The Invisible Librarian

A Librarian's Guide to Increasing Visibility and Impact

Aoife Lawton

• Publisher: Chandos Publishing
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9780081001714
• eBook ISBN: 9780081001745
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Library & Information Science
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

The Invisible Librarian: A Librarian's Guide to Increasing Visibility and Impact provides insights into what many librarians are feeling, including questions such as "do they feel invisible?" and "How many times have they heard somebody say 'but everything is on the Internet'?"If you are a librarian struggling to find the best strategy for the future of the profession in a rapidly changing information environment, this book is for you. People don't realize that librarians make information available and not just by search engine.This book will make people think differently about librarians, making a case for their value and impact that is compelling, convincing, and credible. Given their versatility and knowledge, now is the time for librarians to become champions of the information age as they improve the visibility and impact of libraries to readers, to stakeholders, and in society. By the end of the book, librarians will have a Visibility Improvement Plan to guarantee future success.- Provides strategies that librarians can use to raise their visibility- Presents how successful librarians have made a positive impact- Covers new techniques that measure current visibility amongst readers and key stakeholders- Includes key guidance on how to implement a 10-step Visibility Improvement Plan

1

Step into the shoes of a librarian

Abstract

To truly understand and get a flavour of the work that anyone does, it is necessary to imagine a day in their life or taking a walk in their shoes. This chapter will take you into fictional scenarios in which you step into the shoes of a librarian. This will give you an opportunity to be a fictional character of a school, medical, public, academic or special library and to see things from the perspective of a librarian. You will face adverse scenarios that are based on real-life examples of recent times when librarians have had to struggle to prove the value of their profession to their organisations and to the general public.

Keywords

Evaluation; Impact; Librarian; Performance; Skills; Value; Visibility

Empathy is about standing in someone else’s shoes, feeling with his or her heart, seeing with his or her eyes. Not only is empathy hard to outsource and automate, but it makes the world a better place.

Daniel H. Pink

Your mission, should you wish to accept it, is to step into the shoes of a librarian, to increase your visibility and impact and to convince those around you of your value and worth. You have five options. You can choose which type of librarian you would like to be: a school librarian, a medical librarian, an academic librarian, a public librarian or a librarian working in a specialised setting. Your skills include critical/analytical thinking, advanced search and retrieval of information in all formats, teaching, information technology, interpersonal skills, communication and research methods. Depending on the speciality of the librarian you choose to be, additional skills make up your repertoire. You will be given a scenario of adversity depending on the type of librarian that you choose to be and you will have three options to determine which path you will take. Remember, your mission is to overcome hardship, improve your visibility, impact and value and save your job!

Background

It is another hot day. The library is unbearably stuffy. You’ve been asking the maintenance department to see if they can do anything to get some air into the place for weeks now to no avail. It’s only when it is coming up to summer that it becomes a real problem. You have a pile of books waiting to get re-shelved and a few dozen new emails in your inbox. There is a flashing icon on your computer screen. It’s the online ‘ask a librarian’ chatbox. Someone is looking for help. They have forgotten their password to the digital library. You click on the icon to respond and just as you are beginning to type a response your screen goes black and then shuts down! Well, this is just typical. You didn’t even have time to get the person’s email address to contact them. You have to contact the information technology (IT) department. You have no choice but to ring the helpdesk. You put the phone on speaker because you know this is going to take a while. The automated voice booms out ‘Thank you for calling the computer helpdesk. Did you know that you may also email your query to the support team at [email protected]? You are now position…(wait for it)...10…in queue’. You decide to get some coffee and leave the phone on speaker. The morning has not gotten off to a good start…

If you choose to step into the shoes of a school librarian, then go to the heading ‘School’ below. If you choose to step into the shoes of a medical librarian, then go to the heading ‘Medical’ below. If you choose to step into the shoes of a public librarian, then go to page 13. If you choose to step into the shoes of an academic librarian, then go to the heading ‘Academic’ below. Finally, if you choose to step into the shoes of a librarian working in a specialised setting, then go to page 13.

