One of the skills I use to differentiate myself for my fellow Corporate Drones is the ability to retrieve relevant information, quickly, and from specialized sources (i.e. anywhere but Google). In other words: Searching. Everyone can search Google for movie times and the latest news about Google or the next generation iPad rumors.
So when my friend The Mercenary Philosopher said in conversation that my strength wasn’t in searching I bristled.
We were discussing a stable of interns we keep on hand for ad hoc research requests. Interns often give mixed results when it comes to research. Some are great. Some are terrible. But when he stated that the interns could find information just as well as I could, I started looking nonchalantly for the nearest object I could find to use as a shank.
I struggled to find anything immediately, which gave my friend the chance to explain. He went on to say that while librarians are adept at find information, their strength really lies in connecting the information together and to people who can best use it.
As I reflected on the idea for the rest of the evening, I came to realize there was some wisdom in The Mercenary Philosopher’s words, particularly for special librarians and even more so for embedded librarians. These two classes of information workers (anecdotally) tend to work with the same people on a regular basis. Knowing what information is relevant in the context the organization operates in as well as whom in the organization might be able to best use that information is incredibly powerful.
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