Records and Information Management = Risk Management
Lauren Barnes, CRM

Digitally Embedding the Law Library
Ellyssa Kroski | Manager of Information Systems |The New York Law Institute

Writing and Publishing: The Librarian’s Handbook – A Book Review
Alexandra Janvey

The Research Trainer: Job Killer or Keeper of the Flame?
Jack Styczynski

SLA-NY Holiday Party Experience
Tracy Z. Maleeff |Library Resources Manager | Duane Morris LLP

 SLA Member Becomes Director/ Chair of Library & Information Studies for Queens College
Roberta Brody | Director and Chair of Graduate School of Library and Information Studies| Queens College|  roberta.brody@qc.cuny.edu

Encouraging Reuse of Nonprofit Organizations’ Information
John Tomlinson | https://twitter.com/johntomlinson | mail@johntomlinson.com

 Lauren Barnes, CRM

Lauren Barnes, a Vice President for Records & Information Management at Credit Suisse, is also an Adjunct Professor at Queens College.  Past experience includes Electronic Records Manager at Lehman Brothers, Records Manager for the US and Canada for American Express and consulting for a records management software provider and for Millican & Associates, a national information management consulting firm.  Barnes is on the ARMA Metro NY Chapter Committees for Professional Development and Membership.  Barnes received her MLIS and Archival Management Certificate from the Palmer School of Library and Information Science at LIU and is a Certified Records Manager.

Records and Information Management (RIM) is the perfect confluence of library science, historical archives management and business analysis.  The paradigm of service that is held dear among librarians is also a hallmark in RIM that includes aspects in common with library services, such as research and training.   Indeed there are fundamentals in librarianship which serve the discipline of RIM on a daily basis.  What are they?  And importantly, what is records management? What is information management?  For all the similarities, the differences will provide a new view of information and our role in this new age.

Let’s start with a definition:

Records management is a specialized business discipline concerned with the systematic analysis and control of recorded information, which includes any and all information created, received, maintained, or used by an organization in accordance with its mission, operations, and activities.  ¹

There are key aspects to records management: retention, access and disposition.  Essentially it is the management of information throughout its lifecycle.  A basic tenet in both historical archival management and RIM, the records lifecycle provides the map of use, access requirements, when it is dormant and ultimately when there is final disposition.   For archivists, the appraisal of a record is usually at the end of the lifecycle, at disposition.  The appraisal is based on an organization’s view of itself, the story that it wants to tell and influenced by the characteristics of the record.  Ideally, the lens through which the archivist’s appraisal is conducted remains consistent over time while reflecting the changes in priorities that inevitably occur – a delicate balance.

RIM manages information based on content; just as the librarian classifies material based on content.  But RIM appraises the value of the content and determines when disposition should occur.  It is this appraisal, this decision of what value to assign to a record that gives an organization the means to determine the retention period (how long is the record needed) and the means to manage this information asset for required access, security and efficiently (i.e. in the most cost effective way).

Appraisal – a process in common with historical archives, the RIM appraisal process is based on four criteria: business operational value, legal and regulatory requirements, financial and tax requirements, and yes, also on historical value.   Information is an asset, and must be managed as such.  But once the record, the information, no longer has value (and does not need to be retained), it then becomes a liability.  There is no in-between state, just as one cannot be a little pregnant, and when there is liability, there is risk.  Unlike the librarian and the archivist, the records and information manager helps to manage risk for their organization.  As they manage information as an asset, the RIM manager ensures the information is accessible and secure throughout the information lifecycle.

There are many drivers and challenges to managing an organization’s records and information.  It is essential to know the organization.  What is the environment in which it exists?  Are there industry standards?  Is it regulated?  Highly regulated?  Is the organization particularly prone to litigation?  Are there international jurisdictions and/or multiple states that the organization operates within? And what is the culture of the organization?  The hierarchy of the leadership – is senior management aware and open to records issues?  These factors and many more, determine what the business priorities are and the weight of the risks that must be considered.  To be someone who is curious about the workings of organizations, willing to be the sleuth to uncover the issues, indeed the challenges, while conducting yourself as a problem solver is all part of the role as a records and information manager.