School

As a school librarian, you have bonus skills in how to teach children literacy skills, including information literacy and digital literacy. It’s the last week before the summer break, and the school principal calls you into his office. He says that, regretfully, because of government cutbacks, he doesn’t think he has a job for you in September. You are working in a school that is designated by the government as educationally disadvantaged. He tells you that several other school librarians in the area have been given a similar fate. He gives you a week to come up with a plan to save your job. If you decide to drop everything and get working on a plan, then turn to page 32. If you decide to call a meeting with the other school librarians, then turn to page 34. If you decide to concentrate on applying for jobs elsewhere, then turn to page 34.

Medical

As a medical librarian, you have additional subject knowledge of the health sciences. The director of finance at your hospital sends you a memo. He wants to cut your budget by 50% and redeploy your only library assistant to the admissions office, which is severely understaffed. He wants to see value for money or your budget will be cut even further. He is familiar with an online clinical point-of-care tool that he thinks will be sufficient for the information needs of the medical staff. He is proposing that you are redeployed to the human resources (HR) department in the hospital. He has seen the library’s annual report and looked at the key performance indicators reported for the library’s performance for the past 6 months. The memo alludes to the fact that the clinical director has his eye on a room in the library that he would like to make into a meeting room. The director thinks that the library may remain open un-staffed with swipe access for health care professionals, but he is willing to give you 24 h to come up with a response. If you decide to analyse the key performance indicators (KPIs) of the library service and annual report and re-draft them, then turn to page 26. If you decide to lobby consultants in the hospital, then turn to page 30. If you decide to draft a ‘gap analysis’ plan that shows what would happen if this scenario was lived out, then turn to page 31.

Academic

As an academic librarian, you have excellent research skills. You currently work as a reference librarian. The director of the library has decided that the reference desk is no longer viable. The usage statistics have been consistently dropping. The number of reference queries you receive on the reference desk has been decreasing for the past 2 years if not longer. She wants you to come up with an alternative plan within a week that she will consider. She has made it clear that you will be moving to another department in the university if the plan is not valid. The department she has in mind is computer services. If you decide you are determined to keep the reference desk and will fight to keep it, then turn to page 25. If you decide to plan an alternative to the reference desk, then turn to page 23. If you decide to transfer to computer services, then turn to page 26.

Public

As a public librarian, you are shrewdly aware of local and national politics. The town council has decided that your public library will close in 6 months. This will occur in tandem with three other public libraries in your area. Each public library has received a letter indicating the reasons for this, which include the recession and cutbacks in all local authority services. You have to come up with a plan to save it. You have until the end of the week to produce a plan. If you decide to contact the other three public librarians in your area and decide on a collective strategy, then turn to page 19. If you decide to lobby the local government with the other public librarians in your area, then turn to page 22. If you decide to come up with a cost-neutral solution involving community volunteers, then turn to page 22.

Special

As a librarian working in a corporate setting, you have advanced business management skills. You manage the corporate information library and work on your own. It is Monday morning, and the management team has just come out of the boardroom where their monthly meeting is held. A half an hour later, you receive an email. It is from the director of your division – corporate intelligence and research services—who sends you an email to tell you that he thinks the library and your position are under threat. The email reads as follows:

Pat,

At the management team meeting this morning, the library came up for discussion. It was relayed to me that ‘everything is now available on the Internet’ and the library and librarian is a ‘luxury that we can no longer afford’. Because I am impressed with your work over the past year, I decided to request that they re-consider and allow an additional month before making a final decision. I urge you to come up with a plan to make your value more evident and the library more visible to management. Please get back to me Friday with your ideas and outline.

Regards,

Bob

Director of Corporate Intelligence and Research Services

If you decide to do a business case to save the library and your job, then continue reading below. If you decide to embark upon an intensive marketing and promotional campaign, then turn to page 17. If you decide to shut down the electronic library and remove all access to online resources that you have created, then turn to page 18.

Special librarian (continued from above)

You decide that a business case is what is needed. You’ve written at least 20 of these in your 2 years at the firm, so you call up a business case template. You spend 2 days getting fresh references to justify the business case for keeping the library. You include a balanced scorecard, and you align the case to the strategic plan of the company. You show how the mission of the library is aligned to that of the organisation. You outline the financial returns that the company receives by having the library. You include testimonials from two recent employees that you assisted with research queries. The case is now four pages long, and you wonder if you should ask Bob for feedback at this stage. It is now 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, and Bob is expecting the plan on this desk first thing in the morning. If you decide to continue with the case on your own, then continue reading below. If you decide to ask Bob for feedback now, then go to page 15.

