10th IAALD World Congress, Dakar, Senegal, 24-28 January 2000

Isolation and professional adaptation

Peter Walton, CPAg

Agricultural Information Specialist, Suva, Fiji

Abstract

Professional isolation can be viewed from many different dimensions: geographic, professional, strategic, resources and even psychological. Geographic isolation is easiest to define, being physically apart from centres with large populations. Professional isolation can be that felt by those managing one-person libraries as the only information professional in an organisation. Strategic isolation is not being part of the planning and decision-making process which leads, inevitably, to a lack of resources whether of a material or human. Isolation tends to feed on itself unless the information professional accepts as a challenge the need to adapt in order to survive. Adaptation itself takes many forms but the essence of adapting is recognising that if information professionals don’t change, then others will take up the challenge, and are so doing. An additional set of skills and competencies are needed for the information professional in the modern age. Once equipped, there are many opportunities for seeking out challenges, becoming a leader and working strategically within knowledge-based organisations.

Introduction

It has to be asked: is it some form of perversion on the part of the organisers that they ask someone from the farthest reaches of the planet -- at least from a West African perspective -- to make a presentation on isolation and professional adaptation? It would seem so; why else would someone from a small country like Fiji be asked to come here? Perhaps the organisers thought that living on an island in the middle of the largest ocean on a watery planet gives me some special insight. Perhaps they thought that this situation would focus the mind on what is really important; grateful for small mercies; grateful that even though access to the Internet in Fiji costs significantly more than in richer countries we are happy to pay. Maybe it is for all of these reasons and more besides that I speak with you today on isolation and professional adaptation.

On your own?

Isolation as a state can be viewed from many different dimensions. It could be geographic, being a long way from anywhere; it could be professional, the one-person library the epitome of this; it could also be strategic, not being central to the institution’s main activities; it could be resources, or lack of, that isolate; and it could be psychological. Although we would not wish to get into this area to any great extent -- recognising that a person on their own in a room full of people is never more alone -- the psychological has perhaps a bearing on all these aspects of isolation.

A long way from anywhere

Geographic isolation is easiest to define. Remoteness was the theme of the last World Congress, reasoning that since it was held in Australia there would be many real-life experiences to relate. There’s a sign outside of Brisbane in Queensland that tells the traveler: Toowoomba, 120 km; Roma, 480 km; Charleville, 1,000 km; Longreach, 2,000 km. That’s it, there’s nothing between Toowoomba and all these places but vast, open spaces. Not desert; not unpopulated; just a small number of people working properties the size of which are incomprehensible. If you were the rural information specialist in Roma or Charleville, you’d feel rightly that perhaps you were on your own. The same could be true of many other places, on small islands or in large countries.

No one to turn to

Our rural information specialist in Roma is going to feel too that there is no one to turn to should s/he feel the need to discuss a few ideas. We tend to think of this as professional isolation; those we feel isolated from are our fellow professionals, our peers. The consequences of this can be growing estrangement from new ideas, new ways of doing things, new thinking. Naturally, the professional can keep up by reading the professional journals but there is nothing that beats being ‘in the thick of things’, right there where new ideas are being envisioned.

‘Left outfield’

To use a cricketing analogy, being ‘left outfield’ is being really on your own, way out there, one information professional among a group of other professionals. There is little you can do if you want to discuss the intricacies of approaches to indexing when the only other professional is the expert on sheep. This doesn’t mean you can’t discuss pertinent information matters, and probably you will feel encouraged to do so, but it does mean that no one else really understands what you do except on a superficial level. This means that it is possible you could be left out of planning sessions where new strategies and methodologies are being discussed. In other words, increasingly you find yourself sidelined, no longer (if you ever were) central to the institution and its activities. With the advent of affordable access to new information and communication technology this has had some undesirable results, of which more later. Suffice it to ask at this point, how many of you have belatedly learnt of an information initiative dreamt up and implemented by an enthusiastic scientist or computer person, the resultant product leaving much to be desired but having used up a large budget in the process?

Death by small degrees

Naturally, if you find yourself on the periphery, your situation will be confirmed by the level of resources allocated to your work. These might include making do with unqualified or barely qualified staff, which is a particular problem in developing countries. Or insufficient staff to undertake those tasks assigned to you. Or being last to be connected to the Internet, after the managers, researchers and secretarial staff, all supposing you have a computer and phone line that is.

