INforum: A Library/IT Collaboration in Professional Development at Indiana University Copyright 1994 CAUSE. From _CAUSE/EFFECT_ Volume 17, Number 3, Fall 1994. Permission to copy or disseminate all or part of this material is granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for commercial advantage, the CAUSE copyright and its date appear, and notice is given that copying is by permission of CAUSE, the association for managing and using information resources in higher education. To disseminate otherwise, or to republish, requires written permission. For further information, contact Julia Rudy at CAUSE, 4840 Pearl East Circle, Suite 302E, Boulder, CO 80301 USA; 303-939-0308; e-mail: jrudy@CAUSE.colorado.edu Through the cooperation of CAUSE and the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL), a companion article to this one appears in the October 1994 issue of _College & Research Libraries News_. INFORUM: A LIBRARY/IT COLLABORATION IN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AT INDIANA UNIVERSITY by Charlotte Hess and Gerald Bernbom ABSTRACT: Early in 1993 a few librarians and technologists at Indiana University-Bloomington began informally discussing the unexplored commonalities of their careers in the information world. These informal interchanges eventually grew into an ambitious collaborative program of professional development. This article tells the story of the conception, development, and outcome of INforum. INforum is a collaborative program in professional development for librarians and technologists, developed at Indiana University (IU). Key participants in the development of this program have been librarians from the Bloomington Library Faculty Council's Continuing Education Committee, information technology professionals from University Computing Services, and a member of the faculty from IU's School of Library and Information Science. Planning for INforum began in the spring of 1993, leading to a series of six program sessions developed and delivered during the 1993-94 academic year. Program sessions were ninety minutes in length, were designed by a joint planning team of librarians and technologists, and were delivered to the audience primarily by library faculty and staff, computing professionals, and interested IU faculty and students. Attendance at the sessions was typically between seventy and eighty people. Two of the sessions drew a standing-room-only audience of over one hundred. The attendance mix varied at each session, with more librarians at some sessions and more technologists at others. In each audience were many familiar faces and many first-time attendees. Two themes were common to all the INforum programs delivered during the year: the importance of collaboration to the library and information technology professions; and the significant challenges that networked and electronic information present to both professions. Each program had a specific focus or theme, based on an assessment of local interest, local expertise, and timeliness. WHY WAS INFORUM DEVELOPED? National discussion in the library and information technology professions provided one source of direction that went into the creation of INforum. In particular, presentations and discussions at the 1992 annual meetings of both CAUSE and the American Library Association (ALA) were instrumental in focusing the attention and energy of IU librarians and technologists on the importance of collaboration to the future of their two professions.[1] A second source of direction for INforum came from individual technologists and librarians who recognized the common ground of their day-to-day professional interests and concerns, and saw in this commonality the basis for collaboration. For example, technologists dealing with information management issues of network navigation and access to widely distributed data might benefit from a better understanding of how library reference services worked, or from learning more about information retrieval strategies and the evaluation of relevance. Or librarians addressing the cataloging and classification issues of electronic information might benefit from greater participation in the discussions of software and standards development that are taking place in the Internet community. The IU librarians and computing professionals who participated in the early planning discussions about INforum identified several benefits they anticipated would come from their collaboration. Based on these expected outcomes, a series of goals were stated for the INforum program: * To create opportunities for ongoing communication between librarians and information technologists. * To begin to better understand the two cultures and diverse languages of librarianship and information technology. * To identify areas of parallel interest where technologists and librarians are working on the same, similar, or analogous problems of information technology or information management. * To provide a public forum for this communication. * To give all involved an opportunity to step back, reflect, and better understand the problems of information management and information technology that we are all working on. Equally important as these stated goals was the belief that collaboration and partnership would build professional respect between librarians and technologists. What eventually were developed as INforum program sessions promoted this goal, as did the design and planning process itself. By working together to build INforum, technologists and librarians were putting into practice the outcome they hoped to achieve. It was a purposeful choice to make "professional development" the program direction for INforum. This was chosen over alternate program directions, among them "collaborative project planning," that were considered and set aside. Choosing professional development put the focus of attention for INforum on the