You decide to continue on with your business case

You are rapidly running out of time, and Bob looks extremely busy. He seems to be on a video call. You think that the case you are making is shaping up pretty well. You designed the business case template, and it is used by all departments in the company. You decide to include this fact as a note in your case. The case is now five pages long. You know that the company usually likes short reports that are no longer than two pages but you feel it is impossible to do justice to your work in such a short report. You are fairly satisfied with your work, so you email Bob a copy and go home.

The next day Bob drops into the library. ‘Got a minute?’ he asks. ‘Of course’, you reply. ‘I think the case is ok but too long, and I’ll have to synopsise it for the management team. I’m going in there now for the meeting, so I’ll let you know the outcome as soon as I can. Thanks for your work on it’. Your face falls. You have a sinking feeling about this. You knew it was too long, but you know that Bob can very succinctly summarise things. The morning drags on. Bob shows up again. He doesn’t look too enthusiastic. ‘I’m afraid it’s not good news, they are still planning to close the library. I’m afraid they weren’t convinced by the business case. There were too many uncertainties there and not enough data or feedback from staff. I’m sorry but I’m going to have to give you notice’. You have failed your mission. The business case produced was strong on strategy but lacked any creativity and input from staff. You failed to make your value and that of the library visible to management.

You decide to ask Bob for feedback

Bob says that he can only spare 10 min because he is about to join a video conference, but he will read your plan. He says he will drop you an email if he gets around to it. You return to your desk and answer some of the emails that have been piling up in your inbox. A new email arrives from Bob. It reads as follows:

Pat,

It’s a good case, but I do not see any mention about you—the librarian. The case is for saving the library. I’m advising you to include something about your qualifications, skills and the difference you make. Keep it short and to the point. Four pages is too long. SOTMG.

Talk tomorrow,

Bob

You take on board the feedback. He wants you to talk about the value of the librarian. This is tricky. You include your qualifications and list all of your services. You include some of the more challenging research questions for which you helped source information. You look for research on the topic. There are some articles about the value of libraries, but not so many that are applicable to a special library in a corporate setting. You find a survey from an article by Reynolds (2013) that looks like one you will be able to use in your company. It looks at the impact of the corporate information unit in a specific setting. You include it as one of your deliverables if the business case is approved. You find an article about marketing in the age of technology (Satell, 2013). It refers to looking at three metrics to capture the essence of a business: sales, awareness and advocacy (see Figure 5).

You think about these three metrics in relation to your corporate library. The brand of the corporate library in your opinion is recognised and strong. People in the company know on the whole what to expect from your services. It is possible that the management team is not fully aware of everything that you do or the extent to which you add value to other departments in the company. Sales is not applicable to the library in the sense that you are not selling anything, but the library or your work as a librarian possibly contributes to increasing sales of company products. One example of this is the research that is performed on emerging markets and business opportunities, which is usually sourced by you or you provide summaries of the latest market analyses. This is something that you will add to your plan. Awareness of the library is high. You measured this last year in a survey in which you asked, ‘Have you heard of the corporate library?’ and 68% of respondents had heard of the library. On the advocacy side, you have not done much to advance this. It would be fairly easy to find some corporate champions amongst current users of the library to champion your cause. This is something you didn’t have time to do before. You build this into your business case as an area you will grow in the third quarter of the year. Loyalty to the library is something you have not yet measured. You also incorporate this into your plan. These are all areas for future development and research. You hope that this will be enough. You include you...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Chandos
• Copyright
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Biography
• Preface
• Acknowledgement
• Introduction
• 1. Step into the shoes of a librarian
• 2. Case studies: Visibility of academic librarians and academic libraries
• 3. Case studies: Visibility of school librarians and school libraries
• 4. Case studies: Visibility of public libraries and public librarians
• 5. Case studies: Visibility of health science librarians and libraries
• 6. Case studies: Visibility of special librarians and special libraries
• 7. State of play – measuring the current visibility of the librarian and library
• 8. Visibility improvement plan (VIP)
• 9. Strategies that work to improve the visibility, value and impact of the librarian and library
• 10. Into the future: The future is now
• Appendix 1
• References
• Index