This winter and spring have been very busy. Hopefully, I'm not the only one who is being pulled in multiple directions. The saving grace is business networking. Business networking allows us to find resources that we can tap into for help on projects. Sometimes those resources don't come from the people we network with, but through them and from the people who are in their networks. Unfortunately, sometimes networks don't yield immediate resources to tap into, so it may take time to "work the network" in order to locate needed help. Thankfully, at the moment, my network is helping me locate resources and make valuable connections.
The question I posed to my students this week was about what words stood out to them this semester. Some students listed technical works or concepts. Several students pointed to the phrase "the long tail." At least a couple, thus far, have talked about the word cooperation. They are pleased and relieved to know that there are people and institutions willing to cooperate (or collaborate) on digitization projects. They know that through cooperation and collaboration, they will be able to get projects completed successfully. And they are learning what we all know -- we get work done through our networks.
The library and archive communities are known for their networking. We network and build relationships at work, at workshops, and at conferences. It is what we do. We need to also network with business people and others who can help further our causes or link us to resources. And we can't expect for these people to come to where we are in order to network, so we need to reach out to where they are (wherever that might be).
This week there was huge networking event for women entrepreneurs in Syracuse. There were a few information professionals in the crowd, which was wonderful to see! I blog for the group that put on the conference and blogged the event (Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship). If you'd like to read what the speakers said and what the participants learned, you can read the postings here. Speakers including Anson Dorrance (UNC Chapel Hill) and Sheila Johnson (Black Entertainment Television). Dorrance, coach of the UNC-CH women's soccer team, rocked!
Technorati tags: Syracuse, Entrepreneurship, Business networking
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