by Blane Dessy

Federal agencies are constantly looking to new models of how the business of government is conducted and making strides to improve techniques and practices at every level of service. To be future ready, Federal librarians will need to discover forthcoming agency efforts and package their services to serve the project mission. To stay in the forefront of emerging trends, they will need to merge information from various groups and identify information available from external sources.

To define this future, FEDLINK completed an environmental scan of the external factors that may influence the information field. The scan included a review of materials from a variety of organizations including the Special Libraries Association, OCLC, the Pew Internet and American Life Project, and Outsell, a noted research firm that focuses on issues relating to the information industry. FEDLINK also reviewed materials from the federal government on reforming information technology in the federal government, information on transparency in government and samples of resources making use of new technologies.

After a thorough analysis, the environmental scan identified seven major trends that define how Federal libraries can be future ready.

Trend number 1: Demonstrate returns on investment.
Libraries will need data on use and cost savings not just in financial terms, but also in terms of savings in staff efficiency. Librarians will need to use a variety of analytics to document costs and benefits.

Trend number 2: Establish mission critical programs.
Managers will more broadly define processes, standards and policies and explore a variety of options to insure viability.

Trend number 3: Integrate mobile devices, “apps” and dashboards into workflows.
Libraries will need to create tailored apps to access library resources and programs through mobile devices.

Trend number 4: Expand roles as analyst, educator and consultant.
Librarians will need to integrate evaluation tools with the newest software and devices and expand instruction in digital literacy and online searching techniques.

Trend number 5: Cultivate use of the Semantic Web, cloud computing and Web 3.0.
Library use of social collaboration and interactive responsibility will combine with Web 3.0 technologies to create a semantic Web that includes human intelligence combined with data management where content and technology are now one. With increasingly cloud-based sources and tools, librarians will serve as a bridge to share information and support projects that cross agency lines.

Trend number 6: Customize and personalize information to meet the needs of users.
With the proliferation of mobile technologies, the semantic web and other web searching technologies patrons will want information compiled so that it is immediately usable and tailored to meet a specific need.

Trend number 7: Collaborate via knowledge transfer and information sharing.
In tandem with the previous trends, libraries will need to discover forthcoming agency efforts and package their services to serve the project mission.

Librarians also will need to integrate evaluation tools with the newest software and devices and expand instruction in digital literacy and online searching techniques. We must help to make the connections required for knowledge transfer from one generation to the next.

To respond to these future directions, FEDLINK released new competencies for federal librarians and uses them as a centerpiece for developing FEDLINK’s education programming. Our outreach efforts now combine the use of online learning systems, continued efforts on mentoring and the recent creation of NewFeds, a new working group that supports the development and advancement of early career professionals with less than five years of federal service. NewFeds is also concerned with building a sense of community among new FEDLINK members, advocating for new professionals, promoting careers in federal libraries and developing partnerships with other FEDLINK working groups and library professional associations.

With an eye toward trends and professional development, libraries and librarians can make their rich and valuable content compatible with current learning and researching patterns. In doing so, we set the trends and guide our users into the information future. Federal librarians want to be future ready, but just as importantly, they want to shape the future environment for their work.

Blane K. Dessy is the Executive Director of the Federal Library and Information Center Committee and the Federal Library Network at the Library of Congress. Prior to this, he had been Director of Libraries at the United States Department of Justice and the first Executive Director of the National Library of Education. He came to the Federal Government after working as a State Librarian (Alabama), Deputy State Librarian (Ohio), library consultant (Oklahoma), and public library director (Pennsylvania). He is currently also an adjunct instructor in Management and Federal Libraries at the Catholic University of America School of Library and Information Science.

Mr. Dessy received his MLS degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1976 and subsequently attended advanced library management training at the School of Business Administration at Miami University (Ohio).

He is the recipient of two John Cotton Dana Awards for library public relations. While at the Department of Justice, he received the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award, the second highest honor in the Department of Justice.

The Division of Government Information is delighted to be posting on the Future Ready 365 blog this week. DGI is a diverse community of knowledgeable information professionals who share an interest in government information and government librarianship. Our posts this week come from librarians in a variety of government library environments including federal, military, and academic. These DGI blog contributors share their insights on navigating the complicated landscape that today’s information professional must travel — from getting that library job to staying on top in a rapidly changing field once you’re there. Maybe you’d like to join us on the journey! Come check out the Division of Government Information at:  http://govinfo.sla.org/.

