November 2005 Archives

I would guess that companies providing full-text search services grow weary of librarians constantly asking for topical indexes. Not the kind that are computer generated, simply listing keywords found in the text, but rather indexes with REAL index terms, that are assigned by REAL people. And not just any people, but experts that know a subject inside and out, and use that knowledge to organize information in a way that adds context and connections.

The need for the human touch hasn't gone away with the advent of Google. And you don't have to tell that to the people behind LawyerLinks, a new, subscription web site for corporate lawyers and researchers. LawyerLinks reminds me of a looseleaf service, and easy to use looseleaf service, that is. They've created browseable topical pages that gather together a variety of primary source materials from the web, including laws and regulations, cases, new developments and other related materials. They're so confident that organization by topic is what's needed in the real world, there's actually no search engine. Yep, you heard me right, there's no search engine.

Now I'm all for indexes and topical treatments, but full text search has it's place, too. In a web site such as this, a full text search engine for a specific case or term might get the user to the topic they need. After all, there are over 1,000 topic pages, and that's likely to expand. I guess I'm not the only one of that opinion, as after quite a bit of feedback, the LawyerLinks people are considering adding one.

Sites such as LawyerLinks and Smartrules are particularly interesting because they're indicative of a trend towards niche sites that are useful because of the way they aggregate and organize the information. The data is already out there. These services make it accessible.

For more information see:

DennisKennedy.com - LawyerLinks - A Legal Research Tool That's Simple in the Best Sense of the Word

Robert Ambrogi's Lawsites - Radical or retro? New corporate law research tool is a bit of both

If you multi-task your way through the day, when evening comes you may find it difficult to figure out what you actually accomplished. Multi-tasking, a skill frequently requested by prospective employers, is the enemy to personal productivity according to Paul Chin in his article "Unplugged: Information Overload Requires a Human Solution."

Chin states that "Technology alone won't solve all your personal productivity and information overload problems - it can only ease them." He also says that "Time management and personal productivity is a behavioral process; no software can teach you this." We need to take control of our behavior, our "internal causes" of personal unproductivity such as:

• Obsessive need to be "plugged in" such as constantly checking e-mail or calling the office
  
• Poor attention span and lack of focus
  
• Rampant multitasking and the inability to prioritize tasks
  

Of course, one of the reasons that librarians are proud of their multi-tasking abilities is because interruptions are impossible to avoid in this line of work, and responsiveness is most definitely highly valued. This puts us at high risk for information overload. But if you're proud of the fact that you respond to all emails within 30 seconds of receiving them, regardless of importance, you may need a 10-step plan to get you to prioritize and take control of your work.

I'm trying to do my part. Until Outlook can tell the difference between spam and an urgent message from my boss I'm keeping the darn preview/alert feature turned off. I'm not ready to turn off the vibrate feature on my Blackberry yet, though I'm trying hard to learn to ignore it. We've all got to take these things one day at a time.

Let's face it, our jobs involve more training than ever before, even if it's one on one more often than in a classroom setting. But many of us haven't ever been trained to train. How many of us might, if only occassionally and inadvertently, violate such rules as:

• Don't read the screen to your trainees....they can read for themselves.
• Have multiple copies and versions of your presentation as your Plan B.
• Or my personal favorite, DO NOT TAKE THE KEYBOARD OR MOUSE AWAY FROM THE LEARNER!

These tips come from a presentation by Rob Coers and Michael Stephens, Twenty Technology Training Tips from Two Trainers.

I found the slide on body language, which suggested kneeling down when you explain something at the trainee's desk to be especially useful.

There's lot of good stuff here.

[Spotted on Librarians with Class]

Keyword RSS feeds are a powerful tool. For example, you can create an RSS feed in Yahoo News to be alerted to new articles with your search terms, as they're published. These feeds are comparable to news alerts that you can pay good money for out there in the for-fee world.

There are many news sites that offer keyword RSS feeds, but I didn't really know how many until I saw Kebberfegg, a tool created by Tara Calishain of ResearchBuzz.

To use Kebberfegg, just type in your search, select the kind of news you're looking for, and Kebberfegg will provide you with dozens of keyword feeds based on your terms. No need to visit each news site to find their RSS option; they're provided to you, quickly and easily.

This tool is a convenient way to create different keyword feeds, but it's also helpful to simply browse the lists to remind you of the many sources for current news.

[Spotted on Inter-Alia]