individual, not on the organization; it emphasized individual development, rather than organizational change; and it proceeded from a belief that real impact depends at least as much on people as on the structures they work in. A program of professional development also emphasized the importance of understanding as the basis for action. The intention with INforum was to develop shared understanding among professionals from different backgrounds, to create the common conceptual ground that would be the key to joint action by librarians and technologists in the future. Early planning for INforum began with an open-minded approach toward questions of the future of the professions. Program design was based on the belief that information skills are important to technologists, and that technical understanding is important to librarians. INforum was created to promote a positive climate and foundation for the future, a future based on professional partnerships and collaboration, but not to prescribe what this future would be. It was enough, in the view of the program planners, simply to begin. HOW DID INFORUM GET STARTED? INforum is a program that began and evolved naturally at the grassroots level. Awakened to the idea of the need for increased collaboration, a handful of librarians and technologists began discussing this common theme. The discussions were energetic, often exploring new territory. Other colleagues were brought into the discussions, which consistently enriched the breadth and scope of the questions and possible directions. Once the momentum was started to plan a series of programs around these discussion topics, the participants made a deliberate decision to maintain the original grassroots foundation. It seemed important that the initiative to plan and implement this kind of venture be kept at the level of individual librarians and technologists. The intention of the planners was to allow the greatest possible freedom and creativity in the design of the programs. At the same time, it was felt that keeping the venture at the grassroots level would liberate the intellectual energies of INforum participants from organizational constraints. It was hoped that each planner would feel free to view the questions from the perspective of: "What is important and interesting to me?" The focus on professional development seemed especially suited to a grassroots initiative since it would not require a major organizational commitment of resources and, by its nature, it would encourage intellectual exploration and individual expression/participation. It was clear, however, that such an endeavor would require groups both from the libraries and the computing organization who were committed to its execution. The librarians found such a group in the Continuing Education Committee of the Library Faculty Council. While only some of the seven committee members had a background in technology and electronic information, all were interested in issues of professional development. The computing services professionals brought structure to their participation through the formation of a six-member ad hoc group specifically for the purpose of INforum. This group contained a mix of information technology disciplines; its members were managers or senior staff involved in library automation, electronic texts, campus-wide information systems, computing education, and data administration. Both groups were encouraged by the local environment: the organizational climate in the libraries and in computing services was favorable, not hostile, to such an undertaking. The library administration was particularly enthusiastic about this theme and new approach to professional development. The computing services administration was supportive, though less actively engaged. Both environments worked. The combined group first met in March 1993. Although many were meeting each other for the first time, the atmosphere was collegial and animated. Participants were willing to listen attentively to each other and to openly share ideas. One outcome of this meeting was the decision to enrich the mix by inviting a faculty member who taught on the subject of networked information in the School of Library and Information Science to join the INforum planning group. While primarily a grassroots endeavor, the INforum program did have access to some traditional organizational structures of the University through the libraries' standing committee on continuing education, and the participation of information technologists at the senior staff and management level in the computing services ad hoc group. This level of legitimate sponsorship facilitated the use of basic services needed for the program: scheduling rooms, reserving equipment, duplicating handouts, etc. In other words, this venture was low-budget, but not no-budget. It is our belief that, while the details of the IU design are unique to our environment, what we did can apply to many other institutions. The leadership for programs on this scale can come from many places, depending on an institution's organizational structure: standing committees, ad hoc committees, individual library faculty or computing professionals. Indeed, leadership can be found among any professional individuals or groups who have some degree of independence, some amount of discretionary time, and a favorable organizational climate to self-directed initiatives. The bottom line is that library and IT professionals do not need to wait for senior administration to initiate professional activities. HOW DID IT WORK IN PRACTICE? The process of planning INforum had both a macro- and a microstructure. On the macro level, the group began by stating the goals for the INforum program. It identified possible session formats, chose a standard time and place for offering the programs, and determined the number of sessions to be held during the upcoming academic year. After meeting