebook pages of the candidates they’ve just interviewed for evidence of undesireability.

But people aren’t always as careful online as is advisable so I have come up with a few golden rules for the use of social media. These are especially worth bearing in mind when using tools like Twitter – it may seem by its very nature to present a minimal risk as posts to the site tend to be out of date within a couple of hours, but just because they no longer show up on people’s homepages, doesn’t mean they’re gone.

Firstly – do remember that even if you only use social media for personal (not professional) reasons that at the very least, elements of your profile and comments are readily available to anyone via a variety of search engines (and if you don’t keep a weather eye on your privacy settings a whole lot more).

Let me point you to England cricketer Kevin Pietersen’s ‘slip’ last summer when he announced he’d been dropped from the England side before his employers has issued a statement. Though the problem here wasn’t that he’d announced it before they did, rather it was the manner in which he announced it – angrily and with expletives. Which brings me nicely around to points two and three.

2 – Unless you are actually Charlie Brooker, it is inadvisable to swear. Wit is acceptable, s*** is not.

3 – Never criticise your employers (or potential employers). Sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people other than Charlie Sheen get caught doing this.

To his credit Pietersen did remove the offending post and issue an apology, but:

4 - The internet has a long memory: just because you removed a post doesn’t mean it hasn’t been cached.

Enough of the bad ideas though – here’s a good one to finish with. For a fine exapmle of gentle (t)wit take a look a look at Graeme Swann http://twitter.com/#!/Swannyg66

- Gemma

 

Chemically reactive library

In the historic surroundings of the Royal Society of Chemistry's (RSC) Library last night, I found out that chemistry is, actually, pretty cool.

Entitled "A Little Light Relief", it was a public lecture on the use of light in medicine, presented by the President of the RSC, Professor David Phillips OBE. He explained to the assembled audience - comprising RSC members, students and people like me - that this is the International Year of Chemistry, describing some of his advocacy work with young people and the increase in applications to study chemistry at Imperial College, where he is Professor Emeritus. A seasoned presenter, Prof. Phillips started off with a big bang (in a library?!), moving to surprisingly fluorescent tonic water (still thus when gin is added) finishing with a remarkable demonstration of the treatment of jaundice with photodynamic therapy (PDT). I'm always more engaged when listening to a speaker who is so passionate about their subject, so last night I was gripped by Prof. Phillips, even though a few of the technicalities were a little too, well, technical for me.

Thanks to the delightful Professor Brian Cox, we all know that physics is cool. I'm now feeling that way about chemistry. We surely need more media coverage about the discoveries, achievements and applications of chemistry and how science makes life possible.

Oh, yes, the RSC library... first bookshelf acquired in 1842 and it became central to the growth of the Society. If you are able to visit Burlington House, do - the library is beautiful and just looks like it is full of fascinating discoveries!

I'm off to buy the latest edition of the New Scientist...

- Suzanne

What would you change? - a breakfast question

Asking (near the close of a lively breakfast) a group of information professionals with a strategic remit one thing they would change in their working lives garnered a level and depth of conversation that could have gone on until after lunch. (Did I see one delegate looking longingly at the lunch menu having just finished breakfast - or did I imagine that?) The question did follow one on what had been the biggest single change factor in our working lives in the last five years.

 

So what is it that this illustrious group might change? The first person was adamant that it would be the Chief Knowledge Officer within their organisation. It was their view that the CKO was a stumbling block to effective knowledge strategy or management and had no real input into board level. Ouch! (Would you mention that in an appraisal I ask myself?) It did reflect much of the earlier conversation where it is clear that unless information strategy is endorsed at board level it won't percolate down through the chain of command. I suspect that the next person who thought scrapping organograms was making the point that if we are put in too rigid a framework we stop thinking outside of the box. Lines of communication within organisations and departments followed as something that could be changed and most people at the table agreed that this could be bettered in their places of work.

A request for acceptance of social media was aimed clearly at management and IT departments; both still fear fast change or fail to see the need to move with the times. New cohorts of students and freshly employed graduates live by smart phones, Facebook, Twitter and the many other facets of communication that bypass traditional methods. If asked, they would give up their computer before their phone. To engage students and new employees is difficult enough and more so where access or use of such tools is limited or even prohibited.

