My Brexit

 

Last chair columns are often about change. Often we express surprise that the time flew by so quickly and that so much has happened in a year, which it certainly has. PLLIP has offered more awards and grants than ever before. Cheryl and Kurt have really amped up our internal communications along with the Communications Committee and the awesome web team! The Summit continues to shine as an example of our most strategic, relevant platform for PLLIP education and collaboration. This PLLIP Executive Board has tackled new issues with enthusiasm and we are excited about what's to come. We have a new, dynamic and capable PLLIP Chair on the way (yay Cameron!) and I will be making my Brexit or "Baileyxit" from the chair role, if you will. Come to think of it, Brexit was literally the case for me as I left the UK last Friday, visiting relatives and law firm offices, to come back to an exciting climate of change here in the profession (cloudy segway)...

 

How we look at change and transitions is really important. The perceptions of what change will mean creates change itself. Markets react to perceptions and realities. Over half the voting people have spoken in the UK and they are making dramatic changes, exiting a union of nations. We in law firm libraries and other private law libraries have choices every day about the way we think, our alliances and what we choose to push for in our professional association. The legal industry and market are changing every day creating a new environment for decision and action. That's why PLLIP is announcing the formation of the Elevation Task Force that seeks to elevate our image in the industry and get us noticed where it counts. The PLLIP Elevation Task Force is both a rapid response team to handle perception issues as they arise as well as a strategic team to build on and enhance our reputation of excellence and promote us where it counts. We hope to provide the kind of visibility that can offer publishers an immediate take on what is going on in the marketplace. Law firm libraries shutting down? Ask a PLLIP librarian for a reaction. Outsourcing a threat? Ask a library leader. What drives the engine of innovation and strategic insight in a firm? Better ask a librarian or information professional. Better yet, we are seeking to create an image so strong in the industry that the question doesn't even need to be asked. But maybe that's a long way off...

 

We can't let the perfect be the enemy of the good when it comes to communicating our value. Bravery is called for rather than perfection. The nudges we have seen in the industry media about outsourcing and artificial intelligence can only point us toward promoting ourselves and making our case for "authentic intelligence" plainly stated. We are redefining what we do and we need the perception to align with the reality in the marketplace. Those of you who listen to TED Talks or NPR will no doubt remember the piano industry's demise in relation to the rise of the recording industry; the oil lamp's fall clearly giving way to the incandescent bulb. We need to make these kinds of fundamental changes to our product and the way we communicate it so that our evolution is an expansion and investment in it is a no brainer. These are the kinds of changes that lead to progress.

 

So, as I take my leave as PLLIP Chair, let me again express my gratitude to all of you who have helped create the PLLIP of 2016 and I look forward to making progress in my other roles as your colleague, including the Elevation Task Force. Here's to a successful conference and an upward trajectory for all of us!

See you in Chicago!