July 12: golf mysteries, historic naval ships, dog-friendly travel spots, and more.

PART II: STOP THE WORLD, I WANT TO CATCH UP

by Marylaine Block. URLs are listed at the end of the article.

A while back I asked you how you kept up with overwhelming, constant technological change. About twenty of you responded, which is to say, a highly unrepresentative and unscientific sampling. Nonetheless, I thought it was important to pass on what they had to say.

Several of them read quite broadly, not restricting themselves to librarians' publications. Steven Bell, director of the library at Philadelphia University, says, "librarians need to know much more than just mainstream librarianship to maintain their professional vitality. That's why I stress e-newsletters and other resources for peripheral information (web design, technology, higher edu, search engines, etc)." [You can see his "keeping up" web page at http://staff.philau.edu/bells/keepup.] Several of my respondents are on the technology side of librarianship, and spend a lot more of their time with sources like Slashdot, ZDNet, CNet, Wired, Metafilter, scripting.com, and Moreover.com.

It may seem that casting the net that broadly would increase your workload unbearably, but in fact these sites all filter the net, pointing to just a few choice web sites and articles. Besides, we have to read broadly because we have our own professional specializations and interests. That means that though many of us read the same core list of library blogs and e-zines -- Scout Report, Library News Daily, LisNews, Neat New Stuff, the Virtual Acquisition Shelf, Research Buzz, Current Cites, Search Day, etc. -- our bookmarks pages are still quite different.

Since I'm a writer, my daily reading list includes news about the publishing world from Media Bistro, Romanesko's Media News, and Online Journalism. Stephen Abram, vice-president of a publishing business [Micromedia, now part of Thomson], keeps up on learning trends and research by routinely reading Edupage, e-Learning NewsLine, Online Learning News, and related sources. Kate Creegan regularly checks a bunch of science services -- BBC Daily Science News, Science Daily, SciTech Daily, and others.

Virtually all my respondents mentioned listservs as an invaluable resource, not only because of the content of the discussions but because the lists introduce them to trusted experts they could ask about specific technology problems. The AIIP newsletter was mentioned more than once as an important tool for information pooling and mentoring.

For Steven Cohen of Library Stuff and Jenny Levine, the Shifted Librarian, e-mail newsletters and tailored news searches through NewsIndex and Moreover aren't fast enough -- they sign up for RSS feeds that ship updates from their favorite pages to their computers or handhelds every hour through services like Newscrawler, NewsIsFree and Syndic8. [If you don't know what RSS feeds are, check out Steven's tutorial on it at http://www.llrx.com/features/rssforlibrarians.htm].

Even now, most respondents are still using at least some traditional resources, like:

• Learning from knowledgeable colleagues -- Stephanie Chase says that when she was working at New York Public Library, she deliberately arranged to be on the committee for the library web site so she could learn from her colleagues and from webmaster Carrie Bickner. Steven Bell says, "Find out who is knowledgeable in your organization about hardware and software, and get to know that person."
• Learning by doing: Stephanie also said that she created her own website just to keep her HTML skills fresh, and that she updated her searching skills every time she taught a workshop.
• The usual suspects -- Library Journal, American Libraries, Information Today, Computers in Libraries, etc.
• Workshops sponsored by library systems and consortia.
• Publishers' brochures, newsletters, and sales reps.
• Conferences -- not just for the formal presentations but for the opportunity to see the new books and demos of new technologies, and talk to newly met colleagues about what they're doing.
• Coursework at local community colleges, when they need to pick up a particular skill quickly through intensive training.
• Just keeping their ears open for new things. Scott Bauer of LibLog says, "I didn't really see RIM Blackberry on any horizon until a bunch of people at a pub I visit suddenly started using them. Hmmm, I thought, what's this all about?"

  Is any or all of that still too much? Pure information overload? Then do what several of my respondents do: focus on what matters to and works in your specific environment. Stephanie Chase says that once she moved to Vermont, where most people who are online have slow dial-up connections, there's not much need to keep up with new developments in flash or streaming video. When Linda Fox, director of a school system in New York State, sees new ideas or technologies, she always asks "two basic questions: 1) How will this work in a real live school with real live teachers and limited technical support, and 2) how does this resource help students meet the New York State standards?" Donna Gardner, of Accessible Information Retrieval, says "I narrow my focus. My clients are engineers and scientists, so if I see a social sciencee or humanities thing, I don't look unless I'm personally interested."

  But whatever means you choose for keeping up, DO IT. As Steven Bell says, "Many folks tend to look at keeping up as an unpleasant chore, which is why they keep putting off their reading. I would hope they would instead regard it as one of the most valuable investments of their limited time, because it has the most potential for providing a large return on the time investment."

  It's not just that growth makes you better at your profession. It's that the opposite of growth is not staying in the same place. It's growing DOWN.

  Cited URLs:

• Slashdot http://slashdot.org/
• ZDNet http://www.zdnet.com/
• C/Net http://news.com/
• Wired http://wired.com/
• Metafilter http://metafilter.com/
• Scripting.com http://www.scripting.com/
• Moreover http://w.moreover.com/
• Scout Report http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/report/sr/current/
• Library News Daily http://www.lights.com/scott/
• LISNews http://www.lisnews.com/
• Neat New Stuff http://marylaine.com/neatnew.html
• Virtual Acquisition Shelf, from Gary Price http://resourceshelf.freepint.com/
• Research Buzz http://www.researchbuzz.com/
• Current Cites http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/CurrentCites/monthly.html
• Search Day http://www.searchenginewatch.com/searchday/
• MediaBistro http://www.mediabistro.com/
• Jim Romanesko's Media News http://www.poynter.org/medianews/
• Online Journalism World Overview http://www.ojr.org/ojc/topics/index.php
• Edupage http://www.educause.edu/pub/edupage/edupage.html
• e-Learning News Line http://www.elearningmag.com/elearning/
• Online Learning E-News http://www.vnulearning.com/brochure.htm
• BBC Daily Science News http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/
• Science Daily http://sciencedaily.com/
• SciTech Daily Review http://www.scitechdaily.com/
• [AIIP] Association of Independent Information Professionals http://aiip.org/
• Library Stuff http://www.librarystuff.net/
• the Shifted Librarian http://www.theshiftedlibrarian.com/
• News Index http://www.newsindex.com/
• Newscrawler http://newscrawler.com/
• NewsIsFree http://newsisfree.com/
• Syndic8 http://syndic8.com/
• LibLog http://www.redwoodcity.org/library/news/liblog/
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  COOL QUOTE

  No one likes having their knowledge and skills and equipment depreciate, but in today's information world, that's life.

  Barbara Quint. Information Today, May, 1995

  * * * * *

  You are welcome to copy and distribute or e-mail any of my own articles for noncommercial purposes (but not those by my guest writers) as long as you retain this copyright statement:

  Ex Libris: an E-Zine for Librarians and Other Information Junkies.
  http://marylaine.com/exlibris/
  Copyright, Marylaine Block, 1999-2002.

  [Publishers may license the content for a reasonable fee.]