The Challenge of Reintermediation

1. improvements in productivity,
2. research done by the people who really know the organizationís business, and how the research will be applied, and
3. more valuable knowledge being shared throughout the organization. 

This process of ëblowing up the corporate libraryí is called disintermediation.

Initially, this met with some success. Younger employees in particular were able to get information and do things that they couldnít before. But over time, even the enthusiasts realized that

1. as they moved up the ranks in the organization, they simply didnít have the time for do-it-yourself research anymore,
2. they really werenít very good at doing research anyway (no one ever taught them how to do it), and
3. the really valuable knowledge transfer was still through context-rich conversations, not by sharing documents. 

As a consequence, more and more staff have been looking for people (librarians, subordinates, administrative assistants) to reintermediate this work ñ to take it back off their hands.

So now, there is a clamouring among front-line staff for someone to:

• Help them understand and more effectively use the knowledge and technology resources on their desktop
• Do high-quality research and analysis (not just ërip and shipí data and document extraction) for them
• Add meaning and value to information that is to be shared with others

But hereís the dilemma:

1. Most large organizations have been so massively ëhollowed outí by the downsizing, outsourcing and offshoring of ëback officeí staff that there is no one left to do this work.
2. Most information professionals are really good at doing ëknowledge and technologyí stuff, but donít really understand the business of the organizations that employ them (they havenít worked in the field themselves or come up through the ranks).
3. Most information professionals arenít skilled or comfortable with the ëcustomer anthropologyí work needed to help people one-on-one in the field, and also aren’t skilled at adding meaning and value to information.

These are difficult problems to overcome. To wait for managers to understand and address these problems on their own initiative is pure folly. If reintermediation is to have a chance to succeed, itís going to need champions like university faculties of information science, library science and knowledge management, and professional librarians’ associations. And these champions are going to have to do three things:

1. Teach customer anthropology, personal productivity improvement, advanced research and analysis skills, and capacity for adding meaning and value to information, both in university programs for information professionals, and in continuous education programs.
2. Engrain in the minds of executives and recruiters the importance of training information professionals in the business of their organizations very early in their employment, so they have the context to apply their IP skills effectively to the organizationís problems. This might require either a special orientation or a ëshadowingí program to allow new IPs to see and ask about what those on the front lines actually do, and what their information needs are.
3. Develop case studies and success stories about reintermediation that show that it works, and why, and hence to overcome management resistance to commit time and resources in order to ëfill back iní their hollowed out organizations. Alas, most executives still think the solution for people who canít (or wonít) powerfully use the knowledge and technology available to them, is to fire them.

Thatís the challenge. Iíll be talking with students and conferences attendees over the next year about this need and some possible approaches to addressing it. If youíre an information professional, Iíd love to hear your ideas on whatelse we can do.