to discuss possible topics, it selected six general session topics of interest to the entire group. On the micro level, the group defined a planning structure and process. Each of the six sessions would have a designated planning team made up of at least one librarian and one technologist. Each team would refine the topic, find appropriate speakers (preferably representing both professions), and coordinate the delivery and content of the presentations. In addition, the team would be responsible for the descriptions, advertising, equipment reservation, and other details of the programs. Session teams would give a preliminary report and periodic updates on their planning to the full INforum group, which would offer feedback and suggestions. Early on, the decision was made not to administer evaluation forms to the audience at each session, but rather to rely on self-evaluation by the INforum planning group. Our first priority was to entice the audience with stimulating sessions that would replenish rather than drain the energies of these busy professionals. As a means of self-evaluation, the full planning group met after each session specifically to review the session, considering such factors as attendance, audience participation, personal observation, and audience feedback. In this way, the group identified what worked and what didn't--everything from learning how to better arrange the sound equipment to understanding the importance of keeping an equal mix of library and technology professionals in the selection of speakers. Only after the final INforum session of the year was there a formal request for evaluation of the overall series (conducted via e-mail), primarily to help in considering possible directions for the next year. Sharing information about the INforum program with the librarians and technologists was a priority for the program planners. Each session was promoted to the library and IT communities using various e-mail distribution lists: library faculty and staff, computing services staff, Library and Information Science faculty, and other faculty groups. A Gopher archive was set up to publish schedules, announcements, and summaries of the sessions (see sidebar for directions for locating the archive). Responding to expressed interest from other campuses after the first session, the decision was made to videotape the remaining programs. This, too, became its own collaborative effort: the computing organization provided staff and equipment to videotape each session; the libraries' media reserves department provided high-quality tapes so that copies of each session could be added to the library collection; the libraries' cataloging department cataloged the materials for the IU collection, where they are available through interlibrary loan.[2] WHAT DID WE DO? The six INforum sessions offered during the 1993-94 academic year concentrated on topics related to the themes of collaboration and networked information. Each session had a specific focus, based on local interests and the timeliness of the topic. Most important to the goals of the INforum program, each session provided individual librarians, technologists, faculty, and others with the opportunity to share their experiences and insights with an audience of their colleagues. A brief summary of these six sessions will give some sense of the range and substance of the dialogue that INforum fostered. INforum1: "Making Connections: National and Local Initiatives in Networked Information" This session was a panel presentation by six information professionals who described some of IU's local initiatives in networked information, and gave the audience an overview of many of the national organizations within each profession that work on issues in this area. Among the national organizations discussed (and acronyms unscrambled) were: ACRL (Association of College & Research Libraries), ALA (American Library Association), ASIS (American Society of Information Science), CAUSE (Association for Managing and Using Information Resources in Higher Education), CNI (Coalition for Networked Information), IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force), and several more. The session provided technologists with some context of what was happening in the library profession, and vice versa. It was chosen as the best starting place for the INforum series: a get-acquainted meeting for librarians and technologists, and an introduction to each other and to each others' profession. The audience actively participated in this session by sharing their knowledge of other national and local initiatives. INforum2: "Two Worlds/Two Cultures: How Two Professions Approach the Wilderness of Internet Resources" This session was a series of presentations followed by a dialogue between librarians, technologists, and faculty from Library and Information Science. The discussion provided substantive information about networked information today and tomorrow and gave the audience a range of insights into the Internet phenomena and how it impacts the various information professions. This program was a good second step for INforum: a dialogue among the professions about a common set of interests, and a step toward the discovery of common ground and shared concerns. INforum3: "The Library Electronic Text Resource Service (LETRS): A Case Study in Recombinant Organizational Adaptation to a Turbulent Academic Environment" This session brought together library faculty and staff, humanities faculty, and technology professionals to describe a case study of collaboration in practice between the library and IT professions. The focus of the session was on electronic text research in the humanities, the support of this research by the library and IT communities, and the creation of a collaborative organization (jointly managed by a librarian and an information technologist) to provide this support. The LETRS presentations