Meet Deb Hunt: Candidate for SLA President-Elect 2012

The candidates for 2012 SLA President-elect, David Cappoli and Deb Hunt, were interviewed by e-mail for NEWS LIBRARY NEWS, so members can get to know them as voting takes place September 7 - 28, 2011. Deb Hunt's responses follow in their entirety.

Deb Hunt

1. Why are you running for president of SLA?

I bring proven leadership skills to this position. I have prior experience as a Director on the SLA Board of Directors, as Chapter President and in many other leadership positions in the San Francisco Bay Region Chapter and in SLA divisions. I’m an innovator as the creator and team leader of SLA’s 23 Things. The 23 Things contributed to a mindset change for SLA members and enables us to embrace new technologies, new tools, get ahead of our users and to lead rather than follow. For this effort, I was awarded an SLA Presidential Citation by Stephen Abram.

I know how to get things done, grow new leaders, and create and strengthen programs for our members.

I’ve demonstrated my adaptability and flexibility as my career has taken many turns. A few years ago, I was laid off from my job at the Exploratorium after 14 years of working there. I was able to ramp up my consulting firm, but it was still a big adjustment. Over the years, my consulting work has evolved in a way that I think mirrors what I see happening in the job market for us as information professionals. When I started consulting many years ago, I mostly did value-added research and library design and automation. Soon my library automation clients asked me how they could organize their internally created content so it would be as easily accessible as the library collection. That is how I added document and enterprise content management to the services I offer. Most of my clients are not libraries.

2. You are elected the leader and the public face of SLA, and you've been invited to a regional roundtable forum of C-suite executives, nonprofit heads, and other leaders. This is a chance to introduce the organization and members. What do you tell them?

What keeps you awake at night?

In today's fast-paced world, the need for information is an invaluable commodity. Information, both internally- and externally-produced, is the lifeblood of an organization and essential for innovation and survival. Information sharing, finding and reuse are also essential for any organization that is attempting to understand and manage its intellectual capital and thrive in these trying economic times.

Information professionals play a unique role in gathering, organizing and coordinating access to the best information sources for the organization, understanding the critical need of turning that information into usable knowledge.

A study conducted by SLA found that eighty-five percent of the companies ranked in the top 100 on the Fortune 500 list employed information professionals, compared to less than fifty percent of the companies ranked in the bottom 100. SLA is a global professional association of 9,500 innovative information professionals and their strategic partners who are ready to put your organization over the top. What steps are you taking to differentiate your business from the next and maintain your company's sustainability?

3. The News Division: what are your impressions? What would you like to see us address?

Over the years, I’ve been most acquainted with my News Division colleagues at the San Francisco Chronicle and have been saddened to see them go from some 18 staff down to 2. I know the News Division has experienced a drop in membership, but I believe that those who are left form the new core of this division, which will be the community for info pros in any of the news-related industries and organizations.

There are two things I’d like to see the News Division address:

1. An updated division website. As a web project manager at the Exploratorium in San Francisco for 12 years, with our team winning 4 Webby awards, I know that an engaging and up-to-date website can keep members engaged and encourage new members to join. Daniel Lee and his WordPress team can work with the News Division to make a new site a reality. I encourage you to consider this as a marketing, retention and community tool for division and potential members.


2. A more difficult issue that I see the News Division (46% decline in membership since 1994) and all SLA members facing, and I’m sure you are all aware of this, is the downturn in organizations feeling the need to hire and retain librarians and information professionals.
   

One of our News Division colleagues was recently profiled in a two-part professional development workshop which I co-presented to SLA colleagues in the San Francisco Bay Area. We named a group of our colleagues “Famous Front Runners” who have successfully navigated the job upheavals going on all around us. That Front Runner is Leigh Montgomery, whose personas include:

• Artful Dodger


• Chameleon


• Future Ready


• Shape Shifter


• Survivor

Leigh was able to survive and even thrive by deploying a combination of strategies:

• Finding new revenue streams for her employer


• Applying new technologies to improve productivity


• Reinventing and repositioning herself


• Demonstrating and increasing her core value to the organization

We can build on our past, but we must look ahead to the future. I see my colleagues struggling with layoffs and job insecurity. Yet there are vast opportunities for information professionals and I want to see us benefit from those opportunities. We must think outside the box, continually honing our skillset so we can go wherever there is opportunity to ply our trade.

Photo courtesy SLA

Meet David Cappoli: Candidate for SLA President-Elect 2012

The 2012 candidates for SLA President-elect, David Cappoli and Deb Hunt, were both interviewed by e-mail for NEWS LIBRARY NEWS so members can get to know them in advance of voting, which takes place September 7 - 28, 2011. David Cappoli's responses follow in their entirety.

