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Note:Ipublishedanonymously-forconfirmationofmyauthorship,contact__
M:emlbe.cs
:aru:iI!
n=.~membe.csare'e.E:1001.].ogeclJ
to,c:ou1tDml1<re
eontent.
:Pu·b!liciI!tlo11J.ofcon1t:enlt.1s.
detee-
rultn.eJi.
byi:he.
EdG:lto:r
ilLt'T
1dJtlrejB1J.Il1J!efulCUtITI1Jlri.1tt.eeof
Illte11igence
Insights.
Article
.length.maY'i.1"3!!I:f
ac:cQJjdttlg
to
ltopic.
Fa:r
mere:irufQ[nrn.t1onalaout
JD.te1l.ige.Jlct:Im.dgiJ:t8,
please.
eentaet
CYIldllit
ehen:gCnrne.ia_
iEdiltOJ::,
at
q::c2@b.10'i;.vTI.e~Eo:rm.co.m
ml:e1epltmre
617..479..78<62.
TheBulletinoftheCompetitiveIntelligenceDivision
INTELLIGENCEI
TheMind-Shiftfrom
us
toCI:
What
they
an~
&
ho,wtheycan
he,lpveu
transttton
from
(and/orsucceed
I
nO
YOlln
US
carea
r
.ow
tJ1Z():f(fftlOU:I
a1i.thar
hm
ber?fJ'
in
.IheUS
I
Q/1'i1IIri
Jie1dftr
wer
20ye.ar:s:
Theauthor
be.g:..-m
iilllianeconomies
degree,tiolilowedb,~.
Cl1!feBr
.in.
W:ruISkeetlibraries,
and
iUl1l:!i:ui"1ll!Jt.eily
pmgressootonlmtaging
all
Investment
EMIking
InformationCen-
tee.Nextcarnesemetime
crn:!.S1l"l.!l.fuing
(bOith
asalibrarian
and
onorgru:Uiz1l!il::iciIll
effectivenessissues)
befure
jommg
<'I.
major
gJ,@bafOOllgJ,©l1nefare:
in
a
knowledge
mmlflge.mBt1!Jt
role.
That
wasfudl@wed
by
consulting,
·l;'llith
<l!.focusoncompetitive
intelligence,
Cunently,iI:l1:e
~lJiIltfum
1evef'll!geshereollectiere
sbill.]s
andC[
ap·
preaches
t@
evaJJlUilJoog
cempanies
in
<l!.
inancial
setting-]ea(]!u.lg
the
Researchareaof
liI.
N1{C
investment
firm.
When
ill
firstembarked
0111
acareer
<'IS<'I
librarian
in
tl1:enlid·-HlQs,
itwas
<'I.grea.r!t
timeto
be
in
the
field.
Cmnpwe:s'Werellli::iing<l!nd.lliere'U<'aSmereinvestment
.in.
theprofessional
devel-
opmenteftheteam.
members..I
made<l!.
onseicuschoice
tepmsue
ru:J!.
MLS
il:~dl:Br1i:llru:J!.
D
rMB,,~
becauseI
S;Q
loved..
reserurch-
both.
qmilitiitive
<lind
qmanititafuiVie..
HOOke.manyef
my
peers,
my
pre-;M]LS
acarlrnl!i..cooc:kgn:ru:'fiJdand
w@fik
esperiencewas
in
finance
and
econemics,S@
lit
sern"led.11J.fltrn:ill.
ro
dig
a
l1itliedeeperiinto
l,'llh{lJ!t
I
wasIDe:ading
and
pass
my
tllOughts01'iJ.
il]
.my
end.user.....Lpsrtnered
-l:;'llitll.1L
them@ntheresearch,asb!ng
wlhiit
llieyhoped
to
accomplisll-
notjustwhatsearehes
they
needed
dene.
SoUlil1LiJ!ewars
fornu1tll!re:
to
be
inthe
field
duringseveral
gt:@'wth
periods,
ill
runconvinced
(Contfml!etionp,age1'4)
 
INTELLIGENCEINSIGHTS
Th€!Mind-ShiftfromLISItoCI
(Co.ti"uedfrompage1)
thattherapidadvancements.[madewithinthe
llSfield
(aswellasthe
K:M:
andCItransitions),wouldnothavehappenedsofasthadmyrnindsetnotbeensodifferentfrommanyofmypeer:s.Ultimately,oneneedstothinkofoneselfasaproduct
in
theser-viceofproblemsolving,[havetoattributepartofthismrughttomybrother,
an
e.ngineerwho,afterlisteningtomedescribemyworkcommented
that
ITOOwasanengineer.Henotedthatengit;een
are
all
about
solV!ingproblems
andthatspecial
librarians
resolveopenquestionswithinformation.Inhisownway,hestartedmethinkingabout
actionabl«inte11igcflcc.