The late Gilda Radner created a character for Saturday Night Live named Emily Litella who would speak out on various topics. Unfortunately, Miss Litella didn‘t hear things quite right so she was against the efforts to remove violins from television programs. She was corrected that the effort was to remove violence from television programs. As this new information would sink in she would realize that it was very different from what she had been thinking and she would end her spots with an apologetic, “Never mind.”

I wonder what Miss Litella would have thought of e-braries and e-books and e-journals and e-patrons and e-librarians and who knows what will be next.

It started with e-mail and as that caught on we all started living in an e-world. And to no one‘s surprise this didn‘t simplify our life in the least. We have to make distinctions between e-mail and postal mail (or the pejorative snail mail), and e-journals and print journals. Having been a cataloger I can appreciate the many challenges this created to the folks describing our collections.

From everything we read and experience we know that a lot of users will still prefer print resources, but more and more will want information made available in a variety of electronic formats ported to multiple devices. And we, being the service industry that we are, will strive to meet that need explaining to our budget folks that it doesn‘t mean it is cheaper nor that we will reduce the footprint of the library.

The January/February 2011 issue of Information Outlook was all about mobile applications. Coincidentally in my current job that has been the current push as well. The agency is rolling out mobile devices to about 1,000 research staff and we want to let them know what the Library can provide for them on their new tool.

As in other instances, this is not something the Library can do on its own. We need the help of our IT folks – the ones who control access to what is on the mobile devices – to open the gates for the Library content. We have to work with our vendors to find a good solution for subscriptions that will work in our total environment – desktop, physical collection, and mobile devices.

It is exciting when you find a partner for a project who understands the value of what we are trying to deliver to our end-users. Often we have to educate in many directions – and we have to learn. What devices is our agency buying? What information resources have mobile applications? What is the pricing structure for the access? What products will we make available?

The Oxford English Dictionary may have a mobile app, and it would be oh-so-cool to have it, but how many of us would actually push that out to our mobile end-users?

We need to keep up with the wave of e-information. The demand is there and if we don‘t do it, someone else will. Like all the other tools for information access this needs to be part of our expertise.

The same way we went from print to dial-up, to software and then to Internet – we need to help our end-users get their information on their mobile devices and keep up with what the next platform will be.

Once you find the IT and Communications folks who are managing the mobile devices work with them to develop the Library application – pointing to the Library resources that staff can access on a mobile device. Talk to your vendors to make sure you are licensed properly to give access to your users.

Review and refine your list. If you already have a page on your website listing online news resources you have a head start! Just as we had to rethink presentation and writing for the web – we have to be even more concise on a mobile device. A segmented list of resources on a website is easy to navigate – on a mobile device keep to the basics until users ask for more.

If you have been around the Internet since the early days then you‘ll remember those Under Construction pages that we used to put up and use. Those are long gone – everyone understands that the Internet is under continuous development and updating. It is the same with mobile devices. People will expect additional resources and upgraded applications. Let the vendors take care of upgrading the apps. But don‘t worry if you have a great news resource that you have finally been able to contract. Roll it out. If it is a significant resource, then roll it out right away. If you have a couple new resources in the works then roll them out together.

Two agencies I worked for had a lot of agents in the field who were then still using dial-up access for the Internet when they were on the road. For that reason we designed our pages with as little graphics as possible and did our best to avoid anything other than html.

This experience taught me something about our users. You need to take care of your biggest user group. By minimizing graphics we didn‘t hurt our onsite users with a fast connection. Our efforts helped them too. Government librarians are looking at a finite set of end users with mobile devices. Yes, they seem to breed like rabbits, but they are still expensive enough that not everyone in your organization will have one. So you don‘t want to license solely for the mobile devices. Even the mobile users will want to read the Wall Street Journal on their desktop or even in print. (Print? Remember that?)

To be good librarians we need to see what our patrons are doing and listen to their questions. We don‘t need to pounce on everything – but we need to be aware of trends so we can be ready to ride the wave and not get caught by the undertow.

So – there isn‘t an E in Library, but there is an E in Libraries and end-users and mobile devices. And there are two Es in people and those are the folks we are here to serve as librarians.