A RIM manager does not always ponder and opine on information risks and needed mitigation.  Indeed there are daily tasks that align with the work of our information management colleagues that run the gambit of classifying records for the records retention schedule (a basic tool in the arsenal that is the work product of appraisal), migrating information from one format to another, identifying and applying metadata to information for database management and information access, conducting complex searches for internal business and external inquiries (e.g. audits) and conducting orientation and training for end-users to manage their records effectively.  One constant truism is that the information we all must manage continues to grow exponentially.   This growth is almost incomprehensible.  As we speak about megabytes (5 MG = the complete works of Shakespeare) or gigabytes (2 GB = 20 meters of shelved books, and a single USB drive), our organizations are holding terabytes of data on servers in unstructured data and in databases (1 TB = 50,000 trees made into paper and printed).

It is in the strategic approach of risk management to efficiently maintain only the information that is needed by knowing the content, having access to it and disposing (destroying) the information when it is no longer needed.  The risks are high.  Risk mitigation and risk reduction is possible.  Information is vulnerable to litigation discovery when it is retained past its retention period; it must be disposed of according to organization policy (records retention schedule) and in a timely manner.  The multiple copies of documents that add to the cost of storing, processing, searching information must be destroyed to ensure the single document that is needed can be found.  The daily work, the training and services provided by RIM managers, is where the rubber hits the road.  It is where the details are in line with the strategy to manage records and information effectively based on RIM fundamentals and thereby reduces risk.

Managing records and information utilizes skills from multiple information disciplines.  And a shared fundamental reality is the service provided by information professionals is in support of people: people needing information for doing their work while the records and information retained is a product of people and their work.  People have a very primal connection to information; lest we forget this, records and information managers may also need a degree in psychology too.

Notes

1. Saffady, William.  (2004). Records and Information Management:  Fundamentals of Professional Practice.  Lenexa, KS: ARMA International: p. 1

 Ellyssa Kroski | Manager of Information Systems |The New York Law Institute

The impetus behind an embedded librarianship program involves establishing partnerships between the library and its users by placing a librarian “on-site” to collaboratively work with faculty or other departments.   In this way, the librarian can effortlessly provide valuable services by being in the right place at the right time.  The New York Law Institute (NYLI) is a membership library that serves law firms and it was exactly these types of partnerships that we hoped to initiate by developing a new add-on ILS module, which would digitally embed our library’s collection within our members’ online catalogs.   Through this ILS extension, we can offer our members that same type of added value by delivering exactly what they’re looking for where and when they’re looking for it.

 Embedding a library within a library

In the spring of 2011, we partnered with our integrated library system (ILS) vendor EOS International and one of our member libraries, Debevoise & Plimpton, LLP to develop the NYLI Seamless Catalog Module.  This new module enables our member libraries that use EOS to directly integrate our entire collection, seamlessly within their own catalog.  In essence, it transforms a members’ OPAC into a one-way union catalog in which a library can view all of our holdings while keeping their own holdings private.    We thought this would be an innovative way of offering “just in case, just in time” library services by integrating the use of existing technologies to fulfill the information needs of attorneys and information professionals.   Many firm libraries today are moving from an ownership to an access model due to space and cost considerations, and have been steadily downsizing their print collections in favor of only purchasing and housing essential materials.  One of the goals of our Seamless Catalog Module initiative was that member libraries would be able to eliminate marginally used print volumes such as treatises and other serials while still offering their attorneys seamless access to what they need.

Once a member library has installed this free module, their attorneys and library staff can search their catalog and return a real time availability stream for all item records in both their own and NYLI’s catalogs.  NYLI appears as a branch location within their system.  Once they’ve found and selected an item they’re interested in, an automated interlibrary loan request is immediately submitted to us for fulfillment.  Since we initiated this project we’ve also launched a very successful eBooks program, recently making 56,000 eBooks available to our members through our OPAC.  With the Seamless Catalog Module, our members not only have access to our robust print collection, but to our thousands of eBooks as well.  Our new eBooks program has really changed the dimensions of this project and enhanced the Seamless Catalog’s value by changing the focus from strictly an ILL delivery component to desktop access to a sizeable eBook collection.

