Last time I talked about Dan Messer’s great post on Dealing with Information Overload. To recap, Dan says don’t try and don’t stress about not trying because it’s very likely that even if you “miss” something, you’re not really going to miss it or you’re going to find out about it in another way. I talked about how in my past life (and sometimes currently) I’d provide advice on how leadership could make staying on top of their subject matters more manageable.
Now I’m going to talk about why that doesn’t work for the embedded librarian.
I’ll admit to a little obsessiveness when it comes to checking my feed reader. Some people obsessively check their email and texts. For me it’s Google Reader. I look at everything. The more the better. I don’t necessarily read it, but I want to review it. I want to be Lucius Fox standing in front of a huge interactive display monitoring everything like in The Dark Knight.
I make my trade as an information broker. I’m paid to obsess over catching snippets of competitive intelligence that helps my masters obtain a business advantage. Because in business and war, having key intelligence before the competition is critical for success. Even the smallest bit of arcanum helps clients out.
In the business world, I think one of the most influential roles a librarian, especially an embedded librarian, can play is that of curator/filter. The beauty is, as search experts, embedded librarians know how to aggregate and filter the information much, much faster than the average mortal.
This is where my last piece of advice to leadership holds for all my clients: “rely on your librarian.” Yes it’s self-serving and mercenary. That’s the point.
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