David has over 25 years of library experience having worked for federal banking agencies and other libraries. He earned his MLS from the University of Maryland in 2000 and has been a member of SLA since 1998. He has been active with the DC Chapter of SLA and the Government Information Division. He has worked in all aspects of librarianship – Reference, Cataloging, Web, Acquisitions and Electronic Resources. David started his blog – Library Buzz in 2004. He has written for the GovInfoPro Best Practices for Government Libraries and has been published in the One-Person Library Newsletter. In addition to working as a librarian, David plays trombone with DC’s Different Drummers.

Military Libraries come in all shapes and sizes. We’re academic libraries, supporting Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral degrees. We’re public libraries, complete with children’s story hours and retiree’s financial resources. We’re also other types of special libraries: medical; history; science, technology & engineering; intelligence; and headquarters support. The Military Libraries Division brings together members from all U.S. military services, Canadian Combined Armed Forces, international military services, contractors, vendors, academic institutions and anyone with an interest in military librarianship. Check us out at http://military.sla.org/. – Gloria Miller is a Librarian at the Headquarters, U.S. Army Materiel Command, Redstone Arsenal (Huntsville), Alabama. She is currently the Chair-Elect of the Military Libraries Division.

DOD Academic Librarians anticipate a future that looks like this:

• The shift from print resources to electronic resources to increase dramatically. The reference collection will disappear, along with the journal stacks.
• Library space will open up for group collaboration, non-traditional classroom spaces, and labs.
• Libraries will be seen less as “place” and more as “resource” and “service.”
• Our staff will communicate electronically more than we do face to face.
• Blended and distance learning will be a driving force in this shift.
• Our users will demand mobility — 24/7 access to content and services from anywhere, anytime on any device.
• The growing number of mobile devices will also impact the way patrons access our collections. Our jobs as librarians will be to not only bridge the electronic resources to the patrons but also educate them on use and functionality.
• We must be mobile savvy. With the influx of mobile phone technology in smart phones, tablets, and e-readers, librarians will need to be able to assist customers who want to use these devices to facilitate their learning and curriculum goals.
• We will adapt to the “consumerization of IT.” Our staff and our customers will take for granted the integration of products used at home with products used at work. The lines between traditional library services and traditional IT services will become increasingly fuzzy.
• Libraries, and by extension IT departments, are going to have to start integrating new policies and procedures to guide workers’ use of these devices. This is a significant challenge for Department of Defense Libraries, given security and Information Assurance requirements. We must find a way to ensure that new technologies, delivery systems, and information “containers” are compatible with security regulations.
• We will continue to digitize – to make available our unique resources beyond the confines of DOD libraries – historical documents from World War II, the Vietnam War, Desert I and Desert II, for example.
• Our academic libraries will continue to be more closely aligned with the teaching process. We will be more involved in course design and development.

Many thanks to: Ed Burgess, Army Command and General Staff College; Dave Coleman, Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies; Jason Girard, Joint Forces Staff College; Dr. Jeff Luzius, Air University; and Eleanor Uhlinger, Naval Postgraduate School for their help with this post!

Dr. Gail Nicula (Virginia Chapter, Military Libraries Division) is the library director at the Ike Skelton Library, Joint Forces Staff College, Norfolk, VA. She is also an adjunct faculty member in the College of Business and Public Administration, Old Dominion University.

Ed Burgess (Heart of America Chapter, Government Information and Military Libraries Division) is the director of the Combined Arms Research Library in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He is practicing to become a windy curmudgeon in his old age.

Dave Coleman is the webpage manager and reference librarian for the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies, Honolulu, Hawaii.

Jason Girard is on staff at the Ike Skelton Library, Joint Forces Staff College, Norfolk, VA.

Dr. Jeff Luzius is the director of the Fairchild Research Information Center at Air University. Dr. Luzius also is an adjunct professor at the University of Alabama in the School of Library & Information Science.

Eleanor Uhlinger is the Library Director at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA.

by Risa Sacks

“Future ready” for me has always been about discovering, learning and using the best tools for finding information wherever it lives, and connecting to the ‘information holders.’

