Information Outlook, Vol. 5, No. 6, June 2001
If you can find them, they’re great!
SLA’s Information Portals
I had a salutary reminder recently that you should practice what you preach? One SLA director kindly told me that there was a room of blank faces at a chapter meeting when she mentioned SLA’s Information Portals. On the same day another director said what a great resource the Information Portals are for our members. Not too difficult to work out the lesson learnt from that. If you can find them they’re great, if not they’re worthless. I guess that it’s time for me to look at the "Marketing Special Libraries" Information Portal (www.sla.org/infoportals.cfm) and start practicing what I preach.
OK, so What are they, Where are they and Why would you use them?Information Portals (IPs) are SLA member gateways to articles, books, websites and other resources on over 30 library related topics. IRC staff regularly update them from resources used on a daily basis, including serials, discussion lists, e-journals, online resources, such as Nexis.com and Tell Me More, and general environmental scanning. New IPs are added to cover new "hot topics" such as the recent addition of Wireless networking and PDAs. We believe that the Information Portals are a value-added resource and therefore made available to members only.
Currently there are 37 IPs covering the following topics:Career planning and competencies
Copyright
Competitive intelligence
Digital libraries
Electronic licensing
Fee-based services
General library topics
Information audit
Instruction and end user training
International library resources
International library associations
Internet design
Internet development
Internet issues
Internet research tools
Intranets
Jobsharing and part-time employment
Knowledge management
Library joblines and websites
Library advisory committee
Library automation and software
Library costs or budgets
Library strategic plans
Marketing special libraries
Metadata
Opinions and perceptions of the library profession
Outsourcing library services
Portals
Preservation and disaster planning
Quality assurance and benchmarking
Records management
Salary surveys
Space planning and special libraries
Starting and managing a special library
Value of the Information Center
Virtual library
Wireless technology and PDAs
For the general public we have made available reference tools which include the following topics:
Contacts for Book/Journal Donations, Copyright Web Sites, International Special Library Associations, Library Related Organizations, Placement and Executive Search Firms, and Training Organizations.
So where can you find these little gems?
Both the Information Portals and Reference Tools can currently be found from Virtual SLA’s home page (www.sla.org) under Electronic Information Resources. When we go to print this may not be the case as in order to improve access to our web-based resources we often make minor revisions to the home page lay-out. Rest assured that any changes will make access easier.
And why would you use an IP?
We are all busy and have access to excellent resources, but IPs give you instant access to resources on topics particularly relevant to special librarians and information professionals.
Hey! If someone is going to do the work for you, why not use it!
We try to keep the IPs as current and topical as possible so that they remain a excellent resource and an envied membership benefit, but we know they can always be improved. Please let me know at irc@sla.org of any resources which you may wish to share or topics which should be added.
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