Deb Hunt has started a career sustainability LinkedIn group for info pros to post questions and tips for remaining a thriving profession and finding work and the opportunities out there.

Please join the group and the discussion.
Career Sustainability | LinkedIn

Deb is starting the conversation with this question:

“I’m passionate about what I do and what we can do as a profession. Together we can create a more healthy and sustainable future. What tips can you share about how you keep your career sustainable?”

Check out the LinkedIn group Career Sustainability to see the comments so far and to add to the conversations.

Ha…now that I have your attention (398 views last month…Awesome!)

Many great leaders have noted, “…change generally does not happen without some struggle…”

Now that voting is underway and members have the right to make a decision on whether they are for or against the name change, I just hope we can all get along…LOL

But seriously, whether the name Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals is selected or not, we will still need to move forward with change.  Reflecting on the next steps of the association and the changes to come, I really would like us to change the way we state our business.  Here are some of the things I would like to see the association improve…

· Using the website, brochures, and other collateral do a better job of explaining what the association represents.  For example, on the main page of the website provide a concise statement that says,

“The Association represents librarians and information professionals who work in large and small corporations, information centers, knowledge management services, professional online information services, consultants’ services, government Institutions, law firms, specialist agencies, organizations, departments, and much more.”

· If SLA remains the name or not, provide a definition of “Special”.  For example, accompanied with imagery we could say…

· Concisely and with imagery, state who we serve.  For example, we could say we serve…

o   Members

o   Businesses that employee librarians and information professionals

· Clearly state what we offer to our members:

o   Knowledge Sharing

o   Continued Education through course work, e.g. UClick

o   Information Standards & Certifications regarding:

§  Collecting, gathering, administrating, managing, marketing, referring, researching, analyzing, collaborating, web designing/development, implementation, and/or testing.

o   A conducive atmosphere for networking

o   Job Referrals (Full time and Temporary Projects)

o   Annual Salary Survey; Publications (i.e. Information Outlook, E-Newsletters)

· Finally, clearly state what we offer to businesses we serve:

o   Venues for…

§   Lead generating

§  Advertising

§  Business and Product promotions

o   Referral Services

o   Employment Advertising

Wow! SLA may finally have a new name…The Association of Strategic Knowledge Professionals. Are we all happy now? Well, if we can all agree that research and open collaborative discussion are key proceedings in making decisions, than the members of SLA should be excited. After two years of research and discussions conducted by the Association on how to best align the national organization with the institutions and clients we serve, the leadership of SLA are taking action based on their studies.

I for one am excited because I am interested in seeing how members can embrace change and how we as an association can establish a new brand of professionals. Now, I am very aware there are some “haters” out there and among other reasons they do not feel a name change is necessary because changing a name does not change what we do. However, if handled as a business entity that puts forth a new focus to promoting our profession as Librarians along with Knowledge Managers, Strategic Planners, High Tech Anthologies, Taxonomy Developers, User Experience Specialist, etc. the name change opens the doors for new opportunities. These new opportunities allows our Library Schools to align their curriculum with many of these positions that are being established around the skill sets that librarians possess. This does not take away from traditional aspects of Collection Management, Reference Services, Cataloging, etc. The name change simply promotes what we do for our organizations and allows our profession to grow. 

So, can old dogs learn new tricks? Can librarians learn to grow? Who knows, along with the name some of us might change what we do.

It is a well known adage that prior anxiety about change is worse than the change itself or its consequences, and we seem to share the experience: I have seen many nods of recognition when I describe the positive effects of developments I considered untoward or daunting before they occurred.  Only … doesn't it seem we have to call on our change-coping mechanism more and more often these days?

Jamal Cromity and Joni Savage stress important aspects to keep in mind: Change is not incompatible with what's good, and change is not incompatible with what was.  Our task is to identify in each change we encounter (or cause!) the elements that will build on existing values and facilitate smooth transition and minimize stress.  Leveraging the familiar is one approach (it's just like how we used to … only here, we …); pointing to benefits is another (this way, we achieve the … we have been discussing).

As our profession evolves, I see a new value proposition emerging:  We information professionals are in a position – because we manage change ourselves – to help our clients manage the changes they face in their work as a result of all the forces impacting their businesses and professional pursuits.  Interestingly, we can deliver this type of support by using, as a start, our tried and true, unchanging basic skills:  Assembling, asssessing, and synthesizing the relevant information associated with those changes.  

I wonder if LMD "really" is about Leadership and Change Management? 

At the Southern
California SLA luncheon last month, we discussed a possible name change
for SLA: to eliminate the word "libraries" and use a more inclusive
term for information professionals. A few weeks ago, students learned
that the School of Library and Information Science at San Jose State
University was going "all virtual" starting in the Fall.  The students
met this news with a whole range of emotions: fear, frustration and
excitement.  How would they learn without face-to-face guidance?  How
would our degree be perceived when we set foot into the working world? 
Similarly, technology that makes virtual libraries and workplaces
possible are met with both excitement and unease. How do you lead
people you cannot see? It takes an enormous amount of trust and
confidence: leaders have to trust the employees/students and
employees/students have to trust their own abilities.

As current and
would-be information professionals, we realize that change is
inevitable and that we are the first to confront it.  But there seem to
be some opposing views on how to handle change. Should we embrace it?
Should we stick with our old, proven methods?   

A librarian remarked
to me that libraries are too reactive.  They are quick to jump on
Second Life/Twitter/Facebook or any new technology that comes out.
"They are teaching children in the UK how to 'tweet!'" she exclaimed.
"Books are reliable. Archives are reliable."  

What are your thoughts? How do you handle change?

