The Indispensible Librarian: Communicating Our Value
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The Indispensable Librarian: Communicating Our Value AGLIN 2013 Forum 30 July, 2013 Mary Ellen Bates BatesInfo.com
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Mary Ellen offers insights and ideas to ensure that your library or information center is seen as the valuable and mission-critical asset that it is. This keynote at the AGLIN Forum 2013 was presented on July 30, 2013 and sponsored by the Australian Government Libraries Information Network.
Transcript of The Indispensible Librarian: Communicating Our Value
The IndispensableLibrarian: Communicating
Our ValueAGLIN 2013 Forum
30 July, 2013
Mary Ellen BatesBatesInfo.com
Tweeting this?
@mebs#AGFor13
Slide deck available atBatesInfo.com/extras
"Information wants to be free"
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Information wants to be free becauseit has become so cheap todistribute, copy, and recombine –too cheap to meter.
It wants to be expensive because itcan be immeasurably valuable to therecipient.
4Stewart Brand, 1985
Do you know what's "immeasurablyvaluable" to your clients?
Are you sure?
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Learning what's really valued
Follow up on "I don't know if you dothis, but ..."
Solicit input"If I could change one thing about the
agency’s library, it would be_____________"
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The informational interview
What are clients' info pain points?Ask open-ended questions
in non-info lingoNo talking about your services!
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“When you need to make animportant decision, what info doyou use? What are you missing?”
“What do you do after you'veGoogled something?”
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The informational interview
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The informational interview
“How do you stay on top of what youneed to know about?”
“How can we make our informationand services more useful to you?”
“How can we help you accomplishyour professional goals?”
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TALKING ABOUT VALUE
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“So, what do you do?"
I'm a librarianI help people find informationI provide high-end information servicesI enable the discovery of new knowledge.
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Dull-thud messages
We save you time/money...to do what???
We have authoritative sourcesIsn’t that a given???
We provide information researchBlah, blah, blah
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Promote, don't defend!
“The web doesn’t have everything”“The web isn't reliable”
“We give you insight, not just asearch result.”
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When you describe yourself...
Is it a WHAT or HOW?or is it a WHY?
"We search premium databases" or"We provide insights from the
outside"
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HOW or WHY?
"We provide research services" or"We help staff make better decisions"
"We are experts in finding andorganizing information" or
"We make critical research findable"
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Emulate the pros
See how info companies describetheir value
Benefit from their investment!
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Dialog helps organizations acrossthe globe seek competitiveadvantage.
LexisNexis enables you to attractmore, higher quality clients.
Elsevier helps customers advancescience and health by providingworld-class information.
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Whatever words you use…
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It's not all about you
Benefits, not features
Results, not activity
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Spread the word...
Mary Ellen can be reached [email protected]: BatesInfo.comBlog: Librarian of Fortune.comTwitter: mebs
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