The root of facilitation comes from the Latin facile or without difficulty. In the world of business it’s about creating a smooth and successful process for group sharing and decision-making; an invaluable skill. Good facilitation brings meetings to life, draws out the best in people, and gets results.

Whether you are facilitating a seminar, a meeting or a creative brainstorm the same principles can be applied. In this lively, interactive session Linda will explore the golden rules of facilitation – what makes the difference between a flat session and one where ideas flow, as well as sharing tips and techniques that will build your confidence in engaging a group and reaching your goal. We will also try out some facilitation techniques. Come prepared to give it a go!

Afterwards, you will have an opportunity to network and share experiences over drinks and refreshments.

Linda Cockburn is an incisive and inspiring facilitator who has actively delivered transformation and positive change within a number of organisations, including most recently the BBC. With more than 10 years experience facilitating groups to think more creatively, and a proven ability to deliver new ideas and new ways of working. She has extensive experience across both content and business functions of broadcast and digital media, charities, educational organizations, and in multicultural and multidisciplinary organisations.

Date: Tuesday, 20th March 2012

Time: 6pm for a 6.30pm start

Venue: Perfect Information, 35 Chiswell Street, London. EC1Y 4SE

Numbers are limited to 20 attendees and places will be awarded on a first come first served basis. Preference will be given to SLA members.

Given the nature of this event, pre booking is essential.

The event is free for SLA members and £15 for non SLA members, payable on the door in cash or by cheque.

Please register by completing the registration form.

This event is generously sponsored by Perfect Information.

Can you tell us a bit about your background?

I’m from Pimlico right in the middle of central London and you could say I’m an information professional by accident. I have a degree in Philosophy from Lancaster University and as a teenager saw myself as a bit of an academic. However, much though I enjoyed the lifestyle on campus I really didn’t have any dedication to a specific field of enquiry.

Consequently, I finished my degree with no real idea what I was going to do with myself. I moved back to London and was lucky to get an interview with the British Library and was given a position in the business collection. Back in the pre-St Pancras days we were based in the patent library, just off High Holborn. It had charm, history and labyrinthine corridors.

How did you first become involved in the information profession?

Working with the business collection was a great grounding and allowed me to move on the private sector pretty quickly. I spent almost five years at Lehman Brothers, followed by stints at both Clifford Chance and Goldman Sachs.

During my time at Lehman, I got myself involved with the City Information Group. It was really vibrant and active at the time, with around a thousand members at one point. I really enjoyed the networking and the democratising of insight – as a pretty junior member of staff I got to attend seminars and hear some of the leading lights of the day talk about what was really going on in the industry. Plus, not forgetting, we used to have simply legendary Christmas parties.

You were named SLA Europe’s Information Professional of the Year in 2005. How has your career developed since then?

I still feel incredibly fortunate to have been recognised by my peers in this way. By this stage of my career I had moved to Scotland and was working at the Royal Bank of Scotland – initially in the research team in the Economics department. Just after receiving my award, I moved into the retail bank to look after the internal management information for the branch network in Scotland.

I took a conscious decision to move into this different kind of role – away from the synthesising of externally-sourced information and into a data-driven environment. This asked more of me from a software/IT perspective and was almost entirely related to data and information that emanated from the business itself. My background did allow me add more in the way of analysis and interpretation to the role and I managed to develop my team away from fairly mundane ‘spreadsheet jockeying’ and into providing something all-round more valuable to the business.

From this role, I joined SQA – the Scottish Qualifications Authority. Initially as head of Business Intelligence Services (i.e. research and statistics). This has been a fascinating challenge: we have the challenge of being a public body that has to earn our keep through commercial activity. Balancing our raison d’etre of providing access to the skills and knowledge required by the people and businesses of Scotland with the commercial imperative of earning most of our own income is actually a brilliant business challenge.

I understand you have recently taken on a new role, as head of marketing. How did this come about?

Last autumn, I was asked to take over the management of the Marketing department alongside the research function. It means I’m involved right the way through the product development process – turning research ideas into business cases and overseeing the governance process for making good decisions about what to progress to production. As new qualifications and services are being developed, the rest of the team look after the classic marketing activities of promotion, PR and the website.

