Skills 21

No doubt about it…we are living in the Information Age and technology rules!  However, being adept at using the latest and greatest gadget does not mean you have mastered the universe.

As a matter of fact, it is not necessarily the technology that is going to give you that competitive advantage you will need to compete successfully in today’s global economy.  Believe it or not, it is something far more superior to any currently existing technological whiz bang – your brain.

Developing the appropriate mindset needed to maximize the full utility of these wonderful inventions for your own personal benefit only takes a little readjusting, practice, and then real world application.

The key experience you need to have in college in helping you absorb the strategies and techniques essential to having technology work in your best interest is utilizing the resources of the academic library – human, print, and electronic.

Yes, I said it…that ancient building with books, shelves, “quiet signs”  and little old ladies in tennis shoes can provide you with enormous assistance in tracking down the right information you’ll need to get you that “A” on your next research paper. Make it a point to become information literate.  Learn those information literacy skills that only librarians know for sure and, most often, are very willing to share.

Although e-books are outselling hardcover books and we are bedazzled by the Kindles and Nooks of the world, it still takes your brain to collect, analyze, synthesize, and effectively utilize information in the creation of new knowledge.  Artificial intelligence is a wonderful thing, but it still has a long way to go before it can routinely carry out the thinking and information processing functions of the average Joe.

So add that librarian to your network list of important people to know and build that collaborative relationship and learn those information literacy skills that will be so vital to your future research endeavors in the days ahead at school and in the workplace.

Remember, librarians are people too who happen to be infatuated with books and the world of information…