By K. A. Laity
Go ahead, laugh. But think about it; what is the most crucial commodity in the world today? Information. Even if you're not quizzing Number Six, you are still bound to be wading through tons of information every day even if you don't wear a cable modem as an IV like I do. Estimates vary, but one study has suggested that by next year "the amount of digital information in the world will double every 11 hours."
Even if the real numbers don't end up that high (although it certainly feels well within reason), most folks will admit that we're swimming our way inexpertly through a barrage of information with insufficient help. When you consider the annual output of a just single bon vivant with a blog, a Facebook page, a couple of Twitter accounts and a web page to be prodigious when toted up at the end of the year, try imagining all the billions of internet users creating similar content of wildly divergent qualities.
It ain't all good stuff and it's often seems easier to stumble across the cretinous because everyone's passing it along the usual social media networks.
What do you do to find the stuff you need?
Google just isn't cutting it even for casual seekers. While the development of the Infovell research engine should help us begin to paw through the 98% of the web that Google just doesn't see, that's not enough either.
We need people who know how to organize, manage and seek out information. We need librarians—and in larger numbers than ever before.
If your picture of a librarian is still a Hayes-era Hollywood one of tight-collared Puritans with a ready "shush!" then you need to get with the 21. Library Science is all about Information Studies now. Librarians don't just help you find books on the shelves; they have to seek out information in a variety of formats both traditional and electronic.
They also help build the structures of information management. The modern library—even your local—isn't just a place for books and magazines and free internet. It's a gateway to the world. Librarians find the information of today and plan for the information we'll need tomorrow.
If you ask faculty on any campus about the biggest headaches they face, among them will be students' inability to do research. The same problem exists in public libraries for real folks, but no one's quite as vocal about that failing. There are myriad sources of information out there, but most people haven't the training to know how or where to find it. And not enough is being done to teach folks how to do more than visit databases and look up key terms.
While academic libraries will always require a steady supply of information management specialists, the real boom according to the American Bureau of Labor Statistics will be outside the traditional settings. As they note:
"More and more, librarians apply their information management and research skills to arenas outside of libraries—for example, database development, reference tool development, information systems, publishing, Internet coordination, marketing, Web content management and design, and training of database users.
"Entrepreneurial librarians sometimes start their own consulting practices, acting as freelance librarians or information brokers and providing services to other libraries, businesses, or government agencies."
The hunger for information—and for information management—has become bottomless. Colleges, corporations and individuals all struggle to locate and disseminate the information they need against an increasing tide of competing stuff.
Help us, librarians; you're our only hope.
Image from Party Girl via That Lightning Bolt Was Mine