How would you say your background as an information professional has helped you with this?

I’m working with a team of about 30 staff – many of whom have years of direct experience in the nuts and bolts of marketing. So, let’s be honest, I’ve not ridden into town like the new sheriff!

That said, the years of translating source material into key messages and making these messages come alive to an audience is a pretty good grounding for marketing. The marketing community consider research to be a marketing discipline (there’s a warning for fellow info pros, right there!) and it is a pretty hazy distinction between that kind of research and what I’ve grown up doing.

Marketing is something that information professionals are often called on to do, with perhaps little background knowledge. What advice would you give to information professionals who are new to marketing?

One thing I have definitely learnt is that all successful marketing rests on a firm understanding of brand. By brand I don’t mean logo or strap line. I mean a firm understanding of the values that underpin the service your offer.

Think about the values that are important to your organisation. Does your service match these values? What else do you bring? Is it accuracy, speed, sector knowledge, a neutral space to work? Distil it down to the two or three values you can really demonstrate throughout the service you offer to all your colleagues and customers. And then demonstrate it. Every time.

Personally, I wouldn’t waste your time with newsletter or drop in days or presentations until you have properly understood the kernel of value you offer to your organisation. And then go on about it, relentlessly. I certainly wouldn’t bother investing in a logo or a strap line until you have your values nailed down and lived by your whole team.

What are your predictions for the coming year?

Economic hard times will probably lead to further consolidation amongst information vendors. Coupled with the growth of user generated content and more sophisticated use of personal reputation as a ‘currency’ we will see more co-created and shared content. This will be harder for the behemoth information companies to monetise. So our challenge may shift from asking ‘how much’ to asking ‘how valid’ – which will make our skills as information professionals more valuable than our ability to count beans.

What do we mean by ‘outstanding?’ Someone who goes beyond the everyday demands of their job to provide innovative, creative, or high-level support for their users. Do you organise extra-curricula events to raise the profile of your service and make sure users get the best from you? Have you developed a new service or way of working that’s had a positive impact on your users? Are you a prolific and instructive writer, teacher, or trainer? Do you make a difference? If so, we want to hear from you!

The winner will also be given the opportunity, after the conference, to get involved with the work of SLA Europe and the Leadership and Management Division (LMD), by shadowing an SLA Europe or LMD board member, invited to join one of these unit’s committees, or become otherwise involved in their board activities.

This fantastic opportunity is open to all information professionals living or working in Europe, who have more than five years’ experience in the field, and have not won an SLA Europe Early Careers Conference Award within the last five years. Applicants do not need to be SLA members.

See the application guidelines and details of how to apply, and submit your application online. Deadline for applications for the 2012 Award is 8 March 2012.

Please contact Awards Chair Bethan Ruddock with any queries.

The paperless book – O’Reilly Radar

“The problem for publishers is that customers don’t know what a book is anymore.”

Academic publishing is full of problems; lets get them right – Copyright Librarian

Response to an article in The Atlantic on the problems in academic publishing.

Elsevier’s Publishing Model Might be About to Go Up in Smoke – Forbes

Article on the academic boycott of Elsevier. The Economist has also covered this story.

Looking for marketing ideas? Free ebook! – SLA Leadership and Management Division

“Hubspot have made available a free ebook on ‘A Practical Guide to Killer Marketing Content’, with tips including how to create useful personas, and using an editorial calendar to make sure you never run out of content.”

Marketing to Millennials: Social Media, Engagement, Interaction, and Immediacy – EContent Magazine

Excerpt from a chapter in the new book Dancing with Digital Natives: Staying in Step with the Generation That’s Transforming the Way Business is Done.

School Libraries Grapple with Surge in Ereaders – Digital Shift

School librarians see the surge in teens owning ebook readers as an opportunity to educate about digital property issues.

When’s the Best Time to Blog & Share? – Read Write Web

Advice on the best times of the day/week to post and share content online.

Classic blunder #1 – Let’s just try it and see what happens! – Information Wants to be Free

Thoughtful blog post on why “just try it and see what happens” isn’t always a good approach to new projects.