One of the problems increasingly seen -- not everywhere, but in a sufficient number of instances to cause concern -- is that our users are moving away. Why they are doing this has to do with the type of work done and level of services offered traditionally offered by information professionals -- let’s be honest here, we’re talking about librarians. In part, users are moving away because we deal with resources such as books and journals, and their management. We do not deal in answers, although we recognise no answers can be found unless there is a structure for accessing data and information such that answers are findable. The availability of answers as a commodity requires the translation or synthesis of data and information, something not traditionally associated with librarians. We provide services that were needed yesterday, which reinforces our isolation within organisations (and is a cause of it).

One writer speaks of information as being the fast food of this age; users know what they want and they want it now. As access to the Internet has mushroomed, so too has the belief that answers for everything are available on an ‘as-needed’ basis, never mind that most of us and certainly most of our users suffer from what we call ‘information overload’. Are answers everything? No, but that is a widely-held belief.

Adaptation. On being an information chameleon

We can continue to hold on to our profession as we understand it, in which case we are doomed to extinction. Or in other words, doomed to spending our days checking out books and smiling at library patrons. Or we can recognise that there is a challenge to be met and we are just the right sort of people to meet it. Meeting this challenge requires that we adapt. Some have done so already, very successfully too. The next part of this presentation will look at what is being done to adapt, and some more reasons why our profession is best placed to do so.

What is adaptation

Dictionary definitions of adaptation include its being the act or process of adapting or adjusting or something that is changed or modified to suit new conditions or needs, from the Latin adapt, to fit. Biological adaptation is the inherited or acquired modification in organisms which makes them better suited to survive in a particular environment. Thus adaptation is not a state but a process. Too much adaptation can be as dangerous as none. A completely adapted organism is liable to be unstable and unsustainable; too rigid to change to new environments. Herein lies the challenge facing information professionals: there is a need to adapt as circumstances require. Traditional libraries have been a comfortable environment for so long that many find it difficult or unnecessary to think ‘outside the square’, i.e. completely adapted, heading for extinction.

Why do we need to change?

It’s a perfectly good question, ‘Why do we need to adjust?’ Implicit in this is the idea that librarians have changed in the past, embracing computerisation long before any outside the military got to grips with it. Brokering agreed standards for the transfer of data remotely. Establishing an enviable reputation for service. These things and more librarians have done all without the need for any great fuss. But, the biggest challenge of all now faces information professionals. The challenge is to continue to play an important role as information managers and information providers when there are others with competing products and services. Libraries were places to visit for recreation -- the latest novel; for knowledge -- textbooks and scientific journals; for information -- reference enquiries. Now that we have access to the Internet we can easily find recreation of one kind or another; teaching materials -- many interactive -- and scholarly journals are published on the web in ever increasing numbers; reference enquiries, well cyberspace is the new limit -- what isn’t there available? Any sense of order for one thing: everything about the web is chaos that both makes it so valuable and yet constraining. But rather than think about the ‘thing’ -- in this case, the Internet -- as the challenge, think about what our role is and how that is where the greatest challenge is being posed.

Writing in ABM, management guru Peter Drucker speaks of knowledge being ‘more essential to the wealth of nations today than land, capital or labour’ (Drucker 1994, p. 90). Cribb echoes this in a more recent paper: ‘Information is the gold of the 21st century. By 2010, world trade in information will exceed world trade in manufactures -- and vastly exceed world trade in food’ (1998, p. 23). In an earlier essay, Drucker envisaged that by 2008, in the typical large business:

You might ask, ‘What does this have to do with me?’ It does, because Drucker goes on to state that there is a belief that:

Both of these quotations actually tell us quite a lot about current thinking, and are worth exploring further. Firstly, there is the notion of knowledge management as being the main point of an organisation, whether for profit or in some way for the public good. It is little surprise that those organisations which have embraced knowledge management are among the leading, most profitable companies in the world. Effective knowledge management assumes effective access to and use of information and communication technology. And effective knowledge management requires effective knowledge managers. Individuals who understand how the whole system works and their part in it; who are completely information literate in the sense of being able to manipulate information for a specific purpose with varying outcomes, i.e. it’s not just a ‘guys with gadgets’ thing. Managing information is the essence of management itself.

