Talking Heads
Sue Cooper
Age: Not important
Position: Manager, Business Information Service, Auckland City Library
What makes your day?
Having breakfast brought to me in bed. And the best end to the day is having solved an information problem. That is, providing information therapy to those who don't know exactly what information they want or where to find it.
Why are you valuable to your organisation?
Being creative with new information products and my strategic knowledge of the information industry.
What is your management style?
Helping people achieve goals. And organising others to recognise the needs of our clients.
What is the work tool you can't do without?
My Desktop. Not that I have a desk at the moment because we're shifting to a new location, but my PC, e-mail and the Internet. They are essential to making my working day go smoother.
What was your biggest career break and why?
Working at Fletcher Challenge in the '80s when it was growing into an international company. It was a very exciting time and it gave me a wonderful foundation for learning and developing business skills.
Who was your most important mentor and why?
Without a doubt, my professional colleagues have always supported me with excellent advice about work and family. Rosemary Horton at UEB Industries; Marjorie Warwick at the Auckland Regional Authority, Marilyn Glen at Fletcher Challenge, Janet Copsey at Auckland University. These women were role models.
What is the biggest challenge for your company and for the New Zealand economy?
Finding a sustainable business model for the delivery of information services to small and medium-size businesses, as well as large ones. What constitutes a core service to Auckland City ratepayers, and what value-added information products and services can we create and deliver to them. People are also realising that the Internet is chaotic, voluminous and poorly organised - as information professions we can filter and sort through the mass of information out there and synthesise it into useable knowledge.
The challenge for the New Zealand economy is to develop and encourage the knowledge economy so that all New Zealanders are information literate, not just with the technology but with the information management and research skills so that they know where to find the information they need.
There should be more support for information and research investment for small firms - 98 per cent of businesses in New Zealand are SMEs but are the least able to afford investment in the information that will help them to be innovative and to export.
What do you do when you are not working?
Anything easily creative - gardening, cooking, entertaining, listening to music, theatre, reading good books, magazines, newspapers and Web sites. I'm a news junkie and a fan of literary and political bios.
What skills do you wish you had?
Analytical tools, financial skills. No, I rather wish I was better at getting up in the morning.
-Sue Cooper spoke to Susan Jennison of the New Zealand Herald.
