Adaptive Management adaptive management = active learning-based decision making, facilitation, negotiation, grant and project management, understanding of government budgeting, purchasing and decision making. Intro Intro. Who am/was I in former life? After nearly two decades in the non profit and government sectors, I found that many of my skills and aptitudes translate nicely into my new position as a science librarian for an advanced degree granting public university. Adaptive Management Perhaps most important was my experience working in the arena of adaptive management in applied conservation biology. Adaptive management is an active learning-based decision making process that uses scientific information and assessment data to inform policy and practice in an iterative fashion. Framing measurable objectives, designing assessment, analyzing data and recommending changes is a regular part of my job for information literacy instruction, reference, and collection development. I also found an employer who values my approach to work, an adaptive management approach that makes use of assessment to iteratively improve my practice. (As someone who craves feedback, tracking my work activities and collecting assessment data for my teaching, reference, and other tasks guarantees at least a modicum of reward, acknowledgement of my efforts. ) In Applied Conservation Biology, this adaptive management approach can take the form of BACI experiments, or can simply involve a conscious approach to learning by doing. In LIS and Education, this may be called active learning-based decision making. It has become second nature to me to formulate objectives, criteria to gauge progress or success, and to make time to reflect before starting a similar, new project. Perhaps most important was my experience working in the arena of adaptive management in applied conservation biology. Adaptive management is an active learning-based decision making process that uses scientific information and assessment data to inform policy and practice in an iterative fashion. Framing measurable objectives, designing assessment, analyzing data and recommending changes is a regular part of my job for information literacy instruction, reference, and collection development. action learning, action research, adaptive management (Having worked for nearly two decades to manage natural resources and rare species using an adaptive management or action learning approach, assessment and iterative improvements to policy and practice are standard operating procedure for this professional.) A Biologist Adapts to Librarianship Abstract A former Conservation Biologist who worked in the non profit and government arenas describes the key transferable skills and knowledge that are brought to bear in her new role as a science librarian at an advanced degree granting public university. Having worked for nearly two decades to manage natural resources and rare species using an adaptive management or active learning approach, assessment and iterative improvements to policy and practice are standard operating procedure for this professional. Prior experience in evaluating and writing grant proposals, defining research data management and metadata guidelines, and writing technical reports enhances the science content knowledge of this librarian and builds credibility with faculty and graduate students. The public speaking experience gained during this professional’s time with a government agency has enhanced her ability to provide instruction to students and faculty in a wide variety of settings and to groups large and small. Additionally, this professional’s experience with meeting facilitation, negotiation, and project management has proven invaluable for developing partnerships with faculty and administrators, coordinating collaborative projects, and managing multiple assignments. Last, but certainly not least, familiarity with government budget cycles, purchasing rules, and policy making allows this professional to navigate the complex landscape of purchase options and funds available for collection development. Prior experience in evaluating and writing grant proposals, Grant stuff seeking grant funding is an activity common to many professions, and librarians are often called upon to seek private, organization, or agency funds for a variety of purposes. Experience on the evaluator side of the grant process has provided invaluable perspective on the importance of a detailed approach to grant applications. 2.1, I also use this experience when applying for admission into program such as ACRL Immersion or faculty workshops. 2.2. Proposing a multi-year monitoring project for a federal grant program, taught me how to balance the needs of the grant reviewers, the granting agency, my employer, and my professional goals for the project. Translating a research project with inherent uncertainties into milestones and deliverables for a funding contract is challenging and requires an additional balancing act to distribute the risk of failing to demonstrate progress in the project with the need for accountablility. I have also learned through my own experience, and from managing contracts, the need to estimate the cost of reporting and tracking compliance with the grant agreement from the recipient side. If these costs cannot be recouped via matching funds or overhead, it may be too costly to pursue or accept the grant funding. Prior experience evaluating grant proposals. I was involved in negotiations with Offices of Sponsored Projects for several universities when intellectual property rights were balanced with the funding entity’s desire for public use and dissemination of scholarly research outputs. These experiences provided me with interesting scenarios for discussion and debate in the Copyright and Digital Libraries seminar course I completed in December 2011, and will allow me to better assist scholars as they navigate the myriad of publishing and archiving options now available. grant writing and evaluation In my first graduate program, I served on a grant review committee for a student society, and participated in a rewrite of the rules to emulate National Science Foundation criteria and process. We instituted a peer review process that was more explicit and confidential than in prior years, where the reviews were not known to the applicants, although we were all graduate students within the same department. This experience provided insights I tap when preparing applications for funding, as i now know that the instructions are important to the people reviewing my application, and that it shows disrespect not to follow the instructions. I try to explain this perspective to colleagues when assisting them in grant funding applications. Prior experience writing grant proposals follow directions, ask for clarification, interpret jargon, respect the direction-writer. defining research data management and metadata guidelines, I have also been an advocate for data quality and assurance planning, documentation