In a recent webinar around the challenges of solo librarianship, information expert Jill Shuman said it best: information professionals today wear a lot of hats. Trying to “do it all” simply isn’t realistic.
This was the experience CCC encountered with a client in the pharmaceutical industry. The organization’s Head of Strategy and Operations was juggling several high priority tasks including information management. But to do her job effectively and focus on other more strategic projects, she was looking for a qualified information management professional who truly understood researchers’ needs.
While the organization recognized the importance of library services, it had previously operated without an experienced, dedicated contact serving as a resource. Given the need to control headcount within the department, its leadership was challenged to identify a suitable role within the company to be the necessary point person.
Together with CCC, the organization identified a candidate who would support the information budget, deliver dedicated end-user support for its RightFind® content workflow solutions, provide expertise in collection development, and promote library resources and services company-wide.
Today, there are four major areas where outsourcing an information professional has benefited the organization as a whole:
Realizing the Value of Content Investments
When the new information professional was tasked with troubleshooting, an initial assessment of the current library operations identified inefficiencies, misalignments in the utilization of subscription aggregator and RightFind solutions, missing metadata and usage data, seat licenses for employees no longer with the company, and access issues with publisher platforms and content workflow solutions. Once these challenges were identified, the actions taken to improve them led to a workflow that now provides a better picture of the value of its content investments – and how important they are to the organization.
Building Relationships
Since many internal stakeholders were unaware of Library Services, the value the department could offer, or whom to contact with related questions, it was an immediate priority to build better relationships with internal library stakeholders including procurement and IT. Externally, focus was given to reaching out to all vendors and publisher account managers to better understand roles and pain points, and get communication flowing between all involved parties.
Understanding the Voice of the Customer
“Voice of the Customer” interviews with the senior leaders in all therapeutic areas showcased the offerings of Library Services and showed: a) there was a general lack of knowledge of Library Services, and what resources, support and services it could provide. b) there was a lack of awareness of RightFind, indicating an underutilization of the resource — many users were relying on Google Scholar when starting a project.
Improving Content Access Through Training
With dedicated Library Services support in place, and a better understanding of researchers’ needs, a plan was put into place to provide increased training, and improved access to information resources.
Read on to learn how this partnership has resulted in delivering company-wide value and raising the strategic profile of library services.
Through Managed Knowledge Services, Copyright Clearance Center provides highly skilled information management professionals with expertise matched to your organization’s unique needs and culture to deliver high-quality service and to help organizations get the most value from their content investments. Learn more here.
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