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Shifting Gears: Librarian to Management Analyst
by Pamela Newsome
After fifteen years as a reference librarian for the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) Library, I recently made a career change and became a management analyst in Mn/DOT's Office of Business Planning, Management Analysis Unit. The management analysts in our office are internal consultants to management; they help groups with planning processes, provide group facilitation services, and conduct studies that result in recommendations for operational improvements. I am finding that the skills I developed working in a special library are transferring well to my new position. In a way, I can look at my new projects as complex reference questions, and have the confidence to proceed accordingly.
Initial Moves
The seeds of this change were sown about four years ago, when our library decided to introduce a new service, called In-Depth Reference and Information Synthesis (IRIS). An IRIS project calls for the librarian to research a topic in depth and write a state-of-the-art paper for the client. At the same time, Mn/DOT was introducing a new program called the Professional Rotation Program. The program was designed to give professionals an opportunity to spend three months in a different, but related, job, the goal being for participants to learn about other areas of Mn/DOT and to learn new skills that they could take back to their own jobs.
One of the first rotation opportunities was in the Management Analysis Unit. Analysis was one of the things with which I wanted more experience, in order to do a good job with the IRIS projects. I applied for the rotation, and spent three months working with and learning from the management analysts.
New Skills
In the Rotation Program, I learned how to write a work plan for a project. I learned how to present the results of a project in a more polished way (in person, with visual aids, rather than just shipping the results out as with ordinary literature searches). I learned that many of the skills I had developed working in a special library translated well to management analysis. And I learned that I like project-oriented work. Much of what we do in the library consists of cyclical, ongoing activities. The IRIS projects that I subsequently worked on gave me a good taste of project-oriented work, and convinced me that it suited me well. I decided that I needed a change, and when an opening came up in the Management Analysis Unit, I successfully pursued it.
According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook 2000-01, "... analysts and consultants collect, review, and analyze information, in order to make recommendations to managers." (1) Librarians also collect, review, and analyze information, but generally stop short of making recommendations to managers. If you are ready to take that additional step, management analysis could be a good fit.
The basic steps in a management analysis project as described in the Handbook are to define the nature and extent of the problem, develop solutions to the problem, and report findings and recommendations to the client. Reference work is excellent preparation for those activities. In fact, the Handbook lists Information Sciences as one of the suitable educational backgrounds for this profession.
Here are some of the things that the management analysts in Mn/DOT do, and how library skills are relevant preparation:
- Provide leadership, coordination or facilitation of process
improvement (e.g. consult with offices on reorganization, strategic
planning, cost improvement strategies, service delivery
effectiveness).
- The reference interview is good preparation for talking with clients about their needs, clarifying the steps in the proposed project, and determining the timeline and deliverables. The reference interview is also relevant to group facilitation, where you have to keep the discussion on track and reach clear conclusions.
- Reference work provides experience in gathering, compiling and organizing data, and presenting it in the format desired by the client.
- Provide problem-solving expertise to managers, supervisors, task
force chairs, committees, and other work groups.
- Librarians are constantly solving problems related to finding information and analyzing it for accuracy, relevance and usability.
- Librarians know how to maintain networks of contact people and know whom to call for additional information or expertise.
- Develop and deliver training to enhance managers' expertise in
business planning, performance management and related areas.
- Library instruction, whether formal group instruction, one-on-one, or presentations at meetings and conferences, provides experience for planning and delivering training programs.
If you work in a special library and want to make a career change, find out if your organization supports mobility assignments, rotations, or exchange programs, and take advantage of them if possible. They can give you a first-hand taste of what it is like to be doing something different, and are great learning opportunities in any case.
Alternatively, use the contacts that you have made with library users in your organization and set up informational interviews. They may recruit you when they have an opening. Watch for advertised openings, and tailor a skills-based resume to each job that you apply for. Emphasize how library skills will relate to the activities of that job. Educate prospective employers to the fact that librarians have a great deal to offer that can be of value in a variety of settings.
(1) United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational Outlook Handbook 2000-01 Edition. Washington, D.C.: The Bureau, 2000, p.69.
Pamela Newsome is a management analyst in the Minnesota Department of Transportation, Office of Business Planning. She previously was a reference librarian in the Mn/DOT Library, and before that worked for the New York Public Library. She received her MLS at Queens College, City University of New York.