Future  Strategies  for  Special  Librarians  

Stephen  Abram,  MLS  International  Conference  on  Asian  Special  Libraries  Manila,  Philippines  April  11,  2013  

Librarian  Magic  

Smelly Yellow Liquid

Or Sex

Appeal?

The Complex Value Proposition

SLA  Alignment  Research  Highlights:  •  Relationships,  Networks,  Collaboration  •  Speed  –  Save  Time  •  Packaging  for  Added  Value  Answers  •  Educate  and  Train  

5

Grocery  Stores  

Cookbooks,  Chefs  .  .  .  

Cookbooks,  Chefs  .  .  .  

Meals  

Remaining  Relevant  and  Having  a  Positive  Impact  

Up  Your  Game  •  Know  your  local  community  demographics  •  Focus  on  needs  assessment  and  social  assessments  •  Outreach  versus  engagement  and  partnerships  •  Prioritize:  Love  all,  Serve  all,  Save  the  World  means  nothing  gets  done  

•  Priorities  are  SMART:  SpeciUic,  Measurable,  Attainable,  Relevant,  &  Time  bound  

•  Look  for  partnerships  that  add  value  

Up  Your  Game  •  Mobile  •  Content  •  Merge  with  records  management  and  archives  •  Sensemaking  

What  are  the  real  issues?  

•   Craft  versus  Industrial  Strength  •   Personal  service  only  when  there’s  impact  •   Pilot,  Project,  Initiative  versus  Portfolio  Strategy  •   Hand-­‐knitted  prototypes  versus  Production  •  e.g.  Information  Literacy  and  Fluency  initiatives  •  Discovery  versus  Search  versus  Deep  Search  •  eLearning  units  and  program  dissemination    •  Citation  and  information  ethics  •  Content  and  repository  archipelagos  

•   Strategic  Analytics  •       Value  &  Impact  Measures  •         Behaviours,  Satisfaction  •         Economic  and  strategic  alignment  

Up  Your  Game  •  Start  offering  diplomas  and  certiUicates  •  The  Non-­‐credit  Course  •  Look  for  internal  partnerships  that  add  value  •  Offer  real  educational  opportunities  not  just  adjacencies  •  What  courses  to  you  offer  or  recommend?  (TED,  Khan  Academy,  MOOCs,    etc.)  

•  Play  and  connect  yourself  

Up  Your  Game  •  Learn  how  to  reach  and  teach  online  •  Teach  how  to  learn  online  •  Teach  how  to  research  online  •  Everyone  in  academic  libraries  should  be  focused  on  teaching/researching  Uirst,  then  library  

•  Learn  more  systems  than  one!  •  Be  obsessive  about  consultation,  recommendations  and  advice  •  Social  alignment  rules  and  use  the  tools  

Up  Your  Game  •  Align  with  Collections  –  But  add  virtual  experiences  •  Start  being  Mobile  in  the  extreme  •  Look  for  partnerships  that  add  value  •  Focus  on  relationship  management  /  liaisons  •  Ensure  the  program  delivery  person  is  embedded  including  librarians  

•  What  are  your  top  learning  or  research  domains?  Start  there.  •  Don’t  go  it  alone.  Build  scalability  and  sustainability.  •  Look  for  replicability  –  look  for  commonalities  

The new bibliography and

collection development

Ask Us, KNOWLEDGE PORTALS

KNOWLEDGE, LEARNING,

INFORMATION & RESEARCH COMMONS

Up  Your  Game  •  Take  the  strong  ‘library’  brand  and  add  dimension  of  “Librarian”  •  Personal  branding  –  Who  are  you  and  your  team?  Promote  them.  •  Program  branding  •  Take  risks  for  attention  (AIDA)  •  Embed  your  brand  beyond  the  library  walls  and  virtually  •  Go  beyond  the  information  brand  to  informing,  creating,  and  social  

Up  Your  Game  •  Grow  collections  investments  in  strategic  areas  •  Develop  hybrid  strategies  that  are  consistent  and  integrated  for  digital  and  print  and  programs  

•  Be  obsessive  about  consultation,  recommendations  and  advice  •  Integrate  virtual  and  physical  –  hybridize  •  Social  alignment  rules  

Up  Your  Game  •  OCLC  Linked  Data  &  APIs  •  DPLA  Vault  &  APIs  •  3D,  learning  object,  LibGuides,  audio,  or  streaming  media  repositories  •  Understand  Pedagogy  in  the  context  of  student  experiences  and  

educational  goals  •  Understand  human  development  from  teens  to  adult  learning  •  Understand  the  projects  •  Makerspace…  laboratories  –  onsite  relevance  •  Consider  partnerships  to  put  librarians  into  real  liaison  •  Consider  coaches  and  tutoring  partnerships  

Up  Your  Game  •  Embedded  team  member  •  Embedded  teacher  •  Embedded  research  coach  •  Embedded  personal  librarian  •  Reintermediation  

Up  Your  Game  •  Dog,  Star,  Cow,  Problem  Child/?  •  Reduce  investment  in  successes  –  This  isn’t  a  typo  •  Increase  investment  in  future  successes  –  learn  from  failing  •  Look  at  TCO  -­‐  Do  NOT  value  your  own  time  at  zero  •  Look  at  all  costs  incurred  and  not  just  hard  costs  •  Review  opportunity    costs  in  soft  costs  

Being  Open  to  Ambiguity  

Be  the  Change  We  Want  to  See  

Stephen  Abram,  MLS,  FSLA  Consultant,  Dysart  &  Jones/Lighthouse  Partners  

Cel:  416-­‐669-­‐4855  stephen.abram@gmail.com  Stephen’s  Lighthouse  Blog  

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