David Cappoli

1. Why are you running for President of SLA?

I am running for President of SLA because I can lead this association into its somewhat uncertain near future with my consensus-building skills, experience with students, knowledge of the continuing education needs of information professionals, and a strong willingness to confront the changes that SLA must consider, such as the conference revenue model. I continue to be excited about information professionals and feel strongly that I can work to advance SLA's reach within the profession.

2. You are elected the leader and public face of SLA, and you've been invited to a regional roundtable forum of C-suite executives, non-profit heads, and other leaders. This is a chance to introduce their organization and members. What do you say?

Besides giving an overview of SLA and our members, I would showcase real-world examples of how our members have directly contributed to the success of their organizations. I would also tie their contributions to the leadership and professional development opportunities that SLA has provided to them. For example, if one of our members acquired knowledge via SLA, e.g., at conference, in a virtual seminar, etc., and integrated it into his/her work to the significant benefit of the organization, I would emphasize this connection and compare what the state of the organization would be without the member's contributions.

3. The News Division: what are your impressions? What would you like us to address?

During my time as a member of the News Division and working at the L.A. Times, and at the L.A. Herald-Examiner prior to the Times, division members discussed and implemented initiatives focused on better integrating their work into the success of their organizations well before other units did so. By participating in editorial board meetings, members have been able to feature the resources and expertise of their libraries and information centers. News librarians have been embedded within specific news departments well before the issue of embedded librarianship became an important topic; and, they have been at the forefront in the development of full-text and image archiving systems. I have also been impressed by how news librarians employ their network in times of disasters. I see news librarians continuing to be leaders in these areas, as well as in the burgeoning field of digital archiving, the reuse of organizational assets and how to succeed while enduring staff and budget cutbacks.

Photo courtesy SLA

Notes from the Chair: Exchanging Ideas

Considering there are so many online platforms and outlets these days for communication and socializing, meeting for an in-person conversation seems a comparatively rare and refreshing event. Earlier this month, librarians from the SLA Boston chapter got together for an idea exchange -- very much resembling a salon discussion, though more focused and including multiple subjects suggested by attendees.

This was truly some of the most valuable conference programming I've ever experienced. The idea for it originated with Journalism That Matters, an organization that travels around the country holding these "convening conversations" for the purpose of sharing ideas and skills. In March, they held one at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to discuss how journalists and librarians could work together.

Other than participants and time, the only other requirements are markers, paper and a video camera if you wish to document the session. Attendees post questions about the top issues facing either their profession or their own work. These are then displayed on the wall, and the audience decides on which topics they want to talk about; those that are similar are combined.

The conversation concludes with a couple of key ideas or conclusions. One person from each discussion then reports the conclusion. Some of the conferences I've attended actually had us get up and physically stand with the idea we thought resonated most. And some have even agreed to keep in touch to help put the ideas or goals into place.

It was great to witness the enthusiasm that the SLA Boston president-elect, Khalilah Gambrell, exhibited in hosting this program. Additionally, the date on which it was held was selected so that two special guests could join us: David Cappoli and Deb Hunt, the candidates for president-elect of SLA, who were on the last leg of their East Coast campaign trail - following whistle-stops to visit with SLA members in Washington, DC and New York.

We grabbed our markers and in short order stuck paper slips expressing our concerns and questions on the wall; Khalilah very adeptly sorted them into several categories: Professional Development, Information Overload / Value of the Profession, Transitions / Retirement, Budget issues and Vendor / Publisher concerns. We then broke out into smaller groups to discuss these various topics.

I participated in the Information Overload / Value of the Profession discussion. The latter is a constant issue in our industry as well as others: with the ease of creating information it is difficult for users -- even information professionals -- to manage it all. It is always interesting to see where these discussions go; our conversation largely centered around cultivating relationships, reaching out to those 'we don't always hear from,' and the value of extending oneself outside of his or her regular routine.

One librarian said she had success in casual conversation 'just having coffee in the mornings with engineers' when she was at an engineering firm. Another attendee suggested 'identifying what's sexy'; that is, the department in your company with most interest and activity around it. This librarian mentioned she learned this while working at Credit Suisse First Boston when there was a lot of interest in energy markets at the time. I added that interviewing colleagues personally but casually had been successful; that is, finding out what their needs and goals were, and how the librarian might support them with your own recommendations and by developing a kind of informational template around them.

David and Deb circulated to all of our groups, and definitely added some great ideas and success stories from their own experiences.

The time went by quickly and we could definitely have used more of it. A video of the session was made that hasn't yet been posted; but I will do so once it is live. Here's another account of our evening by Paula Cohen, another attendee.

We were kindly hosted by Dee Magnoni, the librarian at Olin College of Engineering, at their campus, which also included dinner and a library tour.

It looks likely we'll do this again in the future; and hopefully this account will give you a sense of the format one might use to host a conversation like this. It's a great way to get feedback and ideas on questions and concerns you're seeking solutions for from some very engaged and involved members of the information profession.

-- Leigh Montgomery