Primary Research

I specialize in “Primary Research” – finding answers that don’t already appear online. My job ranges from interviewing experts to learn the information in their heads, to digging in archives for some obscure piece of paper. While the initial search is to find what answers are available online, the next level of online search focuses on new ‘sources’ for information and how to reach them.

Some examples of being ‘future ready’ over the past few years include finding information in the many new places it lives, using new tools to reach out to the experts identified, and communicating with them in the manner they most prefer.

Finding information where it lives

We all know that long gone are the days where all we had to consider were printed materials. To identify people who might fill in the blanks, expand information found online, clarify, add levels of richness and nuance, I now need to search the blogosphere, tweets, video and audio feeds, power point presentations, discussion boards and specialty groups to name a few of the places information now ‘lives.’ An Addictomatic search (www.Addictomatic.com) brings information from Twitter, Bing News, Google Blog Search, Truveo Video Search, YouTube, Flickr, Blinkx Mainstream Vid News; Wikio, Twingly Blog Search, Yahoo Web Search, Friendfeed and Ask.com News…you get the idea.

Posting a request on specialty groups within LinkedIn, Google, etc., and discussion lists in SLA, BusLib, Association of Independent Information Professionals (aiip.org) brings help and recommendations from targeted convocations of experts – whether it’s green tech or durable medical equipment sales. And all in very real time.

Seeing a YouTube video of a Chief Medical Officer helps me evaluate that he comes across as believable, caring, conscientious and competent – just what I’d want in recommending an expert witness. Providing the video link to the law firm clients also helps their selection process.

A LinkedIn search can find me telecommunications experts from Nepal to Namibia, or coal mining maintenance personnel within 25 miles of the zip code of a specific mine in Montana.

Reaching out to experts and sources

Once I’ve identified possible experts, new tools help reach out to them. Anything that provides a point of connection, as opposed to a completely cold contact, is useful.

Though I have a number of issues with LinkedIn and it’s far from perfect, I’ll use it for several examples. Recently posting requests to LinkedIn Groups for Durable Medical Equipment and Hospital Infection Control not only identified experts, but also provided entrees – “tell him I sent you”, “I’ve been in the field for 20 years – drop me a note if I can help” and “feel free to give me a call.”

With LinkedIn, if I link to 10 people and each of them has 50 connections, I have second level connections to 500 people, and if each of those have 50 connections, all of a sudden, my universe of third level connections is 25,000 strong. I can contact them using ‘inMail’ or just mentioning that we are LinkedIn connections seems to provide a level of legitimacy to my request.

Communicating

For ongoing and in-depth communications, we can Skype, text, video conference, and webX, as well as using the trusty traditional telephone. The world is totally mobile, so talking from airports or the beach is common. With my ‘smart device’ I can snap and send a picture or video of the shack that’s the supposed ‘branch office’ of the potential merger partner, or show clients close ups of documents that I find on a distant site. 

One World……Many stories…Future Ready

While I don’t know what the future will bring, I know it will include new tools to help identify relevant people, new ways to contact them and new methods for starting and continuing meaningful communication with them. 

In today’s world, information is constantly expanding – at the same time we are more connected than ever. A fruit seller in Tunisia can spark a revolution across a region. A doctor at the Mayo clinic may help diagnose a child in a remote African region. Every day we see increased evidence of the global interconnectedness of economies and lives. Including a variety of people and viewpoints is critical for us to provide more complete answers. So as information professionals, ‘future ready’ will help us continue to increase our ‘range’ and ‘grasp’ as we keep on reaching out.

Risa Sacks is a freelance researcher who provides primary research services to companies, research departments and other researchers. She can be reached at risa@risasacks.com, or, of course, by phone at 508 852-8686.

by Kristin McNally

Growing up on The Jetsons, I thought the future would include a house in the sky, travel by flying car, and fulfillment of every need at the push of a button.

While I don’t have Rosie the robot to keep my home in pristine condition and my car’s rubber tires are still firmly planted to the ground, Hanna-Barbera was heading in the right direction with the theme of micro technology. My wall is adorn with hanging flat televisions, my phone is a miniature computer with applications like video chat, navigation and even a way to see which local gas station has the best price.

I may not have my every need at the push of a button, but I can find the answer to almost any question in a matter of seconds. Knowledge is easier than ever to disseminate, access and share, which means the information industry is rapidly evolving to keep up with the progression of technology. Are we still relevant? Useful? Needed? With the right tools, the answer is yes.

