Session Handouts

Several of the LMD sessions were "experiential" such as the one on Dynamic Communication, and so did not have handouts or presentation slides. However, some of the events have been reported in blogs including here in Impact (Conference Category). Feel free to contribute your impressions!

Available presentations, handouts or speaker notes are also housed on the SLA 2009 Conference Handouts page (and the LMD website) and include:

Monday

Social Networking: the Essence of Innovation(PDF, large file) / Jay Liebowitz

To stimulate innovation, people need to reach out beyond their own area.
Social networking research highlights the importance of carefully
constructing one's social networks to best leverage knowledge
internally and externally. Organizations should aim to provide enabling
mechanisms to stimulate knowledge discovery. Leibowitz discussed how
social networking can lead to innovation, based on his book "Social
Networking: The Essence of Innovation"

LMD Business Luncheon Presentation – No Excuses (PDF) / Stephen Abram

As part of the the LMD business meeting, Stephen Abram, the globe-trotting
past-president of SLA shared stories about innovative leaders from
around the world, focusing on their strategies and successes, and
illustrating how we can learn from the practices of others. Abram's
goal is to inspire us to become innovative leaders.

Tuesday

Critical Thinking (PDF) / Rebecca Jones, Dee Wallace

Critical thinking is a key competency for all information professionals. It
leads to results such as sharper competitive intelligence products,
clearer, more persuasive proposals and udget justifications, more
effective problem solving, and better taxonomies. How we can improve
our critical thinking skills and engage them in our work?

*** Thank you to our Partners and LMD Members

Patricia Cia is Coordinator, Technical Services & LIbrary
Systems at Langara College. She is a LMD Director and Member of the
Centennial Commission. Patricia can be reached at pcia@langara.bc.ca

In this month’s issue of American Libraries, I came across an interesting article by Jen Waller entitled, "Consider the Jaybraian".  As a 2009 MLIS candidate at the University of Washington Information School, Jen’s article highlights the importance of fresh eyes in a library.  A quote that I found interesting in the article was from Jen’s boss who told her several years ago that within Jen’s new job as a manager, she had six months to make change.  According to him, after that time period she would "start seeing the same things the rest of us see day in and day out."

Jen points out that new librarians should be encouraged to be innovative and that the solutions they come up with should be heard out.  While more seasoned librarians may be quick to discount these suggestions by saying that it has already been tried or it won’t work within the environment, this kind of negative attitude benefits no one.  As a seasoned librarian, be open to new ideas and be willing to work together with the new professional to implement the valuable solutions that will improve your day-to-day prcocesses and the organization as a whole.

I wanted to share with you some of the "a-ha – I must write that down" moments I had in Denver.  I hope you will find them to be as illuminating as I …

From the Leadership Development Institute with Dr. Jose Marie Griffiths on Sunday morning:  we’re seeing a trend emerging called "collective intelligence" – some examples are Wikipedia, Amazon, Flikr.  Also:  information and economics:  information will continue to be an economic driver.

On Monday morning, we were treated to a Synergy Session with Stephen Abram, Eugenie Prime, Clifford Lynch and moderated by Tom Hogan.  Questions had been submitted in advance by the membership and they started off with:

"How can we persuade business leaders that info pros are worth investing in?"  Eugenie emphasized that: 1) WE must be convinced; and 2) we have to DELIVER.  "Otherwise, business leaders have ‘cognitive dissonance’ – they see the facts but they don’t believe."

"How can info pros help their organizations manage and search for information that springs up all over their organizations?"  Cliff pointed out that there’s been a shift that allows the non-specialist to have access to vast amounts of information.  That said, within organizations there’s a vast amount of information that’s being amassed that needs "data curation" to preserve it for re-use so that the value of the investment in the creation of the information can be fully realized.  "This is a huge opportunity for info pros but it reflects a change in role and scope of "traditional" librarian opportunities." 

"What innovation has had the greatest impact in the last 5 years and what’s coming in the next 5 years and what will be the info pro competency?"  All 3 speakers waded in on this question.  In terms of competency, "adaptability and paying attention to what’s happening in the environment broadly."  "We’re not talking about a technical skill. Technical skills become obsolete very quickly." "It’s the leadership competency that allows you to use the technology."  "How things work has a longer shelf life.  How to do it changes quickly."  "No single technology has made the difference.  We are now seeing the cumulative effect of lots of development – cheap camera phones, GPS.  It’s a whole new way of looking at the environment." 

Personally, I found it interesting that the concept of "collective intelligence" came up again (after I had heard it for the first time the previous day): "There will be a need for people to work together synchronously and asynchronously.  There will be more group approaches to problems in business." 

Eugenie’s final words:  "The biggest issue facing our profession is that we don’t run our information centres like a business and we lack the business acumen to do so."

Stephen’s final words:  "Be the change you want to see!"

I attended several other sessions between Monday morning and Wednesday – but I will leave you with a quote from Dave Pollard from the session I attended Wed afternoon just before heading home:  "Here’s what’s keeping business executives awake at night:  1) mitigating risks; 2) reducing costs; 3) increasing value / person; 4) strengthening key customer relationships.  Tell us how knowledge managers, information professionals, librarians can help us with that."

SLA conference – always food for thought.

-Juanita    Chair-Elect, Leadership Division