Constructing strategies for
locating information
The Third Pillar
Roger Mills
This module
• Searching strategies covered in next
session
• This is about institutional policies
• How is information acquired, stored,
disseminated
• How are different information types
integrated
1
STRATEGIES
Typically in the old days
• Printed, published information would be
acquired by the library, by purchase or
donation
• Library would maintain journal
subscriptions
• And possibly abstracting/indexing services
• Researchers would go to the library
• Sometimes information scientists would be
employed to review literature and write
reports
• These reports might be confidential to the
individual/group for whom they were
prepared, and stored by them
• Institution’s intellectual output not stored in
library unless published
• Large organisations might maintain central
registry
• Small organisations might depend on
efficiency of one secretary – info lost when
they move
• Correspondence done by typing pool
centrally filed
When PCs came along
• Typing pools disappeared – and so did
central filing
• Researchers handled own
correspondence and own reports, often on
own hard disk
• Central backups provided but no indexing
• Backups not archived – lost when
researcher leaves
Software
• Some provided institution-wide (Windows,
Office)
• Specialist software provided for or
developed by individual researchers,
commonly for image manipulation/GIS
• Files stay on individual hard disks and can
be read by few in institution. Central
registry lost.
Importance of institutional memory
• Now quite widely recognised, but often not
much action to preserve it
• First essential: institutional audit: who
does what, who has what, who knows
what
• Then (re)define institutional mission: what
activities/documentation/knowledge is
essential for survival
• Then devise strategies to preserve them
• Activities: clear management structure,
transparent roles, understanding of human
resource requirements
• Documentation: detailed IT policies [to
make it possible], clear responsibilities
(documentalist/librarian/information
officer/knowledge manager) to make it
happen
• Knowledge: involves using the information
now preserved. Essentially education –
knowing what is available in the
organisation and how best to exploit it to
achieve the aims of the institution
• Requires someone in institution to have
responsibility for this type of
education/induction/training
• For which they will need resources:
physical, human and financial
• Information is not free – even within/about
your own organization > must be budgeted
for
• Failure to resource this area may/will lead
to failure to achieve organization's mission
2
MECHANISMS
• Centralized or decentralized
• IT to serve, not control
• Effective communication essential
between IT users and IT managers
• Rarely achieved, but improving as we talk
each other’s language and general IT
literacy improves – with ability to
distinguish practical from unfeasible,
visionary from daft
• Financial constraints usually mean
adapting systems not ideal for purpose
• Beware home-made solutions that only a
few understand
• Beware complex customization
• Simplest and cheapest is often longestlived
• If you have a library system (say CDS/ISIS) can
you use it for non-library records too?
• If you use bibliographic software to record
references (say EndNote) can you use it to index
and link files across institution?
• If you work with other organizations what
systems do they use? Using common software
can enhance information interoperability and
range of people who understand the system
• XML as a common file format eases
exchange (MS Office will use in place of
proprietary formats from next version)
• No need to understand how it works to
benefit from it
• Standard referencing systems for
documents/objects simplifies retrieval
within and beyond organisation (doi’s)
Exercise
• How is information managed in your own
institution? Sketch out the structure – who
is responsible for what, what kind of
electronic or manual systems are in use,
how are links with other parts of the
organization managed? How could things
be improved, fom your point of view? What
can YOU do about it?
3
Construction and generation of
databases
• See iMark Management of electronic
documents Lesson 5