Secondly, there is the role of information specialists. Do you feel you are a tool maker? Does this make you feel any less or more than how you think of yourself already? Perhaps you feel slighted; that being a tool maker is somehow beneath you? Personally, as a farmer’s son, I’ve always found hammers very helpful indeed. My father always reckoned he could fix anything given a hammer, a wrench and a bit of wire. And he did. Because he applied the need to fix something with an appreciation of how his tools could be used; some of them he invented himself. So he was both the information specialist and information user. If we want our users to reach well-informed decisions, conduct credible research or apply more appropriate technologies then we have to develop the tools to allow them to do this. Because if we don’t, as I have said before, someone else will.

Consider these recent job announcements:

• Program officer -- principal responsibilities will include: accessing, analysing and synthesising information relevant to program development and management; organising and co-ordinating information and meetings. Excellent research, analytical and written and oral communication skills (Grain Research & Development Corporation, Australia)
• Manager Information (Fisheries) -- the prime objective of the Manager Information is to create a knowledge-rich organisation where knowledge can be used competitively, predictively, strategically and operationally (Primary Industries & Resources, South Australia)
• Director of Knowledge Exchange -- responsible for the communications, consultancy, knowledge brokering and education activities (Co-operative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology, Australia)
• Head of Information & Creative Services -- the incumbent will stimulate, energise and direct the Centre’s activities in the key dissemination areas of print and electronic publishing, library and documentation, and public awareness (ICRAF)

In truth, only the last announcement is what would be considered a role for a traditional information professional although the Manager Information (Fisheries) did call for tertiary qualifications in information management. What is likely to happen is that these posts will go to individuals who possess much more than traditional information management skills. They are just as likely to go to individuals who don’t have these skills but who have those other skills and the dynamism to give the organisation the competitive edge or make the difference it so desires.

What are the qualities needed for successful adaptation

Are we ready to adapt? What do we need to make adaptation successful? We need everything we are now, all our skills and experience, for these are not found in other professions (and more about this later). But we also need other skills to leverage ourselves into ‘the fast lane’. Principal among these new skills are some of those required in the job announcements we’ve just looked at: good communication skills, information analysis capacity, group skills, organisational ability, an understanding of the learning process, strong information and communication technology skills, project identification and management skills. Remember, that if we haven’t got these skills, there are plenty who have. If we don’t acquire these skills then what differentiates our abilities from those of other professions when, as we have seen, what we do, the real work, is little understood since we’ve been so good at selling a degree of competence and professionalism without too much shouting? Modesty has got us nowhere and has got to go.

The US Special Libraries Association published a report by the Special Committee on Competencies for Special Librarians (1997). The report makes very interesting reading, not the least of which is a set of 11 professional competencies and 13 personal competencies. Although most of the professional competencies could be classified as ‘more of the same’ but with a more proactive, integrative stance, it is the set of personal competencies that will differentiate the informational professional of today. It is worth considering these competencies. The special librarian:

• Is committed to service excellence
• Seeks out challenges and sees new opportunities both inside and outside the library
• Sees the big picture
• Looks for partnerships and alliances
• Creates an environment of mutual respect and trust
• Has effective communications skills
• Works well with others in a team
• Provides leadership
• Plans, prioritises and focuses on what is critical
• Is committed to lifelong learning and personal career planning
• Has personal business skills and creates new opportunities
• Recognises the value of professional networking and solidarity
• Is flexible and positive in a time of continuing change

Of all of these, perhaps the ability to seek out new challenges, see the big picture, work well with others in a team and a commitment to life-long learning could be considered a cut above the rest.

As an example illustrating all of these competencies, staff at the Queensland Department of Library Services have successfully challenged the notion of a library being confined to four walls and an unearthly silence by mounting two, and soon a third, successful conferences entitled Information Supermarket. These conferences bring together everybody who has anything to do with primary industries in Queensland. The initial response to the librarians was ‘it can’t be done’, so they went out and did it. They pushed people into agreeing to give papers; they harried organisations and businesses to attend the trade show; they turned negative into positive. In other activities they went to departments with money and found out what they wanted then said they’d do it for them; then went back and found out how to do it. Unlike many organisations, the DPI web site was not an initiative of the computer centre staff but the library; it is now a fully autonomous section in its own right. Now, the library has a significant recognition factor, it and its staff have won awards and funds are not a problem. A significant guide to their success is that they understand some fundamental issues:

Note the bit about finding out first what was wanted, then going away and learning how to do it. This is a good example of lifelong learning, of the reactive kind. What is required is recognition for those within the industry who do take up the challenge to advance their skills and competencies, particularly those personal competencies that can do so much to positioning the profession for the new age. In my own case, and this is just by way of yet another example, I am as proud if not more so of being recognised as a ‘certified practising agriculturalist’ by the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology than by recognition from my own profession acquired nearly 20 years ago. Professional development has already, I believe, become the norm. And ironically, one of the roles that information professionals will find themselves filling, to an extent greater than before, is as part of the continuing adult education process which implies an understanding of the adult learning process, and individual and group communications.