Partners in Development

In order to ensure that the technology would best reflect our members’ requirements, we partnered with one of our member libraries at Debevoise & Plimpton, LLP from the outset of this initiative.  We began planning the project, designing technical specifications, setting project goals, and outlining success criteria in the spring of 2011.  We successfully launched the Seamless Catalog Module in October 2012 at Debevoise & Plimpton, where it is now, being used by their librarians and attorneys alike.  In between planning and implementation we conducted usability testing with our beta site at Debevoise & Plimpton, which involved both library staff and attorneys.  We organized and collected bug reports, conducted interviews with our users, and gathered feedback.  We made adjustments to the interface and added functionality in response to this testing.  One of the best improvements was the transformation of the small basket to a shopping cart, which users felt was not easily noticeable, compared to the larger version, more prominently featured, and which displays the number of titles already selected for loan.  Also, based on Debevoise’s feedback, improvements were made to track client matter charges, which improved cost recovery.

Connecting with Users Through Technology

The NYLI Seamless Catalog Module is a bridge between NYLI’s sizeable print and digital collection and our users including attorneys, librarians, and information professionals.  It embeds NYLI’s collection into the member library rather than necessitating that members come to our OPAC directly.   From the member librarian’s perspective, this module offers the potential for substantial savings in the area of collection development while fluidly offering their attorneys access to very much needed print and electronic resources.  Aside from benefitting our members, we hope that this project will encourage others in the field to develop similar functionality for other ILS programs, and eventually offer platform-independent functionality.  This could be the first step to a new generation of collaborative efforts to share holdings while respecting the level of privacy of participants.

Alexandra Janvey

Alexandra Janvey is currently a librarian at Long Island University.

Have you always wanted to write for the librarian community but didn’t know where to start? That was certainly the case when I made the decision to start writing. I began by searching for any reading material on the subject that would be helpful. Thankfully, there exists a book called Writing and Publishing: The Librarian’s Handbook to ease beginners into the publishing process. This is an exceptional resource that offers great insight and inspiration to any librarians with the desire or need to write. This would also be a good choice for those who have hesitations about writing or publishing.

The book contains contributed articles from about forty-seven librarians that share their experiences and advice on a wide range of topics related to writing. Each of these authors is experienced in the area that their piece covers and therefore well suited to offer the tips provided. Almost every topic you could possibly need to know about is discussed from blogging, writing book reviews, to being an editor. Carol Smallwood has managed to bring together these different writing styles in a cohesive manner that can be read as stand-alone pieces or in its entirety. The formatting is visual appealing and a good size font is used. In many cases subheadings are used to break each article’s text into smaller, easier to read sections.

The first 64 pages discuss practical advice for writing including the reasons there are to write, getting started, working with others, revisions, and preparing for publication. My favorite article within this section is titled “A Pep Talk on Writing the Awful First Draft”, where the author offers his insights and advice on writing the first draft in a comical manner. The book then goes into finding your niche, writing a newspaper column, and book reviewing. Book reviews can differ depending on the publication they are being written for, but are a great way to get started with writing in the field. The rest of the articles in this part are about magazine writing, academic papers, writing for textbooks, children’s literature, and poetry. In the next section, there are quite a few pages devoted to writing for online outlets such as blogs, amazon.com, and library websites. The book then finishes by focusing on maximizing opportunities.

So much is covered that everyone is certain to find some helpful advice within these pages, wherever there interest lies. You may also discover writing avenues that you hadn’t considered before finding information about it in this volume.

Writing and Publishing: The Librarian’s Handbook. Edited by Carol Smallwood. American Library Association, 2010.

Jack Styczynski

Jack Styczynski is a researcher at The New York Times and NBC, and a research adjunct at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. He received his M.L.S. from the University at Albany in 1995.

In 2001, I wrote an article about training employees at NBC to efficiently use the Internet for their own research.  The overall tenor was that such training was a wise thing for corporate librarians to do.

Was I wrong?

Similar—albeit evolved—research training sessions continue to this day at NBC and other major news media outlets.  At the same time, it’s no secret that the number of librarians (i.e. professional researchers) at these companies has been slashed dramatically over the past decade.

Have we shot ourselves in the foot?

And no less importantly, has journalism suffered as a result?

