Being Mad About Good
Service
Rebecca Marsh
Format of the evening
 Rebecca Marsh (MD, ASLIB and Service
Development Director, Emerald) – Being Mad
about Good Service
 Jacqueline Beattie (Global Contract Manager,
Dow Chemicals) – Body of Knowledge in
Information Management
 Graham Coult (Editor-in-Chief, Managing
Information) – Why Data Protection is Important
 Roundtable discussions and networking
What does ASLIB stand for?
ASLIB is a membership association for
people who manage information and
knowledge in organisations.
Why is service
important now?
• Expectations of information and
knowledge management and provision are
changing
• Expectations of roles of information
managers and service provision are
changing
• Look beyond our own service users and
see their service users
Moments of realisation
• You Must Be Crazy
• You Need to Look
Outside More
You must be crazy
 Notable Game-changers which at first sight
seem crazy  eBay – an internet auction site for unwanted goods
 Twitter – a message service with restricted
message length that implies the messages are
trivial
 Virgin – a name for any new company
Crazy ideas
 Greater availability of information (and free
information) = reduced requirement for
information professionals
 New generation of users search for
information very differently
 Librarians are actually feared
Should this prompt us
to think in different
ways?
• The embedded librarian
• Transliteracy through a range of platforms
to communicate more effectively
• Asking for information more effectively
We need to look
outside more
• Where do we get inspiration?
• Our spaces are changing (no longer just
physical assets in a physical space).
Libraries, information centres and
museums can be used differently –
socially, service provision, centres for your
communities
Discussion topics
• What are the changing needs of our
users?
• How do we shape service to become a
crucial partner in solving information
problems?