Tuesday, July 29, 2008

What's the Deal With Adding Value?

The law librarians talked about it in Portland earlier this month. The specialty librarians talked about it in Seattle last month. The independent info pros talk about it regularly on their association discussion list. So what's the deal with adding value? Information professionals are coming to realize that the old rip and ship model of information delivery is no longer sufficient. Attaching a hodge podge of documents, PDFs, and URLs to an e-mail is not adding value.

In responding to a research request, it is incumbent upon the info pro to deliver answers, not just information. Delivering answers means taking time to create a document that summarizes findings and puts the desired information front and center. Doing this takes time, but it also brings to light our ability to separate the wheat from the chaff, summarize findings, draw conclusions, and provide insights.

Add value. It's good for your organization, your decision-makers, and your career.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Web 2.0 and the Info Pro

Web 2.0 encompasses interactive tools such as RSS feeds, social bookmarking, image sharing, blogs, and wikis. The debate is on about how info pros should/could be using these tools to improve information access and information delivery. To take a peak at the discussion, visit Library 2.0 on Ning.

For those interested in learning more, there are lots of opportunities, including the SLA initiative called 23Things, modeled after the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County's 23Things.

For anyone in San Diego CA on October 3, 2008 the local chapter of SLA is hosting an all day seminar entitled Web Services - Embracing the Web as the Library's Core Service Space. Watch the chapter blog for more information.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

The Learning Curve

In order to obtain hands on experience with some of the newer technology options (Web 2.0 tools) I'm taking advantage of a program offered by SLA, the association of specialty librarians. The program is called 23Things. It offers tutorials and guidance so that participants can practice what they learn. This blog is a product of this learning opportunity.

As of today I have finished 7 of the 23 Things including topics such as blogging and social bookmarking. I've still got a ways to go, but it helps to have a structured, step by step opportunity to progress.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Feel the Power

Today I posted a tweet on Twitter, watched an instructional video on YouTube, created this blog entry, delivered a short presentation to a colleague two times zones away using a virtual meeting tool, and saved and tagged several web sites using Del.icio.us. Oh yes, I also sent some e-mails and talked to a client on the telephone, which goes to show that the "old" technologies don't necessarily disappear. The new technologies expand the possibilities.

Taking the new techonologies for a test run doesn't necessarily mean they will become part of the daily routine. It does mean that at least we are familiar with the concept, the jargon, and the functionality. Staying current in your field is important to all professionals, info entrepreneurs included. Feel the power.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Del.icio.us

Del.icio.us is a social bookmarking site for storing URLs on the web. Advantages of doing this include easy accessibility from wherever you are (since it's a Web based tool) and tagging. In this case tagging means adding descriptions or terms to your bookmark entries so that you can later search and sort your bookmarks based on the term you have assigned.

Using Del.icio.us requires registration (easy enough) and the installation of two buttons on your Internet browser toolbar. Del.icio.us makes this easy with very clear instructions, however, in the process I found that the Firefox extensions currently available on the Del.icio.us Web site are not compatible with Firefox 3.0. I'm sure the extension creators will catch up, but in the meantime just use the drag and drop method to put the necessary buttons on your toolbar.

To find other interesting blogs, go to Del.icio.us and enter your the word blog plus subject word in the search box. Blog quilting yielded 337 hits!

Info Pros are on the move

Last month over 5,000 specialty librarians met in Seattle WA for their annual conference. This week the American Library Association is meeting in Anaheim CA, and week after next the American Association of Law Libraries will meet in Portland OR.

  • There are more public libraries (a total of 16,549) in the US than McDonald's.
  • Reference librarians in the nation's public and academic libraries answer more than 7.2 million questions weekly.
  • 85% of companies ranked in the to 100 of the Fortune 500 companies employ an information professional.