Sunday, June 14, 2015

SLA2015 : Keynote speaker: Leigh Gallagher

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Leigh Gallagher
Leigh Gallagher (@leighgallagher) is an assistant editor at Fortune Magazine.  She wrote The End of the Suburbs (book), which she heavily researched. As a journalist, information is the currency that she trades in.  She reports to be an information junky.

Gallagher talked about her work and the research that she has done to help her. She has research done for interviews for Fortune magazine, for its conferences, and podcasts. She has a real respect for library and information professionals, and the work that we do.  Gallagher filled her speech with many stories.

Gallagher ended with five things we can do to stand out and get the funding that we deserve:

  1. Market ourselves, especially to the C-suite, and toot our own horns. Consider sharing our knowledge with those that we work with.  Just share a litle...you don't have to give it all away. Channel the best marketers in the world. (Coca-Cola)
  2. Quantify ourselves and our work. Connect our work to the bottom line. Show them the money.
  3. Be ahead of the curve and stay on top of new tools.  We need to obsess about our product. (Apple)
  4. Provide high end customer service. (Four Seasons)
  5. Obsess on innovation.  Could there be a uber-like product for libraries or for our organizations? (Uber)
Finally try asking our organizations what their world would be like with information professionals.  



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