UKSG Negotiation Skills for Librarians: London

Read a report from one of the delegates.

Workshop summary

A highly practical one-day workshop developing knowledge, skills and confidence to support academic librarians and consortia members engaged in negotiating with publishers and other vendors for electronic resources.  Librarians will be able to apply what they learn immediately to ongoing and future negotiations, both new deals and renewals.

Context for this workshop

•    Electronic resources continue to bring major change to the provision of teaching and research information, hugely impacting the role and responsibilities of information professionals.
•    The rise of the licence, the demise of the ‘list price’, tailored deals, new rights and responsibilities, new users, and new ways of delivering, using and sharing information are all part of the evolving complexity.
•    At the same time, some things have not changed: publishers still seek to maximise usage, market presence and income, whilst libraries and consortia seek to best serve their users within the constraints of rising costs and pressured budgets.
•    In order to navigate these challenges – and make the most of the considerable opportunities – negotiation has become a fundamental part of the content acquisition process.
•    It follows that libraries and consortia need library staff with strong negotiation knowledge and skills, and yet good quality training in this area is noticeably absent from LIS qualifications.
•    This course has been created to fill this gap, informing and empowering librarians, growing their confidence and skills, and enabling them to gain the best from every negotiation.

Is this workshop for you?

Negotiation Skills for Librarians has been written for serials and acquisitions librarians and consortia members involved in the acquisition of electronic resources in academic institutions or on behalf of academic consortia*.  Written at an introductory-intermediate level, the workshop is for those who are new to negotiations or who have some negotiation experience and are seeking a ‘refresher’ and/or additional tips, skills and knowledge.  It will also benefit those being trained to undertake purchasing roles in the future.  More experienced negotiators are very welcome to attend but are asked to be aware of the intended level of this workshop.  The workshop focuses on e-journals and other serially published content (although some of the learning is transferable to eBook and database acquisition).

 *Although the primary focus of the course is on e-resources acquisition in an academic environment, information/knowledge workers in public libraries and corporations are welcome.  Equally, although the course is designed primarily for those new or relatively new to publisher negotiations, more experienced negotiators are welcome.

Brief history

This workshop has been delivered to library and consortia staff in the UK and Eire (on behalf of UKSG), continental Europe and the Middle East since 2008.  Of the 350+ librarians who have taken the workshop to date, 100% would recommend it to colleagues and the vast majority rated their learning experience as ‘excellent’.

(An online course has been developed to meet demand from international colleagues who cannot attend the in-person workshop: please contact: sarah@sarahdurrant.co.uk for further information.)

Workshop goals

•    Learn proven, highly practical negotiation skills and knowledge which you can use immediately in your professional life
•    Build your confidence in relation to negotiations
•    Learn:
      -    The Four Cornerstones – four key strategies which underpin all successful negotiations
      -    The Seven Habits – intelligent negotiation tactics which will help you get the best deal possible, on pricing and on terms
      -    Six Powerful Questions designed to help you navigate the negotiation process
•    Apply these skills and knowledge to resolve realistic negotiation situations
•    Raise awareness of how our perspective or mindset (our ‘inner game’) impacts negotiation outcomes
•    Share your negotiation experience, questions, challenges and concerns in a confidential and supportive environment.

Workshop format

The workshop is designed to be lively, engaging and interactive to create the richest learning experience possible. It features the following elements:
Presentations sharing key knowledge and information
-    Individual, paired and group exercises
-    Facilitated discussion and sharing of ideas with group and individual coaching as appropriate
-    Sharing of delegates’ experiences, challenges and concerns in a safe and confidential environment
-    A comprehensive course pack featuring invaluable checklists designed to support delegates in their workplace.

Fee 

UKSG members:  £200.00 + £40.00 VAT [20%] (total £240.00) 
Non-members:   £250.00 + £50.00 VAT [20%] (total £300.00)

The fee includes refreshments and lunch.

Venue

The King's Fund
No. 11 Cavendish Square (Maxwell Room)
London
W1G 0AN

Tel.: 020 7307 2474 (Reception)

Workshop content

The day will commence at 09.45 (registration and coffee) and finish at 17.00.

1.   Introduction and Overview
-    Course overview and learning goals
-    Negotiation context and basics
-    Common negotiation challenges
-    Three main negotiation styles
-    Exercise: What’s your perspective?

