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A GROUNDING IN COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE AND A DESIRE TO COMPARE THEIR SERVICES WITH THOSE OF THEIR GLOBAL COLLEAGUES LED TWO LIBRARIANS IN INDIA TO WRITE AND PRESENT A PAPER AT SLA 2017.
Ten time zones. 14,150 kilometers. The world's largest ocean. And, of course, one very long flight (two flights, actually).
The distance between Dhanashree Date and Ayesha Mal lik and the SLA 2017 Annual Conference was imposing by any measure, but perhaps the most important distance couldn't be measured in terms of time or length. It was the distance in terms of library services and performance-specifically, how the Information Resource Centre (IRC) at their organization, Tata Consultancy Services, compares to libraries and information centers staffed by SLA members in other countries.
Happily for Dhanashree and Ayesha, the distance was negligible. "...[M]any of our processes and services and offerings are on the same plane, and even the issues and problems seem to be common across all of these organizations, despite operating in diverse environments," says Ayesha.
And in at least one regard, the IRC is ahead of its peers. While at SLA 2017, Ayesha and Dhanashree presented a contributed paper about the IRC's transition from providing information to its internal clients to supporting competitive and market intelligence activities. Their paper was judged the best at SLA 2017, earning Dhanashree and Ayesha free registration to SLA 2018 in Baltimore.
Information Outlook interviewed Ayesha and Dhanashree about the paper, their experience at SLA 2017, and what they see as the next phase in the continuing evolution of the Tata IRC.
Your paper, "From Information to Intelligence: The Tata Consultancy Services Information Resource Centre," was named the best contributed paper at the SLA 2017 Annual Conference. What made you decide to write a contributed paper and travel halfway around the world to present it?
Ayesha: Co-writing a paper is always a challenge, and in the case of this paper, it was an interesting one. Dhanashree leads the team that actually executes this service, and I looked at it from a strategic point of view. We connect well on the spirit behind this service, which was added as we evolved over the years, and we see it taking our outfit even further in the future. That's how we...