Hashtags for information professionals – Information Today Europe

Bethan Ruddock highlights the hashtags that can help us share conversations, learn from others, share our love of libraries, broadcast our activities – and more!

Developing a Library Collection Development Policy: Journals – Slaw

Considers the place of journals in a contemporary law library collection.

10 Ways to Bring A Conference Back to Work – Learning Circuits

Great advice on how to make the most of what you learn at a professional conference.

5 reasons why we really need librarians and Information Professionals in the Internet age – MmITS

“In celebration of National Libraries Day, here are 5 key reasons why we really need librarians and Information Professionals in the Internet age…”

Angry person is angry! – Don’t Call Me Miss

Fantastic advice from an academic librarian on how to deal with angry library users.

New Research Shows That Enterprise Social Technology Gets Work Done – Digital Landfill

Research scientist Andrew McAfee and the AIIM Task Force track the adoption rate of social business and reveal social business/Enterprise 2.0 best practices for three key business engagement models.

Many thanks to @obnoxiouslibrn, @woodsiegirl, @ninfield, @bethanar and @GLAsrampersad for sharing their links with us! If you’ve seen any interesting or useful articles, blog posts, videos, infographics or anything else you’d like to share with your fellow information professionals, we’d love to see them. If you’re on Twitter, just tweet them with the hashtag #slaelinks. If you’re not on Twitter, just leave a comment below with any links you’d like us to tweet about.

Helen Clegg

Helen Clegg is Director of Knowledge Management in A.T. Kearney’s Procurement & Analytic Solutions unit. Helen has extensive experience in knowledge management and international business research gained through a range of positions in Europe with top strategic management consultancies and a Fortune 500 B2B company.
In this interview Dennie Heye talks to Helen about the article she co-wrote about the creation of a knowledge sharing culture in A.T. Kearney.

Helen explains how the knowledge transformation started, the obstacles they had to overcome and what the pillars are in her strategy.

Download the podcast

Download the article here

CILIP is coordinating National Libraries Day with partners like Campaign for the Book, The Library Campaign, National Literacy Trust, Voices for the Library, and many more…

At a time of cutbacks in local authority funding, your local libraries are vulnerable.  Will you be supporting your local library?  There are many ways you can do this.  Just visit your library on this day, or find an event near you.  You can also blog or tweet about it using #NLD12 hashtag or #SLAELinks hashtag.

National Libraries Day is devoted to all types of libraries, library users, staff and supporters across the UK. As the European branch of the Special Libraries Association representing information professional members working in corporate, academic, government and other industries, SLA Europe is proud to encourage support for National Libraries Day.

National Libraries Day – Use It, Love It, Join It!

Visual Storytelling Site Cowbird – The Digital Shift

This new site aims to create “the world’s first library of human experience”.

“My First Month” – LIS New Professional’s Toolkit

The LIS New Professional’s Toolkit blog is running a series of guest posts from new professionals on their first months in their first professional posts. The series kicks off with Simon Barron discussing his first month as E-resources Co-ordinator at Durham University Library.

Search Components Overview – AIIM

Six-minute video explaining the basics of how enterprise search works.

Think Technology Trumps Content? Well, You’re Wrong – PaidContent.org

Jim Spanfeller, former president and CEO of Forbes.com, argues that cutting-edge technology will always be secondary to quality content.

Is KM a real force multiplier? – Above and Beyond KM

Outlines an exercise for knowledge management professionals to undertake, to examine if their KM activities add value to their firms.

Not So Fast – Think With Google

It feels like the internet has made us faster than ever, but are we in fact lagging behind the opportunities presented by technology?

Technology Will Kill [video] – Erik Qualman

Video showcasing what technology will replace this digital decade, from checkbooks to car keys. Interesting short video, with an excellent soundtrack!

6 New Year’s Resolutions for a Successful 2012 – 123reg.co.uk

6 tips for the not-so-new year, including joining a networking organisation. Speaking of which…

Professional Associations and Why They Matter – Slaw.ca

“A reflection on an unsung entity that is not often recognised beyond its own membership”.

Training as a library function: some observations from the outside – On Firmer Ground

Chuck Lowry, enterprise sales representative for Fastcase, shares his observations on how law librarians train themselves, their staff and their lawyers.

