Librarian of Fortune

Google Squared

I just posted the August issue of my (more or less) monthly e-newsletter, Bates InfoTips. I cover Google Squared, one of the new additions to Google Labs. It's a demonstration of a search engine trying to provide answers instead of just sites, and at a higher level than the simple "smart answers" you see when you search for "time in Rome" or "area code 909". Rather, Google analyzes the retrieved pages, identifies common elements, and creates a table with the information it has compiled.

This is a fascinating tool that helps you compile facts into tables that Google builds on the fly. Hard to describe, easier to show. Go to Google.com/squared and type in a query that will retrieve a number of similar things -- organic farms in Colorado, for example, or women CEOs... [the rest is here]

SLA Alignment Project results

SLA has posted a PPT file full of the best hits from the Alignment Project research. Here is where you can see, based on primary research, what words work to describe the value special librarians and info pros provide to their organizations.

It has two slides with great tips on what messages work best:
KNOWLEDGE SHARING
GLOBAL NETWORKING
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
BOTTOM-LINE BENEFITS

Check out the slide show for more details.

The "informational interview"

I just wrote the latest issue of my now-monthly e-newsletter for info-entrepreneurs. I looked at the "informational interview":

I learn far more from conversations when I do most of the listening than I do when I'm the one talking. Some of the most important times to be listening include when you are starting your business, when you realize that you need or want to make a change in your client base, and when you decide you want to explore a new industry. You can't make sound decisions until you learn about your prospective clients, and the most effective way to learn is to listen. I call these conversations "informational interviews" -- you are interviewing the other person just to learn about what informational pain points they have and what needs you can address. This isn't necessarily a marketing conversation; you are simply taking in new information.

The the rest of this is at my Info-Entrepreneur Tip of the Month page.

Describe what you do in three words

In Colin Beveridge’s blog, Fighting the Trillion Dollar Bonfire, he posed an interesting question: Describe what you do in just three words.

You may think that question is both simplistic and challenging, but that duality is precisely what makes me think that it really is a very powerful question – incredibly valuable for the reflective insights and communicative skills that a properly considered answer will reveal.

I saw a mention of it in the LinkedIn group Online Information & IMS Exhibition and Conference, so I posed this challenge to my (primarily info pro) networks on Twitter and Facebook. I found some great answers, and I’m watching for more. Among the ones that info pros have offered are:

• Making clients smarter (my answer)
• Tenacious problem solver
• Strategic information solutions
• Better decisions faster
• Helping organizations thrive
• Fill knowledge gaps
• Discover, display, protect
• Find your solution
• Facilitate intelligence
• Informing client decisions.
• Enable knowledge flow
• Encourage knowledge sharing
• The user experience

[and more are coming in...]

• Helped make money
• Navigate government online
• Understanding your problems
• Powerful Performance Unplugged

How would you describe yourself in just three words?

New DJ white paper: Pay Now or Pay Later

Dow Jones has put out a new ebook titled Pay Now or Pay Later: Exposing the Hidden Cost of "Free" Information". It's an update on a series of white papers on free vs. fee (which I collaborated on) and it takes a new approach which greatly improves over the formula I used in the past.

Yes, you could say it's self-serving, but I also think it addresses the recurring issue of how info pros demonstrate their value within their organization. See SLA's Alignment Project for more on this.