Information specialists supporting the information value chain

Abstract

Information specialists have traditionally been supporting the information needs of their organisations: providing collections and training, so the users of information services have been well-equipped to tackle information intensive work and solve research problems. Another important role has been the management of publication registries, ensuring that information produced by their organisations have been carefully documented and preserved.

These roles are still relevant, but they need to be expanded to support the whole process of information value chain the parent organisation creates for the surrounding society. This requires information services to also identify the support systems for tacit knowledge of the specialists and researchers who are the source of information and knowledge produced by the organisation.

Knowledge and information management are not activities, that could be a responsibility of a single organisational unit, so it is important to identify the exact access points, where the actions to serve the information value chain should be taken. In the Finnish Environment Institute, one of the enabling objectives for our strategy is to develop the whole value chain of environmental information. For the Information Services, this means identifying suitable access points to serve our information value chain.

These actions include providing the information base for research projects; supporting research data management and open science; developing the institutional publication repository with richer metadata, content and altmetrics for tracking the impact; ensuring the visibility of publications in national portals; helping with the identification and visibility of researchers for the scientific advice for policymakers.

These actions collectively ensure, that our information services unit serves the information value chain of our parent organisation and challenges the professional development of our specialists. This paper discusses the actions information specialists have to take and the challenges they face when claiming their role in relevant stages of the information value chain.