Expanding on My Epiphany

Despite suffering some pretty intense dental pain over the past few days (or maybe because of it), I have not been able to put aside thoughts of where I could go with my “employment epiphany.”

I got some initial feedback from friends — including some questions from Shawn that have been swirling in my head, Why do you want to do this? and What will you promise your clients? — and I spoke to a friend who recently finished her MLIS and is working as a Knowledge Manager. Her job sounded similar to what I want to do, so I decided to look a little deeper.

I cleared off the side table that serves as a desk most of the time and made sure that books I use for reference and inspiration were in my line of sight and started looking up job descriptions for Knowledge Manager, Information Broker, Information Services Professional, and related positions. Along the way, I discovered the Association for Information and Image Management and the Association of Independent Information Professionals. The latter organization’s description of an Independent Information Professional perfectly encapsulates what I am aiming for:

Independent information professionals use high-level skills in finding, managing, applying, and communicating information, and they pursue their calling with an entrepreneurial spirit. (AIIP)

I also considered some of the other questions that came up. To address why I want to “get information to people who need it” I started with a list of my own needs and a list of what I like about information services before summarizing that into “Why do you want to do this?”

What I need in a job/career:

• a combination of small tasks and larger projects
• variety in the type and complexity of work being done
• a balance between autonomy and accountability
• feedback from clients/customers — something to confirm I am connecting and succeeding
• clear communication between/among stakeholders in any project
• the ability to shine — to show what I am capable of doing

What I like about information services:

• research — the treasure hunt; digging for details, looking for patterns, or digging deeper; sometimes coming up empty is as useful as finding exactly what is needed
• access — books, databases, and information architecture — indexes, keywords, metadata, taxonomies, cross-references, footnotes, and other access points make sense to me
• organization — when information isn’t organized, I like to put it in order — tagging, filing, & sorting are things I’ve done for a long time
• instruction — showing people how to access or organize information is just as satisfying as doing it myself
• tracking — both looking back at the past and looking ahead to anticipate trends
• learning — uncovering facts and trivia is unavoidable when researching and even if I don’t need what I learn for the project at hand, I can file it away for future reference or cocktail conversation 😉
• writing — synthesizing, summarizing, and re-framing information so that it can be better understood or creating new content

I summarized the above to answer Why I want to work in the Information Services field:

Working in Information Services allows me to use the skills I have to do the work I love: providing access to information whether by collecting raw data, managing information, collating and summarizing research, or instructing others in how to find, organize, and use information.

Then I tried to frame my brand promise What I promise my clients/customers:

I will help you connect with the information you need and use the information you already have.

Using this summary as an outline and after reading through the Getting Started guide from AIIP, I think I can start focusing my own freelancing as part of Those DeWolfes Creative and gradually work toward finding a better fit for myself.

Many people have asked me why I don’t go back to school to get an MLIS. I don’t want an MBA either, though both would be useful. Quite simply, I have no wish to go back to school. I just want to work in information services and use the skills I have built over the past 25 years of working in libraries, that I use already to research and communicate, and that I continue to fine-tune.