Information professional roles:
"Many of us want to become cheerleaders in the Net’s circus parade. And, for once, why not march at the head of the parade when the carnival comes to town? The parade’s going right down main street with or without us."

"The richest person in the world-in fact, all the riches in the world couldn't provide you with anything like the endless, incredible loot available at your local library. You can measure the awareness, the breadth and the wisdom of a civilization, a nation, a people by the priority given to preserving these repositories of all that we are, all that we were, or will be. Our libraries are being eroded alarmingly by inflation. It behooves us-all of us-to stop the rot by the application of that prime preserver-money." -Malcolm Forbes (1981)

The article discusses how companies are spending more money on information technology but are not improving their financial performance. Davenport suggests some ways that companies could help return the machine/human balance. These include "mapping where information resides in the organisation; giving librarians a more prominent role than technicians; adopting journalistic or narrative techniques for corporate communication; and observing how workers actually use information."

The SLA Illinois Chapter Bulletin (January 1999) contains the full text of a related article:
Librarians and the I in IT by Thomas H. Davenport.

SLA HQ provided the side-bar information: The Value of Corporate Libraries

From SOLOLIB-L posting:
The article begins: "Now that so much information is at our fingertips, are firm librarians on the endangered list? Far from it. Today's librarians aren't just keepers of the books and magazines. They are information managers, researchers, teachers, and guides."

This brief article discusses new titles that may evolve as a company undertakes a knowledge management program. What drew my attention?

1. More acronyms to learn:
   * CKO (Chief Knowledge Officer)
     - perhaps more inclined to structural or customer capital
   * CLO (Chief Learning Officer)
     - may focus more on human capital

2. The quote from Bob Guns, PriceWaterhouseCoopers:
   "Their (CKO or CLO) backgrounds are very rich and very diverse. They can come from information technology, human resources, corporate librarian, or intellectual property backgrounds, but they need to bring a strategic, cross-functional view with them that supersedes any one particular area of expertise."

Internet vs. Library: Faster Search Isn't Always Better by James Cummings.
Cox News (March 25, 1999) scroll down to (3/25)

A race between "library" and Internet sources to answer reference questions