The recent story about Notre Dame football player Manti Te’o and his fake dead girlfriend provides food for thought.  The media mythologized the tragic tale without properly confirming the woman’s death, let alone her existence.  Among the myth perpetuators, Sports Illustrated reporter Pete Thamel said he did look for an obituary and search Nexis for public records on the “deceased,” but upon finding nothing concluded that it was probably because young people often have no public records footprint online.  While that’s true, it’s rare that there would be no obituary or death notice published anywhere.  A huge red flag missed, and perhaps a prime example of research in the wrong hands.

That’s not necessarily to say Thamel couldn’t have gotten professional research help at Sports Illustrated.  Pete and I worked together for several years at The New York Times and I know he understands the value of a good researcher.  But he declined to be interviewed for this article.

Former Times research director Barbara Gray did agree to talk, however.  She may have put it best in a December Reporters’ Lab article when she said, “No one’s ever going to be a news research professional unless they’re a news research professional.  We have people who have done this for 25 years.  This is what they do and this is what they do really well.”

In our conversation, she expanded on that thought.

“Researchers can see around corners.  Researchers know how to find things and it seems almost like a miracle, but it’s not.  It’s because it’s what we do all day long and we just know how to get to the next level because we’re not worrying about writing, we’re not worrying about interviewing people, we’re not worrying about turning in copy.”

Taking that to the next logical step, Gray suggested that reporters could always use professional research help.

“It’s good to have someone to bounce things off of, someone that you know when you hit a wall, you can rely on.”

But looking at the reality of the situation, Gray also called past and future news research job cuts “inevitable” and added, “Reporters have to be trained.  Whether or not anybody’s shooting their foot off, reporters have to be trained.”  She is now the chief librarian and a lecturer at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.  Although she left her position at the Times by choice, she recommends laid off news researchers get into academia to help train journalists.

I too teach at the CUNY J-school and continue to do corporate training sessions, but given the research job slashing, I wonder if I’m doing the right thing.

Should I really be giving companies an excuse to cut professional research jobs?  While I might be doing the only thing possible to keep even a flicker of good research alive, it may also make me complicit in the slashing, and as an extension, the gradual decline of research in journalism.

Training could be an excuse, and an insidious one, could it not?

“I think ‘excuse’ is the exact word, because I don’t think it is a logical cause for getting rid of researchers,” said NBC Information Resources manager Polly DeFrank of a common management sentiment that training journalists is the ultimate panacea for news media research.  “They genuinely think that we can teach (journalists) the equivalent of an M.L.S. and they can just take it over in addition to their other job and start researching to the degree that we are, and it’s not the case.

“On the other hand, I don’t think you can refuse to train because that’s what the corporations want and it does make sense to a certain degree.  I think we’re shooting ourselves in the foot by agreeing to do it, but I don’t think we have a choice.

“I wish there was a way that reporters could be trained and we could make management understand that is a step in the right direction for them—it can only help them—but it does not replace us is any way, shape or form.”

DeFrank noted that she’ll often encounter journalists who’ve received some basic Nexis training and think they’re adept at using the database, but when they come for refresher lessons, she sees otherwise.

“I’m always shocked at how little they know,” she said.

To get anywhere close to making a news media research department obsolete, DeFrank believes journalists would need a course similar to what a library school student takes.  “If you’re not going to have a research group, I think you have to have your journalists take the equivalent of what we did—a semester of searching,” she said.

Assuming few would have taken such a class before being hired, the time and cost required for companies to provide it would be unrealistic.

Of course, newsroom staff decisions always come down to money, and Gray lamented so many job cuts in research.

“I think this is what the news media feels that they have to do, weighing the options,” she said.  “Do I think it’s necessarily a good idea?  I don’t, but I’m not the one controlling the purse strings, having to make the big decisions about people and quality.”

In the last edition of ChapterNews, National Public Radio reference librarian Kee Malesky also addressed the topic of squeezed newsroom budgets.

“In an economic crisis, I understand if a news organization is cutting editors and reporters, and cutting beats, and not covering foreign events anymore and running wire copy instead, of course they had to cut the librarians too, but I want it all to come back,” said Malesky.

“I don’t believe there can be good journalism without essential library research behind it.”

Amen.

Tracy Z. Maleeff |Library Resources Manager | Duane Morris LLP

Living in Philadelphia, which the New York Times once questionably called “the sixth borough,” I don’t have the opportunity to attend SLA-NY Chapter events as often as I’d like.  Then President, Donna Severino, told me that if I could only attend one event, that I should travel north for the Holiday Party – the NY Chapter happening of the year!

