INFORMATION OVERLOAD? TIME TO CALL IN A LIBRARIAN

Alastair G. Smith
Victoria University of Wellington

IT provides increasingly sophisticated retrieval tools for locating information on networks and databases. We can easily access information from our desktop, laptop, palmtop or Wap-enabled mobile phone.

However, the mass of available digital information increases daily - estimates of available web pages on the Internet top the billion mark, and the end result is that we have access to more information, when what we really want is to be able to access the right amount of high-quality information.

There's a profession which has been tackling this problem for centuries. This profession has built up a strong body of knowledge about acquiring, organising, making available, and preserving information. The knowledge and techniques that this profession has built up can be adapted to any format of information: print on paper, disk files, CD-Roms, or web pages. These people are, of course, librarians. In today's environment, their job titles may be information manager, knowledge manager, intranet content manager or cyber-librarian. But the body of knowledge that they apply is based on the training in the organisation of information that librarians receive.

In New Zealand, the basic professional qualification for librarians is the Master of Library and Information Studies, taught at Victoria University. What skills do MLIS graduates have that could help you to organise your organisation's information?

Firstly, MLIS graduates learn information seeking: They become familiar with many sources of information, ranging from encyclopedias and directories to sophisticated online databases, and they learn a range of techniques and strategies for searching for information - in reference books, online catalogues and Internet search engines. They also learn how to evaluate information when it's found, sifting the wheat from the chaff.

Secondly, they learn how to organise information in a way that lets users find it easily and consistently. Computers are good at enabling us to find keywords in large masses of text, but authors use a wide variety of words to describe the same concept, and use the same words to describe very different concepts.

Recently, United States President Bill Clinton launched FirstGov (FirstGov.gov) - a web service that provides access to US government information. The president said that this service would help Americans find information on topics such as student loans. In reality, a FirstGov search on "student loan applications" brings up information on banking regulations. Librarians tackle this kind of problem by using the sophisticated tools of classification systems, metadata, and thesauri. They learn to build these into database systems and websites in such a way that they gently guide users to the information they are seeking.

Thirdly, librarians learn the characteristics of the technologies that store information: paper, magnetic storage, CD-Roms, networks, HTML, and XML. The issue of preservation of electronic information will be of increasing importance to organisations as their records become increasingly based in digital media. Librarians are already considering these issues, so that they can choose appropriate formats to store information for access.

Graduates from the Victoria MLIS programme have built websites, developed databases, and learnt to analyse information with tools, such as spreadsheets, and apply the results to management problems.

They are expected to communicate ideas in print, in electronic formats, and in formal presentations. They have a thorough grounding in management, training and marketing, and have worked in teams on projects ranging from presentation development to website creation.

Their information-seeking skills enable them to gather competitive intelligence in order that their organisation can better understand their business environment. Because the Victoria MLIS programme is taught by open learning throughout New Zealand, students are accustomed to working in a virtual environment, communicating through the Internet and audio-conferences.

In the last century, information technologists were in demand in information-oriented organisations. This often created a scramble for the short supply of people who understood the new technologies. In the knowledge economy of the 21st century, technology will still be important, but will be pervasive, and the issue will be content: How to get the right amount of relevant quality information, without being swamped by information overload.

Organisations wanting to maximise their competitive advantage will need to incorporate people into their teams who are skilled in organising content and providing access to content. As often as not, the required skills will come with a library science graduate.

First published in The Dominion, Wellington, New Zealand, 21 October 2000 and reprinted with permission

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