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Convergence and the business school library

Posted by: | July 31, 2009 | Comments Off on Convergence and the business school library

“In the world of convergence, technology, content, and distribution are converging at a speed never before seen. Consumers are now empowered by new technology and distribution platforms to engage with media and advertising in entirely new ways. Convergence is going to fundamentally redraw today’s business map, fuelling a power shift towards consumers that verges on social revolution.” (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2009)

Business librarians are no strangers to convergence, and have been at the forefront of creating unified platforms for consumers to retrieve information they need.

B-School libraries are enthusiastic partners in organizational convergence, working with career centers, program offices and other units to deliver services through a cohesive service model. A new article in College & Research Libraries News describes a fruitful partnership between the library and career center at the Katz Graduate School of Business in Pennsylvania, in which the two partners collaborated to augment preparation for MBA students for internship and job interviews. The two different skill sets made instruction sessions livelier and improved the value of the workshop for the students.

The Lam librarians work with staff in the Hari B. Varshney Business Career Centre at the Sauder School to enhance the research and critical thinking skills of students engaged in career searches. It’s been a fruitful convergence for staff and students.

This article also demonstrates another kind of convergence which will revolutionize traditional online library databases. The user can read the article, download a podcast of it – choosing a male or female voice – or translate the article into twelve languages. Of all the bells and whistles our databases have been displaying recently, this is one magic tool that will make library databases easier to use and more accessible for all users.

It’s convergence at its best.

Citation: Librarians on the case: Helping students prepare for job interviews in an uncertain economy. College & Research Libraries News v. 70 no. 7 (July/August 2009)


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