While working on any project that requires completion by a set date and time, changing direction can be a challenge. Sometimes, just knowing when to change in the decision making process can be the most difficult part. The best of us try to avoid making drastic changes mid-stream on any project. Yet, as it is in life anything that involves change is not always in our control.  The fact is, changing direction is not always a bad thing; especially when the change of direction brings clarity to the new path we must go.

In your place of work, have you ever made a change or needed to change direction and found it was the best thing that ever happened?

Jamal Cromity is a Product Developer for Dialog LLC.  He can be reached at jamal.cromity@dialog.com

With several generations working together
in today’s work environment, new skills and perspectives are
being brought into the information organization.  Rather than allowing these
differences to become workplace barriers, leaders need to understand the motivators of their generational
counterparts and the value each brings to the information workplace.  Managers, who are used to their one-size-fits-all approach to employee management are finding they need to change their techniques in order to become more effective.  If you’re interested in learning more about interacting with a generational diverse workforce, click on this article link. 

The Leadership and Management division is again this year in Seattle putting on several EXCELLENT Continuing Education sessions … but I wanted to highlight for you here one that features change … and is especially for YOU if you are on the verge of change, wondering how to make a change, seeking direction … and can benefit by the wisdom of some top thought leaders from our industry:

Executive Renewal Think Tank

This is an incredible opportunity to learn interactively from Clare Hart (Executive VP Dow Jones), Shahla  Aly (General Manager, Solutions Delivery, Microsoft) and Barbara Robinson (Executive Coach, Robinson & Associates). This isn’t a series of presentations – this is a workshop with them! They are going to use a blend of case studies and their own lessons learned to teach attendees how to achieve clarity in their communication, problem-solving and strategic focus, as well as how to influence and gain commitment.  What an opportunity to learn from executives who understand our professional world! Shahla was on the University of Toronto’s Advisory Board for the Faculty of Information Studies a few years ago, and has worked at IBM and is now an executive with Microsoft. Clare has worked her way up through Dow Jones and was CEO Factiva, and is an incredible communicator and instructor. Barbara works in the UK and US with all kinds of executives. This type of workshop would ordinarily cost hundreds of dollars, but because Clare, Shahla and Barbara value the information profession so highly, LMD is able to keep the pricing equal to all other workshops. 

Plus as part of the Think Tank, Barbara Robinson (barbara@broeo.co.uk) is offering attendees the Birkman Assessment ( http://www.birkman.com/) plus a meeting with her to interpret your results at a very reasonable rate.  Rebecca Jones reports:  “I’ve used the Birkman; I highly recommend it as a way of understanding your strengths & your stressors; it  not only helped me understand what I need to be most productive, but to identify the best type of work for me, and how to enlist others in supporting my work/life balance. It’s more detailed than other tools I’ve used (which you’ve probably used to…..but I’d better not mention here).  When I think about the cost of my career, there was no question that the investment in Birkman was – and is – well worth it!!! Feel free to contact me about my personal use of Birkman.  Barbara is terrific at personalizing it, and it is a tool she uses in all her coaching.”

I’ve signed up already!  See you in Seattle.

11 years ago, I found myself frustrated with my work environment.  At the time, we were building a new
service and my boss had me reading  Start Up: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Launching and Managing a New Business by William
J. Stolze.  The light dawned!  Everything we were doing in order to start this
new service was teaching me how to start my own business.  Soon I was making
notes at night about what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it.  Along the
way, I read more and talked to a few independent consultants.  In February 1998,
I quit my job and launched my own business.  I had changed direction.

Changing directions can sound quite scary, when people tell us that we have
to do it.  However, when we decide to change directions, it can be liberating,
thrilling, adventurous, inspiring, and life-changing.  Unfortunately, we don’t
always see the clues to tell us that we should change directions OR see the new
path being laid out in front of us that we should follow. Looking for the clues
or seeing the path isn’t difficult, we just need to be aware and open to the
"possibilities."

There are books, articles and blog posts about becoming more
"aware."  Often the advice is to spend time in quiet, which will help you listen
to the voice deep inside
you. Perhaps all you need to do is to not dismiss those thoughts about a new idea, a change, or a different direction.

So here’s my advice.  Today and for every tomorrow, take time — in however you decide to do it — to  be aware of the information around you.  Are there clues to a new direction?  Are you suppose to be changing directions?  Did a book catch your eye, but you dismissed the idea it posed?  Is there a new direction in your future?

"When the winds of change feel too
strong… Close your eyes and let the breeze blow through your hair"
-  Greeting card by Papyrus I couldn’t resist buying

Christina’s topic of the month reminds me of one of benefits of working in our profession. Our competencies allow us to explore a variety of career experiences from the traditional to the non-traditional, from corporate to non-profit to academic; from small organizations to huge and from local to international.

The information profession (in the library sense) is my second career. My first was as a travel consultant (back when travelling was fun). My interest in finding the best places and deals, organising complex and simple itineraries, as well as the fun of learning about new cultures and places translated easily into the world of special librarianship. I fell into this career through a love of travel and a relatively useless Bachelor in French and German.

I chose my second career drawn by the love of reading, the ability to "do a bit of everything" and working with clients, but not with the public. I have never regretted the change. As an information professional, I have worked in four entirely different organisations from corporate (public and private) to a Crown corporation and to an academic environment. Most have allowed me to learn new things, share my expertise, and have been a delightful challenge. When I didn’t change companies, I changed my work environment. Now I am wondering, what other delights await in the wonderful world of the information professional.

What are your experiences? How have you managed your career? Are there natural progressions or paths that I should be following? Is there ever a really wrong move?

– Patricia