Calling all marketers for LMD’s first ever Virtual Swap-n-Shop!

Complete the form

In the modern organization, users of your information service are no longer confined by physical location – they may be located far away from your physical library. As interaction becomes increasingly digital, new technologies and tools make it easier for us to be creative and push the bounds of the traditional library brochure, fact sheets, and “how to” guides that used to be distributed on paper. So, we want to know how you introduce, inform and promote:

• Resources within it (and how to access them)?
• The capabilities of your staff?
• The benefits of using your services?

Do you have targeted approaches to new users? What strategies do you use to turn occasional users into habitual ones? Have you created a tutorial for using your library’s electronic resources? We want to see what you’ve done! Tell us how you use social media tools to keep in touch with your clients.

The LMD Marketing Section invites contributions for our VIRTUAL SWAP-N-SHOP to take place during the LMD Breakfast at this year’s annual conference in Chicago on Wednesday, July 18, beginning at 8:00AM. We will display the fruits of your labor—the best of the best—for your colleagues to view throughout the breakfast meeting. In addition, we are asking for a one-page/single screen summary of the tools you used, how you accomplished this marketing feat, and costs associated with it. Links to your virtual brochures, tutorials, etc., will be shared with colleagues who are not able to make the meeting on the new LMD Marketing Section site http://lmd.sla.org/category/marketing/.

Please let us know of your intent to contribute by using the online form on our new LMD Marketing Section website (http://lmd.sla.org/category/marketing/). Even if you are only thinking about contributing, please complete a form so that we will know what we might expect, how much material, and what we need to do at the breakfast to make this accessible to our members (URL).

Early Bird Special! Those who announce their participation by December 31, 2011, and follow through by delivering their final submissions to us by May 1, 2012, will be entered into a drawing to have their marketing efforts reviewed by an expert in the field. Inquiries may be sent to LMD Marketing Section co-chairs, Bethan Ruddock (Bethan.Ruddock@gmail.com) or Barbie Keiser (Barbie.Keiser@gmail.com)

Even if you are only thinking about contributing, please complete the form so that we will know what we might expect, how much material, and what we need to do at the breakfast to make this accessible to our members. We need to have this information by May 1, 2012.

IMPACT, the publication of the Leadership & Management Division includes feature articles written by LMD members on management issues and topics of practical interest, bibliographies, Internet resource features, and Division news.

Contributions to IMPACT can be made at any time, using a blog approach – further giving members the benefit of commenting on the postings. Using the RSS feed, members can be alerted when new content is posted. Archived issues below are in PDF format link to LMD wiki.

Winter 2007

October 2006
Summer 2006
April 2006
February 2006

Fall 2005
Summer 2005
Spring 2005
Winter 2005

Fall 2004
Summer 2004
Spring 2004
Winter 2004

Fall 2003
Summer 2003
Spring 2003

For any information professional interested in bringing the ideas of futures and trends to their workplace, this execuBook is worth a look. Author, Pero Micic, describes a model of seeing and understanding the future in The Five Futures Glasses: How to See and Understand More of the Future with the Eltville Model. 

Free access to execuBooks through aheadSpace is a benefit of your SLA membership. execuBooks are 15-minute summaries of business books published and delivered every week via email. execuBooks can be read on your computer in html or PDF versions and on your PDA, mobile or BlackBerry. You can sign up for your free subscription at http://www.sla.org/content/learn/members/execubooks/index.cfm

This book doesn't claim that the future is knowable, but it attempts to provide a framework for managing it. The author offers five techniques for viewing and addressing different aspects of the future: assumption analysis, surprise analysis, opportunity development, vision development and strategy development.

The summary provides "a way of thinking about the future to make it more easily understood. It will be of interest to business leaders and others with responsibility for planning and strategy."

SLA has recently partnered with the Association of Independent
Information Professionals (AIIP) to offer reciprocal discounts on
new-member membership fees and on the organizations' upcoming
conferences.   This is a limited time offer. Please click here http://www.sla.org/content/membership/mbrbenefits/aiip/index.cfm
for details.

These two associations share many common interests as well as members in common. This is a unique opportunity to take advantage of the benefits of AIIP membership if you are not already a member.

