Information Outlook, Vol. 6, No. 11, November 2002

Homeland Security Should Be on Everyone's Agenda

By Anthony Blue

The October communications column featured an article urging SLA members to get involved with SLA's Homeland Security Initiative (see the front page of virtual SLA). This month, we have decided to follow up that column by sharing the first of several letters SLA will be sending to the powers that be.

SLA is not endorsing the Homeland Security terminology or the various components of the bill before Congress. Our initiative is related solely to the value that special librarians and information professionals can offer in the functions related to knowledge management, content management, competitive intelligence, etc. We seek to inform executive, legislative, and corporate decision makers in the process.

Dear Tom Ridge,

I write to you on behalf of thousands of information experts who are ready to put their knowledge and skills to work to protect our freedom. Following the events of September 11th, it became abundantly clear that the efficient management of information would be a vital component of President Bush's National Strategy of Homeland Security. The Special Libraries Association represents thousands of information resource experts who are responsible for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating information to facilitate accurate decision making in their organizations. Using the Internet and other innovative technology as their resource tools, they organize, package, and present information in a way that maximizes its usefulness. Employed most frequently by corporations, academia, and government, these experts understand the vital role of credible information with respect to our nation's security and possess the best competencies to serve those needs.

Corporations and academia have known the value of these skills for many years, relying on information experts as webmasters, corporate information officers, database consultants, digital library managers, information brokers, and knowledge managers. If the bill to create the Department of Homeland Security is passed, I encourage the new department, as well as the reorganized agencies, to continue to seek qualified information experts and strategically place them in key positions to efficiently manage and navigate the inevitable, overwhelming flow of information that it will be faced with.

In closing, ensuring homeland security is an enormous task that will not be accomplished overnight. It will require fundamental cooperation, information sharing, innovation, and knowledge exchange. If we are to succeed in this task, we must aggressively seek solutions to existing and future problems. It is our obligation and our national responsibility.

Sincerely,

Lynn K. Smith, CAE
Acting Executive Director
Special Libraries Association