Librarian article: here it is

["RONALD M. SCHMIDT, HBZ-NW COLOGNE" <SCHMIDT _at__ hbz.hbz-nrw.de>]

Liebe INETBIBLER,

den folgenden Artikel fand ich in der angegebenen Liste. Vielleicht 
ist es anregende Lektuere.

Ronald Schmidt


 ------- Forwarded Message Follows -------

Date sent:      Sat, 3 Sep 1994 11:20:51 -0700
Send reply to:  Medical Libraries Discussion List <MEDLIB-L _at__ UBVM.CC.BUFFALO.EDU>
From:           Laurie Potter <lap _at__ SCS.UNR.EDU>
Subject:        Librarian article: here it is
To:             Multiple recipients of list MEDLIB-L
                <MEDLIB-L _at__ UBVM.CC.BUFFALO.EDU>

Dear Medlib:

Earlier this week I offered to send an interesting article about
librarians that appeared in the S.F. Examiner.  So far I have gotten 94
requests (even from Ireland, Italy...)!  So, I typed it (which I thought
would be quicker than addressing 94 envelopes) and I will upload it
below.  (I hope no-one minds that I am sending it to the whole list).
It is 9,228 bytes (1,452 words, about 4 pages).  --Laurie

Laurie A. Potter,MLS*Medical Reference Librarian*Savitt Medical Library/306
University of Nevada School of Medicine*Reno,NV 89557-0046*702-784-4489(fax)
702-784-4625(voice)     lap _at__ unr.edu             lap _at__ shadow.bitnet




INFORMATION BOOM A BOON FOR CORPORATE
LIBRARIANS
by Kathleen Sullivan of the Examiner Staff
San Francisco Examiner, Sunday, August 26, 1994
Business Section p. B-1, B-4

2 color photos on the first page:

"Cindy Hill, manager of information services at a Menlo Park firm,
says librarians now must do more that just find information." (photo
of Cindy Hill in her library)

"At Apple Computer in Cupertino, the library still looks like a
library." (photo of the library at Apple)