If You Want a Culture of Collaboration, You Need to Accept the LOLCats Too – AIIM

“Accept the fact that your employees will be talking about fantasy football and what they’re doing over the holidays before they’re going to be ready to use [social] tools to conduct “real” work.”

How Africa tweets: visualised – Guardian Data Blog

Twitter is often thought of as a European and American phenomenon. But how does Africa use the social networking tool?

Recorded webinar: Beyond Newsletters [video] – Reprints Desk & HiveFire

Webinar from Reprints Desk and HiveFire on innovative tools and processes for creating internal newsletters.

Many thanks to @obnoxiouslibrn, @woodsiegirl, @ninfield, @GeraldineCS, @worldresearcher and @LibWig for sharing their links with us! If you’ve seen any interesting or useful articles, blog posts, videos, infographics or anything else you’d like to share with your fellow information professionals, we’d love to see them. If you’re on Twitter, just tweet them with the hashtag #slaelinks. If you’re not on Twitter, just leave a comment below with any links you’d like us to tweet about.

Can you tell us a bit about your background? How did you first become involved in the information profession?

I studied Politics and Modern History at Manchester University and my first job was in a statistics unit (anyone who knows me will be aghast at this idea – Rachel and numbers!). When the librarian was on holiday they asked me to look after the library in her absence. When I sat at her desk for the first time, I just KNEW that is what I wanted to do. So, after my post-grad library qualification I started work in the City. By luck not judgement but I really enjoyed the buzz of the financial world. My experience covered merchant banking (now called investment banking), fund management and insurance and I was lucky to work for three top-class organisations, SG Warburg, J Rothschild and AIG. While at AIG I was encouraged to join SLA and later was invited to join the Board of SLA Europe. The collaboration with fellow info pros both in the UK and abroad via SLA really increased my confidence outside of the immediate day-to-day office environment and also gave me the opportunity to speak at an international conference.

I understand you’ve just written a book. Can you tell us a bit about it? Where did the idea come from?

Roslyn, my co-author and I love travelling. Where ever we are in the world we seek out Jewish heritage, synagogues and try to meet members of the local communities. Amazingly, there was no guide-book to Jewish London. Despite a growing interest in Jewish heritage in London, vibrant cultural centres, festivals for literature, music and dance no guide-book existed to ensure visitors and residents have all the information they need in one easy-to-read format. Roslyn and I volunteer at Jewish Book Week and, two years ago, after one of our shifts she asked me if I had ever thought of writing a book based on the coach and walking tours I lead around London. With Roslyn’s knowledge of the Jewish community, particularly the synagogues and food matched with my knowledge of the history of Jewish London, it seemed that we MUST write the book!

We then had to find a publisher. We poured over guide books in Stanfords and chose the publishers who we wanted to work with. New Holland took us on and then it was all go ….. no sooner than they said they rather liked the idea we were writing sample chapters, sending in the text, having to edit ….. drastically. The commissioning editor got the measure of me very quickly. You write like you talk he said …. don’t!! I had to learn to cut, cut, cut. It was tough at first but the words had to go!

The book covers both walking tours around key areas of Jewish interest but also features about historic cemeteries, Jewish art and artists, important Jewish personalities such as Disraeli and the Rothschilds, areas off the beaten track and suggested days out. Holocaust memorials are all listed and museums and Judaica are profiled. Several sites are very underknown so we hope the book will encourage greater number of visitors.

How did your background as an information professional help you with writing the book?

As an info pro with nearly 30 years behind me of researching all manner of subjects, whether in the early days using books and newspaper cuttings to later using on-line resources it was experience of research and checking sources for validity! It was also true that whether in the commercial world or the ‘literary’ world you must use personal communication too. You cannot get results without working with those who are the experts in their fields and in the case of a guide-book, those wonderful curators who manage the museums and galleries and the synagogue administrators who know their communities.

My work as an info pro meant I could be very well organised, or at least, aspire to being well organised. Preparing the guide-book was a collaboration between two authors with very different career backgrounds but we found we complemented each other.