Two votes for information literacy showed that outside of information and library studies education there is still little done in tertiary education to include information literacy as part of the curriculum. Google has changed the way many access information but in the work and study environment it needs to be made clear that there are other ways of gathering information and danger in taking easily found data at face value. A suggestion that perhaps information literacy should be imbued with primary school education was made and accepted with due seriousness.

A vote to remove a whole layer of internal administrators was seen as a good way to free up precious resources that could be better used achieving the aims of business.

 

I'd report on more of the preceding discussion but this was done with exquisite excellence by Lyn Robinson, senior lecturer in library and information science at City University, London on her excellent and informative blog.

 

 

Lyn is one of those rare academics who regularly puts her head above the parapet, is always ahead of the game and who shamelessly uses our breakfasts as a harvesting ground for guest lecturers for her students. She sees the value in networking outside of ones usual comfort zone and ensures that this belief is passed to her students.

 

 

If you would like an invitation to one of SHR's regular breakfast discussions please contact any of the team at SHR.

- Sue Hill

Literally baffling

Today is National Plain English Day.

Let's celebrate together and hope for an end to nonsense such as "blue-sky approach." In drawing attention to the misuse of language in their Golden Bull Awards, the Plain English Campaign continues to campaign against gobbledygook, jargon and misleading public information. I'm sure we've all cringed at the use of "management speak" or become frustrated when trying to read government or council literature. My colleagues will all confirm that the use of the English language interests me greatly. I do believe that it is increasingly important to be able to communicate in a clear and concise manner. Time and resources are limited, the pace of life is speedy and there are numerous media for communications, all of which are constantly available to us. So how do we do it effectively?  Why use 12 words when 6 will suffice? What's your objective? Do you understand what you're writing? 

The ability to speak and write in plain English ensures you can communicate your message and be understood by your audience. Using jargon to sound clever is pointless.

I'll leave you with a randomly generated phrase from the Plain English Campaign's Gobbledygook Generator:

The solution can only be compatible logistical options.

Eh?

- Suzanne

Is social media the opposite of traditional?

Thanks to @tinamreynolds for pointing me to this blog post on the adoption of social media in your career. The Gypsy Librarian makes a compelling case for the future of librarianship requiring the retention of, dare I label them, "traditional" skills including the ability to conduct a reference interview. He speaks out against the notion that we either adopt social media or cease to be librarians. I see many people who are capable and confident information professionals, some of whom choose to embrace social media in their jobs or CPD whereas some are either unable to use such technologies due to company policy or don't see it as a part of their role. Does this make them any less competent? Of course not.

But it's an interesting discussion and raises many questions.

The other question to which I need an answer stems from last night's episode of Spooks - What's Harry's favourite opera?

- Suzanne

Karmic Strategy

The Deputy Prime Minster was under fire yesterday from a barrage of enquiries on public sector funding cuts.  You don’t have to look far to find bad news emblazoned across article headlines:

Severe public sector cuts looming
Library cuts are cultural vandalism
Many staff feel unable to offer the standard of service that the public deserves
Cuts in library funding continue

However if we look a little further there are silver linings within some of these storm clouds, with communities in Suffolk taking the opportunity to run their local library as part of a pilot scheme, Leeds County Council launching a new mobile service, as well as an article in the Seattle Times titled 'Libraries provide no-cost learning tools'.

There is a wealth of knowledge within the information community and an infinite number of ideas, stratagems and opinions on good practice and working smarter.  To ensure library services weather – no, that's enough meteorological metaphors – endure current economic uncertainty, surely we must share our views and experiences.

Whichever sector you hail from, for none have been immune in recent years, whether you are leading a service or running the front desk, what ideas have you had, what have you seen, discussed and pondered that may help another library work more effectively?

If everyone who reads this could share one or two ideas who knows how this may help someone else and perhaps they you.

Post to this blog and let's share the knowledge.

- Jeremy Clarke