represented a natural evolution of the INforum dialogue: it gave the audience insight into the real world of library/IT collaboration, a process starting from shared ideas and vision, and continuing through the practicality of facility planning and front-line user support--in other words, a discussion of what it takes to make a collaborative effort work. INforum4: "Copyright, Intellectual Property, and Electronic Information" A diverse group was brought together in this session--a librarian, a law professor, a publisher, and a library automation technologist--to provide substantive information on copyright law and its interpretation. They offered some conflicting viewpoints regarding the application of copyright law to electronic information. The session also explored the related issues of responsibility and liability as they apply to electronic information delivery systems. This was a special-focus session of INforum, addressing a theme of great interest, especially to the library community. INforum5: "Information Anarchy and Information Order in the Electronic Age" This panel discussion explored themes of anarchy and order as they relate to information quality and delivery of service by librarians and technologists. The panelists discussed standards and classification for traditional and electronic information, and offered several practitioners' viewpoints--a library cataloger, a campus-wide information system (CWIS) manager, and a subject-area librarian--about creating order, or living with anarchy. As a further variation on the INforum themes of collaboration and networked information, the discussion invited the audience to see the common set of service issues that both professions face as they deal with a rapidly changing and unstructured world of networked information. INforum6: "The National Information Infrastructure (NII): National Issues and Local Impact for Technologists and Librarians" The final INforum session of the academic year invited the dean of the libraries and the associate vice president for information technologies at IU to address the topic of the National Information Infrastructure and to respond to issues and questions posed to them by individual librarians and information technologists regarding the local impact of this national initiative. In order to make this presentation more widely available, INforum6 was telecast to all of the IU campuses throughout the state. This session brought the year's discussion full circle, returning to the theme of INforum1: bridging from national issues to local effects and actions. It was also a summing up of the year's discussion and a reprise of the overall INforum theme: bridging between the library and technology professions, and focusing on their commonality as information professions. Finally, INforum6 ended the year by looking forward, examining the NII as a major force in the future of librarians and technologists. **************************************************** SIDEBAR How to find the online INforum archive: Gopher Client Access: Connect to gopher.indiana.edu, port 70, and follow the menu path: The University: Information Services and Telnet Access INforum - Library/UCS/SLIS Professional Development World Wide Web Uniform Resource Locator (URL): gopher://gopher.indiana.edu:70/11/theuniversity/inforum Gopher Server Link: Name = INforum - Library/UCS/SLIS Professional Development Series Type = 1 Port = 70 Path = 1/theuniversity/inforum Host = gopher.indiana.edu **************************************************** OUTGROWTHS OF INFORUM In addition to this article and a few others about the initiative itself, INforum has already spawned other research and project activities. Various individuals working on INforum have teamed up to present papers and panel discussions at national conferences on the theme of collaboration and partnerships. Other groups have formed to address needs identified during INforum discussions. The most ambitious off-shoot of INforum was the co- sponsorship by the libraries and computing services of Indiana University's "Internet Librarian Conference" held on May 17, 1994. This daylong conference, attended by approximately 140 librarians and information professionals, combined practical information through hands-on sessions on Internet tools and resources with discussions of librarians' roles in cyberspace. Speaking at the conference were an IU librarian, the dean of the IU libraries, IU's associate vice president for information technologies, and two invited speakers. WHAT'S NEXT? As we reached the end of a successful year with the INforum program, the joint planning group of librarians and technologists asked ourselves the questions: How should we proceed? Should we continue? What's next? The world we see today is different in many ways from where we started more than a year ago. Looking back at our goals, INforum did make real the potential for ongoing communication between librarians and technologists. The topics, presenters, and participants at the individual INforum sessions began building a better understanding between these two professional groups, and identified several areas of shared interest and concern. If nothing else, these two professional worlds are more familiar to each other--faces, roles, and areas of expertise are now known to many more people. The overall program provided a public forum for this dialogue, and gave a wide variety of information professionals the opportunity to reflect on, and share their insights into, some common problems of information technology and information management. More than thirty individual technologists, librarians, library staff, and University faculty members participated as speakers in the six INforum sessions of 1993-94. Progress toward our deeper goal, to build professional respect based on mutual understanding, was achieved in large measure through the quality and thoughtfulness of the