Quantum² : InfoStars : Karen Tempest

Karen Tempest

Burnet Information Service/CSL's Karen Tempest

Australia is home to many outstanding natural wonders — from the Great Barrier Reef to Ayers Rock — so it is, perhaps, unsurprising to find outstanding “information wonders” like InfoStar Karen Tempest of Burnet Information Service/CSL as well. Karen's star shines brightly down under, as a leader in the Australian Library and Information Association and other professional organizations, and also in the world of highly specialized information professionals. The business of CSL is health care — specifically, the development, manufacturing and marketing of biopharmaceutical products, and CSL is one of Australia’s leading firms in this industry. Karen was originally hired as the Research Librarian at CSL in 1995, and since then has enjoyed success, and promotion within the organization. As the current manager of information services for Burnet Information Service (BIS) of CSL Limited, based in Parkville, Victoria, Australia, Karen exemplifies many of the stellar qualities associated with Quantum² InfoStars.

The goal of BIS, according to Karen, is to “support CSL management decisions, product development and products by enabling all division access to timely, targeted, accurate & cost-effective information sources.” Aside from Karen, who has been manager since 2000, the Information Centre also employs a library technician, the company archivist and a library assistant/microfilming officer.

Karen’s role as manager of the Information Centre is an overarching one — and includes the provision of information support to the staff of CSL globally. In the context of the biopharmaceutical industry, this means being able to deliver highly accurate, and timely information. Karen explains, “Today, when everyone has access to the Internet, we need to demonstrate why BIS is a valuable resource to the company,” and this means the information centre is called upon to deliver value-added information in the sciences, commercial and intellectual property areas. “We are more than just a collection in a room,” Karen continues, “we provide our staff with solutions and assist in their decision making processes.” This kind of strategic involvement ensures that, despite the amount of freely available information on the Internet, the Information Centre is still sought out to provide the answers.

Of course, to provide timely and accurate information to staff all over the world requires that end-users have desktop access to high quality information sources, and to this end Karen uses a full range of Dialog products. Some are used on a daily basis, as Dialog is able to deliver current content in all of the areas of company interests. The Intranet Toolkit was used to roll out Medline on both Dialog and DataStar for scientists in the company to use, and the ability to customize the Toolkit for the end-user scientists was part of its appeal. It helps, too, that the sales and support staff have been, in Karen's words, “fantastic”.

An important part of Karen’s role in the organization is to integrate and promote the information service within CSL, but as Karen puts it, “Marketing BIS to the organization presents challenges when not all of our staff are based at head office.” Yet Karen has been able to effectively promote the services and products of BIS by using the corporate Intranet. Karen has a great working relationship with the IT department, and has been successful in positioning the link to the BIS homepage on the main page of the corporate Intranet, rather than buried deeply within the site. Karen knows that the homepage on the Intranet is a key tool in lifting the Information Centre’s profile, and credits this for some of the information Centre’s success. It is also significant that BIS is part of the introduction for new staff members, and that overseas colleagues always visit the library on their trips to corporate headquarters. And if someone is not visiting the library virtually or in person, chances are likely that the BIS staff is visiting them. Karen explains, “We also get outside the library walls and talk to people, attend various meetings and generally try to be seen.”

Karen participates in a variety of different projects throughout the company. These are not just traditional library projects — but projects where having the information management knowledge added to the mix is a welcome addition. Working across the organization helps Karen fulfill another component of her managerial role, for with information gathered from multiple units in the organization, she is better able to identify current and future information requirements across site and user groups. Better information enables more proactive approaches to information acquisition, management, and delivery, and this can make a huge difference on how the Information Centre is perceived. The BIS staff is recognized for their skills in information retrieval and delivery, and Karen reports how good it feels to be acknowledged by colleagues for those skills. Right now Karen feels the biggest impact that BIS has on the company is that the staff are better informed when they start new projects, visit competitors or collaborators, or look at licensing a product. Staff know that when they use a service or product provided by BIS, it will be current and can be trusted. This kind of trust and respect translates into an increased cost-effectiveness for information acquisition and delivery throughout the firm.

Like many in the field, Karen acknowledges that "the biggest challenge is in keeping up-to-date with the latest technology and services," but continuous improvement is a hallmark of Karen and her BIS staff. The move from a traditional library service to an Information Centre has been an ongoing one, but BIS has always been more than just a repository of books & journals. "The emphasis on desktop delivery and empowering the end user has meant that our staff are better informed and have a greater variety of sources available to them at a time and place that suits them," explains Karen. And to support this, the Information Centre is always working to enhance and improve services and processes; most recently, they have been working on expanding web access for users to a number of home-grown, in-house databases.

Karen believes it is essential for the BIS staff to continue to "keep ahead of the pack", and supports continuous professional development and self-monitoring. Her leadership provides an environment open to change and possibility, and her example offers a template for the modern information professional - truly, an information wonder. Her abilities in relationship building, her guidance in the transition to a virtual environment, and her commitment to continuous change and development are some of the reasons why this InfoStar, Karen Tempest, shines so brightly in the Southern skies.