Competency M
demonstrate oral and written communication skills necessary for group work, collaborations and professional level presentations
Communication is a vital part of living in society and interacting with others at work. Nowadays, the workplace is the place where most people spend a great part of their days. Thus, there is a innate need for group collaboration to get tasks accomplished. Librarians and information professionals are not exempt from this and find that they interact on a daily basis with colleagues and users through a variety of pathways such as meetings, telephone calls, e-mails, chat reference services, and in-person conversations. In order to be effective during all these interactions, librarians and information professionals must be skilled at both oral and written communications and at working as part of a group.
Some of my MLIS courses have afforded me the opportunity to participate in group assignments. One example was an ethnic collection development resources research assignment for LIBR 266 (Collection Development). In it my group was tasked with selecting and compiling a collection of ethnic resources applicable to a variety of library settings (i.e. elementary school, academic, public, private and medical) that would empower information professionals with the tools needed to help ethnic populations with their information needs, as well as help them create collections that are balanced, useful, comprehensive, sizeable, qualitative, and diverse. My role in this group assignment was that of team captain. I was elected to this position by the other members of the team based on our prior class interactions through the Blackboard communications tool. As such I was responsible for first determining the scope of the workload and for dividing it equally among the team members. This was done at our only in-person meeting where each of us communicated to the group what our strengths were with respect to the components of the assignment. The division of work was then done per these considerations. From then on, though each team member performed their research individually, we regularly communicated via e-mail with respect to the progress and any difficulties encountered along the way. As part of my responsibilities as team captain, I also gathered each team member's finished portion, edited the format of the paper, and wrote the introduction in which I detailed our group findings and conclusions. When I completed my portion of the assignment, rather than e-mailing the final document back and forth for review, I suggested holding a web meeting through Webex, a tool that allowed me to present the final work to the team via an Internet connection. This was enthusiastically agreed upon and, once done, the results could not have been better. Accordingly, we agreed on a date and time that was convenient for everyone. I appreciated this assignment because it let our group collaborate in real time, allowing us to verbally express any suggestions, requests or concerns without having to wait for e-mail response turnaround. We were also able to make changes to the document on the spot and at the end of the web meeting each member of the team was confident in the thought that this had been an effective collaborative effort.
This assignment taught me the importance of collaboration. As a librarian or information professional I will often be exposed to projects so big in scope and size that the only way to take them to completion will be with the help of other professionals. It is important then that everyone involved in a task is able to communicate effectively to maintain the flow of ideas and lively discussion. From being the lead in this assignment I also learned to accommodate different work styles, approaches, and personalities and direct them towards working for one common goal. Finally, I realized that people generally like the idea of team work because it allows them to lean on each other for support, different points of view, and task guidance.
Another example was the development of an information retrieval system for peer-reviewed articles in the field of Library and Information Science for LIBR 202 (Information Retrieval). My team consisted of five students including myself. The scope of the assignment involved selecting, reading, and organizing fifteen journal articles to be included in a fully functional information retrieval database of our own design. Because it was a complex assignment that required us to define the textbase structure (fields, points of access), create pre-coordinate and post-coordinate controlled vocabularies, create the database in DB/TextWorks, develop a user guide, and put together the layout of the ideal interface we determined to meet face-to-face twice in the semester. During the first meeting we analyzed the scope of the task at hand, communicated our expectations, and divided the work to be done amongst the members of the group. My role in this group assignment consisted of reading the articles and developing keywords to describe them accurately. I also helped enter the raw data into the DB/TextWorks database and designed the look of the interface. Our second meeting was a follow up to the first during which we raised any questions or concerns, made sure that everyone was on track with their portions of the assignment, and established a schedule of task completion. From then on we frequently communicated by e-mail to exchange ideas and compile and review the result of our individual searches. This project differed from the previous one in that we could only work independently on each of our sections up to a certain point. Certain sections of the project were dependant to a certain degree on someone else's work. As such we were conscious of establishing deadlines that allowed each member sufficient time to complete her portion before passing it on to the next individual. During our initial meetings we also emphasized the confidence placed on each team member to work individually but to also communicate immediately any need for help given that each person's actions would affect the outcome of the project.
This exercise was successful because we fostered an environment that was conducive to the sharing of ideas and the equitable distribution of work. I also learned that disagreements can be worked out professionally and to the satisfaction of everyone involved if each member of the team is respectful of everyone else's thoughts and processes and fully committed to the final product. Additionally, I realized the importance of making each member of a team feel valued and appreciated towards having them contribute their best work to the group.
This sampling of my course work demonstrates my ability to work and collaborate in group settings. Beyond that I feel that they have also prepared me to apply these abilities on a daily basis at work. For example, as part of my current job I have to interact with investors in our company's holdings through telephone, e-mail, instant message, and marketing products such as newsletters and announcements. It also means that I organize, host, and present the annual investor meetings which sometimes takes the form of an in-person gathering and others can be conducted as a web conference. Regardless of the format, I am required to select a date and time, coordinate facilities and vendors efforts, disseminate the e-mail reminders and invitations, put together the presentation for the meeting, and once the day has arrived, address the investors and introduce each speaker from my company. One of the most difficult tasks in this list is assembling the presentation as it involves organizing collaborating sessions, presenting ideas, implementing changes, requesting input and feedback, gathering data from our portfolio companies as well as from different internal departments, and assembling the final document. The presentation could never be successfully created if it were not for the efforts and effective communication of all of those involved.
For me, this yearly exercise emphasizes the importance of collaboration and communication in achieving effective results. Each person involved, no matter to what degree, is a full contributor to the success of the event or conference. I enjoy the final product because it affords me a rare opportunity to practice my oral presentation skills while addressing the investors. I used to be terrified of public speaking but after hosting four of these meetings I have learned to relax during the presentation and use certain audience cues, whether face-to-face or in an online environment, to guide my efforts on how to best convey our company's message.
A final example of my professional experience comes from my part-time job as a fitness coach (www.powerfitcamp.com). At any given point I coach anywhere from five to 40 women of various backgrounds, interests, age groups, and ability levels. Through our weekly interactions I have learned that they enjoy the workouts best when I communicate and relate each exercise to the parts of the body that it targets and the benefits of doing so. My trainees also appreciate my gentle but firm encouragement and my frequent feedback on form and technique. Finally, I like to offer rewards for good work and have implemented prizes and daily motivational writings (www.powerfitcamp.wordpress.com) as well as organized leisurely events (i.e. biking trip, high tea event, holiday dinner, etc.) and friendly sport competition all of which let them know that I appreciate their presence and effort at camp. All of these are examples of communication and interaction as the underpinnings of effective collaborative relationships.
Evidentiary
LIBR 266 - Collection Development - Ethnic Collection Development Resources
LIBR 202 - Information Retrieval - Information Retrieval System Design