Page 72 - DLIS006_INFORMATION SOURCES AND SERVICES

Unit 4: Information Services and Products

4.4 Information Officer Notes

Information officers are concerned with managing information in order to make it easily
accessible. Work activities vary, depending on the needs of the organisation or client, but
typically include:
selecting, managing and acquiring resources (both hard copy and electronic) to meet an
organisation’s current and anticipated needs;
classifying, collating and storing information, usually using special computer applications,
for easy access and retrieval;
creating and searching databases;
cataloguing and indexing materials;
scanning and abstracting materials;

conducting information audits;
developing and managing electronic resources using, for example, online databases and
content management systems;

writing and editing reports, publications and website content;
developing and managing internal information resources and networks via intranet sites;
designing for the web;

overseeing the development of new information systems;
responding to enquirers’ requests using electronic and printed resources;
running effective enquiry and current awareness or ‘alerting’ services and developing
communications strategies;

providing user education via leaflets, websites and tours of the library/information room;
publicising and marketing services, internally and externally, through publicity material,
demonstrations, presentations and/or social media;

providing training and advice to colleagues and sometimes clients on the use of electronic
information services;

managing a range of projects;
developing and exploiting multimedia information;
giving presentations and individual consultations.

4.5 Information Officer versus Librarian

As libraries become increasingly based on digital storage and access technologies, knowledge
management approaches seem particularly useful. Most knowledge management systems
emphasize the role of information and communications technologies, and the question arises
about the role of librarians in these systems. If globally digital libraries are to realize their
potential for providing access to the widest feasible range of knowledge, librarians and
information officers need to fulfil a challenging and critical role as boundary spanners across
cultures. This is based on evidence that knowledge is culturally derived, acquired, and applied,
and that learning — the acquisition of new knowledge — is enabled by skills that are culturally
dependent. This aspect of knowledge suggests that the tacit dimension of knowledge and learning

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