I am so proud to work for a company focused on innovation. Every day I learn more about how Swets is paving the way for libraries to fit in the future. With less than a year of experience in the industry, I have found myself amazed with the complexities involved in running a library. I always the thought the books just appeared on the doorstep, a sticker was slapped inside, and someone shoved it where it was alphabetically appropriate. Needless to say, I have been proven wrong.

Swets has designed our platform, SwetsWise, in such a sophisticated manner that it is easily accessible and fully functional through a smart phone browser.

eBooks in SwetsWise has recently integrated a Google Books Preview, providing users with added values like reviews, ratings and suggestions for related content along with basic information including a cover shot and in most cases the table of contents, literary introduction, and publishing details.

We also have a cutting edge search product boasting the latest technology in federated search. This second-generation development introduces speed to amazing quality, offering clustered, relevance-ranked results to appear in seconds. Its affordability compared to Discovery is even more appealing. There will always be value in the technical and organizational support of information and information users.

Swets has carefully developed the tools you need to excel despite the many hurdles you currently face. Our customers have helped immensely in turning this dream into reality. We have made it easier than ever to hear your needs by implementing User Voice in SwetsWise. This enormous worldwide suggestion box allows customers to offer suggestions for improvement and continued development. Plus, you can vote on your favorite or most agreeable recommendations to help us to rank your requests.

Bubble car or not, the future is here. Providers, publishers and information professionals need to join forces to effectively develop, evolve and survive. At Swets, we are leading the effort to help you compete in a technology driven market with expectations of mobile access and immediacy. We hope you’ll join us for the ride.

Kristin McNally is the Communications Specialist at Swets. As the world’s leading Information Service provider, Swets powers the work of thousands of academic, corporate, medical and government organizations, simplifying the way you acquire, access and manage your resources. To learn more, visit www.swets.com.

by Debi Beall, Oregon Chapter, Competitive Intelligence Division

Future Ready for a corporate library means being relevant to your company’s changing needs by staying nimble and looking for new ways to support the company’s goals and strategies. The Intel Library has always been focused on the needs of the company, but a couple of years ago, we tried a new, more proactive approach. As a result, we have undergone a transformation that has empowered our staff and increased visibility throughout the company.

The Intel Library has been publishing the Executive News Summary on a daily basis for the past 10 years. This publication was created at the request of Craig Barrett as a way to stay informed without having to scan endless news clippings. Two years ago, we decided to expand our publications with more in-depth industry newsletters, called Monitors. These weekly Monitors are specifically focused on Intel’s Global Strategy and key market segments and include an analysis of the news that week. The Monitors are a deeper dive into the areas of key importance to the success of the company. They have been wildly successful (we now publish 11 Monitors) and have resulted in several changes:

1. Fewer requests are coming into the library since the information people need is already being selected and distributed.
2. Each staff member has developed a deep understanding of the topic of their Monitor, becoming the experts that others turn to for insight.
3. Different business units throughout the company have linked the Intel Library Monitor that most applies to their business to their business unit web site.
4. The Intel Library is now more than an information repository. It is a place to gain critical insights into each of the Monitor markets.

Now that the Monitors have been institutionalized, we are looking to the future again. Next on our plate is improving access for mobile devices and a step into visual analytics. We have developed a rich data repository that is ready to be mined for insights. Visual analytics will take us to the next step, offering added value to Intel and contributing to the success of the company.

Debi Beall began her career as a Systems Engineer for IBM, then switched careers becoming a librarian with the Phoenix Public Library. Debi joined Motorola in 1992 as a Research Specialist, where she ultimately transitioned to a position as a Competitive Intelligence Analyst. She most recently joined Intel as a Research Analyst for the Intel Library in October 2008.

by Aaron Tay

“Always in motion, the future is” — Yoda, Jedi Master

QR codes are 2D barcodes that can be scanned by phones to provide a link between the digital and the physical world. A typical example would be to scan a QR code with your smartphone and be brought immediately to a relevant instructional video. With mobile becoming increasingly common and the possibility of QR code adoption going mainstream, any future ready library or librarian should be prepared to adopt this technology to serve their community.