of metadata for spatial and aspatial scientific data sets, and led the design of a catalog for the program’s varied species data sets. This experience will allow me to assist faculty and students by locating appropriate resources and expertise to address funding entity mandates for data management plans and data deposits. data management plan guidelines In a position as an Applied Conservation Biologist, I was also involved in an effort to require written data management plans with applications for research funding, and defining research data management and metadata guidelines. As a former user of others' research datasets, I can speak from experience to faculty who struggle to comprehend why a grant agency cares so deeply about their metadata and file storage formats. content knowledge of sciences content knowledge of sciences content knowledge. sciences, academia, data management issues, interpreting calls for proposals from a wide variety of organizations. ways scientists work and communicate to peers -srj here as well, plus peer review in phi sigma writing technical reports Writing technical reports/ working with scientists I have many years of experience working with collaborative teams in a professional environment, including over eight years managing an adaptive management program for the Clark County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan (MSHCP). This position has afforded me many opportunities to work with academic faculty at several institutions of higher learning in Nevada to collaboratively address complex environmental challenges involving public lands use and species conservation. In this position I have also been involved in database design, species and habitat assessment and monitoring designs and frequent searching and synthesis of materials from both published and grey literature. technical reports Additionally, I wrote, edited and consumed many technical reports while implementing species and land use management plans, and can provide graduate and upper level science students with the lessons learned and useful writing resources. All of these seemingly disparate experiences are directly transferable to my science content knowledge of this librarian and builds credibility with faculty and graduate students. Also, as a former agency employee, i am keenly aware of the vast and often unseen treasure trove of information held in unpublished agency reports and datasets, often hard to discover using vendor databases or internet search engines. I am not shy about contacting agency staff to ask about the information they may potentially be able to share with our researchers, and know that there is little stigma in placing a public records request or Freedom of information Act request if it is carefully rafted with advice of the agency staff to target what is wanted, and excludes buckets of no relevant articles. public speaking experience gained during this professional’s time with a government agency has enhanced her ability to provide instruction to students and faculty in a wide variety of settings and to groups large and small Public speaking (The public speaking experience gained during this professional’s time with a government agency has enhanced her ability to provide instruction to students and faculty in a wide variety of settings and to groups large and small.) informal feedback on job interview suggests that this comfort level and ability to engage the audience in discussion was a key factor in hiring decision meeting facilitation meeting facilitation, negotiation, (has proven invaluable for developing partnerships with faculty and administrators, coordinating collaborative projects, and managing multiple assignments) negotiation project management project management (has proven invaluable for developing partnerships with faculty and administrators, coordinating collaborative projects, and managing multiple assignments) pm skills and srj ME The training received and experience gained in project management has been very helpful in analyzing the aspects of my work, and scheduling the many facets of an academic, tenure track faculty position. I am able to break down each assignment or job duty into schedule-friendly units that can be scheduled into my week, and see where a day is overloaded. This takes a bit of reflective time to do, and I am not always disciplined in applying these skills, so my weeks can be as frantic as the next persons, but I do employ these skills to dig back out or to ensure time and effort is available for important projects. Another project management technique i employ is to identify and highlight the dependent steps in a project, and see where concurrent effort can reduce the overall timeline of a project. This type of analysis is very helpful in collaborations, to ensure that the overall group avoids stalling while waiting for one person to accomplish a key task that all other remaining steps are dependent upon. I have found that speaking the language of project management is helpful when working with members of the Engineering College, as many are familiar with the logic and linearity of pm. A flowchart can summarize the process behind a complex literature analysis quite nicely for this group. Many University administrators also have some experience with pm techniques, although they may expect the time and space continuum to be disrupted to overcome the limits of the critical path. geek Last, but certainly not least, familiarity with government budget cycles, purchasing rules, and policy making allows this professional to navigate the complex landscape of purchase options and funds available for collection development. Local government agency culture (Last, but certainly not least, familiarity with government budget cycles, purchasing rules, and policy making allows this professional to navigate the complex landscape of purchase options and funds available for collection development.) Cycles and seasons Familiarity with fiscal, academic and other annual variations in the activities of a public University in a state with a biennial budget cycle also eased my transition to this new career. The impact of new bdgets, semester cycles, and fiscal year end purchasing moratoriums affects when I focus on collection development, what requests I make for faculty input during the year, and when I expect to be focused on instruction and follow up reference questions. Conferences and writing just seem to just fit in somehow. I was a bit unprepared for the amount of time I would need to dedicate to writing my annual work evaluation report and tenure progress reports. Conclusion Because a library either consists of and/or operates within a larger organization, many of the lessons learned in other workplaces can translate to a library job. finally, as I transition to library land, I have been fortunate to ways to stay involved in the conservation biology field as well through community service activities that also count towards my service responsibilities as a faculty member.