Riding Shotgun Down the Avalanche: Strategies for Keeping Current

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Riding ShotgunDown the AvalancheStrategies
for Keeping Current

• Roy Tennant
• California Digital Library

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Outline

• Current Awareness Resources Tools
• Strategic Learning
• Your Personal Strategy
• Final Advice

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Professional Journals

• Good for
• Thorough descriptions of particular techniques
• Evaluative information on specific strategies and
  technologies
• Opinion
• Generally not good for
• Really current information
• Completely honest assessments
• Tips
• Some have email distribution lists for the TOC of
  new issues
• If locked out of an interesting article, email
  the author authors are increasingly depositing
  their work in repositories

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Professional Magazines

• Examples RLG DigiNews, Library Journal, Ariadne,
  ONLINE, Computers in Libraries
• Good for
• Opinion
• Information on current projects and technologies
• Not good for
• Peer-reviewed articles
• Tips
• Editorial tone varies widely, get to know which
  serves your needs best
• Most have some or all content available online,
  even for non-subscribers

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Current Awareness Newsletters

• Example Current Cites
• Good for
• Thumbnail summaries
• Keeping up with the literature
• Discovering articles you want to read (filtering
  service)
• Not Good for
• Book reviews
• Comprehensive coverage
• Tips
• Use to supplement what you watch yourself

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Mailing Lists Bulletin Boards

• Good for
• Quick answers
• Opinion sharing
• Discovering experts
• Not good for
• Learning a topic thoroughly
• Tips
• If volume is too high, get the digest version
• Many lists have archives that can be searched or
  browsed

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RSS Blogs

• Low-overhead way to keep up with individuals you
  respect (blogs), but not just blogs anymore
• Saved searches
• News syndication
• Good for
• Keeping up with people you respect
• Tidbits on new things
• Not good for
• Long explanations
• Tips
• Experiment with different methods of monitoring
  blogs until you find one that works for you
• Be selective about what you read

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Non-Library Magazines Journals

• Much of what impacts libraries appears in
  business and computer science publications first
  (e.g., RFID)
• Consider reading magazines like
• Business Week, Business 2.0, Fast Company,
  Communications of the ACM
• Good for
• Distant early warning about technologies and
  trends in business and society
• Not good for
• Library spin
• Tips
• Subscription cost is often quite low
• Buy a copy from the newstand to see if it speaks
  to you

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Conferences

• Good for
• Up-to-the-minute descriptions of projects
• Not good for
• Thorough explanations of technologies
• Tips
• Programming varies widely choose carefully and
  be prepared to bail for a different session
• Seek informal conversations with key colleagues
• Target programs like Top Tech Trends
• Ask questions!

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Courses or Workshops

• Example The School for Scanning
• Good for
• Thorough treatments of a topic or technology
• Not good for
• Those who cant set aside the time
• Tips
• Not all workshops are created equal ask someone
  who has attended it before what they thought

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Site Visits

• Example Visiting an institution to see and
  discuss their implementation of an RFID system
• Good for
• Getting practical, very current information on a
  specific implementation
• Not good for
• A general overview on a technology
• Tips
• Try to pick a peer institution that you have
  already established relations with

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Chat Rooms

• Good for
• Gauging the pulse of your colleagues
• Finding out what others are doing now
• Solving an immediate problem
• Not Good for
• Large chunks of information
• Tips
• There arent many, but they arent difficult to
  start consider starting one if you know people
  who may be interested
• Ask for tips from someone knowledgeable

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Personal Contacts

• If you find an interesting project, email the
  person responsible
• Most professionals are eager to share what
  theyre doing, but few publish, and even those
  who do will not appear in print for months or
  years
• Good for
• The lowdown
• Not good for
• Detailed explanations (but they may point you to
  documentation)
• Tips
• Dont be afraid!

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Strategic Learning Surf Skim

• Learn to surf hit a web site and quickly assess
  what it offers
• and skim get the gist of what youre reading
• Thats often all you need
• And if it isnt, youll know where you need to
  spend more time

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Strategic Learning SIFT

• Change is the only constant,therefore
• Scan (surf and skim)
• Investigate
• Filter
• Target
• Develop strategic learning techniques

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Strategic Learning

• Learn only enough to get by
• never learn today what you can put off until
  tomorrow, AKA the law of conservation of energy
• Learn when you have a problem to solve
• just in time, NOT just in case if it isnt
  going to save your butt you probably dont need
  it
• Find and use a good reference book or web site
• Find someone more experienced to show you only
  three important things
• Use what you learn, write it down, or kiss it
  goodbye

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Your Personal Strategy

• There are many ways to keep current
• This can and should change over time
• Try to find and hang out with those you respect
  and who are interested in what you are interested
  in
• You must determine what works for you (YMMV)
• Writing styles
• Venues
• Software (clients)
• Channels (delivery methods)

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Final Advice

• Learn as you breathe
• Use strategic learning
• Use professional filters
• Quiz trusted colleagues
• Learn by doing
• Take the necessary time
• Be responsible for your own learning