Being Mad About Good Service

Rebecca Marsh

Format of the evening

Rebecca Marsh (MD, ASLIB and Service Development Director, Emerald) – Being Mad about Good Service

Jacqueline Beattie (Global Contract Manager, Dow Chemicals) – Body of Knowledge in Information Management

Graham Coult (Editor-in-Chief, Managing Information) – Why Data Protection is Important

Roundtable discussions and networking

What does ASLIB stand for?

ASLIB is a membership association for people who manage information and knowledge in organisations.

Why is service important now?

• Expectations of information and knowledge management and provision are changing

• Expectations of roles of information managers and service provision are changing

• Look beyond our own service users and see their service users

Moments of realisation

• You Must Be Crazy

• You Need to Look

Outside More

You must be crazy

Notable Game-changers which at first sight seem crazy - eBay – an internet auction site for unwanted goods Twitter – a message service with restricted

message length that implies the messages are trivial

Virgin – a name for any new company

Crazy ideas

Greater availability of information (and free information) = reduced requirement for information professionals

New generation of users search for information very differently

Librarians are actually feared

Should this prompt us to think in different ways?

• The embedded librarian

• Transliteracy through a range of platforms to communicate more effectively

• Asking for information more effectively

We need to look outside more• Where do we get inspiration?

• Our spaces are changing (no longer just physical assets in a physical space). Libraries, information centres and museums can be used differently – socially, service provision, centres for your communities

Discussion topics

• What are the changing needs of our users?

• How do we shape service to become a crucial partner in solving information problems?