A pharmaceutical company librarian noted that she is usually the one in any R&D staff meeting with the least amount of postgraduate education, so she is aware of the need to let people know that she is an expert in searching and information management. “As a library manager, I see myself as running a small company within a bigger company, so I am always thinking about how to build relationships with leadership. I make sure that whenever they deal with a librarian or knowledge management professional, they have a collaborative experience. Even when it’s pretty clear that we could propose a better approach to a project, we make sure we engage the decision-makers in our evaluation process, so they can see that we have expertise in the information field.”
She also noted, “It's important to be aware of the power dynamics of your interactions with R&D staff. Once, I was helping a research scientist troubleshoot a query and I asked him ‘What did you do?’ The conversation turned testy, so I tried again by asking him to show me how he got to the point where he was stuck. That completely changed the tone of the conversation, and it reminded me that people don’t like feeling accused of making a mistake.”
We make sure we engage the decision-makers in our evaluation process, so they can see that we have an expertise in the information field
A librarian in the energy industry who has an interest in Python took on the lead in an internal Python network. She arranged to have another librarian present to the group about how the library could support this diverse set of people, from developers and coders, to those just interested in Python. This approach has helped them get better acquainted with the library and library staff. “That’s an effective way of planting some random seeds and spreading the word to groups who might not otherwise hear about us,” she said.
An information professional in an aerospace company talked about how she leverages her relatively small network to spread the word about the library, by making an effort to work with people who can magnify her message. “What has worked really well is reminding my network to personally bring any new staff member in to meet me,” she said. “Not only do I have instant credibility with the new employee by virtue of being recommended by a colleague, but I also have another chance to remind a long-time employee who may not use the library much of our value proposition.”
The energy librarian also described the power of partnering with business intelligence (BI) groups, especially because the library had recently received access to built-in analytics tools through some of their database providers. Since the BI group was not familiar with ways the library contributed to the company’s AI initiatives, the library looked for opportunities to teach the group how to incorporate their data analysis tools into the BI process.
As she described it, “The built-in analytics are helpful for more high-level analysis of trends, while the additional news analysis tools the library has access to enable us to dive deeper, especially when trying to look at trends over time or more granular concept analytics. The BI groups find these analyses useful for benchmarking, facilitating internal strategy development, facilitating competitor strategy discovery, and exploring external partnering opportunities.”