As such, recently a co-worker asked me whether we should consider going into QR codes given that there is intense interest about QR codes in the library community (I summarized some ideas here). More importantly a recent Mobio report suggests QR codes usage has increased by 1200 percent suggesting that possibly a tipping point is approaching for usage. With powerful companies like Google seemingly throwing their support behind QR codes , it seems to be a good time for libraries to explore them.

How then do we take the following recent piece of news? That Google is ending support for QR codes in Google Places? Does this spell the end for QR codes?

With Google adding NFC (near field communications) to their Android phones and persistent rumors that Apple is doing so for their line of iPhones (but not iPhone 5 it seems), it seems that QR codes could be a short lived piece of technology that is destined to be replaced by the far more efficient and capable built-in NFC scanners built-into future smartphones. Not everyone agrees of course since the number of phones supporting QR codes will always exceed NFC equipped phones in the near term.

So should libraries go ahead and spend time and effort trying to promote QR codes? Or should we adopt a wait and see attitude? In general, dilemmas of this nature aren’t new and are constantly faced by libraries that are “future aware” and aim to be future ready.

One example: Consider the situation a year ago, where it was clear that Facebook would eventually weigh in with location based check-ins which they eventually did with Facebook Places. Being aware of this, libraries were faced with the dilemma, should we support FourSquare knowing that Facebook Places is just around the corner and may perhaps crush the opposition? Or even further back MySpace versus Facebook.

by Aaron Tay

I don’t have any pat answers, whether a library chooses to support cutting edge technologies is a function of their risk appetite, available resources, strategic focus etc.

I would add, however, while the exact implementation of technology may change, the trend itself is often pretty clear. While QR codes may or may not catch on, no one doubts the fundamental idea of creating a quick link between physical objects out in the real word and digital objects will pay off. Similarly, FourSquare may or may not survive (though NYPL seems to be doing great on it) but the idea of adding location based data is definitely sound.

No one can reliably predict the future, but that’s the price of being future ready: you make your bets and see how it turns out. Maybe you might decide to hold off on QR codes, or maybe you might decide to try since it requires no investment of money. Whatever you do keep thinking of how the future might be which will have you well posed to take advantage of any sudden shifts in environment.

Aaron Tay works as an academic librarian at the National University of Singapore. He was named a Library Journal Mover & Shaker for 2011. He blogs at http://musingsaboutlibrarianship.blogspot.com/.

by John LeMasney
Information professionals need to be aware of and leverage mobile networks because they need to stay connected more of the time now to be truly effective. This is mostly because many other information professionals are already thoroughly connected which raises the bar as to how connected you have to be. In particular, mobile devices, networks and services should be explored and adopted so that the information professional can make use of the information being exchanged by others. Geolocation. transliteracy, convergence, and connectivity are key factors to determine if you are future ready.

Looking for more? You can see John LeMasney’s extended writeup and slides from his recent talk on the future of mobile computing to the SLA’s Princeton-Trenton chapter at http://bit.ly/lemasneymobile.

John LeMasney is a father, husband, technologist, consultant, artist, designer, writer, presenter, open source evangelist and open standards advocate. He works at Princeton University as the Manager of Educational Technology Training and Outreach. You can reach him at lemasney@gmail.com and follow his day to day work and screencasts at http://365sketches.org or see his recent projects and developments at http://john.lemasney.com.

by Valrie Davis, Florida & Caribbean Chapter, Food, Agriculture & Nutrition Division

Many of us understand that we have moved beyond Web 2.0 and into Web 3.0 – sometimes called the Semantic Web.  But what does it all mean, how can librarians become a part of the effort, and can we take it a step further and, ourselves, become Librarian 3.0?  The World Wide Web, as we know it, is adding a new underlying semantic layer that allows machines to find, share and communicate meaning. Librarians are long familiar with the connections between data – but not how these types of connections might change or become enhanced with machine readability. Librarians have no reason to fear for our jobs (or rather, there is no reason to fear for our jobs as we know it) as there is a role for us in the new world of semantically driven information. We too can shape development and assist in the building of common links between data, resources, and services.  Towards that end, here are 8 easy steps to becoming Semantic Web savvy:

