SLA’s Future Ready 365 Blog

Are you ready to meet the future? Special Libraries Association members have been exploring this question on the Future Ready 365 blog, discussing potential and what it takes to make us as individuals, an association, and the profession as a whole ready for the future. SLA President Cindy Romaine explains that being “future ready” for members, the Association and the profession is supported by four pillars:

• Collaboration to accelerate the availability of useful information
• An adaptable skill set that anticipates and responds to the evolving marketplace
• Alignment with the language and values of the community you serve
• Building a community that connects stakeholders in mutually beneficial relationships

Daily posts on the Future Ready 365 blog have been covering a range of subjects including skills needed to meet future demands, change in attitudes, and how the profession and SLA need to adapt.

For the post on February 22nd, Romaine took the opportunity to interview Guy Kawasaki, high-profile entrepreneur, tech trend watcher and former chief evangelist for Apple who she met at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. I like this quote from Kawasaki:

There’s probably more knowledge than ever, and it’s more accessible than ever but the reinvented research librarian holds the key for using the Internet in the most effective manner. Many, but not all, people know how to use Google and Wikipedia, but Google and Wikipedia do not provide all of human knowledge. Some of that knowledge is locked away in private databases and some of that knowledge is difficult for a novice to find. That’s where research librarians still hold the key. They are the ultimate information curator no matter what hocus, pocus you hear about the “semantic web.”

We are invited to submit our thoughts either as comments to the blog posts or as posts. See details on submitting a blog post. I encourage you to consider submitting a post, even if you are not a member. Mine has gone in and will hopefully make an appearance soon.

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