'Dhatstartedmedownapathbytheeady
90s
that
kept
meaheadofffiru:tytheshiftsthathaveplaguedtheproression.Outsourcingabroad.
or
to
agencies
is
onethatcomes
particularly
to
mind,
TIlegmw1ihoftheinternet-leadingtoperception,
that
"Wecanjust
have
someoneGoogleit"
.isanother,
AsIconsidermypath
and
thesomekeysuccessfactors,I'd
like
toexploreafewquestions.
Are
yOUl
oldenoughtoremember{heearly-mid90s
in
librar-
ies
-&
Information
Science?
If
so,(rutleastforWillStreetveterans)
YOUl'll
recallaboomtirne-;withhiringup,spending
011
resources
increasing,
funds
avaiJllhl·eforconferencesandrrainill:g,amimoreintensecover:ageru:trllcod-
dl!ing
fromvendors.Wedidn'tnecessarilyhave
3.
martinilunches,
but
thevendorsweredefinitelydiningifnotwining
lIS-
life
U(llS
niceandwefeltgoodaboutwhatweweredoing_Butchru:tge'liasonthe
wincl
and,ifyouweresavvy,youcouldsmell
it.
Iremembertrends
SUlC.h
as;•LocatingLibrariesandInformationCenters.(mganizationallyand.physically)withdepartmentslikethecopycenter:•Placingseniorlibrarians(vpsetc)inchru:geofdepart-rnentslike
the
copycenteras
WE'll.
•Increasingnumbersoflibrariansanr]librariesremovinganytraceoftheword'~libiru:y"fromtheirtitlesordepart-mentname•OutsourcingotherdepartmentstoSEAsiaor.lev:e:mg;i:ngoutsidetempagencies
[or
professionals,whichultimatelyhappenedtolibrariesaswell•Increasedjustificationaroundbudgetsandestablishingabusinesscase,sourcebysource•Less
Of
no
funds
f01traininganddevelopment•Notreplacingdepartingpersonnel•Customerservicelevelsmoppingwithvendors.•Consolidationofvendors
•Smaller
01
nobonusesSomeof
my
colleaguesatthetimefeltthatthiswastemporary-However,itwasdealtomethattherewasnotajustperceivedsignifiCru:ttdiminishmentint!hecompany'sbigpicmrewiththeseactions-thesechangeswereheretostayandindicativeofincre-mental"efficiency'corningdownthepike.Mostly,
I
wascon-cemedthatthelibrariesandinformationcentersIworkedinwerenotproducingand/ormarketingthevaluepropositiontheyhad
01
taking
the
neo:essaryactionincrease
it.Perhaps
I
W;JJS
more
sen-sitivetotheissue,havingexperiencedseverallargedownsizingsin,theeadj'yearsofmycareer.
It
becamecleartomethatsimple
]]S-
age-volume
did
notvaluemake.
There
was.
a
disconnectbetweenwhatthebusinesswasultimatelywillingtoinvestinandwhatllllillycorporatelibraries(whatevertheycalledthemselves)deliv-ere".
Howdoestilebusiness
/Cl
ruindsets
compare
wirh
tradi-
tionalresearch/LIStl;inki.l1g?Sinceeachofusisdifferent,whencompaung
the
two,Iliketo
think
ofthemasrrulges
011
aniterativespectrumratherthanasrelativeshengtllsandweaknesses,Usingtheinte'lligencecycleasmymoc!e1(gmphic,below),weknow
we
can.work
in
the.informa-tioncollectionandimmediatelysurroundingarea(inbllile)-thequestionbecomes:How
fru:
wecanproduceintotheanalysisand
otherfunctions
alOllgthecontinuum(thewhite
areas)~
[Particularlyimportant
to
thisconcept
is
the
lack
ofabreak
ill.
thecircle,e.g.arrowsrnoveinacontinuouscircle,notsuuply)o.rung"steps..')