I took a little “me time” with a vacation day from work and explored Lower Manhattan on the day of the party.  I sauntered through the winding streets of both Greenwich Village and the West Village before making my way to Midtown. It was such a treat for me to visit the tiny shops along Bleecker Street, especially because they were decked out in holiday splendor.

When I arrived at the Rockefeller Center subway station, I felt the Christmas tourist crush in full force. A sea of humanity flooded the streets, all there to see the giant tree and the other light displays along 6^th Avenue. I have to give the Midtown commuters a lot of credit for dealing with this year in and year out. I myself was a tourist and yet I was incredibly annoyed and agitated by the crowded and slow-moving sidewalk foot traffic. But, it’s still December in Manhattan and one whiff of roasted chestnuts in the chilly air just seemed to make everything all better.

I am very appreciative to the NY Chapter Holiday Party sponsor S&P Capital IQ for reserving a spot on the 50th floor of the McGraw-Hill Building for our soiree. The beautiful view of an illuminated Empire State Building made for a lovely and festive backdrop for the event.  Despite knowing few other NY Chapter members, I felt very much at home and a part of the group. It’s no wonder, with New York being the information capital of the world, that many chapter members have fascinating jobs at unique workplaces. Attending the party also gave me the opportunity to meet the newly-elected Legal Division Director, NY Chapter member Megan Scanlon. As the immediate Past Chair of the Legal Division, it was also a treat to see many division members in person – in some cases, to put faces to names.

The party attendees were met with a flute of pomegranate-accented sparkling wine and the room opened up to a fantastic food spread that can be described as nothing less than top notch. (Among other things, there were these scallion pancakes that were to die for!) The delightful bartenders indulged my sense of adventure with the open bar and surprised me by creating some original cocktails.

Having witnessed the devastation that “Superstorm” Sandy caused in the New York and New Jersey areas, it was fulfilling to have the opportunity to donate to the Breezy Point Disaster Relief Fund and the Little Tots Red Wagon pre-school through the raffle at the party. It was humbling to talk to the owner of the pre-school. Despite the destruction in her Breezy Point neighborhood, she was still upbeat about getting up and running again. It’s the resilience of New Yorkers that those of us outside of the metro area see time and time again when the chips are down in Gotham. Although I wasn’t a lucky raffle winner, it was a pleasure to be able to contribute to that cause.

I had a fantastic day of sightseeing and an enjoyable evening of celebration and networking. It was absolutely worth the trip. I jointed the New York Chapter because I was impressed by the stellar programming. Even if the Holiday Party remains the only event that I could possibly ever attend of all the New York Chapter events, I will happily mark it on my on calendar every year.

Roberta Brody | Director and Chair of Graduate School of Library and Information Studies| Queens College|  roberta.brody@qc.cuny.edu

SLA New York Chapter member, Roberta Brody, is currently serving as Director and Chair of the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies at Queens College of the City University of New York.

After building a successful research business, she earned her Ph.D. in Information Policy from the School of Communication and Information Studies at Rutgers. Dr. Brody now educates the next generation of business researchers and information professionals. She teaches business research, competitive intelligence, humanities reference and other research related courses. Much of her scholarly work has focused upon information ethics, business information and business research, and the societal shaping of information structures.

Roberta has been an SLA member since she was an MLS student. She has served as Chair of the Insurance and Employee Benefits Division, as President of the Long Island Chapter and has also served on several SLA committees.  Roberta is also a long time member of SCIP and served as its President in 1990.

John Tomlinson | https://twitter.com/johntomlinson | mail@johntomlinson.com

In the library and information professions, we often explore innovative approaches to copyright, such as Creative Commons licenses, and the value to society of encouraging at least some material to be shared and reused. How much material and how best to share it are debated, but the concept is popular and has growing support.

But is there much awareness of the possibility, and perhaps even the value, of promoting greater reuse of information in other, less information-focused fields? I take a look at this question as it relates to nonprofit organizations in international development in the November/December 2012 issue of SLA’s Information Outlook. There appears to be an opportunity for information professionals to advocate for more explicit efforts to encourage re-use of their organizations’ information. The article is online at http://www.sla.org/io/2012/11/1180.cfm.