“In my workplace, participation in professional associations has not been a tradition. What are the strongest arguments in selling the idea that such participation is not only for personal professional benefit but also for the benefit of the organization?”

Talk about hitting close to home!  In recent years I have been hearing that it is becoming more common for SLA members to foot their own memberships – a pity, but a testament to the members’ dedication.  Do be prepared to pay out of your own pocket if the following four key arguments won’t convince the employer (I’m using SLA as an example but other associations may indeed be relevant for you as well):

• In today’s environment of rapid change, it is essential to stay on top of all the new tools and practices. Membership in SLA enables me to obtain access to a wealth of learning and access to a vast network of colleagues who stand ready to support my development so that I may increase my value to the organization:  Here, give a bullet list of members-only benefits such as the management library, the innovation lab, the division-specific offerings, and so on – stating concretely how each benefits the organization because you expand your professional capabilities.  At the end of the bullet list, indicate “all for only $xx per year – a fraction of the cost of [some other corporate service taken for granted].
• SLA’s annual conference gives me the opportunity to attend dozens of sessions with practical application to my work in supporting the organization (and whose equivalent cost in individual courses would be extremely expensive).  Per session I can logistically attend – about 5 per day – the conference fee of X and travel cost of Y work out to a mere $Z – a very low investment given the return in terms of my ability to take new skills and insights back to the job.
• Membership allows me to participate – on my own time of course – in myriad activities at the local and national level, each serving to build my management and team leadership skills at no additional cost.
• Your support of my involvement with the premier professional association, at an annual cost of $X for membership and $y for conference attendance, is a concrete proof that you support the ongoing development and professional growth of staff at ABC Enterprise, and I pledge to deliver to ABC everything possible from that investment.

Finally, you could add a testimonial from a colleague in a relevant other organization (say, a competitor or organization your employer considers admirable). “As a result of my membership in SLA and my attendance at the conference, I have been able to ‘x’ so that  DEF Enterprise gained ‘y’.”

Should the employer grant the budget, consider providing a brief “Value Report” after the conference and at a minimum every year at evaluation time to state clearly the benefits you have brought back to ABC Enterprise from the investment (“here’s how I applied ‘x’ to enhance our contribution to ‘y’”).  Such a report may reassure the employer about the investment and should in addition serve to show that you as an individual are a professional who goes the extra mile for your employer.

Ulla de Stricker

In case you didn’t see this on the Click U blog, I’ve copied it below.

Remarks from the Chair:

Again, I’d like to thank my team.  They are an incredible, dedicated, fun group of people and I’ve enjoyed working with them – of course, the year’s only 1/2 over so there’s more fun to come.  And I’d like to thank you for coming to our annual business meeting and leadership luncheon.  I consider the Leadership & Management Division to be the leading division of SLA.  We inspire innovative leaders – and I’m honoured to be your Chair.  We are in the process of preparing a new strategic vision and plan for the Division and we will be undertaking some new initiatives as part of our strategic plan.  So, keep you eyes open for new ways to benefit from your Leadership & Management Division membership.  I’ve put up my email address (juanita.richardson@cedrom-sni.com) – I’d love to hear from you.  Thank you. 

ebrary launches new Engineering and Business e-book databases

ebrary, a leading provider of e-content services and technology, is very pleased to be sponsoring the Leadership and Management Division and participating on the panel during the Content Buying Roundtable at the Special Library Association Conference. All members are invited and encouraged to attend the Roundtable as well as visit the ebrary booth (#242).

During SLA, ebrary is launching two new subscription databases of e-books, manuals and other authoritative content in Engineering and Business.  The company aims to help end-users quickly and easily find the relevant and timely information they need to be more productive and innovative.

Designed for corporations, these new databases feature thousands of current, full-text titles from renowned publishers and are available under a simultaneous, multi-user access model.  They will continue to grow at no additional cost throughout the subscription term. 

With contributing publishers such as Elsevier, CRC Press, Pennwell Publishing, John Wiley & Sons and The McGraw-Hill Companies, ebrary’s new Engineering Database covers a wide range of engineering topics such as Aerospace, Chemical, Civil, Electrical, Electronic, Environmental, Materials, Mechanics, and Petroleum Engineering.

ebrary’s new Business Database covers key topics in Leadership, Management, Human Resources, Sales & Marketing, and Accounting from such esteemed publishers as AMACOM, Elsevier, Kogan-Page, and McGraw-Hill Professional.