(Co"tifJUed
.0"
page
D)-
 
IPAG'E15
VOLUME4ISSUE1
TheMind-ShiftfromLIStoCI
(Co.•iinuedjl."",pog.14)'
I
willnot1Ilmke~
detailed
comparisonofthe
mindsers
here-
oth-
ershavecovered
that
topictarbetterthanIevercouldindetailinassortedprofessional[ournals.What
I
rill
say
is
that
I
wishtradi-tionalIibrariansandCIpractitionerswouldstopviewingeachothertlumJgha
fence.
However,.if
theabove
graphicwereamap,Iwould[J1:oposethatmostLISprofessionalsMenot
>IS
f~rdown
the
pathaswe
think,
extendingpllilmrily>!longtheMe:>!n
blue,
Bxtendingintotheotherfunctions
would
lenda.holisticthinkingandmindser,TheMlillogyIwoulduse
is
tha
t,
at
the:
extremes-thelibrarianhas.anunmarkedmap(witllnotezt)andtheCIpractitio-nerhasacompassand
the
cellphone
Howdoesone
begin
toshiftmindset?
Ktl01V
yourindustry
It'snotjustaboutknow:illg
thegeneral
trends,keyplaye!'>amiotherstl:ategiccomponents,It'sabouthavingatleasttileunderstandingsomeofthe1110retactical
and
operational
aspectsso
that
youcanhaveinformeddiscussions
with
your
users,The
investmentofsomeofyourfreerunespentreadi.ngupandtibitzing
with
knowledgeablepartiespaysoffmanytold.Insomecases,Itreatedpeopletolunchinex-changefortellingaboutwhatfueydoandhowtheirdepart-mentworks.__Anothertacticwas"freeresearch"onsomethingtheyneededtoknowfor
work
GiventhatoperationalpeJ:son-nelMeoftenlessawareofthelibraryservices,fueypleasantlysurprisedbytheoutcomesandoftenbecomemoreactiveusers,This.knowledge
.is
.bso!l!telyviW!
if
YOLl
wanttobeproactiveandtohavetheabilitytodiscernwhatpiecesofinformationarevalid,valuable,andactionable.
AFoidambiT'1IieJJce-boutbeil1gcetegodzed»''fioradan''
andwhatthatmeeas.
Unfortunatelyitis
110t
without
truththat
someLIS
professional
simplydeliverrequesteddocuments-justpas~ingthrough
information.
Sometimestheroledoesn'tallowmuchmore,butinmanycases
it's
a
consciouschoice.
Highvolmneworkloads
make
villueoacldingchilillenging,butnotimpossible.Attheve:ryleast,onecanattemptamoreinter-activereferenceinterview-
e.g.
"\Whatdoyouhopetolearnfrom.
thisinformation?"vs.
"How
fur
backshould
the
news
searchgo?"
Make
sure
youknowwh~ttherequestor
t:ea1fy
wants
to
accomplish-notjust
where
they
think
youwill
find
theinformation
Pouow
tlm:mgh
0'11
the
iForkI
womJd
alurays.
try
to
checkin
withthe
user,succinctlyaskingthemiftheworkansweredtheirquestion,
.if
it
raisedanynewissues,whatwemighthavemissed,andwhat
the:
statusoftheprojectis,Wherewemissedsomething,Ireverseengineertheinformationtoseeiftheissueresided
within
myprocess_
71WJkllk_-eanhwestigativerepoaes:
Early
on,[
realized
that
someofthequestionsIreceived
would
notnecessarilybedocumentedinaprintdocumentoronline.Howevertherewere
l:ikeIy
one,
Of
maybeseveral,expertsources
in
combina-tion,
with
whomIcouldspeaktogetmY>lnswer-bothforqualitativeandquantitativeresearch,Afterovercominginitialstage
fright
M1dleMni:l'lgto'Writemyselfascriptinadvance(includingquestions
with
checkboxes),
Ifound
thisapproachinvaluable.Particularlyinearlystagesofresearchwhenasub-jectmatterexpertcanpointyouintherightdirection.Yoursocialnetwork
(01
in!:heolddays,
YOill
rolodes)isoneotyourmostvaluabletools.Moreonthislarer..
(CD"Ii-.,.ued""pog.16)
Expand
VOUI
career
10
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