1. Get portable: make yourself and your services mobile.
2. Get social: understand what social networking tools exist for managing and sharing information.  We are becoming increasingly familiar with tools such as Twitter and the Google Suite.  The list grows by the day! (FriendFeed, Collexis, VIVO, Mendeley, BibApp, Scientopia, etc.)
3. Focus on the individual: semantics help build and serve communities, while simultaneously better serving the individual. People join community networks when their individual needs are met.  Web 3.0 is about personalizing the information experience.
4. Provide dynamic content: understand how machines can help deliver content to you. Find the tools that assist you in locating the information your user requires.
5. Widgets and mash-ups:  Identify which widget tools would be the best to showcase on your website. Be your own widget by combining or showcasing your services in unlikely places.
6. Organization: get involved in the underlying organization of information through the development of ontologies and other Semantic Web standards (RDF, OWL, SPARQL, SKOS, etc.).  It’s no longer just for catalogers and programmers!
7. Contextualize your support:  How is location important? Are your users device driven? Subject driven?
8. Filtering: Web 3.0 filters out the stuff that doesn’t pertain to your context – a time honored role of librarians.  Not only are we utilizing the Semantic Web to categorize resources (journal article, book, person, datasets, etc.) but also relationships (author of, employed by, head of) between resources.  These semantic relationships help us filter through the information to identify what we need (i.e., all journal articles written by people employed by University of X).

Becoming Semantic Web savvy isn’t as difficult as you think, and it’s the beginnings of a new and interesting approach to structuring and discussing data.  There are lots of great conferences having these conversations – get involved in the discussion and bring that discussion to SLA!  Additionally, look around and see how much you and your colleagues are already involved in some aspect of Web 3.0. You will be surprised.

Valrie Davis is an Agricultural Sciences Librarian at the University of Florida and the UF Implementation Lead for VIVO, a semantic web application used as the foundation for a national network of researchers (http://vivoweb.org). She has been a member of SLA since 2005 and is the current Chair of the Food, Agriculture, Nutrition Division.

by Kate W. Flewelling

A colleague recently dubbed me the “nomadic, geriatric librarian.”  At 32, I am hardly geriatric, but I do provide information support to those who treat our hospital’s oldest patients, and I leave my office (and the library) as often as possible.  I am mobile, and busy clinicians and students need me to be where they are.

At my institution, an academic medical center, the “ACE Team” (Acute Care for the Elderly) meets once a day in a hospital conference room (geriatrics patients can be on any service–cardiology, neurology, medicine–making bedside rounds impractical).  ACE Team members include an attending physician, a post-residency fellow, a nurse practitioner or physician assistant, a pharmacist and residents/medical students on two week geriatrics rotations.   As cases are presented, I listen for clinical information needs.  Often, attendees will have additional literature search requests or a request for “one good article on….” or “clinical practice guidelines for….”  If I think a question can be answered in less than five minutes, I look it up on the spot on an iPad (I have also used an iPod Touch).  Other questions are taken back to the library for prompt response.

Schedule permitting, I have been attending rounds twice a week since October 2010.  In that short time, I have been accepted wholeheartedly into the ACE Team, including being invited to the division’s holiday potluck.  I send welcome emails to residents and medical students as they start their rotation.  The welcome emails contain a link to a reading list on RefShare that I created in consultation with the team.  I have received questions from all members of the team and have had in-office consultations with a number of them.

While I feel like I am providing a valuable service, I am constantly learning myself.  Going to rounds is like visiting another country whose language I can read but am not yet fluent.  I have a much richer understanding of the context in which clinicians work and am able to hear in real time their thought process.  I am a better librarian to all my health sciences professional patrons as a result.  I have also gained invaluable life lessons on what kind of “old age” I want for myself and family members.

Some advice for those who would like to start rounding:

• Ask for a meeting with the department chair to discuss how the library might better serve the department and mention rounding as an option.
• Before the meeting, do some reading on the specialty and current issues.  Attend the department’s grand rounds a few times.
• Become an expert on point-of-care databases, especially those with mobile versions.
• Be as mobile as you can with available technology.
• Be prepared to explain what you are doing there and the services you provide.
• Listen, listen, listen.

Kate W. Flewelling is Coordinator of Instruction at the  Upstate Medical University Health Sciences Library, Syracuse, NY.  Her email address is flewellk@upstate.edu.