At a Silicon Valley telecommunications company, the position
carries the title "Internet Surfer."  It's probably the most frivolous
title given to someone with a master of library science degree, yet it
also reflects the profound changes taking place in the world of
corporate librarians.  Today, corporate librarians not only "surf" the
Internet, scanning the vast electronic network for experts and
expertise, they also create specialized corporate databases, teach
employees how to master on-line databases, evaluate new database
management software and even install a computer board or two.
Some observers have suggested that corporate librarians are an
endangered species in a world where employees can dial up
databases from the computer on their desks.  However, Paul Saffo,
a director at the Institute for the Future, a Menlo Park consulting
firm, said the proliferation of electronic databases represents a "full
employment act" for librarians, because their expertise is needed --
and will be for years -- to navigate the often confusing world of
databases.  "You see people coming to that realization all the time
in law firms," Saffo said.  "The lawyer who misses a key point in
authorities or precedent because he or she framed the research
request wrong quickly becomes a believer in professional research
people.  "Saffo said digital technologies have forever changed
libraries by ushering in an "age of hyperabundant information," a
time in which the information stored in computers has exceeded that
stored on library shelves.  In the past, when libraries were the main
place where books and documents were stored, a librarian's job was
to disseminate "scarce" information as widely as possible.  With the
proliferation of computers and databases, that has changed."
Librarians are shifting to a new role: providing filtering and sense-
making services," Saffo said.  "It's a more active role we don't have a
name for yet."  "Corporate librarians who don't want their jobs to
change will be miserable," he said.  Some on-line database
companies, such as Dialog Information Services Inc. in Palo Alto,
help librarians stay in top form -- electronically speaking -- by
providing free workshops.  Linda Bickham, manager of library
services at Systemix, a Palo Alto biotechnology firm, said electronic
tools allow librarians to shine in a company.  Projects that once took
days to research can now be accomplished in an afternoon using
databases.  "We can show our value very quickly in a business
situation," she said.  Yet it doesn't always occur to a company to
hire a librarian when someone is needed to manage information
resources, said Linda McKell, president of Advanced Information
Management, a 10-year-old Mountain View firm that specializes is
recruiting librarians.  McKell attributed the situation to the
stereotype of a librarian as someone who sits behind a desk waiting
for customers to ask questions, and then points them to the card
catalog to look up the answer themselves.  "If you've had a positive
experience with a corporate librarian, you know that they're not
there to point you in the right direction, but to save you time and
money by finding the answer," she said.  McKell said her firm has
placed more librarians in permanent jobs this year than any other
year.  She said the biotechnology field is booming for librarians, but
the requirements are stiff: a master's degree in library science and a
science background.  Law libraries are also hiring.  Computer
companies that were laying off librarians -- and even shutting down
libraries -- a few years ago, now seem to be reviving, she said.
McKell recently matched up Sumedha Shende, a 14-year library
veteran, with Scios Nova Inc., a Mountain View biopharmaceutical
company.  Scios Nova has long had libraries--it has one on each
coast--but this is the first time the company hired a professional to
manage them.  "We brought in a librarian to ensure that we have
the most up-to-date and well-organized flow of information, and to
make sure we are taking advantage of all the technologies that are
coming fast and furiously," said Kira Bacon, a Scios Nova
spokeswoman.  One of the latest additions to a librarian's electronic
toolbox is the Internet--a vast web of computer networks linking
universities, research centers and a growing number of individuals.
"The Internet is the cutting edge in information gathering today,"
said Christine Maxwell, president of Research on Demand Inc., a
Berkeley firm that does customized searches for clients.  "When you
go on the Internet, you have the ability to collect extremely up-to-
date intelligence on any topic," she said.  "The immediacy of the
Internet is totally terrific.  There are millions of people out there
with information.  "Yet corporate librarians emphasize that database
wizardry is only one skill in their repertoire.  "There is a lot of
information that has not been put into an electronic format and
never will be--particularly if it was accumulated before 1970," said
Cindy Hill, manager of information services at Failure Analysis
Associates Inc., a Menlo Park engineering firm.  "We're also seeing
that very current information is not going into database, because
commercial vendors don't see a market for it," Hill said.  She said
Failure Analysis librarians tackle the complex searches--tough
questions that employees haven't been able to answer, don't know
how to approach, or don't have time to investigate.  Hill investigated
the history of seat belts for one client who was writing a book on
automobiles.  She started off with an on-line database search, then
acquired many of the papers and reports that looked like promising
sources.  She called the authors to find out whether they had more
information that hadn't been published.  Hill found that the first
seat belt was used as early as 1885 on horse-drawn vehicles.  Hill
who has worked as a corporate librarian for 15 years, said one of
the biggest job changes in recent years is that librarians compile,
analyze and synthesize their findings and not just pull together the
materials and hand them over to requesters.  "It's not enough to be
able to find the information; librarians must be able to communicate
it," she said.  "We must also be able to interview people, to help
them formulate their thoughts on a request so we can interpret it
correctly and not miss pertinent points."  In the Bay Area, annual
salaries for librarians range from $35,000 for librarians fresh out of
graduate school, and can exceed $90,000 for those who supervise
large staffs, Hill said.  Changes are also evident in academic training
for librarians.  This year, UC-Berkeley took the word "library" out of
the name of its School of Library & Information Studies and
graduated its last class in May.  When the new master's program
begins admitting students in 1996, it will be known as the School of
Information Management and Systems, a name chosen to emphasize
its broadened focus.  Some companies have also stricken the word
"library" from their vocabulary.  However, the word is still in vogue
at Apple Computer Inc. in Cupertino.  "I love libraries and use the
word proudly," said Monica Ertel, who created Apple's library 13
years ago and now oversees it and other departments as manager of
technology operations.  The Apple library even looks like a library--
something Ertel said surprises many visitors.  It has a comfortable
reading area with a picture window overlooking Mt. Hamilton,
stacks filled with books and magazines, a lab with equipment like
color scanners, and lots of computers.  "A library serves a real
valuable function as a place where people can get away from the
phones and the craziness and sit in peace and quiet," Ertel said.
Ertel, a corporate librarian for 18 years, said the work is challenging
and interesting--patent searches, hairy market research questions,
investigations on consumer spending patterns on electronics, queries
about emerging technologies.  "It's also fun to answer the occasional
"bizarre" questions that are posed.  "Once someone in the graphics
group wanted to know how they painted the horse of many colors in
the Wizard of Oz," Ertel said.  "We found out they did it with
powdered Jello.  "Ertel said the career is piquing interesting in
surprising quarters.  "Recently, someone who used to work as a
software engineer at Apple said he was considering librarianship as
a new career," she said.  "I thought, 'Wow.'  Things are really
changing if I'm getting a call from a computer scientist who's
thinking of becoming a librarian."

Dr. Ronald Schmidt               Tel. +49 221 40075-32
                                 EMail Schmidt _at__ HBZ-NRW.De
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