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Branching Out With Creativity
by Mindy Paquette-Murphy
Do you see challenges and opportunities where others see only problems and roadblocks? You have the ability to be a "change leader!" Instead of merely struggling to keep up with changes, we as information professionals have the perception to see the silver lining in those storm clouds looming on the horizon.
Using our traditional skills in creative ways, we are able to anticipate our clients' needs and satisfy them in a variety of ways, through search requests, collection development, and training on CD- based, electronic and print resources. By teaching new students, faculty and employees about the depth and breadth of our knowledge and resources, we make our libraries and ourselves, whether "traditional" or virtual, essential components of any business endeavor.
Reach Out and Touch Your Clients
Getting physically OUT of the library (out of that box we've created around ourselves...) enables us to reach out to client groups who underutilize our services and resources. This means being appointed to committees, going on rounds with house staff physicians, and chatting up senior management about their particular information needs. Approach managers by scheduling an appointment to meet with them in their offices, where they will be more relaxed and open to your teaching about resources that can help them. Individual hands- on training for these powerful folks can lead to better understanding of your requirements to meet their needs (e.g., budget, space). We must enlighten our clientele to the fact that you can't "find it all on the Internet," nor is all information free.
Focused presentations to other departments are also key. Get them to add you to the agenda of an upcoming meeting, and ask them to return the favor by speaking at your staff meeting. It always amazes me how many experienced employees are unaware of the wealth of assistance we can provide. Those "Aha!" moments are vital - both for the listener and for you, the information guru.
Branch Out and Promote Your Services
If your library does not yet have a presence on your intranet, create it! Become involved with managing your employer's web page content, by identifying articles of key interest to managers, your product line, or medical breakthroughs as a regular feature clearly originating from the library. Feature a different service each month with informational articles on your intranet. Do a customer interview of a frequent user of your resources, and post it, along with photos, on the library's web page. Create displays in the library or hallway display cases, using a variety of materials to get the message across. An antique quilt makes a huge visual statement when your display is on electronic resources. Play up the concept of traditional being the underpinning for cutting edge technologies and services.
Let your clientele know that you are not stuck in the past, but instead are leading the way to prepare them for what is coming their way. Think of yourself as an entrepreneur marketing your wares - yourself, and your services and resources. Eye-catching displays, physical or virtual, keep customers coming back for more, even if they think it's only for the entertainment value. What they may not realize is that they are learning at the same time!
Reach Further and Promote Yourself
Use daily casual encounters in hallways and cafeterias to ask people to explain what they do, and to promote yourself and your skills as a tool to help them do their jobs better. Use those informal times as teaching moments and build a strong advocacy for the library's funding and services at the same time. Creating the support and demand for your services gives you the foundation from which to request additional staff, funding, or space.
Do you participate in parent groups or other volunteer activities? Use your listening, training and information retrieval abilities to their fullest. People from all walks of life appreciate learning the basics of our skills, or being the recipients of our expertise. Take the time to train them, and they will be amazed at the abilities they didn't know they had. Mentoring on a topic with which you are comfortable is another form of teaching and information sharing, and continues to reap benefits for all parties over a long period of time. Get out of that box and show the world what you can do. Be a change leader!
Mindy Paquette-Murphy, MLS has been a public, hospital (solo), academic medical center, (Clinical Librarian, Instructor, Dept. of Medicine), and pharmaceutical librarian in a career spanning 27 years. Currently Senior Information Scientist at Sanofi-Synthelabo Research, Malvern, PA, she also has an active volunteer career: Chair, Employee Activities Committee, Chair, Corporate Information Services Section/Med. Lib. Assn., Fundraising Chair of the Board for a local Senior Center, Commissioner and merit badge counselor for Boy Scouts, Knowledge Manager Chair for a chapter of Spec. Lib. Assn., co-Director of a corporate singing group, and coordinator of a pharmaceutical traveling Science Show, as well as making and selling craft items.