I attended the Software Information Industry Association (SIIA) Information Industry Summit (IIS) in New York City last week, and I was encouraged by the positive attitudes expressed by leaders in the content industry. Yes, the economy is bad and is going to get worse. However, the flip side of every challenge is an opportunity waiting to be exploited. The best way to make yourself indispensable to your organization is to stay ahead of the training curve.
Marjorie Scardino, Chief Executive of Pearson, the international education and media business, gave an uplifting keynote speech to kick off the conference. In the midst of the current economic turmoil, she sees an opportunity to train 21st Century employees in new skills—skills that we may not have even heard about yet.
Scardino discussed The Partnership for the 21st Century Skills, an advocacy group that works to integrate 21st Century skills into schools, and their efforts to identify the new skills that will be needed by students when they enter the workforce. Of course, the need to update skills never ends; to stay competitive—and afloat—every information professional must be constantly engaged in learning.
Kathy Yates, the CEO of www.AllBusiness.com, reported in a session on “Profiting from Video” about the success of her company’s online training resources. Their site, supported by advertising revenue, offers videos and related articles that provide advice, information and solutions to growing small businesses. Most info pros will find something useful for their organization, regardless of size, or for their own professional development in this open source resource. For example, read about How to Organize Your Work Email or Strategies for Customer Service. Information professionals play an important role in safeguarding their organization’s informational assets. That often means not only keeping current themselves but also training their colleagues.
SLA member Mindy Pennington, Manager of External Content at Pfizer’s library services, sat on a panel titled “Licensing Digital Information—Customer Satisfaction vs. Safeguarding Assets.” She described Pfizer’s efforts to keep employees informed about correct use and distribution of their content. Along with extensive training programs, managing updates to all their ongoing contracts and having a team dedicated to copyright policies, Pfizer maintains an e-mail address employees can use to express concerns or ask questions regarding copyright practices.
How can SLA help?
As SLA enters a new world full of technological advances within the information community, we know how important it is to make these tools available to our members in a safe environment. That is why we created the Innovation Lab, and that’s why we are keeping 23 Things available to members indefinitely. SLA also recently informed our members that we are making non-certificate, online courses offered by Click University free as a benefit of their membership. We are developing some exciting new Click University programming, too, so check the site often! And don’t forget about significant discounts and other advantages available to SLA members with our university partners through the Click U Learning Network.
How can SLA members help?
We would love to hear about innovative approaches you and your organization are using to keep employees trained and informed. Please comment on this blog and share your programs and ideas!
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