2.   Building Resilience for Confident Negotiations
-    Define resilience and explore how this vital quality can enhance negotiation outcomes
-    Explore a proven model which will build your personal resilience
-    Exercise: practise this model and explore how it will build your confidence and resourcefulness when negotiating

3.   Negotiation Strategy: Four Cornerstones
-    Introducing The Four Cornerstones – four key strategies which underpin all successful negotiations
-    Exercise: Explore how each cornerstone contributes to negotiation success
-    Consider how you can incorporate these strategies further into your negotiation process

4.   Negotiation Tactics Part 1
-    Introducing The Seven Habits of Highly Successful Negotiation
-    Learn in detail the first three of these habits, exploring how each supports you in the negotiation process
-    Exercise: embedding tactics 1-3 into your negotiation process

5.   Negotiation Tactics Part 2
-    Share four further tactics exploring how each supports you in the negotiation process
-    Exercise: embedding tactics 4-7 into your negotiation process

6.   Bringing It All Together
-    Working in teams you will undertake the Principles into Practice Challenge, applying the knowledge and skills you’ve learned from the workshop to resolve a series of mini negotiation scenarios

7.   Bringing It All Together Review
-    Review key learning from the Principles into Practice Challenge
-    Discuss any outstanding negotiation questions, challenges and concerns
-    Review key learning from this workshop and discuss how you will integrate this into your professional practice
-    (Evaluation and feedback).

Impact

Workshop participants report many practical benefits including:
-    saving money
-    having additional valuable knowledge, tools and skills they can call on during negotiations
-    greater confidence during all parts of the negotiation process: from planning their strategy, working with vendors and closing deals
-    achieving more affordable, sustainable agreements
-    securing better licence terms
-    greater understanding of which areas can - and should - be negotiated
-    clearer sense of the areas they want to influence
-    serving teaching and research more effectively
-    enhancing the value and impact of the library.

Feedback

Here are a few of the many positive comments from delegates:
“This has been a really useful course with a good mixture of content. The background in terms of Mindset and Resilience was really useful and was built upon with practical negotiating tools…the Checklist is a valuable practical tool which I am sure I will use over and over again. As a new member of staff particularly, the course has been excellent.”  Librarian, June 2014
“I have used the learning from the day when speaking to publishers on the telephone and have found that I have a great deal more confidence and am able to assert myself better.”  Resources Manager (Serials, e-Resources and Digital Access), June 2015
“I started making changes in both professional and personal negotiations by the end of the class and having really positive results.”  Librarian, Jan 2016
“Very approachable, friendly, clear and concise delivery. Good course which was paced with good variety of content. I enjoyed it very much and learnt a lot. Thank you.”  Acquisitions Librarian, May 2015
 “Lots of invaluable handouts.  Good mix of presentation and practical.  Nice informal style, felt very engaged with all content.”  Serials Librarian, June 2014
 “Every librarian involved in purchasing/licensing should do this course!”  Special Collections Librarian, June 2013
 "Excellent – I’m actually looking forward to my next negotiation (-ish!).”  Librarian, June 2013
 “Thank you so much for one of the most informative, practical and useful courses I have attended.”  Serials Librarian, June 2013

About your facilitator                                                   

This workshop was designed and is facilitated by Sarah Durrant who has over 25 years’ experience in the information sector (which includes extensive negotiation experience) and over 10 years’ experience as an expert learning facilitator.  Sarah has been delivering this workshop since 2008 and to date over 350 librarians have taken this training in the UK, Eire, continental Europe and the Middle East.  (A growing number of librarians have also benefited from the new online version which was launched this year to enable librarians based further afield to attend and benefit from this learning.)  Sarah is also an ICF-accredited professional coach with a passion for well-designed, immersive learning which enables people to realise their full potential and engage with their work and wider lives with creativity, wisdom and confidence.  (For more information see: www.sarahdurrant.co.uk)

How to book

Booking is now closed.  For further information please contact Karen Sadler at UKSG by e-mail or by phone: +44 (0)1865 310834.

Venue location details will be sent with confirmation of booking.

Cancellations

By Wednesday 27 April 2016 - full refund
From Thursday 28 April 2016 - no refund

NB:  UKSG reserves the right to alter or vary the programme due to events or circumstances beyond its reasonable control without being obliged to refund monies.