Bob writes “Platitudes are very nice, but does this mean our colleagues at the Johns Hopkins libraries can expect raises or just heartfelt hugs? See the
Thinking Out Loud column of 12-6-2004. William R. Brody, president of The Johns Hopkins University, has some nice things to say about librarians!.
Massive information overload is placing librarians in an ever more important role as human search engines. They are trained and gifted at ferreting out and vetting the key resource material when you need it. Today’s technology is spectacular — but it can’t always trump a skilled human.”
Thank God someone gets it.
Anyone can ferret out information, as librarians we are specially trained to vet that information. I think that is what most people miss when they encounter information overload, the need to separate the wheat from the chaff. Authority is a prime, if not the prime, requirement of useful information. As new technologies emerge the amount of information immediately available increases exponentially -a la Moore’s Law. To separate the useless or barely useful is the task of the librarian.
While we need not examine every tidbit of information and its source we must vet those sources we can truly call authoritative. We must help patrons- be they public library patrons; students in an academic library, or professionals in a special library- find the information on which they can rely. We must assist them in separating the authoritative sources from the dubious. While we can all agree that The Encyclopedia Britannica is authoritative; yet how many times have we seen articles from The Onion website passed off as legitimate news.
It is our job to reduce the signal to noise ratio of information presented to our patrons so that they are presented with reliable, authoritative information on which they can base their decisions, complete their assignments, or make decisions in their profession. We have the skills; knowledge and ability to perform this vital service yet we are seldom acknowledged by those we serve. Thank you Dr. Brody for realizing the services we perform and their value.