Ebrary will offer a 10% discount on the new business and engineering collections at SLA .

In addition to subscription e-book databases, institutions may use the ebrary system to purchase individual titles and even distribute their own digitized materials in PDF online. All content in the ebrary system integrates with multiple online resources and information on the web through InfoTools and is delivered via a single customizable interface.

Also note that ebrary offers more than 16 e-book databases designed for academic libraries in all academic subject areas. For more information about ebrary products please visit  http://www.ebrary.com

Key Features and Benefits

All ebrary products feature the following end-user capabilities that make the research and discovery process richer and more productive:

The ebrary Reader™ provides the ebrary system with all of its rich functionality and streams documents, eliminating cumbersome document downloads.  The ebrary Reader is available as either an Active X or Java-based program.

ebrary InfoTools™ –  This customizable set of utilities integrates ebrary’s content with the online resources of your choice. Many InfoTools features can be activated simply by selecting words or phrases of interest in a document.

Multiple Search Options – ebrary offers advanced and simple, by full-text, keyword, subject or author.  We also support Boolean, proximity, and federated search, and integrate with your existing search engine technology.

Personal Bookshelves automatically store links to bookmarks, highlights, and notes, providing an archive of research.

Automatic Citations when text is printed or copied and pasted into Word or any text application.  Citations include an automatic URL hyperlink back to the source.

Many people have traveled to Louisville, KY for the SLA Leadership Summit.  You can read notes from the conference here, here and here.  This evening, approximately 20 – 25 people gathered for a Leadership & Management Division Brainstorming Session led by Ulla de Stricker (Immediate Past Chair).  Approximately six people were not members of LMD.  Why brainstorm?  It was felt that broader input was needed in order to think about how to position the Division, what benefits it should provide, and how it should communicate with its members.  Here are some thoughts that stood out to me from the session:

• We need to communicate better that you do not need to be in a leadership or management position in order to join this Division.  Several people noted that they joined the Division in order to learn about management issues before becoming a manager.
• LMD is not a subject-focus division, but a division that should be able to meet many member needs, since a high percentage of our members are in leadership or management positions, OR aspire to be in those type of positions. 
• Communicating with Division members — as well as other members of SLA — needs to take many forms, including using social networking tools.
• LMD’s three sections need better visibility.  What are the sections?
  • Consulting — Members of the Consulting Section represent
    services such as information brokering, strategy consulting and technical
    consulting. This includes consultants within an organization, and those serving
    external clients.
  • Marketing –The Marketing Section of the Leadership & Management Division was established to provide a forum for the exchange
    of ideas and information regarding marketing theory and how to effectively
    market information services.
  • Content Buying — The Content Buying Section of  Leadership & Management Division includes buyers and sellers involved in the many aspects related to managing enterprise-wide content, such as supplier relationship management, contract negotiations, budgeting and funding of licenses, training and communications, risk management, and measuring and maximizing an enterprise’s return on the investment in content licenses.
• LMD is the fourth largest division (still) after giving birth to both the Competitive Intelligence and Knowledge Management Divisions.  The Division is financially sound.
• LMD’s programs at the Annual Conference are well received.

I look forward to the actions that are considered based on today’s discussion.  However, I honestly believe that just having the discussion helped to move the Division forward.

From Ulla de Stricker, Chair

Notes from the 2007 Conference in Denver

Greetings Fellow LMDers:

We’re back from Denver to our regular lives
… recovering from the intense work of conference-going and socializing with
colleagues old and new – not to mention walking for what seemed like miles in a
very large facility!

For the benefit of those who could not join
us for the conference, I offer a brief retrospective of the LMD sessions.

But first: A heartfelt thanks to the speakers who committed their time and talents
in sharing their expertise – and to the members of the 2007 Conference
committee who had joined me in recruiting the speakers and in moderating
sessions: Shelly Edwards, Paula Ohlde,
Laura Plummer, and Joel Berger. Similarly,
I thank the Continuing Education committee – Sylvia Piggott and Betty-Jo
Hibberd – for their work in setting up a slate of programs.

So
here’s what happened …  Download LMD-June222007.doc