As an IIP (Independent Information Professional) one of the first things you hear from your mentor is: “Don’t forget to market.” Marketing is the easiest thing, besides bookkeeping to let slide when you work alone.
This blog is one of my marketing methods and boy has it slid lately. I’ve been thinking about lots of things but once the work is done, the brain is too tired to make sense of my muddled thoughts about information access, content management and next-generation corporate libraries.
My first book.
So today I’m going to set work aside for a few moments and market. Since October of 2008 I have published a book (Next Generation Corporate Libraries and Information Services), started a new contract position and landed a big project as well as taken on some steady research work for a handful of clients.
This is all good news for those of you who may have a need for a person capable of taking a special collection library and make strategic decisions about access to information either analog or digital. It’s also good news for those who want to know how to position yourselves into a stronger role within your organization in today’s knowledge economy. And let’s not forget those of you who just need to know how to organize your content, improve your processes and establish some protocols so that the critical data is easily found and the irrelevant or outdated stuff is swept away.
During the process of working on the projects I have undertaken I’ve increased my knowledge and the clients that come after will benefit from my ever continuing education. A few central themes in the content management and product delivery process, no matter the industry remain constant.
- Management is always a problem.
- Communication is always an issue.
- Fast and careful execution is a key to success.
So if you have an information or content problem, need to understand what is causing delays in executing your much needed business process and product improvements, or just need a bit of research done you can bet that the Answer Maven will work first and market later to help you.
by Constance Ard 1/26/2010
