Communication Tips

Michele DeSilva (Central Oregon Community College) presented this lesson in the February 2025 Systems community call.

Recordings and Materials

Slides (for presentation February 13, 2025)

In This Lesson

1. Objectives
2. Introduction
3. Contacts
4. Common Communication Tasks
5. Useful Skills
   1. Soft Skills
   2. Hard Skills (with soft edges)
   3. Actionable Tips
      1. Practice
6. Structured Learning
7. Practice Scenarios
   1. Scenario 1: The Case of the Disappearing Ebook
   2. Scenario 2: Training Camp
   3. Scenario 3: Persuasive Power

Objectives

• Identify key audiences Systems Librarians communicate with
• Identify common communication tasks for Systems Librarians
• Identify necessary skills for successful communication and how to develop them
• Apply actionable tips for different communication scenarios

Introduction

You may picture the life of a Systems Librarian as a quiet, computer-based job, where you write code and configure systems in relative solitude. While there’s an element of that and it is more solitary than other very public-facing library roles, there’s also a surprising amount of communication and interaction involved in the job.

Contacts

Systems Librarians have a large and varied communication network that includes

• library users
• administrators
• IT department contacts, including
  • network/infrastructure
  • programmers
  • data analysts
  • project managers
  • cybersecurity
  • support and help desk staff
• non-library faculty/staff colleagues
• library administrators and colleagues
• vendors

Think about it: Are there any other contacts you’d add to this list?

Common Communication Tasks

Like their large and varied communication networks, systems librarians have a wide range of communication tasks. These include

• Supporting end-users who have a variety of technical skill levels and interests
• Translate user needs into technical requirements
  • Example: Your acquisitions team has revamped their processes for greater efficiency, but now they need software tools to help them automate parts of the workflow and report on spending. You’d need to understand their processes and needs to determine how to configure an existing system to meet those needs.
• Liaise among vendors, library, IT departments, and/or users
  • Example: Your library has acquired a new e-resource. You have to work with the vendor, your e-resource librarian colleague, and your IT department contacts to set up Single Sign On (SSO) authorization.
• Describe library-specific technical operations, procedures, and needs to non-library audiences
  • Example: You write a budget request for new scanners, software, and staffing for a library digitization project. You need to be able to explain and justify the need to library administrators, technical review teams, and institutional administrators.
• Translate technical documentation or communications into library-relatable language
  • Example: You need to explain in plain language what WCAG 2.1 Level AA guidelines mean to your library’s instruction and reference librarians so they can edit LibGuides effectively.
• Report on use metrics and/or other data in a contextually meaningful way
• Incorporate user feedback (formal or informal) into design or configuration changes
• Relay bad news about technical mishaps or system limitations
• Train/instruct colleagues and users

Useful Skills

Successful communication requires a range of soft and hard skills. It takes time and practice to learn and develop these skills. Learn from your successes and mistakes.

Soft Skills

• Empathy
  • Understanding different user perspectives
  • Supporting frustrated/upset people
  • Supporting people through change
• Navigating gray areas of leadership & conflict resolution
  • Managing projects, systems and people when you’re not an “official” manager
  • Navigating competing needs and requirements
• Flexibility
  • Choosing the right communication style and strategy for your audience
• Build trust
  • Follow-through
  • Don’t overpromise
• Curiosity
  • Openness to learning about different library functional areas, processes, and procedures
  • Willingness to learn about new trends and solutions

Hard Skills (with soft edges)

Hard skills generally need to be complemented by soft skills to be most effective.

• Technical knowledge
  • You won’t have all you need to start with, so curiosity is the complementary soft skill here.
• Troubleshooting skills
  • While problem solving and critical thinking are sometimes thought of as soft skills, there exist, especially in the IT field, specific methodologies for troubleshooting
  • Examples of troubleshooting methodologies or professional development routes:
    • CompTIA Troubleshooting Methodology
    • BYU Professional Communities: Problem Solving and Troubleshooting (see the “How to Develop” section, especially)
• Writing skills
• Training/presentation/public speaking skills
• Listening actively -Listening is another skill that many consider a soft skill. There are specific and concrete techniques you can use to become a better listener. But, it’s also an area where you need soft skills like empathy and curiosity to be truly effective.
• Asking the right questions
  • Not unlike a Reference Interview

Actionable Tips

While you’re developing and practicing your skills over time, here are some tips that you can use right away.

• Avoid acronyms.
  • If you need them, define them first
• Avoid jargon.
  • Avoid library jargon with non-library colleagues
  • Avoid tech jargon with non-tech colleagues
  • What’s library jargon? McDonald, C., & Trujillo, N. (2024). Library Terms that Users (Don’t) Understand: A Review of the Literature from 2012-2021. College & Research Libraries, 85(6), 906. Doi:https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.85.6.906
• Ask questions when you need more clarity or understanding.
  • Phrase questions non-confrontationally
  • Ask for examples and specifics
• Don’t be defensive when users or colleagues ask you questions or report problems.
  • Assume best intentions
  • Everyone has different perspectives and different levels of understanding about technology and libraries
• Include examples whenever possible, whether in training, tickets, or documentation.

Practice

You’re taking a shift at the library table at your institution’s student resource fair. Explain Primo VE to a first-year undergraduate student in a minute or less without using library jargon. Jargon includes the words database, discovery, metadata, and catalog.

Structured Learning

• Useful Topics/Courses
  • Technical Writing
  • Business Communication
  • Public Speaking/Presenting
  • Change Management
• ITIL® (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) 4 - Foundation
  • Certification in IT Service Management (ITSM)
  • Definitely not library specific, but study guides/supplementary material can be interesting
• Where to find it
  • Your employer, public library, or local community college may offer training through in-person classes, LinkedIn Learning, Ed2Go, MindEdge, Gale Courses, or others.
  • Library conferences or professional organizations also sometimes offer sessions or workshops covering these topics.

Practice Scenarios

Scenario 1: The Case of the Disappearing Ebook

Scenario

A faculty member has been using a library e-book for her course textbook. She sends you a panicked email during the third week of the term that the e-book link in Primo is no longer working. Meanwhile, circulation desk staff call you to tell you that students in the class are reporting the same problem.

Discussion Questions

• Whom do you need to communicate with in this situation?
  • When?
  • How?
• What are the technical aspects of this problem that you may need to communicate?
• What are the affective aspects of this problem?

Scenario 2: Training Camp

Scenario

You are giving a presentation on Title II digital accessibility requirements and what it means for the library in your next all-department/division meeting.

Discussion Questions

• Who makes up the audience in your all department/division meeting?
• What technical examples would you use to make this relevant to your audience?
• What stories or analogies would you use to make this relevant to your audience?
• What action items would you want your audience to leave with?

Scenario 3: Persuasive Power

Scenario

You’re writing a budget request for specialized scanners and software to support an archival photo digitization project. The same budget request will go through two committees: an IT technical review committee and a budget committee made up of fiscal services staff and non-library administrators.

Discussion Questions

• How would you explain the overall importance of this project to non-library colleagues?
  • What might appeal to your different audiences?
• What kind of technical details would you include for the IT review committee?
• What questions do you anticipate the committee having, and how would you proactively address this in your request?
• What organization/presentation strategies could you use in this budget request to address the two different audiences effectively?