'Thinking Outside the Box' as an Information Professional

I was honored to speak at a recent SLA (Special Libraries Association) meeting called “Thinking Outside the Box: Exploring Alternate Careers.” I spoke about the importance of being a writer, curator, and teacher as you pursue your career as a librarian or information professional. I also told the audience that librarians add value to their work and develop career satisfaction by analyzing and helping patrons make context of the information they present, rather than just handing over that information. On a practical level, I've been fortunate to develop my career in a few directions. This is important for the obvious reason that careers and companies change constantly. 

I also recommend contributing to a professional or nonprofit association early in your career and throughout your career. The meeting co-sponsors, the SLA's New Jersey and New Jersey - Greater Princeton/Trenton Chapters, are good choices for info pros in the Garden State. 


The other four speakers on the panel (Margaret Bennett, Joan Keegan, Amy Silvers, and Joanna Wojciechowski) presented interesting and inspiring messages about how they developed and redeveloped their careers. Read more about the event in Barbara Burton's blog entry.

The meaning of value-added research, from some top info pros

The students in our Principles of Searching class are studying the effective presentation of search results this week, as they prepare their final term reports for their clients. So it was timely that one of my favorite info pros (Mary Ellen Bates, via her Librarian of Fortune blog) reminded me that we should strive to provide insight, not just information, and that Colorado is home to some of the best independent researchers around.

These include Bates Information Services, Phelps Research (Marcy Phelps) and the team from Access/Information (Wanda McDavid, Judy Goater and Marcy Dunning).

In addition to their own consulting services, all offer free newsletters with tips on effective searching and presentation skills. The April 2010 Access/Information newsletter provides "a great summary of what 'value added research' means," Bates writes. 

Here are links to the newsletters offered by these great Centennial State info pros:

• Access/Information Newsletter
• Bates InfoTip
• Bates Info-Entrepreneur Tip
• ResearchNOTES from Phelps Research