Models and strategies for information management: convergence of impacts

The current discussion around models and strategies for information management in the era of digital transition point to two dynamics, which follow the lifestyles, consumer habits and information behaviour of citizens: diversity of services and content, on one side; and convergence not only in media, but also in management modes, on the other. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the use of convergent information management models, strategies and impacts in Library, Archives and other Information Services (LAIS), in academic and practical/professional environments in Portugal.
Three management areas - e-skills, e-consumption and sustainability – are discussed, providing details and a basis for the convergence analysis. Using two dimensions - the operationalization of strategy and the approach to group development of LAIS skills -the usage of convergent information management models and strategies in LAIS is then examined through three cases / examples.
The first model / strategy identified provides an example of assessment and it is widely explained:
(1) Co-creation workshops on Building a sustainability assessment framework: this interdisciplinary experience with students of Information and Documentation master courses in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities of Universidade NOVA de Lisboa (FCSH/UNL) (December 2013-February 2014) and students of the Archives Post-graduation course at Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias (July 2014), led to the (co)definition of a conceptual framework for assessing the sustainability and impacts of LAIS as cultural organizations.
Two other examples of information management models and strategies complemented this approach to convergence:
(2) CIG’s Information and Documentation Centre (IDC) integrated the information management model (October 2013): the development of a new management model for the Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality (CIG)’s LAIS was anchored on the implementation of a modern Library Management System, which boosted the creation/improvement and integration under the conceptual umbrella of a holistic new brand – IDC - of other information areas, like publishing inventory management, archives and records management, digitalization of CIG’s historical archive and digitalization of special collections.
(3) Information Management and Curation Post-graduation and Master courses: creation of a graduate (and Master) degree in Information Management and Curation (FCSH/UNL), proposing a model for studies in which information management assumes a prominent transverse position and developing an integrated model of skills enabling simultaneously managing diversity and the hybrid culture of services convergence needs of the information market (June 2014).
When taking an overarching approach to the study of these models and strategies, attention should be paid to new operating models impacts and needed management skills, focusing on thinking strategies in the cultural and creative industries and considering culture as the fourth pillar of sustainable development. This focus opens new horizons for action by allowing the creation of new performance indicators, unifying the area of culture, aggregating data from libraries, archives, museums and other information services and, thereby, allowing an integrated strategic vision of the results and impacts. In the near future, management of integrated impacts seems to be the next step of the differentiation of quality.