From reference librarian to business advisor

From Reference Librarian to Business AdvisorNeil Infield – Manager Business & IP Centre

neil.infield@bl.uk - @ninfield (twitter)

http://www.slideshare.net/infield/

2Was the library of last resort

3

Now open for anyone who wants to do research academic, personal or commercial

Let’s go back to the beginningof the Business & IP Centre

The first thing we did was to ask what our customers wanted from us.

The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th thing we did was to implement their requests.

Easier said than done!

We started with this.

Free access to our collection of hard copy and online business information

These, plus quite a few more…

Added a helpful friendly knowledgeableinquiry service.

With business and Intellectual Property specialists on hand.

Plus hands-on training for our range of databases

But that wasn’t enough.

We had to train as workshop presenters…Which was quite a scary process

But every day customers came to the enquiry desk and said…

“I just want to someone in private about my business idea / invention. Do you do that?”

The answer was “No, sorry, we are librarians, not business experts.”

…Not good enough

So we had to train as Business Advisors.Even scarier stuff for librarians!

At first we were terrified…

But gradually we became more self-assured

And now it’s my

favourite part of the job

Business Advice isn’t rocket science

•Confidentiality•Rapport•Non-judgmental•Good listeners•Referral knowledge•Never telling – helping decisions

We adopted the ‘Lean’ approach to start-up

For our customers and for ourselves

And the Business Model Canvas

The British Library is stuffed full of billions and billions of facts. But…

We needed to get our customers to think why…

Why would someone chose their product or service?

Too many had the ‘build it and they will come’ approach to marketing

We recently celebrated our 10th anniversaryHere are some of my highlights…

“I came to last night's event, and was inspired by the speakers to start my own business...

What should I do?”

The accountant who wanted to start a courier company with his dad

The drug-addict tramp who wanted to develop artificial intelligence software

The house-wife who wanted to open a primary school

“So what do you think about my invention / business idea?”

Decorative bra straps

“So what do you think about my invention / business idea?”

A device for spreading out tennis racquet strings

“So what do you think about my invention / business idea?”

A portable safe for the beach

Amelia Rope and her amazing Chocolate

BIPC Success Stories

Jeff Woolf and his Morpher folding cyclehelmet

BIPC Success Stories

Tom Blake and his Keep Me Jewellery

BIPC Success Stories

Nick Skaliotis and his Kikka Digga

BIPC Success Stories

AnnoyingDown to earth

InspiringFunny