Leadership

Amgen

Due to the corporate nature of this setting and the contract I signed, I am unable to provide any explicit documentation of this experience.

During my internship at Amgen, I had numerous projects assigned to me. Once something was assigned, however, I had full control over completing and solving it. A few of these projects pushed me into a leadership role. Early on in the internship, I was directed to put in cross-links to area-specific pathfinder sites in the MARC records of the electronically available journals listed in the pathfinders’ resources. I did this by adding the links as “related resources” (indicator 2) in the journals’ 856 fields, so that our OPAC software would be able to generate the links in the record’s default view. Getting the links into the records was time consuming, but not difficult. However, someone in the library department discovered that adding an extra 856 field was disrupting the script we used to generate our alphabetical list of electronically available journals. Every time a journal on the list had my second 856 field, the title would show up twice, once linked to the journal access point, and once linked to the pathfinder, with no way of indicating which was which. I was told to remove everything I had done. However, I felt that it was important that the scientists who found these journals would have the opportunity to find the related pathfinders, so I asked my supervisor if I could put in a note field describing the pathfinder where the journal was located. I knew this was not the best solution (the notes were only viewable in the OPAC under the “full”, not the basic default, record), so I decided to make sure this dialog kept going to figure out a way to get the actual links in the records. It was difficult; the person who originally insisted that I change everything back to the way it was very adamant about keeping things as they were, rather than risking the possibility of problems for the sake of providing more user resources. The fact that I was an intern did not help matters. However, I managed to get everyone in the catalog group into the conversation through e-mail. By getting my supervisor to back me up and by developing a convincing argument, we eventually all agreed that the script should be fixed so that only the appropriate access point (denoted by the 856 indicator) would generate the link in the alphabetical list. Unfortunately, I had to leave Amgen before the scripting was finalized, but I am happy that I managed to at least initiate some change that could eventually help our users find the resources they need. And I learned a good amount about the importance of patience, strong arguments, and the support of superiors in convincing others that something needs to be done.

Another leadership role I was able to play at Amgen came when my supervisors asked me to be in charge of organizing the Library’s annual Open House. I had to delegate numerous roles, set up the catering, make the reservations for the date, make sure the appropriate posters were ordered, organize planning meetings with the Library staff, and help come up with some fun activities. I had no experience in this kind of organizational role before, but I had no choice but to dive right in. Over the course of the next 6 weeks or so, I was able to work with my team to determine what everyone would be doing and how/where we would set up every station in the library. I used everyone’s strengths as they became apparent; letting the person with interest in graphic design and good spatial thinking create the map/handout while the putting the light-hearted person with a good sense of humor in charge of obtaining prizes. I also had my supervisor (the actual MLIS in the library) determine what we would cover at each station to make sure that we were giving appropriate information to our audience (the IT staff, not the scientists). I also took notes, helped people remember their roles, and made sure everything was in place (judges, food, decorations, handouts, posters, times) for the actual event. Part of the challenge of this experience was overcoming my normal “respect your elders” philosophy (which usually means I stand quietly in a corner and listen) in order to direct people and actually accomplish something. Another challenge was using some of the technology that came with the corporate setting: juggling schedules and invitations on Outlook Calendar, setting up WebEx conferences to discuss roles with the people who were coming in from other sites, and using internal forms to set up the catering. What impressed me the most was being in charge of the whole process from start to finish, developing new skills at every step and discovering how complex, yet doable, a project of this sort actually is.

Association of Library and Information Science Students (ALISS)

Documentation:
• ALISS Officers 2006-2007:
• ALISS Guiding Document (PDF)
• Grant document (PDF)
• ALISS website
• Screenshots of Catalyst E-Post board:
• Screenshot 1
• Screenshot 2

When ALISS began advertising their upcoming elections at the end of winter quarter, 2006, I saw an opportunity to contribute to the iSchool, but not necessarily an opportunity for leadership. I ran for, and was elected, treasurer of ALISS for the next term. I thought my math skills would be useful for managing the accounts, using Excel, and tracking budgets, and the position (unlike the others) was not in charge of any specific events, so I thought it would be an easy responsibility. It probably could have been, but I realized early on that my fellow officers were an amazing group of people and that I could benefit from working with them and doing more than just balancing the checkbook. The previous ALISS officers had set up a grant request process, which I inherited as the person to contact. ALISS marketed the grants through the website and through word of mouth at open meetings, and by talking to students who also then passed on the information. I contributed to this practice as much as I could, and recommended the process to a few students who I heard were working on appropriate projects. The actual process was informal; I sent out the grant requests I received to the other officers by e-mail, and put the documents up on our Catalyst board and opened up discussions. I instigated and was involved with several discussions at officer meetings about our priorities for the grants: should individuals applying for money for conferences get priority, since they would then bring back information to share with everyone (we did our best to enforce grantees’ submissions of their experiences to the Silverfish)? Or should groups/individuals applying for money to hold events at the iSchool get priority since those events would involve more iSchool student participation? For the most part, we were able to award all grants, but these discussions did lead to some unwritten guidelines. Student groups who had their own budgets often received partial rather than full grants because we felt these events could happen without our help, and we wanted to ensure that we would have funds for unbudgeted groups and a wide variety of events. We usually agreed to pay a maximum of $25 for individuals going to conferences and established that we would not be able to use these grants to fully fund large conference fees. I also played my part in all officer meetings, offering suggestions and raising questions on the numerous issues ALISS faced, from distance problems to iCareer week. Although this experience was very different from the one I had at Amgen, it was challenging in its own right. Accomplishing things in a group is a completely different process than doing everything alone, but significantly, I discovered that group wisdom can play a strong role in leadership (I cannot say enough wonderful things about my fellow officers). I also managed to keep myself from “just” taking care of the money and played an active role within the organization.

One specific leadership role did become available to me as a result of my involvement with ALISS. Although not required by the treasurer, I took on the responsibility of being Volunteer Coordinator for the ALISS book sale fundraiser. Some aspects of this experience built upon the scheduling skills I developed at Amgen. I sent e-mails to every iSchool listserv I could to recruit volunteers, and I took advantage of Google Spreadsheet (link) to create a sign-up for times. These tools were not as sophisticated as the ones I had used as Amgen, and there were several communication issues, a challenge I overcame by double-checking everything while making it appear as seamless as possible to my core of volunteers. Once we had all the volunteers we needed, I created the instruction document and made sure everyone understood what was expected of them and what was not expected of them (dealing with checks, e.g.). I also made sure that the volunteers felt comfortable (an ALISS officer, if not always available, checked in at least every hour) and that they had my contact information if needed. The challenge of motivating other busy, occasionally shy, iSchool students to volunteer to sell used books to undergraduates and outgoing used booksellers was much different from my experience at Amgen where the people under me were ready and willing to do whatever I asked and the event was much more fun.

Conclusion

These experiences have given me confidence in my own leadership abilities and have given me sense of my potential. I am now better able to identify leadership opportunities and will look for them in my future endeavors, not sit by and wait for them to come to me. I will use the tools available to me in ways that will improve the leadership process, communication, and increase impact. The iSchool has created many leaders who have affected numerous changes for the better, and I hope that I will be able to continue to contribute and to build upon that tradition, using what I have learned since coming here.