dialogue among the presenters at each session, and between the presenters and their audience. Professional respect was built, too, through the collaborative planning process that brought INforum into being. The joint planning group decided to continue INforum during the 1994-95 academic year. The Continuing Education Committee of the Library Faculty Council renewed its commitment to co- sponsorship of the program. The ad hoc committee of computing services professionals expanded its membership to include representatives from additional areas of the organization: public services, publications, and application services. Our colleague from the Library and Information Science faculty agreed to participate for a second year. Feedback on the first year's INforum has given guidance to planning the second year of this program--everything from advice on topics of interest to feedback on desirable meeting times and locations. The basic goals of INforum continue: to provide professional development opportunities for librarians and technologists, and to build toward mutual understanding as a foundation for professional collaboration. INforum has also refined and reshaped its activities in response to both survey results and our own self-evaluation. Some of the ideas that are shaping the program this year: (1) focusing outward on the shared service mission of librarians and technologists--their similar roles in supporting the information needs of faculty, students, and scholarly activities of the university; (2) experimenting with other formats, in addition to the group presentations and panel discussions that were the basis of the first year's INforum program; (3) engaging more technologists and librarians in active dialogue through INforum, specifically, developing at least one ongoing discussion or working group on a topic of mutual interest; and (4) delivering at least one program of widespread interest to librarians and technologists and other information professionals, featuring invited speakers of national reputation. One major project in progress is a conference scheduled for October 1994 titled, "Networked Information and the Scholar." Among the speakers invited from off-campus are: Clifford Lynch, Jim O'Donnell, Paul Evan Peters, and Michael Roberts. Following the presentations, the dean of the IU libraries and IU's associate vice president for information technologies will join the speakers for a panel discussion with the audience. The conference will focus on the changing nature of research and scholarly communication as a result of networked information and electronic publishing, as well as the NII and its impact on the academic community. Conference planners are seeking support and joint sponsorship from the libraries, computing services, several academic departments at IU, as well as from outside sources. Their goal is to make this conference available through satellite broadcast to the international community of interested network users. CONCLUSION ... OR WHAT MIGHT YOU DO NEXT? What advice can we offer to colleagues at other institutions who are interested in this approach to professional development and library/IT collaboration? Dialogue and grassroots leadership, more than any specific content or program structure, have been the keys to the success of INforum. Find a librarian (or a technologist) and have lunch. Share your ideas, ask questions, raise concerns, discuss the issues that are important to you at the local level. As you talk and share ideas, imagine what you could do next to make something happen. When you look for partners, try to find the thinkers, the enthusiasts, and the doers, rather than just the "experts." Approach this endeavor with an open mind. Above all, be willing to talk and listen. =================================================== Footnotes: 1 A summary of CAUSE92 from the perspective of the library profession was published as "Technologists and Librarians Working Together," _College & Research Libraries News_, February 1993, pp. 86-87. And at the ALA meeting, the ACRL Task Force on Professional Development presented its report, "Professional Development and Continuing Education Directions for ACRL," to the ACRL Board. This report identified "collaboration and cooperation between librarians and computer center professionals" as a priority area for the profession. 2 Videotapes of INforum presentations are cataloged and available through interlibrary loan: INforum2 (Z674.82 .I59 T85 1993); INforum3 (Z674.5 .I4 L47 1993); INforum4 (KF2994 .C59 1994); INforum5 (not available); and INforum6 (in process). ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Charlotte Hess is Director of Library and Information Services, Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at Indiana University. A co-developer of INforum, she serves as co-chair of the collaborative professional development program. Hess is active in ALA's Association for College and Research Libraries, particularly in the areas of policy and planning. Her major areas of research and professional service are continuing education for academic librarians, partnerships, and the impact of technology on information management and provision. Gerald Bernbom is Assistant Director and Senior Information Technology Architect in the Office of Information Technologies at Indiana University, where he directs IU's data administration program and has responsibilities for institutional data policy, information management and planning, and design of information technology architectures. He is one of the co-developers of INforum, Indiana University's professional development program for librarians and technologists. His areas of research, writing, and professional contributions have included data administration and information policy, distributed computing, campus-wide information systems, and strategic planning. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++