Are we really up to it?

A challenge is not a challenge if it doesn’t recognise what we are good at and what we are not so good at. This helps us to identify those skills we need to develop and those competencies we should acquire -- i.e. the adaptation process.

Information professionals -- positive attributes

• have been good at co-operating and collaborating with others
• are non-threatening (contrast with accountants)
• are service-minded
• are selfless to a fault, working for the good of others
• have been organising things since time immemorial

Information professionals -- negative attributes

• have tended not to demand centre-stage
• have not been self-promotional
• are not business-minded
• are too content to support others in their achievements
• are too process-oriented (give us the information and we’ll organise it and give it back to you)

Clearly, being good at co-operating is a major benefit in an organisation espousing knowledge management. Working in teams, across disciplines does not come easy to many people but librarians have shown that they are so minded. Indeed, Sokvitne reckons that librarians as a profession has ‘almost the exact mind set that is needed: user-oriented and client-focused, holding the view that information has no value unless it is used, technologically-competent and skilled in information retrieval issues’ (1999, p. 4).

Whilst they should not lose these fine attributes, it is necessary that information professionals become leaders, promote their existing skills as information managers but learn new skills, be more involved in the life of an organisation. If it seems too scary a world to take on leadership roles, you can be sure that others will. Sokvitne suggests that ‘Librarians often dismiss IT professionals as having no real expertise in the use of information at the application level’, remarking that this being the case, librarians had better wise-up; many ‘techheads’ are ‘developing skills that compete directly with librarians’ (1999, p. 4). So in other words, we adapt and prosper; or we chose not to adapt and we become redundant, in both a value and employment sense. Adaptation is the response to change; managing change is the key to survival.

In summary

I’d like to conclude by recounting a little story. Over 20 years ago, I began what would become a career in librarianship. My first day on the job, as a temporary library assistant in a technical services department of a major metropolitan library in England. I didn’t know it at the time, but I made quite an impression. I have to say it was not because of my brilliance, good looks and charm, obvious though these attributes were. No, it was because I was ‘noisy’. Yes, noisy. I’d inadvertently walked into a shrine to silent diligence, wearing my work boots, fresh from the fields, literally. I didn’t speak in a whisper; I asked questions; I insisted we rethink processes and strategies even if my duties seemed to consist in the main of unpacking boxes of books and logging in periodicals. As a result of my ‘noise’, the management asked if I’d like to broaden my experience before going to library school by doing additional tasks. This was their prerogative. It is now time, truly time, to say that personal development should not be a prerogative of the elite but a responsibility for every one of us, to be noticed for what we are, what we do and what we contribute, on our own terms, as leaders.

Ladies and gentlemen, with reference to the theme of this Congress, the greatest challenge facing information professionals in this new millennium is in our head, a willingness to face new challenges; the solution in our hands, an enthusiasm to acquire new skills and take a leading role. Go fight the good fight!

References

Campbell, C. & Meikle, D. (1999). From challenges to accolades: how a quality State-wide library service has been achieved using appropriate technology. Paper presented at the 8th Asia-Pacific Specials, Health and Law Librarians Conference, Hobart, Tasmania, 22-26 August 1999. http://www.alia.org.au/conferences/strait/papers/meikle.htm

Cribb, J. (1998). Agriculture’s new role in the human destiny. Agricultural Science, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 21-23.

Drucker, P. (1988). The coming of the new organization. Reprinted in Harvard Business Review on knowledge management. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1998, pp. 1-19.

Drucker, P. (1994). The rise of the knowledge society. Australian Business Management, pp. 90-95.

Sokvitne, L. (1999). Turning network delivery around: providing services that focus on WWW publishing. Paper presented at the 8th Asia-Pacific Specials, Health and Law Librarians Conference, Hobart, Tasmania, 22-26 August 1999. http://www.alia.org.au/conferences/ strait/papers/sokvitne.html

Special Libraries Association (1997). Competencies for special librarians of the 21st century. Washington, DC: Special Libraries Association.