I did the picture research too! This was a challenge as I did not really know what I was getting into but I loved it! Through my Jewish London walking tours and my many books on the bookshelves at home (yes, lots of real books!) I had lots of photos of my own but also an idea of which archive images I felt would add some interest to the London visitors would see while exploring. This led in turn to use my negotiation experience from working with business information suppliers. Costs of reproduction rights for images are very high now but I found that the copyright owners were really helpful and understanding about the lack of budget. I am thrilled with the range of images in the book – photos, works of art in galleries and historic archive images.

The publication timetable was tight, deadlines were always changing but never in our favour and they had to be met! We had both been used to busy corporate environments but the pressure in the corporate world never matched that of producing the book!!!

What advice would you give to someone just starting out as an information professional?

1) Any subject can be interesting. If you are naturally inquisitive then any subject, even if you previously knew nothing about it, will become fascinating once you are immersed in it. Obvious ones are medicine, law, finance but what about wool, cement and aviation? Whatever your background, never discount an organisation or subject matter as being uninteresting.

2) The info pro world is a service industry – you have to like people and want to help

3) You might not know the answer but you will certainly know how to find it or know the person who knows. Remember, that is often as good as knowing the answer yourself.

4) Info pro work is so varied. Whatever your favourite part of the work – using hard copy, researching on-line, finding the expert, analysing info, presenting info, writing – your role will include it. And if it does not, then encourage your unit to branch out into wider services. Your clients will appreciate it.

What are your plans and predictions for 2012?

Since leaving a PAYE working environment and becoming freelance my plans tend to be very simple …. paying the bills and praying the roof does not leak! But that is not me really. I am always making plans. Three years ago I thought how wonderful it would be to be a lecturer on cruise ships. Now I am! Two years ago I was wondering if I could write a book. Now I know I can! The key is to plan but not to be despondent if the plans do not come to fruition. Next plans? Now Jewish London is published I am planning my next book … there is lots of interest in the theme (sorry, secret at the moment).

Thank you Rachel for sharing your insights with us! All the best of luck with your next book – sounds very exciting!

Quiz team Film Club celebrate their win

Congratulations to Film Club and team captain Mark Haines, winners of our Winter Warmer Quiz last week. Runners up were Lime Street Runners, missing the top spot by just four points. The evening was generously sponsored by Swets and the FT and resident quizmaster AskTony tested our knowledge of film, current affairs and “guess the advert”. It’s times like this when you wish you’d paid more attention during advert breaks! This year’s quiz was fully booked so get recruiting for your winning team for 2013.

You can see photos from the evening on our Facebook page, and in AskTony’s Picasa album. If you took any photos of the evening you’d like to share, please feel free to add them to our Facebook page or Flickr group.

Thanks to all for coming along and to the FT and Swets for their generous sponsorship.

The elusive dream of a work-life balance – Information Wants to be Free

Meredith Farkas shares her thoughts on and lessons learned from juggling her work with raising her son.

A Special Library Student’s First Customer – Future Ready 365

Interesting idea for library school students: why not try offering your skills as a kind of information consultant within the university you’re studying at?

Why Amazon Is The Best Strategic Player In Tech – Forbes

Fascinating insight into Amazon’s strategies and decision-making.

Six Social Media Trends for 2012 – Harvard Business Review

One of many posts predicting what we’ve got to look forward to over the coming year!

61 Non-Librarian Jobs for LIS Grads - Syracuse School of Information Studies

Good overview of some of the non-traditional roles that exist for people with information management skills.

Documenting Law Library Strategy – Slaw

Does your law library have a strategic plan? Is the plan available, aligned, and has it been shared?

Help! How much help should libraries be? – Undaimonia

The age-old problem for academic librarians – give students the materials they need, or teach them how to find them for themselves? Lots of good comments on this post too, including links to related/response posts.

Which social networks should you focus on in 2012? – Econsultancy

Do you promote your library on social media? Which services do you use?

We’d love to have your links to feature here too. If you’re on Twitter and you see something interesting that you’d like to share with us, just tweet it using the #slaelinks hashtag. If you’re not on Twitter, feel free to leave a comment below if there’s something you’d like to draw our attention to!