In the 15 years I’ve worked in libraries, I’ve been in many IT-related roles. A couple of them were even within an IT department. This has been a great vantage point from which to witness the challenging if not ghastly relationships librarians often have with IT.
I’ve been seeing a lot lately about technology training competencies for librarians. Yet something I rarely see mentioned in this context is relating well with IT departments.
As trainers, we have so much need for technology to support our training initiatives, and technology is often in the domain of IT. With this in mind, I thought I’d throw out an additional competency when it comes to technology training.
Competency: Plays Well with IT
Associated Skills and Knowledge:
1) Trainer befriends the Head of IT (substitute equivalent in your organization)
Ask the Head of IT to join you for lunch or coffee. More than once. This allows a human connection to grow between you. They’ll learn that you’re a competent professional, with your own set of skills and your own valid point of view within the organization. You will learn the same. Maybe you’ll end up on the radar when IT plans are being made that have the potential to impact you. You may be told about things going on in the organization that you wouldn’t otherwise know. Cultivate this relationship.
2) Trainer involves IT in planning
Let IT in on your training program plans. If your objectives and needs are understood, especially as they fit in to the larger direction of the organization, it’ll be much easier to get support for your initiatives. True or not, trainers (and many other librarians) have a reputation in IT for following the next shiny thing. It may not be so obvious to IT why everyone in the organization needs to learn social media, or why wikis and blogs are essential for your training program. Make sure your well-thought-out initiatives that involve technology are understood, and not seen as trivial.
3) Trainer folds IT into the product evaluation process
I once worked in a library where the public services management selected and went into a contract for a federated search product, without involving IT in the process. There were considerable implications for IT infrastructure and workload that weren’t planned for. Needless to say, this wasn’t awesome for the relationship between these departments.
Can your current IT infrastructure run the training software you’re evaluating? Host the files it puts out? Letting IT know about a product you want to purchase is a really good idea. Not only will you head off problems, you’ll be able to budget for additional hardware, software and IT staff time you may not have known you need.
4) Before the End Run, Trainer communicates
Sometimes, letting IT know what we’re planning and purchasing results in NO, or some level of control over our program so we’re not able to meet objectives. This is often due to lack of resources, but the bottom line for trainers can be that we’re held back from innovating and doing our jobs. This often leads us to take the proverbial End Run, leveraging the many possibilities for hosting material in the cloud, or using web services that are affordable and don’t involve our IT infrastructure.
If you decide on the End Run, let IT know in advance. They’re going to find out anyway. After the communication attempts you’ve already made, this is your last effort to understand any unanticipated impact.
There may be political or personal fallout from the End Run, and you’ll need to manage it. Sometimes, it’s only the End Run that allows IT to understand what you need. Sometimes, IT is even happy about the outcome.
5) After the End Run, Trainer befriends the Head of IT
See 1) above.
Do you have other ideas or experiences to share about working well with IT? Please feel free to offer them in the comments below.
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